The entire group of season one NXT rookies, consisting of winner Wade Barrett, runner-up David Otunga and Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, Darren Young, Skip Sheffield, Daniel Bryan and Michael Tarver, set the stages for a major storyline on RAW Monday night.
Wade Barrett, who was booked to earn a roster spot as WWE’s “next breakout star” by winning the competition, kicked things off by making his way down the ramp during the John Cena vs. CM Punk main-event. As a distracted Cena turned his attention to Barrett, the other season one rookies invaded the ringside area and wreaked havoc, taking out Cena, Punk, Luke Gallows, Matt Striker, Jerry Lawler, Justin Roberts and a number of other ringside personnel.
The group also destroyed the ringside area, tearing apart tables and the steel steps, breaking down some of the barricades and undoing much of the ring construct.
Suffering the most significant “beating” from the NXT cast, Cena was carried out on a stretcher as the show went off the air. The rookies did not cut any sort of promo addressing their actions, although Daniel Bryan could be heard yelling, “you’re not better than me” to the WWE Champion.
Although a follow-up will be required before the direction of WWE’s storyline is made clear, it certainly appears that WWE is aiming for a two-fold effect–to boost ratings for season two of NXT, which kicks off Tuesday, and to start the NXT rookies on WWE television with a hot angle. The former is particularly important, as if WWE is going to secure a new network for the show once its run ends on SyFy, the Tuesday hour needs to start showing some ratings promise.