Over the last many years since NXT’s inception, there’s been a whole level of evolution from many perspectives. While evolution has been a word synonymous with women in WWE, the yellow brand has seen its fair share of it, from the progress of the women to the presentation of the product, to the approach taken creatively to the crop of talent as a whole.
Incredibly enough, each time the most talented set of superstars get called up to the main roster, more superstars emerge to take their spot, hungry for success. That’s how the crop of talent in NXT has only grown better and better by the year. However, there has to be a face of the brand, and for the last many years, we’ve seen different names take that mantel, whether it was Neville, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, etc.
The three top babyfaces that really stand out, however, happen to be Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and Johnny Gargano. But what is it that makes them icons of the yellow brand? It’s mainly because these three were top babyfaces for extensive periods of time and whether they were champion or not, they were presented as the top guys of the brand. Moreover, they were essentially the heart and soul of NXT during their tenure with the company.
But the question is, who can be claimed as the biggest icon of NXT? We take a look.
Sami Zayn
Joining the fray in 2013, Sami Zayn is one of the true pioneers of the NXT brand. He spent his career wrestling as El Generico, and in his run with NXT, he would unmask himself and reveal a whole new persona. While Generico was very comedy-oriented, Sami Zayn was a serious babyface who won the hearts of the NXT Universe, even in defeat.
His constant habit of falling short despite coming extremely close would come to define a large part of his story, until late 2014, when he finally captured the NXT Championship in the most emotional win in the brand’s history. It was a culmination of an incredible underdog story. Though his title reign wouldn’t last long, his status with the brand wasn’t affected. He spent a good part of 2015 on the shelf, returning only at the end of the year.
In 2016, he said his farewell to NXT in an outstanding contest.
Finn Balor
Finn Balor was no underdog. He was treated as the biggest international signee in WWE history along with Hideo Itami, and the two would have parallel rises in NXT, up until Hideo Itami suffered a devastating injury. It’s believed that Itami was penciled in to become NXT Champion, but Balor ended up taking his spot.
He proved to be the perfect asset to NXT, being the face of the brand for a good part of a year. He even set a new record as the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all time, reaching 292 days. His Demon persona certainly helped his popularity and he truly felt like a larger-than-life character at NXT.
He thrived in his role as NXT’s top babyface and became so popular that his main roster call-up was the most anticipated one in WWE history.
Johnny Gargano
Johnny Wrestling had a very different path from the other two. He entered WWE first signing a Tier-2 contract before WWE decided to exclusively sign him and Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa would be the one to define his NXT career, as he teamed with him, became tag team champions with him and then was betrayed by him.
Gargano’s story of redemption was a far more extensive one, and his run in NXT from the start of DiY until his grand title win lasted a good part of three years. Over the course of that time, he would organically ascend the card, finding himself in an increasing number of Takeover main events.
It was at NXT Takeover where he would set the bar to a whole new level, constantly stealing the show, win or lose. He didn’t even need to be in NXT title matches to main event Takeovers, and he has never had a single bad match at the big shows. His story as a top babyface was built up over time, which got the crowd behind him.
Unlike the other two, Gargano even had a period where he turned heel, seemingly losing himself. His character progression was second to none, and he wrote a whole new chapter in the book that is NXT. It all culminated with him winning the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover: New York in 2019 and in retrospect, Gargano’s story has the most depth and progression as compared to any other.
There may not be any superstar who’s had a better run in NXT than Johnny Gargano, and once he’s done with the brand, he may very well go down as the biggest icon in NXT history.
