This week Dolph Ziggler became the latest WWE Superstar to jump across to NXT, as he laid the challenge down to NXT Champion Bron Breakker. 

Ziggler is the latest in the line of stars who have mixed it in NXT, with varying degree of purpose. GiveMeSport looks back at the best of them…

AJ Styles 

The most recent example of a Raw Superstar working a programme on NXT. Styles re-embraced his fan favourite persona upon the tag team break-up with Omos to fued with NXT 2.O upstart Grayson Waller. The pair exchanged verbals across both Monday and Tuesday nights before eventually going one-on-one on an NXT show last month. Styles got the win, but the rub that both NXT.2O and Waller got from mixing it up with the former WWE Champion was a phenomenal idea. 

Charlotte Flair 

In 2020 Charlotte followed in her dad’s footsteps and won the Royal Rumble, setting up a title bout for The Queen at WrestleMania. In an interesting twist, Rhea Ripley set her sights on Flair and goaded the multi-time champ into challenging her for her NXT Women’s Championship title on the grandest stage of them all. Brining Charlotte back to her NXT routes and having the first ever NXT Title match of any kind on the WrestleMania card. The pair stole the show in one of the weekend’s best matches, giving Ripley a major moment alongside of the women’s division’s very best.  

Kevin Owens 

KO’s dalliance back in NXT was a short but very sweet cameo for the former NXT Champion at TakeOver: WarGames in 2019, during Survivor Series weekend. Owens was revealed as Tomasso Ciampa’s mystery fourth man on his War Games team alongside Keith Lee and Dominic Dijakovic and faced off against long-time friend Adam Cole and Undisputed Era. In the fun spot-fest bout, Owens performed a Frog Splash through a table on Kyle O’Reilly on route to his team getting the victory. There were discussions following the event for Kevin to work more NXT shows and possible NXT UK, but the Coronavirus pandemic put pay to the plans.  

Breezango 

Tyler Breeze went full circle in his WWE career, starting off as one the original NXT talents earmarked for a big future in WWE. While things never did go quite that way on the ‘main’ roster for Breeze, he did eventually find himself teamed with Fandango and the pair combined to create a successful comedy tag team on SmackDown through 2016-17. Their Fashion Files skits were a popular part of the blue brand and although it didn’t lead to any major run in the tag team division, it gave them enough credit to back to NXT in 2018 and give the rub to the up-and-coming pairings on the black and gold side. Successfully winning the NXT Tag Team Titles from Imperium to cement their role on the show and win their first and only championships. 

Finn Balor 

Finn’s original run on NXT made him one of the hottest stars on the planet and propelled the Irishman onto the main roster and straight into a title programme, where he became the first-ever Universal Champion in 2016. Fast forward three years and after a roller-coaster ride across Raw and SmackDown, Balor returned home to NXT for a reboot and a heel turn that bought out ‘The Prince’. With even more star power and a moody streak that made him more dangerous and intriguing, Finn waded war with Kyle O’Reilly and Karrion Kross before moving back to SmackDown in 2021, refreshed and ready to go once again. 

Ember Moon 

Perhaps one of NXT’s most underrated rivalries under the black and gold guise was Ember’s programme with Asuka in 2017, and then Moon’s eventual reign as NXT Women’s Champion. A main roster call was inevitable, but she endured a stop-start run on both Raw and SmackDown, which ended in an ankle injury that looked as though he could rule her out of WWE altogether. She did however resurface in NXT in 2020. Combining with Shotzi Blackheart and to win the NXT Women’s Tag Team championships, giving Shotzi the spotlight she needed to proper her to the next step and act as a veteran hand in NXT’s talented women’s division. 

Cesaro 

The original almost gatekeeper of WWE’s main roster, Cesaro headed to NXT on a number of occasions during its infancy to work with talent and ready them for the next stage. Most notably his series of matches with Sami Zayn, which were considered some the best bouts of 2014. The Swiss Superman also traded blows in NXT with Adrian Neville, Bo Dallas and even across the pond when he defeated Ilja Dragunov at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff. Cesaro is always the gift that just keeps on giving.