One NXT Star Confirmed For The WWE Draft — Who Will The Other Five Be?
Over the weekend, WWE posted the official rules for Tuesday’s WWE draft, which stated that six picks can be used on NXT stars. The question remains: Which NXT stars will be called up to the main roster on Tuesday night? Will Finn Balor be called up? What about Shinsuke Nakamura? How about the NXT Champion Samoa Joe?
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there’s at least one NXT star who’s guaranteed to be drafted, and you’ll probably be surprised when you find out who it is.
According to Dave Meltzer, there will be two women and four men from the NXT roster who will be drafted. While most people expect Finn Balor to be drafted, it’s not exactly guaranteed that he will. But, according to Meltzer, the only guarantee is that NXT women’s contender Nia Jax will be drafted on Tuesday night.
“There’s two women coming up – Nia Jax and I don’t know who the other one is.”
The assumption is that former NXT Women’s Champion Bayley will be the other woman who is drafted. But, according to Meltzer, it may actually end up being Alexa Bliss, as WWE has apparently been wanting to call her up to the main roster for quite some time now.
6 draft picks for @WWENXT…
…Each with an opportunity to change the landscape of @WWE.#WWEDraft #WeAreNXT
— Triple H (@TripleH) July 18, 2016
Bayley is scheduled to get her rematch for the NXT Women’s Title at next month’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn show, which is why WWE may hold off on her call up until the fall. Of course, there have been rumors that Bayley will be Sasha Banks’ mystery partner at Sunday’s WWE Battleground show, but, according to Banks, that won’t be happening.
The Wrestling Observer also noted that Finn Balor will probably be drafted on Tuesday night because he’s pretty much done in NXT. Balor wasn’t involved in the latest NXT television tapings, which suggests that he’s on his way to the main roster. He’s also made it pretty clear that he’s ready to be a part of the main roster, and if he had it his way, he would have been called up a long time ago.
Two other names that keep popping up are Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, who recently dropped the NXT Tag-Team Championships to The Revival. Jordan and Gable are clearly ready for the main roster, and if they are picked, they will be brought up as a team per the official draft rules, unless one of the GMs wishes to split them up.
Japanese wrestling sensation and recent NXT signee Shinsuke Nakamura has also been a part of the WWE draft rumor mill. It’s unclear if Nakamura will be brought up, and the fact that he has a big match scheduled atNXT Takeover: Brooklyn next month suggests that he’s not going to be brought up. However, WWE has brought people up in the past who have had ongoing storylines in NXT. Also, according to the Wrestling Observer, Nakamura may end up being one of the top picks in the draft.
Lastly, we have NXT Champion Samoa Joe, who was rumored to be getting a call up after WrestleMania 32. We’re a little over three months removed from the historic event at AT&T Stadium and Joe is not only still down in NXT, but, as previously mentioned, he’s also the Champion of the brand. Joe is more than ready to be a part of the main roster, and he may end up being involved in Tuesday’s draft. However, when he was signed by WWE, they never had the intention of bringing him to the main roster, but that may have changed over the last year.
As the official draft rules state, WWE is planning on bringing at least six NXT stars up to the main roster. As of right now, Nia Jax is the only one who is confirmed to be getting a promotion, and it’s likely that we’ll see Finn Balor get a call-up as well.
[Image via WWE]
