EC3, Lacey Evans Appear at WWE Raw During Dark Matches

WWE has been teasing six new call-ups from NXT to take place in recent weeks, and two of them appeared in the ring during Monday Night Raw this week in Orlando.

Only there was one catch — neither of their matches took place while the cameras were rolling.

EC3, known as Ethan Carter III from his time in Impact wrestling, and Lacey Evans both wrestled during the Main Event dark match tapings. According to a source at the arena with Pro Wrestling Sheet, Evans lost a quick match to Natalya after tapping out to the Sharpshooter, while EC3 beat Curt Hawkins in a quick squash match.

Other NXT wrestlers who have been promoted lately are Lars Sullivan, Nikki Cross and the tag team Heavy Machinery. WWE has been running promotions for the whole group on both Raw and SmackDown Live, keeping fans guessing as to which wrestlers will wind up on which show.

According to Post Wrestling's John Pollock, neither match will likely see the light of day.

"Was told by several people that the matches before Raw in Orlando tonight involving EC3 and Lacey Evans were only dark matches and will not be airing on Main Event this week," Pollock tweeted.

While none of the call-up wrestlers appeared on the show, Raw still had a few storylines progress in the build to the Royal Rumble in late January. Seth Rollins earned himself an Intercontinental Championship rematch against Dean Ambrose but wound up losing in a Falls Count Anywhere match thanks to interference from Bobby Lashley, Sasha Banks earned a Raw Women's Championship match against Ronda Rousey by beating Nia Jax, Bobby Roode and Chad Gable successfully defended their titles in a Lumberjack Match against The Revival and John Cena returned to announce he'd be competing in the Royal Rumble after spending most of 2018 away from the company to star in a number of movies.

As of Monday night 15 men and 11 women have announced their participation in the two rumble matches on Jan. 27. The standouts thus far include Cena, Rollins, Ambrose, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, all three members of The New Day, Banks, Bayley, Carmella and Ember Moon. Other matches announced for the show include Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman, WWE Champion Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles and Asuka versus either Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair or Carmella for the SmakcDown Women's Championship.

This year's Royal Rumble event will take place at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.