WWE NXT Big Board: Updated Prospect Rankings and Analysis for November 28

As WWE NXT hyped up its next live special, Bayley and Finn Balor made the most of their time in the spotlight.

Bayley made the audience emotional through revealing a bit of herself and suffering on stage. Balor faced a man who has been acting as NXT's yardstick and made it clear that he's already comfortable between WWE's ropes.

The Thanksgiving edition of NXT didn't feature all upward movement, though. Marcus Louis, for one, watched other prospects pass him by.

The following rankings identify who is most ready for the main roster and who would most thrive once they got there. Ring skills, mic work, looks, size, charisma and gimmick all play a factor in who sits where on the list.

Only prospects who have debuted on TV are considered. That means Solomon Crowe and Chad Gable are left out for now. Kevin Steen (now Kevin Owens) is certainly going to rearrange the rankings once he arrives on Dec. 11.

The Superstars

Rank	Wrestler	Height/Weight	Notes
1.	Sami Zayn	6'1'', 205 lbs	Top-notch in-ring storyteller, great connection with the crowd, progressing as a talker.
2.	Adrian Neville	5'10'', 194 lbs	Stellar high-flyer, excellent in the ring overall, needs improvement on mic work.
3.	Finn Balor	5'11'', 179 lbs	High-level ring worker, good look, fantastic athlete, satisfactory on the mic.
4.	Tyler Breeze	6'0'', 190 lbs	Smooth and athletic in ring, excellent at working his model gimmick.
5.	Hideo Itami	5'9'', 182 lbs	Will produce great matches, experienced, athletic, limited English-language skills.
6.	Colin Cassady	6'10'', 276 lbs	Big, charismatic, slowly stepping out of Enzo Amore's shadow.
7.	Bull Dempsey	6'2'', 300 lbs	Explosive, powerful, working heel gimmick effectively, one of NXT's better talkers.
8.	Kalisto	5'6'', 170 lbs	Top-tier high-flyer, incredibly agile and quick, size is an issue.
9.	Viktor	6'2'', 219 lbs	Excellent mat worker, above-average mic skills, good presence.
10.	Konnor	6'4'', 265 lbs	Powerful big man, good showmanship and intensity, limited on the mic.
11.	Aiden English	6'3'', 215 lbs	Charismatic, good on the mic, solid and well-rounded in the ring.
12.	Enzo Amore	5'11'', 200 lbs	Poor in the ring, elite on the mic, extremely charismatic, better suited as a manager.
13.	Simon Gotch	6'1'', 221 lbs	High-level showman, charismatic, works gimmick into his ring work well.
14.	Baron Corbin	6'8'', 275 lbs	Great size and look, rare presence, raw and inexperienced in the ring.
15.	Jason Jordan	6'3'', 245 lbs	Athletic, marketable look, dependable mat wrestler.
16.	Buddy Murphy	5'11'', 227 lbs	Strong, explosive, has bodybuilder look WWE has coveted historically.
17.	Scott Dawson	5'10'', 224 lbs	Excellent brawler and ring worker, lacks star power compared to NXT's best.
18.	CJ Parker	6'3'', 220 lbs	Solid and dependable in the ring, good-not-great talker, works gimmick well.
19.	Dash Wilder	5'10'', 222 lbs	Good footwork, smooth in the ring, hasn't shown much charisma yet.
20.	Mojo Rawley	6'4'', 290 lbs	Explosive, great athlete, raw and limited in the ring, struggling with showmanship.

Prospects just outside the top 20: Tye Dillinger, Wesley Blake, Marcus Louis.

Finn Balor, Ready for Liftoff 

Enjoy Balor's work at NXT while you can. He'll be on the main roster before long.

The former NJPW star is too polished, athletic and compelling to stick around Full Sail University for more than a few months.

Against Tyson Kidd, he showed off his readiness for a call-up. In the match's early moments, he and Kidd relied on mat wrestling. They jockeyed for position on the canvas, building toward the faster-paced portion of the bout.

Balor later hit a subdued version of the brainbuster for a near-fall. The stiffer version of the move is one he relied on in Japan. Adjusting his move set as he did in this instance will be key to his transition to WWE. 

He and Kidd produced a quality contest, something that would fit right in on Raw or SmackDown. Balor already looks like a main roster star; he already looks like a star.

His pre-match promo wasn't especially impressive, but he showed enough charisma to not prevent him moving up the ladder.

Tye Dillinger Left Behind

His current partnership nearing its end, Dillinger is set to struggle to stay relevant.

Going up against The Lucha Dragons, he and Jason Jordan looked good. They had good chemistry together and worked in some enjoyable double-team moves. Unfortunately, Jordan has a different destiny ahead of him.

Credit: WWE.com

Jordan has been working with the Shoot Nation faction at NXT house shows. The growing, black-clad group does not include Dillinger.

As much potential as the Dillinger-Jordan duo had, WWE appears to be abandoning it.

A good seller and solid mat worker, Dillinger just doesn't have the "it" factor that his partner does. In a crowded field of prospects, he will have a tough time making it as a singles wrestler.

Marcus Louis' Moment

It's hard to tell how much of Louis' floundering is his fault and how much of it is that he is shackled by a silly gimmick.

Being angry and nutty thanks to a forced haircut is a tough shtick to pull off. Louis isn't succeeding.

Before his blink-of-an-eye match with Tyler Breeze, Louis lurched toward the ring with a towel on his head. He was part cartoon, part monster. His acting skills aren't enough to make this enraged-beast act work.

Credit: WWE.com

WWE gave him his biggest moment to date, shining the spotlight on him as he burst into a tantrum. He was not impressive.

This isn't the gimmick that will propel him or that maximizes his skills. He needs to do more fighting and less acting; he's far better at the former than the latter.

The Divas

Rank	Wrestler	Height	Notes
1.	Sasha Banks	5'5''	Polished, thriving with current gimmick, top-level in-ring skills, just below Charlotte in terms of mic work.
2.	Charlotte	5'10''	Natural magnetism, becoming a ring general, great presence in the ring.
3.	Bayley	5'6''	Increasingly popular, charismatic, works her gimmick extremely well, good in the ring but could use refinement.
4.	Alexa Bliss	5'1''	Improving in the ring, athletic, fun energy, marketable look.
5.	Becky Lynch	5'6''	Athletic, experienced, good all-around wrestler, struggles with showmanship.
6.	Carmella	5'5''	Good presence, athletic, a natural at showmanship, still raw in the ring.

Becky Lynch Falls

Lynch is a better mat worker and more experienced performer than Alexa Bliss and Carmella. That's only one element in the total package that makes up a wrestler, though.  

She has not been convincing as a heel. Sasha Banks is blowing her out of the water in that department.

When she and Banks attacked Bayley, Banks' viciousness drew one's eyes in. Lynch wasn't as nasty or eye-catching.

Carmella and Bliss, meanwhile, are flourishing in their own roles. Carmella is a work in progress in the ring, but she's already feeling like a bigger star than Lynch. A bit of refinement and an expanded move set will have The Princess of Staten Island surpass Banks.

Bayley the Babyface

Her speech about her childhood run-ins with bullies isn't going to challenge for the best promo of all time, but Bayley showed off more of her ability to connect with the crowd.

She continually proves that she's going to be a popular babyface on the main roster. There's a likable quality about her that already has the NXT audience fully behind her. 

When Banks and Lynch ambushed her, she did well to create empathy as she writhed on the mat. A part of that is her acting ability, and a part of it is how well she has worked her gimmick. It's hard not to root for her at this point.

It's that element of her game that creates such a gap between No. 3 and No. 4 on the rankings.