NXT Advent Calendar Day 23: The future is bright for NXT

While NXT is always in flux thanks to the nature of WWE call ups, it is also a promotion that is now frequently bringing in great independent talent to heighten the action. While folks like Finn Balor, Kevin Owens and Apollo Crews have made huge impacts in the last year, the company still has more hires waiting to make their debut.

Rich Swann still doesn't have a WWE ring name, but he's easily the most accomplished of WWE's non-televised talent. A regular in Dragon Gate USA, EVOLVE and CZW, he made a name for himself both for his amazing high flying style but also for his love for fun and a bit of humor. I've got two great matches featuring him below, the first against unsigned NXT talent Johnny Gargano and the other against three other future WWE/NXT talents: Sami Callihan (formerly Solomon Crowe), Luke Harper and Neville.




Athena was one of the top female stars on the indies, wrestling both men and women and finishing them with the incredible to watch O-Face, a top rope diving corkscrew stunner. Here she is in a battle with indie superstar Mia Yim, otherwise known as TNA's Jade. Now signed and working live events under a variation of her real name Adrien Reese, I would expect her to get a new name before she debuts.


Biff Busick was signed with Swann and Athena, and has also made his live event debut under his real name. A regular in both EVOLVE and CZW, his highly technical style brought him the most recognition in PWG. He even made the painful acquaintance of a woman that made her WWE debut at this year's Wrestlemania, one Ronda Rousey.


PWG has fun pretending they don't know their famous fan, but Busick was a guy that could be serious in the ring. Take a look at this technical classic against current EVOLVE champion Timothy Thatcher, from another Busick regular stop, the Beyond Wrestling promotion.


With all three of these stars likely to make their television debut in the next few months, I suspect 2016 will only continue NXT's rise as the best pro wrestling brand in the world today.

WWE get four new signings to seriously boost the NXT roster

Over the last week, four different independent stars have been revealed as new WWE stars, all in the wake of the announcement of Kana's new ring name Asuka. None have planned debuts as of yet, but they are all likely to make an impact in the months ahead.

Sarah Stock as Sarita in TNA.
Image credit: Ribbon Salminen.

The first signing is former CMLL and TNA star Sarah Stock (a.k.a. Sarita) who will be joining Sara D'Amato as the second female trainer at the Performance Center. She joins an already great list of trainers including head trainer Matt "Albert" Bloom, Billy Gunn, Robbie Brookside, Adam Pearce, Steve Keirn and Norman Smiley.

Battle of Los Angeles takes over Reseda this weekend!

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla consistently puts on some of the best wrestling in the world from their homebase in sunny Reseda, California. The company has become a local hotspot with celebrities and those in the know flocking to their burgeoning business. Every year in late August or early September they throw one of their two annual tournaments, the single elimination, 24-person Battle of Los Angeles.

This year they have brought their widest range of talent ever into the event with names from the UK and from Mexico (via Lucha Underground.) In fact the tournament has so many Lucha Underground stars that an all lucha final could actually happen. The company usually uses the tournament to set up their regular talents or new stars they plan to use regularly, but there's two things you can be sure of in PWG: 1. expect the unexpected and 2. know the Young Bucks will always win the tag titles back.