There’s a lot to unpack from this past week’s RAW and Smackdown Live, but let’s focus on the main thing that a good chunk of people are probably talking about: the debuts on the main roster of Ricochet, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa and Aleister Black.
On RAW, Triple H announced that the four would be competing that evening in various matches, while on Smackdown Shane McMahon followed suit. Ricochet was victorious in a tag team match with Finn Balor against Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush, while Gargano/Ciampa bested their old rivals the RAW tag team champions the Revival and Aleister Black pinned Elias.
On Smackdown, Ricochet fended off Eric Young, while Ciampa and Gargano defeated The Bar and Aleister Black defeated his old rival Andrade Cien Almas in the opening match. Overall, the matches were pretty solid, although the blue brand audience definitely reacted like they’ve actually subscribed to the Network and knew who these four men are.
But in terms of advancing their characters from NXT, these debuts didn’t do much in terms of that area.
Triple H basically announced these four, who are billed as the pinnacles of the NXT roster, will be competing without much of a surprise factor. It would have been better if Hunter simply announced that several NXT superstars would be showcased on RAW that night, but not reveal who which would have left fans guessing. If that had happened, Ricochet and Aleister Black’s segments would have been more positively surprising.
Shane McMahon’s way of bringing them out would make more sense if the four’s RAW debuts were a surprise instead of being previously announced. Nevertheless the matches were solid in establishing the four, although it is my opinion that Black’s match with Elias should have been a squash; there was no reason for it to go on as long as it did.
So is this going to lead to a continued NXT presence on the main rosters in the future? The one downside is what actually happened to the last batch of NXT callups before this change? Where do Lars Sullivan, EC3, Lacey Evans, Heavy Machinery and Nikki Cross fit in this new order? Now that we have the Women’s Tag Team titles, will we be seeing NXT alums Sasha Banks and Bayley showing up more at Full Sail to challenge the erstwhile teams popping up in the black and yellow brand?
Hopefully as the year progresses the product becomes better with the increased integration of the three brands. If there needs to be an infusion of fresh blood in the talent pool, NXT is the most likely source.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
Recent Comments