Grading the 2023 WWE Draft Call Ups

[Carefree Beach Life Gritizen]

With the WWE officially announcing this year's draft, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the NXT call ups from last year and see how they've done their first year on the roster.

Unholy Union: F. I hate this so much, but they've done nothing. The only win they got was over Yulisa Leon & Valentina Feroz in their debut, so they've never beaten a single person on the main roster.

Indi Hartwell: D. Indi was the NXT women's champion at the time, but I still didn't have high hopes for her getting called up. She hasn't really done much, but she at least has a current storyline going. 

Apollo Crews: F. Not really surprising that he hasn't done anything she getting called up for a second time.

JD McDonagh: B. Really couldn't have gone better for JD with his history with Finn. Got to be slotted into the top faction on RAW & is on TV every week.

Zoey Stark: C+. Started off strong for Zoey and her partnership with Trish, but since then the lost anything she's gained from that. Still she's a TV regular and has gotten to be on numerous PPVs.

Pretty Deadly: C+. The injury to Elton hurt them, as did the consistent never ending feud with members of the Brawling Brutes. With the tag titles separating, I'm pretty certain this year will be much kinder to them. 

Kayden Carter & Katana Chance: C. They got a women's tag title reign but they did nothing both before and after that reign. 

Cameron Grimes: F.  This sucks too. Grimes is so entertaining but his run so far has been a disaster.

Grayson Waller: B+ Not surprised he's the highest graded for me. He was tailor-made for the main roster. He's gotten to interact with pretty much every top face, the only call up to be on WrestleMania & won the Smackdown Tag Titles at the show.

Indus Sher: D-. They got to be apart of Jinder's World title match. That's all I got.

Odyssey Jones: F. I don't know why they called him up to never put him on TV.

Xyon Quinn: F. See Odyssey Jones

Interested in seeing what everybody else thinks and how these call ups will do in year 2. Also, might as well throw in some predictions for call ups this year. I don't expect as many this year with them having already called up a bunch of people in recent months, so I'll go with Ilja, Carmelo, Gallus, Blair, Axiom & Lyra. 

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

I think it's safe to say after all these years that Apollo is not going to grow as a performer in WWE. He needs to go somewhere else and start fresh or he'll just continue to be unused. He was doing nothing when I stopped watching, and I've returned to him doing nothing again.

[GOTHIC CHARISMA 🧊 🥶❄️FURY]

Unholy Union: F. an easy one at that and i've got nothing for why this happened.


Indi Hartwell: C. i never understood her being called up at all unless they were going to immediately go into the dexter/indi stuff but on the main roster. i kinda think someone called her up thinking "tall woman" and they don't wanna just send her down. i do think she has made the very best of what she has been given though because make no mistake, her ass should not be on the main roster. not then, not now but she's doing her best.


Apollo Crews: F. sometimes i remember that he is uhaa nation and it makes me really sad.


JD McDonagh: A. constantly on tv, plays his role perfectly but i kinda wanna see him split off eventually and try that weird ass nxt gimmick but on tv. the crowds already want to hate him more.


Zoey Stark: B. got a lot of good time with trish and she's one of the bright spots of a division that seems to be cursed.


Pretty Deadly: B. they're winning those tag titles in the next few months and got a huge vignette at wrestlemania. sure it could've gone better before now but they are so obviously going to be massive in 2024.


Kayden Carter & Katana Chance: C. if there was a D+ option i'd pick that but C it is. they got that title run but i wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see them for another six months.


Cameron Grimes: F. was my favorite guy in NXT at one point but i think he is doomed. i can't see any way he makes it on the main roster at this point.


Grayson Waller: A. in huge segments with cody/seth, won the tag titles, constantly entertaining. he's somehow made austin theory even entertaining at times. he deserves a nobel peace prize for this accomplishment. my favorite guy on the main roster, him or cody. he is my favorite shithead in all of media.


Indus Sher: F. they did get to be in that world title match as you mentioned but i swear someone in the back wants them to be the most boring versions of themselves. likely doomed as well.


Odyssey Jones: F. forgot he existed.

Xyon Quinn: F. double forgot he existed twice!

[froggyfrog]

Aside from Mania I wasn’t watching at all last year so this is v interesting to me. Checked back in at the Rumble and have been dialed in since, so it’s alarming to see how many recent call ups I haven’t even seen on TV since I came back. I’m big on NXT right now and shudder at the thought of some of those talents going MIA on the main roster. It feels like Carmelo Hayes, Dijak, Joe Gacy, Gallus, and maybe Lyra are in line for a callup soon. Iljia Dragunov too after tonight it looks like. Hope no one gets too lost in the shuffle

[HIM]

I know these days doing the "(insert name) needs to go to (insert company)" thing is sorta "meh" but Apollo gotta hit up another place. He's the only one out of all these people that was called up, demoted, called up again and now he's stuck in limbo. I feel he'd kill in the indies more than ever now, similar to Ali.

Hopefully things change for these people and the others this upcoming year.

[seb851]

Katana and Kayden need go for TNA, Triple H hate this team.