6 Ways Vince McMahon Can (Realistically) Save WWE Raw's Ratings

NXT's daddy Paul 'Triple H' Levesque is said to be the most frustrated man in Stamford right about now - and that's a pretty competitive field.

Supposedly, The Game is constantly having to stretch his not-inconsiderable arms around the shoulders of a slew of black-and-gold graduates, who have seen their once-promising prospects dramatically dwindle since alighting on the main roster.

Take the poor War Raiders as an example. One week, Hanson and Rowe were challenging for the NXT Tag Team Championships on one of the most critically acclaimed wrestling shows of the year. The next, they were seemingly selling Nordic cruises as the repackaged Viking Experience, before gradually dropping off the map to Main Event.

Dozens of NXT talent have weathered a similar fate, reaching the heights in the so-called developmental brand, before being forced to start fresh on the main roster - all the whilst being stripped of what made them earn their promotion. Vince McMahon needs to understand that NXT is not OVW: migrants from Full Sail arrive fully-formed and fully-exposed, as if transplanted from a rival organisation. Not everybody can be immediately plugged into the top spot after matriculation, but there's no need to go in the other direction either.

It doesn't matter how great the call-up from NXT is when fans have been conditioned that it's not worth investing in them beyond their time in Orlando. Look at Ricochet: he might be enjoying a little revival right now, but within his first month on Raw, the excitement of his arrival had already been murdered by defeats to Robert Roode, Cesaro, and Baron bloody Corbin. He could have been a genuine highlight reel worth tuning in for. Instead, he's just another guy - like everybody else.