Another WWE Raw Star Appearing on NXT Tonight

By Liam Crowley

WWE is stacking up tonight's episode of NXT. Joining SmackDown's Raquel Rodriguez and Raw's Rhea Ripley on tonight's white and gold broadcast will be Kevin Owens. The Monday Night Raw star is set to moderate an in-ring segment between NXT Champion Bron Breakker and upcoming challengers Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh. Those three men will clash at NXT Halloween Havoc on October 22nd, but Owens is being brought in to ensure the men keep the peace until then. The former WWE Universal Champion announced his NXT appearance in a video that he shared on social media.

You can watch the video below:

Owens had a relatively short stint in NXT, debuting with the developmental brand at NXT Takeover: R-Evolution in December 2014, defeating CJ Parker (New Japan's Juice Robinson) in quick fashion. Owens turned heel later that night and set his sights on the NXT Championship, which he captured from best friend Sami Zayn at the following NXT Takeover. As Owens reigned as NXT Champion, he debuted on the main roster and began a feud with then-WWE United States Champion John Cena. This began Owens's slow transition from NXT to the main roster, as he competed for both developmental and Monday Night Raw simultaneously throughout Summer 2015. Once he lost the NXT Title and his subsequent rematch in August of that year, Owens left NXT.

After four years away from the brand, Owens made a surprise return to NXT at NXT Takeover: WarGames in November 2019, teaming with Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, and Dominik Dijakovic to defeat the Undisputed Era. While some speculated that Owens could follow in Finn Balor's footsteps as the next main roster star to run back a full-time stint with NXT, Owens's WarGames appearance proved to be nothing more than a one-off.

As mentioned, Owens joins Rodriguez and Ripley on this stacked edition of NXT, which is set to air at the same time as a special edition of AEW Dynamite. NXT and AEW ran in the same Wednesday time slot for over a year, which resulted in the black and gold show only besting Tony Khan's promotion once in the ratings. AEW moves its signature show to Tuesday for one night only, as the MLB playoffs occupy its regular Wednesday time slot on TBS.

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for coverage of NXT and AEW Dynamite tonight.

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