Two NXT Stars Make Their WWE Raw Debuts

Ahead of the WWE Draft, two top NXT stars appeared on Raw.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Raw Ilja Dragunov Roxanne Perez
WWE

With the 2024 Draft on the way, last night's WWE Raw saw the red brand debuts of NXT stars Ilja Dragunov and Roxanne Perez.

The first match on the show, NXT Champion Dragunov picked up a win over Shinsuke Nakamura in less than five minutes. As noted by Michael Cole on commentary, the Mad Dragon will be a part of this year's Draft, with a main roster call-up in the imminent future of the 30-year-old.

As for Roxanne Perez, the NXT Women's Champion picked up a victory over Indi Hartwell in barely four minutes. While Raw marked the first main roster match for Ilja Dragunov, that wasn't the case for Perez. Previously, the Prodigy worked an October 2022 SmackDown six-woman match, while she's also been a part of the 2023 and 2024 women's Royal Rumble matches.

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Where this year's WWE Draft is concerned, that will take place across the 26 April edition of SmackDown and the 29 April outing for Raw. As shown in a backstage segment featuring Adam Pearce, Nick Aldis, and Ava, NXT will very much be a full-on part of the 2024 Draft, meaning some main roster talent could be heading over to WWE's developmental brand to work with younger talent or hone their own skills.

 
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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 dayjob, 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.