Backstage Rumors On Reason for NXT Callups, Strong Booking

Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Ricochet and Aleister Black were brought up this week and they were booked to look strong. The decision to bring them up from NXT was made because of the declining ratings. This was discussed on Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingNews transcription).

 

Dave Meltzer said, “Vince felt that the reason the ratings are down is because the product is stale, the stars are stale and ‘we don’t have any superstars and these guys that we have aren’t gonna be superstars so we need to make new superstars so we gotta get guys that we haven’t ruined.’”

 

So, they brought up the top guys from NXT and had them win on Raw and SmackDown Live.

 

The idea, for now, is for all four of the recent NXT call-ups to work on all three brands – Raw, SmackDown Live and NXT at least for the short term.
Could these call-ups force changes to creative in NXT? It appeared that Ciampa and Gargano were heading for a showdown at NXT TakeOver: New York during WrestleMania weekend. On Raw and SmackDown Live this week, Gargano and Ciampa teamed up as if there were no issues between them.