When Vince McMahon and the rest of his family returned on Raw a couple of weeks ago promising to change up their weekly shows, one of the ways that they decided to do this was by calling up some names from the NXT roster. For weeks now on WWE television, vignettes hyping up the arrival of six different NXT Superstars have been airing on Raw and SmackDown. No debut date was ever given for these six individuals, but it was speculated that they would probably be debuting separately. With WWE officials likely hoping to start off the first episodes of their shows in 2019 with a bang, two of the call-ups made their official unannounced TV debuts during last night’s tapings for the Main Event program.
Lacey Evans is making her main roster debut on Main Event. #RAW #RAWOrlando #LaceyEvans pic.twitter.com/tvNEy1T7mE
— TheRogueFan (@TheRogueFan) January 8, 2019
.Last night’s episode of Raw took place in the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, which just so happens to be the same city where the WWE Performance Center is located. It seemed like a natural fit for some of the stars of the NXT roster to make their main roster debuts in the city. Sure enough, during the tapings for Main Event, Lacey Evans appeared and picked up a loss to Raw Superstar Natalya. Also, EC3 made his debut and ended up defeating Curt Hawkins. It is unclear if the matches were taped for Main Event or if they were exclusive for the fans in attendance. Both matches were presented under the Main Event banner, so fans may want to tune into this week’s edition of the show on the WWE Network to see the debuts.
The wrestling world is still mourning the loss of one of the most legendary announcers in the history of the business. WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund passed away at the age of 76 last week, and hundreds of wrestlers have paid tribute to Okerlund, who was friendly with nearly everybody that he worked with over his decades-long career. WWE put together a fitting tribute of their own during Raw last night as the show began with a 10-bell salute for Gene, and WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan appeared on the show to say some words about Okerlund as well. WWE has also released the official entrance video, as well as a special look back at his astounding work. Both videos have been posted down below: