‘This was a burial without a doubt’: WWE reportedly gives up on another NXT superstar

There was a time when NXT was regarded as WWE’s developmental brand. Every new talent that the company was acquiring was first given a debut on the black and yellow brand, before being pushed to Raw and SmackDown, which is regarded as the “main roster”. But the recent success with NXT has led WWE to take steps to push the brand as a third main show, even though, it still has not been able to completely make the transition. Despite Raw and SmackDown still being regarded as the two “main shows”, several NXT stars want to remain with the brand – including Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano – who have openly stated that they would think about careers outside WWE, if “promoted” to Raw or SmackDown.

The reason for NXT stars’ reluctance to leave the brand is simple – several superstars have found it hard to find a spot of relevance when asked to move to Raw or SmackDown. Already, The Ascension, Neville (now known as PAC) and Dean Ambrose (now known as Jon Moxley in AEW) have left the company after being frustrated with WWE storylines, and it seems former NXT tag-team champions The Revival could also be out of the door sooner, rather than later. Former Universal Champion has also returned to NXT after a frustrating run in the main roster. Now, according to reports, another WWE superstar has been ‘buried’ by the company as Chairman Vince McMahon is not interested in giving him a push.

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Richochet did relatively well in NXT, becoming the inaugural NXT North American Champion after winning a memorable 6-man ladder match. But after losing to WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia in under three minutes, and then losing to 24/7 Champion in a title fight against Riddick Moss.

Wrestling Oberserver Radio’s Dave Meltzer reported on his podcast (h/t WrestlingNews.co): “I don’t know what the mentality is … Ricochet’s done… It’s Vince. You know he may change his mind next week, but yeah this week he’s done, he’s so done. There’s no, you know – yeah this was a burial without a doubt. Who knows, [Vince] just gets these things in his head like with Cedric Alexander who was supposed to get a big push and Vince just buried the guy and now he’s burying another guy.”

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Later, WrestlingNews.co’s Paul Davis further confirmed that McMahon was never interested in Ricochet, and was the one to pull the plug on his push.

Ricochet is one of Paul Heyman’s guys and McMahon went along with Heyman’s ideas but I’m told that McMahon never saw Ricochet’s appeal. McMahon doesn’t watch any wrestling outside of his own product while Heyman keeps up with what is going on in other companies and he knew a long time ago that Ricochet could become a top star. Unfortunately, from what I’ve been told, McMahon does not agree and that is why the decision was made to not downplay Ricochet’s push in the weeks leading up to Super ShowDown and to have him squashed in a quick match by Brock Lesnar,” he reported.

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