10 Specific Ways WWE Could Debut NXT Stars On The Main Roster
5. Ricochet
Anywhere but 205 Live, essentially.
His debuting directly on RAW or SmackDown may represent something of a plot hole - he is the best high-flier in the company - but then, WWE is a fictional universe in which Carmella is better positioned than Asuka, and in which the lighter Finn Bálor is a main roster fixture. Logical barely applies.
Debuting Ricochet on that show does make some sense. If anybody is capable of raising the crowds from the dead, it is a borderline supernatural performer capable of raising the pulse rate like no other. But Ricochet, simply, is too much of a potential difference-maker for a show on which nothing makes a difference - not the offscreen stripped-back stewardship of Triple H, not the onscreen coherent management style of Drake Maverick, not consistently very good matches, not anything.
Instead, Ricochet should arrive on one of the flagship shows to turn (and rotate) heads in the babyface role through being targeted, immediately, by an objectively unpopular wrestler unpopular as a result of his ancient ring style: Jinder Mahal.
Unlike Roman Reigns, fans, at the sight of Ricochet trapped in a dreaded chinlock, would be mobilised into supporting him, knowing d*mn well the extent to which he is Jinder’s incredible polar opposite. WWE should only tease the tedium. Have Ricochet immediately flip out of Mahal’s mundane rest holds.
Make it clear to the audience that this is a completely new breed of pro wrestling athlete by preying on a longstanding in-ring gripe.