NXT Call Ups From NXT UK

Written By Ben Hercik

We are slowly approaching the time of year folks. The post Wrestlemania call ups. While their are some that many of us expect, but let’s face it, NXT is a whole lot better than the main roster right now. So let's look at which members of the NXT Roster would do well with a call up from the new NXTUK.

There are so many wrestlers on the NXT UK scene it was tough to find who to keep off the list, but I managed to do it. This list is long so let’s get right into it. Really quick, aside from maybe Pete Dunne, not all of these will happen this year. I figured that this would be a fun little thing to do. When all of these wrestlers do get called up, this is where I think they will end up.

Dave Mastiff - RAW

A big comparison that I make of Mastiff at a first glance was that he was the English version of Otis Dozovic. And after seeing what he has done, it seems to be a great comparison. Both have charisma like crazy, and are both really good in the ring. Mastiff just has the advantage of not being in a tag team. I think that he has such a great character and is incredible in the ring. I think that he is a great wrestler, but he would work better on Raw in my opinion. Raw needs some more main event level talent as they only have Strowman, Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose for that right now and are in the process of transitioning McIntyre to be ready for that. Mastiff just adds one more person to that scene.

Flash Morgan Webster - 205 Live

Well sooner or later we were going to get to having someone being called up to 205 Live. There is a streak of four wrestlers here being called up to 205 Live, and part of the reason is that while they are well known on the UK scene, but not as big of names on the American scene. The main argument against that is how well Dunne and Moustache Mountain have been cheered for. That is because of the NXT environment, but I’m getting ahead of myself here. Webster is one of the weirdest wrestlers. He is a face who just seems like he should be a heel. He has the perfect character to be a brash heel who is arrogant. Also a 205 Live offers an interesting scene for Flash as the likes of Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali, Lio Rush, and Drew Gulak offer them an interesting opponents to face.

Jordan Devlin - 205 Live

I think Devlin is someone who can be a big player in the future for WWE. The interesting case is that he is someone that also offers a bit of a challenge. Devlin looks very similar to Finn Balor and they are even from the same city in Ireland. The one thing that is holding Devlin back right now is that there are no real differences between him and Balor. That is what the value of NXT and even 205 Live is for. I think that also the matchups intrigue me more for Devlin on 205 than any of the Main Roster shows.

Ligero - 205 Live

I’ve been a fan of Ligero ever since I saw him wrestle in WCPW a handful of times. Ligero is one of the legends of English Professional Wrestling. I think that while he is great, he needs some more exposure on the American side. He also offers a lot of incredible matches with the 205 Roster. I want to especially see Kendrick vs Ligero. Also, outside of Kendrick, their is no real veteran voice in the locker room. Every locker room needs that in some aspect, and Ligero offers that experience for the rather young 205 Live locker room.

Mark Andrews - 205 Live

I think Andrews is amazing but the one thing he has going against him in WWE is his size. Andrews is 5’8’’, only two inches shorter than Rey Mysterio, but Rey had one thing on his side, his weight. Rey always looked like he could hold his own with the bigger guys. Andrews is in great shape, but he lacks in the bulk department. I think that Andrews would fit in perfectly with 205 Live, and also has the advantage of having the experience of wrestling on 205 Live already. So putting him there is beneficial as he is already familiar with the show and the other performers as well.

Pete Dunne - RAW

The Bruiserweight technically already had a call up of sorts, with the one off match against Enzo Amore in England last November. I think that the Raw midcard is a little shallow as of right now. Once Rollins drops the Intercontinental Championship, all Raw really has is Elias, Crews, and maybe Lashley as we don’t really know his standing. One with that is the injury bug going around right now in WWE. Dunne adds a much needed body to that division, but also he adds a great wrestling ability to the division. There is a reason that Dunne has been UK Champion for over 500 days. They see something in him, and for good reason. He brings in a smashmouth style and the wrestling ability that would do the Intercontinental Championship proud.

Travis Banks - Smackdown Live

Banks is someone that posed a major question. Does he, like Pete Dunne, help bolster the Raw midcard, or does he go to the deep Smackdown midcard that is really underutilized? I settled on the Smackdown midcard as he would fit in really well there. Banks brings a very well diverse toolbox in his wrestling skills. He has great strikes and some very nice submissions. Hopefully at some point Banks can move to the main event scene and we could see some great matches there. Also, Banks would work a lot better on the Smackdown brand as they tend to focus more on the in ring action, and less on the promo work. That would help Banks, because if there's any weakness in his game, its his promo skills.

Charlie Morgan - RAW

Now I know there are a few of these that are quite a ways away, but I still enjoy talking about them. I have jumped on the Charlie Morgan bandwagon and think she has a lot of potential. She is still rough around the edges, hence why the first sentence of this entry, but the base on what she already has it’s a great start. Her high flying is something that we don’t to often see from the women’s division so it would allow her to stand out from the pack, especially on Raw. She just needs some fine tuning and she would really help the Raw Roster.

Isla Dawn - RAW

I think Isla Dawn has a very interesting character. She also has the wrestling ability to boot, which is a great thing to see. Isla’s placing was tough to put a finger on, but one thing the Raw women’s division needs besides to be better in the ring, there only really good wrestlers are Natalya, Riott, Banks, and Bayley, is depth. Smackdown you can see almost anyone winning the women’s championship, while only those 4 previously listed prior could be legitimately seen as a threat. Also, the only woman not to even be considered for the Raw Women’s team at Survivor Series was Alicia Fox. The addition of Isla Dawn would help both of those situations immensely.

Jinny - RAW

I think that Jinny would make a fine addition for Raw. She is a lot smaller than some of the other women on the Raw roster, in muscle mass at least, but she packs such a mean punch. For those that don’t know it, Jinny is the leader of the stable for House of Couture, which consists of Jinny, Nina Samuels, Chakara, Charlie Morgan, and Laura Di Matteo. She has been the dominant heel leading this stable to then capture the Progress Women’s Championship. Who’s to say that the same thing can’t happen on Raw?

Killer Kelly - Smackdown Live

It is a shame that Killer Kelly didn’t get a deeper run in the Mae Young Classic. She is a fantastic talent and a great wrestler. Kelly offers something similar to Sonya Deville, in that she seems like a Ronda Rousey knockoff, but offers more concrete wrestling ability. Kelly would work great on Smackdown as she has all the wrestling ability to be able to hang with most of the women there. I think that she has all the tools that WWE wants in a wrestler, but I haven’t heard her cut a promo yet. She has the potential to be great and thrive in the WWE.

Millie McKenzie - Smackdown Live

Millie McKenzie is the future of the women’s division. There, I said it. And with what she has done so far on the independent scene, can you say that I’m wrong? The scariest part may be that she is only 18 years old and she’s this good. She is already teaming with Pete Dunne on the indy scene and has also been an honorary member of British Strong Style. Millie just fits perfectly into the Smackdown mold of them taking the younger wrestlers and letting them develop even more with them. Plus, I just really want to see Millie vs Becky because they would have a really good match.

Rhea Ripley - Smackdown Live

Rhea Ripley is the future of the women’s division. Look at what she has already done in the first two years of her WWE career. She had a great match with Dakota Kai in the Mae Young Classic in 2017. She made a run to the semifinals in 2018 and put on a great match against Io Shirai. She won the NXT UK Women’s championship in the inagural tournament for the championship. WWE is high on this Aussie, and rightfully so. She’s someone who should be considered perfect for the Smackdown roster given her ability and her age, 22, she fits the mold just like Millie does. She may be branded as a Charlotte Flair clone, but trust me in saying that she is far from that.

Toni Storm - Smackdown Live

Toni Storm is the future of the women’s divi…...okay this is getting redundant. It may be wrong to brand Toni as the future of the women’s division as she has been so good on the indy scene for some time now and her accolades speak for that. Over the course of her career, she has racked up 8 different reigns as a promotions women’s champion. She is someone who people have flocked to as she is just naturally charismatic. I think Smackdown is the perfect home for her, but I see the argument for Raw. She would work better on Smackdown because of the one big factor that she shares with Rhea and Millie, her age. Toni is only 23 and she has had her stage set for WWE to go all in on her once her call up comes. She won the Mae Young Classic defeating 2 legends in the world of women’s wrestling. I think her ceiling is a lot higher on Smackdown than it is on Raw.

Xia Brookside - RAW

I know I said that younger stars thrive over on Smackdown, and I think Xia would be in the same boat as the three women before her as she is only 20. But this is the same situation as it was with Isla Dawn earlier in this article. Raw needs depth and wrestlers that can be seen as legitimate threats. That is exactly what Xia is, and she would be able to develop if thrown in at the deep end with the women that are there to help her develop.

The Grizzled Young Veterans - RAW

How can you not boo these guys, I mean this team has Zack Gibson! These two are legit heat magnets. They would work well on Raw because, as discussed back on the Raw Call up article, Raw needs legit tag teams and these guys can offer that. They bring heat, they bring natural wrestling ability, they bring something that we haven’t seen in a long time and that is how The Revival were booked when they were in NXT. I think that a rivalry between Grizzled Young Veterans and The Revival would be something that fans could really get behind.

Gallus - RAW

This group doesn’t have a name yet, but its a group of 3 big men, and we all know how much Vince loves big men. In all seriousness, the Coffey Brothers and Wolfgang can go in the ring, and Joe may be the best wrestler that nobody is talking about right now. Wolfgang is the diamond in the rough from the 2017 UK Tournament. The only one I don’t know to much about is Mark Coffey. I think this group would go well on Raw because of two reasons. I think that with them on Raw, it adds some really good wrestlers to Raw’s tag team ranks, it also helps keep them away from the other trio in WWE, and that is New Day. After Dean turning his back on The Shield, if they need a 6-Man tag to round out the Survivor Series Card, then this would be the match for that.

Moustache Mountain - RAW

These guys were tough to decide on a landing spot. I think they would be great on both shows, but in the end the reason for them on Raw is the biggest glaring hole on Raw, the depth of the tag team roster. Outside of The Revival (Roode & Gable may not be a team for long) there are no real threats for the Raw Tag Team Championships, and Revival have been booked so bad they don’t seem like a threat at all. Moustache Mountain is a threat right off the back. I think that them on Raw, along with Dunne would be a great idea. You keep British Strong Style together and you allow them to wrestle together. Indy fans would love it and we get some dream matches we all want to see.