WWE’s Raw and NXT rosters have seen an uptick in crossovers in recent months, with the latest examples being Dolph Ziggler going down to NXT to start feuds with NXT Champion Bron Breakker and Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa responded this week by teaming with Finn Balor to beat Ziggler and Roode in a tag match on Raw. This, along with the AJ Styles/Grayson Waller program, have been a major departure from previous years where the intermingling of the two brands was virtually non-existant. Dave Meltzer explained why this is happening on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio while also noting more crossovers are on the way.
“The strategy that they’ve had for whatever it’s been, several weeks, when they revamped everything, was they wanted more angles on Raw. Grayson Waller-AJ Styles was the first one. They want an angle on Raw at all times on NXT. So this is the second one, and then this one runs its course after April, Ziggler’s probably gonna be the guy until the Stand & Deliver show [on WrestleMania weekend] then they’ll use another guy. The idea is to always have a main roster guy, preferably from the Raw side, doing an angle on NXT. You do the angle on both Raw and NXT with the idea of that’s one of the ways to build up the NXT rating, which thus far hasn’t worked,” Meltzer said.
This week’s NXT will see Ciampa and Ziggler in a one-on-one bout with the winner getting a title shot against Breakker. NXT’s next major event, Stand & Deliver, is scheduled to take place on April 2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The show will run on the same day as the first night of WrestleMania 38 inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Here’s everything confirmed for the two-day event (so far) below:
- WWE and Universal Championships: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
- SmackDown Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey
- Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair
- Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul
- Edge vs. TBA
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