8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw After WrestleMania 40 (8 April - Results & Review)
7. New Stars Step Forward
As mentioned earlier, match quality often is not the focus on the Raw after WrestleMania – the actual participants are the precious cargo.
In this case, NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov, NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez, and Jade Cargill were the hot new acts that got the spotlight treatment Monday night, showing up to dominate established talent Shinsuke Nakamura, Indi Hartwell, and Chelsea Green, respectively.
The NXT stars are an interesting case, as Dragunov retained his title against Tony D’Angelo at Stand and Deliver on Saturday, while Perez regained her title at the same show. If both are indeed being called up to the main roster, it would mean that three current NXT Champions (Bron Breakker is the other) would be on Raw or SmackDown while holding an NXT title. That’s not unprecedented for one or maybe two champs, but three?
Still, it was good to see fresh faces, and all three picked up convincing wins, so that’s a net positive. None of their appearances were blow-away great or will be indelibly etched on fans’ brains, hence the moderate “up” here.