WWE NXT Big Board: Updated Prospect Rankings and Analysis for October 29

Samoa Joe and Chad Gable are forcing WWE rethink its plans for the two NXT prospects.

The Samoan Submission Machine is supposed to just be a means for added star power on NXT, a veteran presence to push the young guns. Gable's size made him an unlikely candidate for anything beyond the NXT midcard.

Both men keep performing at a level that shows them to be more than expected. 

Joe's fiery intensity is well worth exploiting on the main roster. He keeps churning out high-quality bouts like the one he did against Tyler Breeze on Wednesday's NXT.

As for Gable, he and Jason Jordan had the Full Sail University crowd abuzz that same night. His popularity continues to grow. His resume continues to expand with strong showings.

In the women's division, Alexa Bliss is having similar success. Nia Jax, meanwhile, is going to need to make some major progress to catch up to the top women on the roster.

The following is a look at where those wrestlers and their peers stack up in terms of potential to succeed on the main roster. A combination of ring work, mic skills, gimmick, look, size and charisma determines their place on the rankings.

Male Wrestlers

Rank	Wrestler	Height/Weight	Notes
1.	Finn Balor	5'11'', 190 lbs	Excellent showman, highly marketable, "it" factor aplenty, top-notch athlete.
2.	Samoa Joe	6'2'', 279 lbs	Off-the-charts intensity, versatile in the ring, strong promos, top-notch presence.
3.	Sami Zayn	6'1'', 205 lbs	Superb showman, fun move set, great crowd connection, inconsistent talker.
4.	Apollo Crews	6'1'', 240 lbs	Very likable, stellar athlete, good charisma, average on the mic.
5.	James Storm	6'1'', 227 lbs	Looking energized by move to NXT, strong presence, excellent brawler, not in great shape
6.	Colin Cassady	6'10'', 276 lbs	Good movement for big man, intense, strong connection with crowd.
7.	Baron Corbin	6'8'', 275 lbs	Can't consistently deliver in the ring, good presence, great look-size.
8.	Jason Jordan	6'3'', 245 lbs	High ceiling, great athlete, starting to get overshadowed by Chad Gable.
9.	Hideo Itami	5'9'', 182 lbs	Showing more charisma, making progress as mic worker, electric in the ring.
10.	Solomon Crowe	5'10'', 207 lbs	Excellent striker, good aggression, strong mic work, character in limbo at the moment.
11.	Chad Gable	5'8'', 187 lbs	Growing connection with crowd, makes mat wrestling fun, great energy, showing more personality of late.
12.	Scott Dawson	5'10'', 224 lbs	Excellent tag team wrestler, intense, skilled brawler, lacks oomph in mic work.
13.	Simon Gotch	6'1'', 221 lbs	Strong sense of character, fun ring work, good presence.
14.	Tye Dillinger	6'3'', 223 lbs	Excelling with current gimmick, good showmanship, smooth ring work.
15.	Bull Dempsey	6'2'', 300 lbs	Turned into a comedy act, good brawler, struggling to make current persona work.
16.	Aiden English	6'3'', 215 lbs	Good showmanship, solid charisma, average in the ring.
17.	Enzo Amore	5'11'', 200 lbs	Unimpressive ring work, funny, charismatic, better suited for manager role.
18.	Dash Wilder	5'10'', 222 lbs	Best suited for tag team role, good brawling, intense, underwhelming talker.
19.	Sawyer Fulton	6'8'', 285 lbs	Aggressive, good size, needs to find right gimmick.
20.	Mojo Rawley	6'4'', 290 lbs	Agile, intense, one-dimensional as character, too limited of a move set.

Prospects just outside the top 20: Blake, Murphy, Steve Cutler.

The Samoan Intensity Machine

Before Breeze fully settled into his role on the main roster, he came back to NXT to face an enraged beast.

As well as Prince Pretty performed here, it's Joe who stood out throughout. The powerhouse plays the role of stalking predator extremely well. It was hard not to get excited seeing him stalk Breeze in the ring.

His intensity popped off the screen.

Some wrestlers act intense, but a seething, snarling Joe feels real. It's easy to buy him as a destructive force.

Joe nailed Breeze with picture-perfect chops to the chest. He flew out of the ring like a man his size shouldn't be capable of doing. And he has been doing all this for a long time now.

WWE may not have been planning on promoting him, but he continues to give it reasons to do just that.

Chad Gable Making His Case

Against NXT guests Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, Gable put on a clinic. In a tag team match with Jordan at his side, the former Olympic wrestler energized the crowd.

There is an impressive ease about Gable's ring work. He moves from hold to hold like it's something he can do blindfolded.

And he makes mat wrestling a joy to watch. He puts an infectious energy into everything from a wristlock to a bridge.

Credit: WWE.com

The crowd is responding in a big way. Gable earned the biggest reactions of the night, turning up the volume of the audience throughout the matchup.

WWE has to be unsure of how to proceed here. He's far smaller than the prototypical wrestler. He'd be a perfect fit for a cruiserweight division were it to exist. 

As it stands, it's hard to imagine the company buying into him enough to promote him to the main roster and putting him any higher than where Bo Dallas currently sits. That being said, Gable is doing everything he can to prove that he can be more than that.

The more momentum he picks up, the more he continues to grow in the showmanship part of the equation, the tougher he's going to make it on WWE's decision-makers.

Female Wrestlers

Rank	Wrestler	Height	Notes
1.	Bayley	5'6''	Top-notch in-ring storyteller, strong connection with crowd, potential to be WWE's biggest female star.
2.	Alexa Bliss	5'1''	Thriving as heel, strong presence, much improved in the ring.
3.	Asuka	5'3''	Skilled submission artist, captivating, strong facial expressions.
4.	Dana Brooke	5'3''	Ring work steadily improving, overacts, comes off as fake on the mic, good athlete.
5.	Carmella	5'5''	Great energy, raw/inconsistent in the ring.
6.	Nia Jax	6'0''	Intense, powerful, doesn't look comfortable in the ring yet, needs to improve presence.
7.	Billie Kay	5'8''	Good power, intensity needs work, OK presence.
8.	Eva Marie	5'8''	Generates heat, improving (but still needs major work) in the ring, good look, stilted mic worker.
9.	Peyton Royce	5'7''	Underwhelming striker, lack of snap to offense, nondescript persona.

Alexa Bliss Keeps Surging

In a division lacking in strong talkers, Bliss is blowing by the competition.

She's the cocky, dismissive cheerleader who rejected you in high school times 10. She's increasingly comfortable with being cruel. And each week, she shows off how hard she's been working on producing with a mic in hand.

Bliss' lines don't feel like something she has memorized. They feel like part of a real rant from a convincing villain.

On Wednesday night, she again mocked Bayley with her boys at her back. She effectively riled up the crowd while promising to take the women's title from the fan favorite.

She's what The Bella Twins' characters should be. She's not yet ready in-ring wise to be at the top of the NXT ladder, but that part of her game is moving in the right direction as well.

Bliss has begun to separate herself from the division's second tier and is closing in on Bayley.

Don't Plan the Nia Jax Parade Just Yet

Jax's first act of destruction caught the crowd's attention. Her second time dismantling a victim in front of a live audience showed off more of her flaws.

She's plenty powerful and intense, but she seemed unsure of what to do with her body at times on Wednesday night. Sometimes her arms hung limp at her side. Sometimes she missed opportunities for showmanship, not playing to the crowd enough.

Some of Jax's offense was not fierce enough. She would follow a flaccid strike with a thunderous power move.

Consistency is something she needs to work on, in addition to mastering the nuances of the mat game. She doesn't give off either a babyface or heel vibe. 

As Fighting Spirit Magazine pointed out, she has work ahead of her:

On the plus side, she had much better gear this time. In her debut, she wore an ill-fitting outfit that looked like a stitched-together rug. This time around, she emerged in something befitting a character from Mad Max.