Rick Boogs The First Of Several Upcoming WWE Main Roster Call-ups

More NXT and NXT UK call-ups are expected in the coming weeks.

by Andrew Pollard
Rick Boogz Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

This past Friday’s SmackDown saw Rick Boogs make his main roster bow alongside Shinsuke Nakamura, and it appears that the charismatic Boogs is one of several NXT talents making their way to main roster programming.

Via Fightful Select, WWE is said to have plans for further names from both NXT and NXT UK to soon be called up to Raw or SmackDown.

In terms of just who might be making the jump to the main roster, no names have been revealed at this stage – although these call-ups have reportedly been planned for a while now.

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There’s certainly countless wrestlers in NXT and NXT UK who could make a difference on Raw or SmackDown should they be called up and used correctly, but that’s obviously a big if. Already, there’s rumblings that the loser of this Wednesday’s Karrion Kross vs. Finn Bálor match for the NXT Championship could be quickly moved to the main roster, although that’s purely speculation at this point.

As for Rick Boogs, the real-life Eric Bugenhagen – a former NCAA Division I wrestler - signed with WWE back in 2017, quickly taking on the names Ric Boog and Rik Bugez. The 33-year-old made a handful of appearances on NXT television, and was more recently seen as Joseph Average during WWE’s R-Truth/Old Spice skits.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.