Fans were surprised to see four top NXT stars on Raw this week but nobody was more surprised than some of the WWE Raw talent.
According to Mike Johnson on PWInsider, there were wrestlers wondering why these four wrestlers were brought up and there was concern about more roster spots being taken. Remember, WWE brought up NXT stars last month but creative hasn’t really found anything good for them to do as of yet because there aren’t many spots available.
“Four NXT stars were brought up,” Johnson said. “They were not at the Elimination Chamber. I can tell you from speaking to a number of people who work on the main roster, no one seemed to have any knowledge or understanding that they were coming to work the show. When they showed up, there was definitely some side eye at these guys going ‘ok, why are they all here? why are they all working Raw?’ There were definitely some talents who have been brought up within the last couple of months who really have kind of just floated around not due to their issues but just due to how they were treated on creative. They were kind of like ‘oh, are they coming for my spot? what’s going on here?'”
Johnson continued, “For the first time in a while, not that there was anger or resentment against the quartet that showed up last night [but] we definitely heard some feedback from some WWE talents who were paying closer attention to their own spot and what these talents coming up could mean for their spot. I don’t mean people who just came up to the roster from NXT. I’m talking about existing mid-card talent who haven’t gotten a lot or are just starting to get a little bit of a push again. There was definitely some whispering among each other like ‘hey what’s going on here?'”
Based on how the call-ups were presented on Raw, they will be on the main roster full-time. Gargano has a North American title match against Velveteen Dream that will air on this week’s episode of NXT. The match was taped a couple of weeks ago and it was done in a way so that fans in the building did not know if a title change occurred or if Gargano retained. Through editing, they can present whatever finish they want to it’s certainly possible that Gargano will no longer be recognized as NXT North American Champion after tomorrow night. It’s always possible to keep them on NXT to wrap up storylines and have them wrestle on Raw at the same time.
WWE’s roster continues to grow as they continue to expand with Performance Center’s around the world. The big problem they have now is they have more wrestlers than ever before sitting on the sidelines.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit PWInsider with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
