As the WWE approaches the brand split draft, much has been made about the potential NXT talents who are going to be called up to fill the gaps and add much-needed depth to the WWE roster.
Austin Aries, Bayley, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and Shinsuke Nakamura are all real candidates for the promotion and having them all appear on this weekend's WWE main roster house show, the WWE only added to the speculation.
Aries teamed up with NXT World Champion Samoa Joe to take on Balor and Nakamura in a tag team match. This is the same set-up that NXT used during their most recent UK tour. The matches on the tour alternated between a Balor and Joe title match and the tag team match.
Bayley also took part in a tag team match. She, alongside Sasha Banks and Summer Rae defeated Eva Marie, Dana Brooke, and Natalya.
The former NXT Women's Champion has been on the fringes of a main roster call up for a number of months. Many fans expected her to be called up the night after WrestleMania.
NXT stars with the main roster
It makes sense that all of the NXT stars were in attendance and performed on the show. The event was held in Orlando, Florida and is an easy way to give them a chance to perform on a main roster as it’s rather close to the WWE Performance Centre.
Prior to Monday Night Raw, Finn Balor, and Shinsuke Nakamura both sent out photographs on social media showing that they were in attendance for the show. They were joined by Hideo Itami, with Nakamura stating that Hideo is ready to return.
Balor has reportedly been around the main roster for a number of weeks as he prepares to be called up.
Raw was held in Tampa, Florida, not far from Orlando and an area in Central Florida were a lot of WWE superstars reside, so again it makes sense that they were there.
Sasha Banks was glad to have Bayley as a partner during the house show as she tweeted out the following: "When you find out @itsBayleyWWE is your tag team partner #halfsmile #WWEOrlando"
Should we expect them on Raw anytime soon?
All of the superstars could potentially be called up very soon, but it’s more than likely that they will be held off until closer to the WWE Draft, live on SmackDown July 19th.
If NXT is going to be a part of the draft in some way, then the WWE has to do something to acknowledge that. It could be as simple as stating that every superstar, including NXT, are able to be drafted.
It could also be a situation where they announce a number of NXT stars will be eligible and that they all perform on RAW or SmackDown that night to showcase themselves.