WWE’s call-up system from the NXT developmental brand to the main roster always had a somewhat unclear structure. There were certain times of the year when fans might expect a few call-ups (there were a few years where it became a tradition during the Raw after WrestleMania) and the annual WWE Draft and Superstar Shake-up sometimes played a role, but it was always up to the whims of Vince McMahon. Now that he’s gone and Paul Levesque is overseeing the company, some fans have wondered if the call-up system will change as well.
Brian “Road Dogg” James, who was rehired by WWE earlier this year as the Senior Vice President of Live events, discussed that on his latest, Oh…You Didn’t Know podcast. According to him, the call-up process will have a bit more structure to it now that “The Game” is booking the main roster.
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“Yeah. So all of the above to be quite honest with you because there’s not a strict streamlined process, especially now that Hunter is in charge of the creative. He understands much more about giving fair warning so you can write the person out or write the person off or however you’re going to do it. It gives you time to prepare creatively for that. I like a heads-up. So sometimes we got those and sometimes we didn’t. I think going forward, you’ll always, I’m speaking now from NXT creative experience, that we had time to prepare to send people off, but sometimes we got, ‘Hey, we’re taking this person because we got an idea for this and this’, and you could be in the middle of something with them or not, and there they went. So I don’t think it’ll be that way anymore because I think everybody understands at least let me beat him on the way out or let me do something to close the book on his character or whatever. Give us time to create something. I think that’ll happen a lot now.”
Shawn Michaels, who now oversees NXT, also discussed the process in an interview with Graham Matthews — “Someone who is someone in NXT can now move up to the main roster, be recognized as the same person, talk about coming from NXT, and perhaps blending immediately into a storyline with someone who was previously in NXT. I absolutely think that communication is clearly going to be there, those transitions should be more seamless and more comfortable, and also the readiness of the talent going up.”
