Backstage News On Continued Plans For WWE Raw And NXT Integration

Recent appearances on WWE RAW by talents from the company's NXT brand are only the beginning. The crossover storylines are expected to continue, according to the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer.

The latest NXT performer to appear on RAW is Tommaso Ciampa. He teamed up with Finn Balor for a match against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode on last night's episode and pinned Roode to get the win.

Monday night's match is building up a one-on-one match between Tommaso Ciampa and Dolph Ziggler on tonight's episode of NXT. The winner will be the new #1 contender for the NXT Championship currently held by Bron Breakker.

On Monday's Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that the strategy since the launch of NXT 2.0 last September has been to do more crossover angles on RAW. Meltzer said WWE officials want to see at least one main roster talent involved with the NXT brand at all times, with a storyline that plays out across both shows. The preference is for that main roster talent to come from RAW.

Dolph Ziggler's involvement on NXT is expected to run through at least the Stand & Deliver special during WrestleMania week. Once the storyline involving Ziggler, Tommaso Ciampa, and Bron Breakker is complete, another main roster talent will be chosen to begin a new crossover storyline involving NXT.

The first crossover storyline of the "2.0 era" involved RAW's AJ Styles and NXT's Grayson Waller. That included Waller appearing on RAW. The storyline culminated in a match last month on NXT between Styles and Waller. Styles won the match to end the feud.

WWE's goal with the crossover storylines is to attract more viewers to the new NXT 2.0. Viewership for last week's Vengeance Day special was down 26.36% from the episode that aired one year ago. The 18-49 key demo rating was down 31.25% from the show that aired one year ago. NXT aired on SYFY the past two weeks due to coverage of the Winter Olympics.