WWE History: Remembering the NXT season that never was
NXT is one of the hottest brands in wrestling today, but it had a very different origin. It started out as a seasonal elimination-style competition, where eight developmental talents would be tested in various different challenges en route to one of them winning the season and earning a WWE contract.
Various known WWE Superstars started out in this version of NXT, with the entire cast of Season 1 forming the Nexus and making an impact on RAW. This concept continued for five seasons before the creative direction for NXT was altered. A couple of years ago, WWE unearthed some lost footage of the planned sixth season of the show, which was subsequently canceled.
All eight competitors in this "lost" season went on to the WWE main roster, with varying degrees of success. Some of them are still in the company, while others are not. Either way, it is interesting to see the list of names who could have had a different start to life on WWE programming.
This was a solid cast, which could have made for an entertaining season. Here is every Superstar who was planned to be on Season 6 of the NXT game show, before it got canceled.
#8 Leo Kruger
Before becoming a 'party boy', Ray Leppan paid tribute to his South African roots by playing the character of Leo Kruger. It was intriguing, to say the least, with a real sense of danger and lunacy. Kruger looked to have a bright future until he was repackaged into Adam Rose.
He left NXT shortly after, but things did not go to plan. Rose floundered for a while after his party gimmick died out, eventually becoming a part of the Social Outcasts, a 4-man team featuring some of the lower card performers in WWE.
Rose was released in 2016 and began wrestling on the independent circuit, even bringing back his Leo Kruger persona. It was probably his best gimmick in WWE. He retired from pro wrestling in 2019.