WWE News: WWE Locker room responds to debuts of NXT call-ups
What's the story?
According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, the WWE fans weren't the only ones who were surprised by the Raw and SmackDown debuts of Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa, Ricochet and Aleister Black.
Not only was Triple H unaware of the stars appearing on main-roster television, but Johnson reports that the main-roster locker room 'were left confused and curious why these four superstars were brought up'. SEScoops.com carried the report from Johnson.
In case you didn't know...
At the end of 2018, the McMahon family promised that new superstars would be debuting at the beginning of 2019 that would create fresh match ups and storylines.
While the original thought was that those superstars were limited to Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, Heavy Machinery, EC3 and Lars Sullivan, the debuts of four of the top superstars in NXT this week took a lot of people by surprise.
The appearances of Ricochet, Black, Gargano and Ciampa were welcome sights to the WWE fans who follow the NXT product, but they might have put a strain on current members of the main roster.
The heart of the matter
Johnson was apparently on the scene to speak with several of the main-roster superstars regarding the surprise appearance of four more new faces.
“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?’”
Since there are already so many superstars on both Raw and SmackDown, it might have made an already crowded scene even tighter.
Johnson added although there was no “resentment” towards the four men, he “[…] 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?’”
With WrestleMania season upon us and everyone clamoring to stand out and get a spot on the Grandest Stage of Them All, some wrestlers might have to bring it more than usual.
What's next?
While it's great to see four new, exciting superstars like the ones who showed up this week, it does put a strain on the already overcrowded roster.
WWE is sometimes its own worst enemy when it comes to overbooking or underbooking superstars. It often leads to disillusionment from those stars who feel underpushed and underappreciated.
They booked the Raw Tag Team Champions, the Revival, to lose to the debuting Gargano and Ciampa while also having Elias fall to Black.
Stars like Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura already are barely on television, so with four more new mouths to feed, they'll likely get even less air time.
Not to mention that more superstars will likely be asking for their releases if they feel they aren't going to be featured at all. Tye Dillinger won't be the last person to be requesting his release from WWE.