WWE NXT: Ranking Every Performer to Hold the NXT Championship

Credit: WWE.com

8. Bobby Roode

Much like Drew McIntyre, Bobby Roode stuck out like a sore thumb in NXT. By the time he defeated Shinsuke Nakamura for the championship, the former TNA mainstay had been performing for nearly twenty years. For reference, when Roode had his first match, current NXT star the Velveteen Dream was just short of three years old.

Yet, Roode managed a fairly respectable reign of a little over half a year, getting massively over with the Full Sail University fans thanks in large part to his “Glorious” entrance theme. As champion, he managed to hand Shinsuke Nakamura one of his few clean losses in NXT, as well as managing successful defenses against Kassius Ohno, Hideo Itami, and Roderick Strong.

Unlike the generic smiling babyface character that he is forced to portray on the main roster, Roode was allowed in NXT to showcase his formidable abilities as a cocky heel, an alignment which was much better suited to the old school, methodical style that Roode tends to work.

In terms of the actual content of his reign, it is tempting to rank Bobby Roode a bit higher on this list, but nothing he did in NXT changes the fact that his title reign never felt like it was intended to serve as anything other than a transition period.