For years, NXT's main purpose was to bring wrestlers from all over the world, train them to be WWE Superstars and eventually debut them on the main roster. But in the last year or two, NXT moved away from just being a developmental brand and became WWE's third brand after Raw and SmackDown.
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One thing that never changed was wrestlers getting "promoted" to the main roster. Oftentimes, wrestlers lose their titles and then jump ship to the main brands, but in certain cases, they get called up whilst in the middle of their reign. Also, it's pretty counterproductive for WWE to make these decisions, as it ruins a champion's storyline and spoils the end of their feud/title reign.
8 Karrion Kross
In July, Karrion Kross made his main roster debut on Monday Night Raw and faced Jeff Hardy. He was the NXT Champion at that time but still lost the match to Hardy in less than two minutes. Fans were very disappointed with his booking as WWE could've easily used local talent to give Kross a victory. He was undefeated at that time, and this loss really hurt his momentum.
Since the move was permanent, fans already knew that Kross would lose his title soon. And just a few weeks later, he dropped his NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver 36 against Samoa Joe (who, unfortunately, had to relinquish his title). Since the call-up, Kross hasn't really done much on the main roster.
7 Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins was the inaugural NXT Champion. He won the title after defeating Jinder Mahal in the Gold Rush Tournament's finals. But during that same year, WWE called him up to the main roster as part of The Shield.
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Rollins didn't lose his title immediately, but after a few weeks, he dropped the belt to Big E.
6 Kevin Owens
Kevin Owens made his main roster debut by answering John Cena's open challenge for the United States Championship. But before the match could take place, Owens attacked Cena. It led to a non-title match between them at Elimination Chamber which Owens shockingly won clean.
He was still the NXT Champion at that time and even defended it several times on the main roster. Owens eventually lost his belt to Finn Balor at The Beast in the East event, which happened in July.
5 Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks won the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Rival. Some months later, she got called up to the main roster and debuted on Monday Night Raw alongside Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch.
At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, Banks faced Bayley and dropped her NXT Women's Title at the show. This was one of the best rivalries in WWE history and received a ton of praise from fans worldwide.
4 Paige
Paige was the first-ever NXT Women's Champion. After the title was introduced in 2013, WWE hosted an eight-woman single-elimination tournament to decide the inaugural champion. In the finals, Paige defeated Emma to win the title. She was also one of the only two women who never officially lost their NXT Women's Championship.
The night after WrestleMania 30, Paige made her main roster debut and challenged AJ Lee for the Divas Championship. She surprisingly won the match and became the youngest Divas Champion in WWE history. She was then stripped of her NXT Women's Title due to joining the main roster.
3 Big E
The current WWE Champion Big E was the second-ever NXT Champion in history. In December 2012, Big E defeated Rollins in a No DQ match to win the NXT Championship.
Shortly after that, Big E made his main roster debut on an episode of Raw as AJ Lee's bodyguard. He even wrestled several matches on the main roster before finally losing his NXT Championship to Bo Dallas in May 2013.
2 Tommaso Ciampa
Tommasso Ciampa first won the NXT Championship in July 2018 after he defeated Aleister Black. The next year, WWE called him up to the main roster and he debuted on Raw. He also teamed up with Johnny Gargano and faced The Revival.
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Before he could do more, however, Ciampa was forced to relinquish his NXT Championship due to an injury and undergo surgery. When he finally recovered, WWE sent him back to NXT where he feuded with The Undisputed Era. Since then, Ciampa hasn't jumped ship to the main roster again.
1 Johnny Gargano
Johnny Gargano was also promoted to the main roster alongside Tomasso Ciampa in 2019. Technically, he was still the NXT North American Champion at that time.
Shortly after Gargano won the title, WWE taped his title defense against Velveteen Dream. They shot two different endings for the match; one where he lost and the other where he retained the belt. Just two days after Johnny's main roster call-up, WWE aired his match against Dream where he lost. His main roster run could've been awesome and WWE even planned a feud for him but due to Ciampa's injury, they were forced to cancel their plans.
