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Over recent weeks, WWE RAW has been hit with dropping ratings. The TLC go-home show of the Red Brand suffered the lowest viewership yet, with a lowly 1.527 million fans watching on average.
The backstage reaction among WWE staff isn't said to be great. The viewership of the RAW following TLC did rise as expected, but ratings have been consistently lower lately.
There are many ways WWE could boost their flagging RAW ratings, including big title changes, or pushes of fan favorites on the roster.
As well as this, WWE NXT is now as popular as ever. It could be worth a main roster move for one of the stars of the Black and Gold Brand over to Monday nights.
#5 Pete Dunne could boost WWE's ratings
Pete Dunne has been one of the most dominant stars of WWE NXT UK. He reached the finals of the WWE NXT UK Championship Tournament, before losing to Tyler Bate. He then won the title from Tyler Bate in May 2017 and is the longest-reigning champion so far.
Pete Dunne is now one of the biggest stars of NXT and recently turned heel. The Bruiserweight is possibly one of the most unique stars on the NXT roster and was part of the first NXT title match on a WWE main roster pay-per-view (vs. NXT Champion Adam Cole at Survivor Series 2019).
In NXT, Pete Dunne has been an NXT Tag Team Champion alongside Riddle, who is now active on the RAW roster. Maybe Dunne could join his former teammate on WWE's Red Brand?
Throughout his WWE career, Pete Dunne has been a Superstar that has always received a great fan reception. Dunne has the in-ring skill and charisma to be a success on RAW. There are multiple stars on WWE's Red Brand that could be involved in a great rivalry with Pete Dunne.
#4 Karrion Kross (and Scarlett) could boost WWE's ratings
Karrion Kross and Scarlett signed to WWE earlier this year and made their debut on NXT in April following a series of vignettes.
The pair quickly made a target of then-NXT Champion Keith Lee and often observed his matches from afar. On one occasion, Scarlett confronted Lee with a sand timer in the ring following a match.
In the build-up to the title match between Lee and Kross, Scarlett even attacked Keith Lee with a fireball which she seemingly concealed in the match contract between Lee and Kross.
Despite being forced to relinquish the NXT Championship the day after winning the title at NXT TakeOver: XXX, Karrion Kross has emerged as one of the breakout stars of the Black and Gold Brand this year. He rocketed straight to the top of the match card on the weekly show.
The duo of Karrion Kross and Scarlett is one of the most unique partnerships on WWE television at the moment, and the pair have stood out in a great way on NXT in 2020. The pair would be a great addition to the WWE RAW roster, and would certainly increase viewership.
#3 Adam Cole (and the Undisputed Era) could boost WWE's ratings
Over the past few years, Adam Cole has been one of the defining stars of NXT. Before signing with WWE, Cole was a huge star on the independent wrestling scene and appeared in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Since signing to WWE, Adam Cole was established as the leader of the Undisputed Era, with Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly by his side. The group was later joined by Roderick Strong, who turned on his tag team partner Pete Dunne in the finals of the 2018 Dusty Rhodes tag team classic to help the group win.
In 2019, Adam Cole won the NXT Championship. As champion, Cole successfully defended the title against multiple top NXT talents, including Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.
Cole beat Finn Balor's record of being the longest-reigning NXT Champion, holding the NXT Championship for 403 days.
During his NXT career, Adam Cole has held the NXT Tag Team Championships, the NXT North American Championship, and the NXT Championship. Logically, the next step for Adam Cole would be a move to the main roster.
Adam Cole has been one of NXT's most popular stars for some time now and is maybe the perfect WWE Superstar to revive RAW's current ratings.
#2 Shotzi Blackheart could boost WWE's ratings
Shotzi Blackheart signed to WWE in late 2019 and has become one of the breakout stars of 2020. Blackheart started 2020 by being involved in a brief feud with former NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler. She also appeared in the Women's Royal Rumble match, entering at number 26, and lasted until the final seven.
In the summer, Shotzi Blackheart teamed up with Tegan Nox to challenge Sasha Banks and Bayley to the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. Although Blackheart and Nox fought well together, they were unsuccessful.
Later in the year, Shotzi Blackheart was named as the host of the NXT revival of Halloween Havoc and was praised by fans for her charisma in the role. Shortly after this, Blackheart was established as one of the team leaders at NXT WarGames and enlisted Rhea Ripley, Io Shirai, and Ember Moon to take on Team Candice LeRae.
In a relatively short space of time, Shotzi Blackheart has been established as one of the biggest faces of NXT. The star has become a fan favorite for her unique look and great in-ring skills.
As Shotzi Blackheart is such and NXT fan favorite, a move to RAW for her would be a great way to boost Monday night ratings for WWE.
#1 Rhea Ripley could boost WWE's ratings
Despite being one of the youngest stars on the NXT roster, Rhea Ripley has already achieved a lot in WWE. The star was the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion and was the first female Australian singles champion in WWE.
Since moving from NXT UK, Rhea Ripley has gone from strength to strength on the Black and Gold Brand. In later 2019, Ripley led her team to victory in the first-ever women's WarGames match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames that year. On the same weekend, she secured the win for Team NXT at WWE Survivor Series.
Not long after this, Ripley defeated the longest-reigning NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler to win the title in a huge moment at the end of 2019.
In 2020, Rhea Ripley became the first NXT star to defend a title at WrestleMania. She took on Charlotte Flair in the Performance Center at WrestleMania 36 but unfortunately dropped the title to the two-time champion.
Rhea Ripley has been one of the defending stars of NXT over the past year. For quite a while, she has been a favorite to win the 2021 Royal Rumble. Given Rhea Ripley's status and popularity in NXT, a move to RAW for the star would be a great way to boost their flagging ratings.
