With an episode of SmackDown, RAW, and NXT now officially in the books, it's clear the WWE Universe has officially entered into a new era.

The 24/7 title was nowhere to be found on any of the shows – which is a welcomed change from the certified spot-fest on the July 18th edition of RAW – there's been more in-ring wrestling than some fans grew accustomed to, and, in a weird twist of fate, performers like Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman, two of the top guys in the company, have started taking shots at their recently retired former boss, with the former levying some absolutely brutal shots at Theory and his “Daddy.”

Sidebar: Goodness, Reigns said Daddy so many times, I'm sort of surprised Effy didn't call up “Smart” Mark Sterling and/or Stephen P. New about gimmick infringement.

Though we likely won't see any “real” changes to WWE for some time, as Mr. McMahon's plans for SummerSlam will likely hold strong save maybe the occasional finish, the man born Paul Levesque now has the potential to really re-shape the promotion in his image, and build on the foundation he once set in NXT to become a full-on, cross-brand machine.

Will formerly buried stars start to peek out of their holes and return to the spotlight once more? You bet; it's hard to imagine Tomasso Ciampa remaining a fame-seeking lackey of The Miz for much longer but hey, that the only beneficiaries of this creative shakeup aren't the performers stuck in on-roster purgatory. No, Triple H's return to the promotion and elevation to the top creative mind opens up an opportunity for performers who maybe weren't on the roster before they were released by the company due to a combination of “budget cuts” and a lack of ideas from creative.

With Hunter at the helm, who knows, maybe a few familiar faces may make their return to the company after all.

2 former NXT performers who should return to the WWE thanks to Triple H.

2. Dakota Kai

Once upon a time, Dakota Kai was a very popular NXT performer. An alumnus of Shimmer, who once held the tag team titles with a performer then known as Heidi Lovelace, Kai won the NXT Tag Team Championships twice with Raquel Gonzalez, earned high praise from Shawn Michaels, and most recently wrestled Mandy Rose for the NXT Women's Championship just before her release back in April.

Now granted, Kai reportedly expressed a disinterest in re-signing with the company when her deal came to an end, which likely played at least a little bit into the company's decision, but hey, that likely had more to do with the development of NXT 2.0 than her relationship with the men of DX.

So, with Triple H back in control and Gonzalez working out pretty well on the main roster, why not give the woman now known as King Kota a call and see if she wants to take another run at Rose before being elevated up to SmackDown to take part in the Woman's Tag Team Championship tournament that was supposed to happen back in June but has yet to happen likely due to a lack of viable teams.

1. Karrion Kross

One of the true tragedies of Triple H's late run in NXT is how Killer-now-Karrion Kross was treated before his NXT Championship match with Samoa Joe.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Triple H next to The Rock with the WWE logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Kevin Nash with a text bubble reading "It shows why he’s an indie-riffic guy" next to Will Ospreay with the AEW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Will Ospreay with a text bubble reading "You have no idea what I fight for!" with Triple H on his left and Dave Meltzer on his right and the AEW Dynamite logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Built up for months as an unstoppable force with an act-elevating assistant by his side in Scarlett, Kross was an old-school, dare I say Triple H-esque baddie who looked primed to become a mainstay of either RAW or SmackDown, if not an outright star in the same vein of NXT UK's Walter-now-Gunther.

… but then Vince McMahon booked Kross to lose a RAW match to Jeff Hardy in just under two minutes in his main roster debut, and suddenly, the spell was broken. With his match versus Joe still a month away, Kross traded wins with Keith Lee on RAW, and even after a pair of wins versus Hardy to build into his NXT TakeOver 36 match, but his hype was effectively gone. Factor out Scarlett and in very weird Gladiator gimmick and Kross' release was largely viewed as a generous act to keep the 37-year-old from wasting his prime in catering.

Still, it's clear Trips saw something in Kross he liked, and with his indie dates all being of the per-appearance variety, there's little reason to believe he couldn't be convinced to return to either NXT or the WWE and pick up where the 14-time champion booked him to be from 2020-21.

Karrion Kross did once say he wanted to be a WWE lifer; this could be his opportunity to make that happen.