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In the aftermath of Elimination Chamber 2019, WWE Universe would have expected the storylines to move forward towards the road to WrestleMania 35.
However, fans were in for a surprise when the COO of WWE, Triple H announced in the opening segment of Monday Night Raw episode of February 18, 2019 that four of the biggest Superstars of NXT (Ricochet, Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) would be making their respective debuts during the episode.
All of the above-mentioned names are, without a shadow of a doubt, some of the best wrestlers in the world right now and have helped to make NXT the global brand that it is today. Their main roster debuts on a random episode of Monday Night Raw came out of nowhere and considering how the episode was booked, the occasion left a lot to be desired.
Let's look at the reasons as to why the move didn't work.
#1 The abrupt reunion of #DIY
The rivalry between two former best friends and #DIY members Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa has been one of the best pieces of storytelling ever shown under the WWE banner. The complexity of emotions and unpredictable nature of the characters involved has catapulted the quality of the show NXT as well as the careers of both the Superstars.
Tommaso Ciampa is the current NXT Champion, who had defeated Gargano for the title after his remorseless and heel tactics helped him win an arduous battle. On the other hand, Gargano was the NXT North American Champion (the championship was won by Velveteen Dream in the 20 February 2019 episode of NXT) and his character was tilted towards being more of a heel in the recent months.
Although Ciampa and Gargano had shared the stage in the closing images of NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, a #DIY reunion wasn't made official and the storyline remained a subject of intrigue and speculation for the fans.
Cut to the Monday Night Raw and out of nowhere these two former bitter rivals reunited in their main roster debut and squared off against The Revival who are the current Raw Tag Team Champions. Furthermore, the heel-face dynamics of NXT did not seem to matter on Raw as #DIY were shown to be the clear faces. The complex storyline of NXT for all of 2018 was turned naively simplistic on Monday Night Raw for the masses.
#2 Inconsistent booking decisions which undermined the main roster characters
Here, I would like to quote two examples. First is related to the previous point, wherein Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano went up against The Revival.
Notably, The Revival had won the Raw Tag Team Championships after months and months of bad booking decisions and borderline-improper treatment. This title win indicated that finally, the things may get better for The Revival, who were also speculated to be moving on from WWE.
However, contrary to these indications, The Revival lost against #DIY, which was an inevitable outcome given that Ciampa and Gargano were making their main roster debuts.
The WWE creative ran themselves into a corner by booking this match. Furthermore, considering the quality of matches these two teams have had in the past, they deserved a far greater stage than just a random episode of Monday Night Raw.
The second example involves the main roster debut of Ricochet. At Elimination Chamber 2019, we were shown that the alliance of Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush had come to an end after Lio Rush cost Lashley the Intercontinental Championship against Finn Bálor.
On the very next night, undermining whatever had happened at Elimination Chamber, Lio Rush and Bobby Lashley were together once again to attack Finn Bálor, who was then rescued by Ricochet. We then had a tag team match between the Intercontinental Champion, Finn Bálor and the main roster debutant, Ricochet against the earlier-disbanded-now-reunited team of Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush.
Once again, main roster Superstars and their storylines were disrupted and undermined for the sake of a hasty main roster debut of an NXT Superstar.
#3 The crowd didn't respond well enough
The crowd responses and reactions play an enormous role in elevating the drama which the Superstars and the creative team of the WWE try to create each and every week. If the crowd is lively and energetic, then even a perfunctory moment can be turned into a memorable one. On the other side of the spectrum, lack of crowd reactions sucks the entire energy out of even an amazing wrestling spectacle.
The February 18, 2019 episode of Monday Night Raw took place in Lafayette, LA and considering the magnitude of surprise the WWE had in store for us with the debuts of NXT Superstars, the crowd reaction was rather underwhelming throughout the night. Despite having four of the best wrestlers in the world right now making their main roster debuts, there weren't enough reactions on their entries or their extraordinary move sets.
What should have been a well-orchestrated move of adding some mind-boggling wrestlers into the main roster, seems to have turned into a quickly put up show just to shore up the ratings and viewership of Raw.
