6 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Jan 14)

4. NXT Debuts A Mixed Bag

Ec3 Raw
WWE.com

After weeks of making a big deal out of several NXT stars heading to the main roster, WWE rolled most of them out Monday night, though you could be forgiven if you were mostly underwhelmed.

For all the hype, what we got was something really good in Nikki Cross competing in a six-woman tag match, to very bland – EC3 and Lacey Evans just hanging out backstage – to plain insulting with Heavy Machinery (particularly Otis Dozovic) looking like a lecherous goof.

EC3 was particularly confusing, as he showed up outside Vince McMahon’s office, smiled at Dasha Fuentes and walked off without saying anything. He didn’t talk to Vince or do anything, just revealed he was indeed there. (Worse, there wasn’t even a crowd reaction, as the scene took place during a match in a split-screen.) Evans was even further in the background in her segment, talking to Dana Brooke and Mickie James.

Keep in mind that WWE has been hyping these wrestlers every week with vignettes making them all look like a million bucks, and only Cross really came across as someone serious and anything close to the preview videos.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.