NXT's black and gold was our first real look into what a show could look like under Triple H's

command. The men and women on this list have all gone onto vastly different career paths,

but wherever they are now, they were on top of their game when they were holding onto

championships in WWE's third brand. I'm cy for what culture.com and these are the 10 best

NXT champions of the black and gold era. 10. Bo Dallas

It seems appropriate to open this list with Bo Dallas as his time at the top of NXT was a real

moment of clarity for the promotion. To recap, Bo Dallas was a third-generation wrestling

prospect that the company picked as their developmental system's next golden boy. However,

the cheery cheese of Dallas's babyface stick was a little too forced for most people. Thus

began a story that showed the earliest inkling of NXT's potential, facilitated by the fact

that Falsail University was a small and devoted audience. To show their disinterested babyface Bo,

the crowd quite literally turned their back on him. Whilst Dallas's opponents in Adrian

Neville and Sami Zayn were no slouches, his greatest feud was with the homegrown audience.

It's an out-dallas to really show his range. He became a spoiled brat who thought of himself

as inspiring, but was really just an egotistical nuisance. He carried the NXT Championship at the

height of his pomp and Falsail fans clearly had a riot, hating him, which came across on screen.

Whilst previous champions Rollins and Big E are absolutely nothing to be sniffed at,

Dallas's time with the title represents one of the defining gimmicks of NXT's early developmental days.

9. Sasha Banks It goes to show just how many great champions NXT

had that the boss enters at just number 9. Don't take this placement as a slight against

Sasha Banks. She was at the forefront of one of the most important moments in WWE history

when she got her hands on the NXT Women's Championship. Whilst the company bleated

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