''
WWE NXT
''WWE NXT'', also known as ''NXT'', is an American professional wrestling television program. It is produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, featuring performers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The show currentl ...
'' initially debuted in 2010 as a
seasonal
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
show which was presented as a hybrid between WWE's scripted live event shows and
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
, in which talent from WWE's developmental territory
Florida Championship Wrestling
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August ...
(FCW) participated in a competition to become WWE's next "breakout star", with the help of mentors from WWE's
Raw
Raw is an adjective usually describing:
* Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made
* Raw food, uncooked food
Raw or RAW may also refer to:
Computing and electronics
* .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...
and
SmackDown
''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes sim ...
brands
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
.
Five seasons of this iteration were broadcast, with
Wade Barrett
Stuart Alexander Bennett (born 10 August 1980) is an English-American professional wrestling commentator, actor, and former professional wrestler who holds both British and American citizenship. He is currently signed to WWE, where he is a col ...
,
Kaval
The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans (in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Northern Greece, and elsewhere) and Anatolia (including Turkey and Armenia). The ka ...
,
Kaitlyn, and
Johnny Curtis
Curtis Jonathan Hussey (born July 22, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under the ring name Dirty Dango. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring nam ...
being announced as winners, and the last season ending without a resolution.
Season 1
The first season of ''NXT'' began airing on Syfy on February 23, 2010 and ended on June 1, 2010.
The majority of the season one cast was revealed a week before the premiere on the
series finale of ''ECW.'' However, before the season's premiere aired
Skip Sheffield's Pro was changed with William Regal replacing the announced
Montel Vontavious Porter
Hassan Hamin Assad (born Alvin Antonio Burke Jr.; October 28, 1973) is an American professional wrestler and manager currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name MVP (standing for Montel Vontavious Porter) a ...
(MVP).
Near the end of the season, several changes were made to the original plan of the format. The season was shortened from the planned 17 episodes to 15 episodes.
In the first elimination episode that aired on May 11, both Daniel Bryan and Michael Tarver were eliminated by WWE management and removed from that night's Pros' Poll after both made comments about wanting to be voted off. The show ended with three eliminations, with Sheffield ranked last in the Poll.
Carlito was released on May 21 for refusing rehab after violating WWE's
Wellness Program. Subsequent Pros' Polls were held without him for the rest of the season. The winner of season one was
Wade Barrett
Stuart Alexander Bennett (born 10 August 1980) is an English-American professional wrestling commentator, actor, and former professional wrestler who holds both British and American citizenship. He is currently signed to WWE, where he is a col ...
.
Immediately after the conclusion of season one, the Rookies were used in a
storyline that had them forming an alliance called
The Nexus.
Led by Barrett, the group invaded the first ''Raw'' following the conclusion of season one in an attempt to gain WWE contracts for the losers of ''NXT.'' The invasion consisted of the group attacking
John Cena
John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper. He is currently signed to WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is tied w ...
as well as other wrestlers and WWE personnel.
Barrett announced that he would invoke his title shot at
Night of Champions
Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...
for the
WWE Championship
The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, representing the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles on WWE's main roster, alongside SmackDown' ...
in a six-pack elimination challenge. At Night of Champions on September 19, Barrett lost in his title match to
Randy Orton
Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor who is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand but is currently out of action due to a back injury. H ...
.
Contestants
Poll results
: – Winner of competition
: – Safe in competition
: – Eliminated from competition by Pros' Poll
: – Eliminated from competition by WWE management
: – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated
Season 2
The second season of ''NXT'' started on June 8, 2010 and ended on August 31, 2010.
The season 2 cast was revealed on the first
season finale
A season finale (British English: last in the series; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will try ...
on June 1. The season was originally planned to last 12 weeks. However, it was later extended to 13 weeks.
In this season, the polls were different as rankings were based half on Pro votes and half on votes from fans via WWE's official website.
The first poll was shown on July 6.
Originally, the polls format was set to match the previous season, with a non-elimination poll followed by weekly elimination polls on July 27.
However, the first poll was made a surprise elimination round on the night with a second elimination poll held on August 3 instead.
In addition, a double elimination stipulation was added to the fourth NXT poll on August 17.
The winner of the season was
Kaval
The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans (in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Northern Greece, and elsewhere) and Anatolia (including Turkey and Armenia). The ka ...
.
Along with Kaval,
Alex Riley
Kevin Robert Kiley Jr. (born April 28, 1981) is an American professional wrestler and commentator best known for his time with WWE under the ring name Alex Riley. He was a participant in the second season of ''NXT''.
Professional wrestling ...
was immediately promoted to aid his Pro
The Miz
Michael Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, actor, and television personality. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name The Miz.
Mizanin first gained fa ...
on the Raw brand''.'' On November 21, Kaval invoked his title shot at
Survivor Series
Survivor Series is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving, it is the sec ...
for the
Intercontinental Championship against the reigning champion
Dolph Ziggler
Nicholas Theodore Nemeth (born July 27, 1980) is an American professional wrestler and stand-up comedian. He is currently signed to WWE under the ring name Dolph Ziggler, where he performs on the Raw brand.
After a prolific career in amateur ...
, but he was defeated. Kaval was released from his contract in December 2010.
Contestants
Poll results
: – Winner of competition
: – Safe in competition
: – Eliminated from competition by NXT Poll
: – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated
Season 3
The third season of ''NXT'' started on September 7, 2010 and ended on November 30, 2010.
The season was exclusive to
female wrestlers and was the second different contest produced by WWE to find new female wrestlers, the first being the ''
Divas Searches'' held from 2003–2007.
The first four episodes of season three were aired on Syfy. Due to the debut of ''SmackDown'' on Syfy on October 1, ''NXT'' left the channel and became a
webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...
at WWE.com for visitors from the United States from October 5 onwards.
A new interactive website for ''NXT'' was also launched at the beginning of the season to accommodate the move.
The reward to the victor was changed in contrast to the previous seasons. Unlike the first two male victors, the female victor of season three would not get a shot at a title of her choice (the only title being the
Divas Championship
The WWE Divas Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship in WWE. The championship was created by WWE in 2008, and was introduced as part of the WWE brand extension via a storyline by then SmackDown General Manager Vickie Gu ...
), but rather a WWE contract. Other changes in the third season include a greater emphasis on challenges for the first three polls where the winner of the most challenges before the next upcoming poll would be awarded immunity. The first elimination poll took place five weeks into the competition.
The majority of the season three cast was revealed on the second-season finale on August 31.
However, before the season's premiere aired prospective rookie wrestler
Aloisia was dropped from the show. On screen, Aloisia's exit stemmed from an argument between Aloisia and her Pro
Vickie Guerrero
Vickie Lynn Benson (formerly Guerrero, née Lara;Guerrero, Eddie. ''Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story'', p. 53. born April 16, 1968) is an American professional wrestling personality and manager. She is best known for her t ...
, forcing Guerrero to fire her. In reality, it was reported that Aloisia was allegedly dropped from the show after pornographic photos of her were leaked onto the Internet. However, in an interview Aloisia herself was unsure whether this was the reason for her exit or not. Guerrero later revealed her new rookie in the season three premiere to be
Kaitlyn, who would ultimately win the season.
Contestants
† Originally slated to be
Lindsay Kay Hayward as Aloisia, who had previously wrestled as Isis the Amazon.
Poll results
: – Winner of competition
: – Safe in competition
: – Eliminated from competition by NXT Poll
: – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated
Season 4
The fourth season of ''NXT'' started on December 7, 2010 and ended on March 1, 2011.
Returning to the male-orientated format of the first two seasons, the season four cast was revealed on the third-season finale on November 30.
In a change from the third season, "immunity points" were now rewarded to the winner of each challenge, which vary depending on the challenge's difficulty. The person with the most points before the next upcoming poll is then awarded immunity from that poll.
On the January 4, episode of ''NXT,'' it was announced that the winner would earn a
WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE (formerly the WWF, the WWWF, and Capitol Wrestling) has maintained at least one primary tag team championship for its male performers since 1958 (except for a two year interim between 1967 and 1969). During periods of brand division, separat ...
match with their respective Pro as their partner. That same night,
Dolph Ziggler
Nicholas Theodore Nemeth (born July 27, 1980) is an American professional wrestler and stand-up comedian. He is currently signed to WWE under the ring name Dolph Ziggler, where he performs on the Raw brand.
After a prolific career in amateur ...
won a
battle royal
Battle royal (; also royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains standing, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules. In recent times, the term has been used in a ...
consisting of each of the Pros and as a result was able to trade off his Rookie Jacob Novak for
Byron Saxton
Bryan Jesús Kelly (born August 20, 1981) is an American professional wrestling commentator, ring announcer, and former professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he works as a backstage interviewer on ''Raw'' and color commentat ...
, who was originally mentored by
Chris Masters
Christopher Todd Mordetzky (born January 8, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under the ring name Chris Adonis as a member of Strictly Business. He is a former two-time National Ch ...
.
Similarly on the February 1 episode of ''NXT,'' a
fatal four-way elimination match was held between the remaining four Rookies.
Brodus Clay
George Murdoch (born February 21, 1980) is an American professional wrestler and cable news personality known by his ring/stage name Tyrus. As a wrestler, he is signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), where he is the reigning NWA World ...
won and as a result was able to trade off his Pros The Million Dollar Couple (
Ted DiBiase
Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE working in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship ...
and
Maryse Maryse is a given name. Notable persons with this name include:
*Maryse Alberti, cinematographer
*Maryse Condé, author
*Maryse Dauvray, actress
*Maryse Lassonde, neuropsychologist
*Maryse Liburdi (formerly Maryse Thomas), CEO
*Maryse Marpsat, soci ...
) for
Alberto Del Rio
José Alberto Rodríguez Chucuan (born 25 May 1977) is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter, sports commentator, and mixed martial artist, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a c ...
, who was originally mentoring
Conor O'Brian
Ryan Parmeter (born February 6, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, currently appearing for Impact Wrestling as a member of the Violent By Design under the ring name Kon. He is best known for his work in WWE, where he wrestled under the ...
before O'Brian's elimination on January 25.
The winner of the season was
Johnny Curtis
Curtis Jonathan Hussey (born July 22, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under the ring name Dirty Dango. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring nam ...
, earning himself and his Pro
R-Truth
Ronnie Aaron Killings (born January 19, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and rapper. He is currently signed to WWE, performing on the Raw brand under the ring name R-Truth.
Killings worked for World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now ...
a shot at the tag team titles.
On April 18, R-Truth turned into a villain by attacking
John Morrison and subsequently R-Truth and Curtis never invoked their shot at the titles. Curtis would eventually debut on the main roster in June when he stated that he would not be challenging for the tag team titles with R-Truth and instead used his title shot with season two runner-up
Michael McGillicutty on the October 11, 2012 episode of ''NXT'' against
Team Hell No
Team Hell No was an American professional wrestling tag team in the WWE. They performed on the SmackDown brand consisting of Kane and Daniel Bryan. The team's name is a reference to the two wrestlers' personas: Kane is portrayed as a violent py ...
for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but was defeated.
Contestants
Poll results
: – Winner of competition
: – Safe in competition
: – Eliminated from competition by NXT Poll
: – Won immunity prior to that particular poll and is ineligible to be eliminated
''NXT Redemption'' (season 5)
''NXT Redemption,'' the fifth season of ''NXT,'' started on March 8, 2011.
The season consisted of seven rookies chosen from the previous male-only seasons and initially followed a similar format to the previous four seasons, with the winner of season 5 stated to win a spot in the planned sixth season of ''NXT'' alongside a WWE pro of their choice.
No eliminations took place for the first 10 weeks of the show and following the elimination of
Conor O'Brian
Ryan Parmeter (born February 6, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, currently appearing for Impact Wrestling as a member of the Violent By Design under the ring name Kon. He is best known for his work in WWE, where he wrestled under the ...
after 17 weeks
Derrick Bateman replaced him as a new Rookie contestant. The show's competition format was then gradually and quietly forgotten about (although it was never officially dropped), the Pros ceased to appear and ''NXT Redemption'' subsequently morphed into its own entity, featuring self-contained storylines and matches involving long-tenured lower-card performers such as
Tyson Kidd
Theodore James "TJ" Wilson (born July 11, 1980) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name Tyson Kidd. He is currently signed to WWE, where he works as a producer.
The final graduate of the Hart Dungeon, Wilson ...
,
Maxine,
Yoshi Tatsu
Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in ''Super Mario World'' (1990) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Yoshi is the title character of the List of Y ...
,
JTG
Jayson Anthony Paul (born December 10, 1984) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to the National Wrestling Alliance. He is best known for his time in WWE under the ring name JTG.
Paul began his professional wrestling career ...
,
Trent Baretta
Gregory "Greg" Marasciulo (born March 30, 1987), better known by the ring name Trent Beretta or Trent?, is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is also known for his time with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring ...
,
Kaitlyn,
Johnny Curtis
Curtis Jonathan Hussey (born July 22, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under the ring name Dirty Dango. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring nam ...
,
Percy Watson
Nicholas Christopher McNeil (born August 19, 1981), better known by his ring name Percy Watson, is an American professional wrestler, commentator, and former professional football player. He is best known for his time with WWE as a commentato ...
,
Tyler Reks
Gabbi Alon Tuft (born November 1, 1978) is an American retired professional wrestler. Tuft is best known for her time with WWE under the ring name Tyler Reks. Tuft also competed in WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FC ...
,
AJ Lee
April Jeanette Mendez (born March 19, 1987) is an American author and retired professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in WWE under the ring name AJ Lee. She is currently an executive producer and color commentator for WOW – Wom ...
,
Curt Hawkins
Brian Myers (born April 20, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he is a former Impact Digital Media Champion. He is best known for his tenures in WWE from 2006–2014 and 2016–2020 unde ...
and
Michael McGillicutty, among others. After 59 weeks,
Darren Young
Frederick Douglas Rosser III (born November 2, 1983) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the current Strong Openweight Champion in his first reign. He is best known for his ...
and
Titus O'Neil
Thaddeus Michael Bullard Sr. (born April 29, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and former arena football player. He is the Global Ambassador of WWE and also performs for the promotion as a wrestler under the ring name Titus O'Neil. D ...
were moved to the SmackDown roster on April 18, 2012, leaving Bateman as the sole remaining Rookie on the show, though he was not declared the winner and new episodes continued to be taped until June 12. The final episode of ''NXT Redemption'' aired on June 13, after which the show ended with no conclusion, with a "new NXT" advertised for the following week.
In total, ''NXT Redemption'' ran for over a year and 67 episodes were produced, exceeding the total number of episodes for all previous seasons combined. The first season was a distant second at 15 episodes.
Contestants
Poll results
"Lost" season
In May and June 2017, WWE published an article
and a video
detailing a planned and subsequently cancelled season of ''NXT'' which was to feature the following wrestlers:
*
Big E Langston
Ettore Ewen (born March 1, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and former powerlifter. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Big E, but is currently inactive due to a broken neck. In ...
*
Bo Dallas
Taylor Michael Rotunda (born May 25, 1990) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Bo Dallas. Rotunda is a third-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Blac ...
*
Damien Sandow
Aron Steven Haddad (born August 3, 1982) is an American professional wrestler best known for wrestling with WWE under the ring name Damien Sandow. He is also known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the independent circuit under t ...
*
Jinder Mahal
Yuvraj Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986) is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, under the ring name Jinder Mahal.
Having started his career on the independent circuit, Mahal joine ...
*
Hunico
*
Leo Kruger Leo Kruger may refer to:
* Leo Kruger (rugby union), South African rugby union player
* Leo Kruger, South African wrestler also known as Adam Rose
Raymond John Leppan (born 20 July 1979) is a South African retired professional wrestler. He is ...
*
Seth Rollins
Colby Daniel Lopez (born May 28, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Seth Rollins (often referred to as Seth "Freakin" Rollins).
Prior to signing ...
*
Xavier Woods
Austin Watson (born September 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Xavier Woods. He app ...
References
{{NXT Rookies
Seasons
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...