Report: Two NXT Call-ups Coming After New Year's Evil

Following NXT New Year's Evil, multiple reports now state that both Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley [...]

By Connor Casey

Following NXT New Year's Evil, multiple reports now state that both Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley will soon be leaving the Black & Gold Brand for either Monday Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown. WrestleVotes reported on Wednesday morning that Priest was supposed to appear during the main event segment of last week's SmackDown during Roman Reigns and Jey Uso's attack on Kevin Owens. Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer then reported on Thursday that the idea was scrapped by Reigns when it was pointed out an alliance between Owens and Priest made no sense.

"Who can be the next new babyface in NXT that can come on the main roster? And the guy was Damian Priest," Meltzer said (h/t Cageside Seats). "So they had a story where it was supposed to be: Damian Priest was Kevin Owens' best friend and he's helping him against Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. And in fact they were actually gonna do a tag match on [SmackDown]. And Damian Priest is there and ready and all that. And Kevin Owens essentially said it makes no sense for him to be my best friend. I mean, what do we have in common? Why would he be my best friend? I mean we could do it, but why is he my best friend? So Roman Reigns agreed. And since it's Roman Reigns, it was nixed. And I don't know where Heyman stood on it, but Roman's the one who got it...it was nixed, so we got what we got."

NXT stars usually leave the brand on a loss, which Priest suffered against Karrion Kross during Wednesday's episode. As for Ripley, "The Nightmare" lost a Last Woman Standing match against Raquel Gonzalez during New Year's Evil. PWInsider reported on Thursday that the loss was her send-off.

Ripley got her first taste of the Raw roster last year when, as the NXT Women's Champion, she faced Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36. She lost, and never got the chance to avenge that defeat before Flair left the brand again. She admitted in an interview with Lilian Garcia in November that the run shook her confidence.

"I felt like I went through a stage where I was losing confidence in myself because I wasn't portrayed the same way," Ripley said (h/t Fightful). "Even now, I'm still slowly building myself back up from it. My confidence was tainted a little, which sucks because I try to keep it up and do my best all the time. I don't know if it was something in my head that wasn't getting the picture, I just got a little bit lost after that. Now, I feel like I'm getting back on track. Building myself back up has been hard, it's been difficult, but I've found my track now and I'm getting back on it."

How do you think the two call-ups will go? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments!

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