WWE News: Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Aleister Black & Ricochet debut on Raw

What's the story?

Hours after the four NXT mainstays were spotted backstage, Triple H kicked off Monday Night Raw with a major announcement.

NXT World Champion Tommaso Ciampa, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black and Ricochet debuted on Monday Night Raw.

In case you didn't know...

The four NXT superstars were reported to be backstage prior to the start of Raw and the news was eventually confirmed by WWE.

All four men participated in the six-man tag team match on Halftime Heat during the Super Bowl. The other participants, Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream, were not seen backstage for this week's Raw.

The heart of the matter

Their arrival on the main roster follows the debut of five NXT talents that were announced in 2018.

EC3, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic all debuted on the main roster earlier this year. Lars Sullivan was advertised to debut with the other NXT superstars, but his appearance on WWE television was delayed after reportedly suffering an anxiety attack.

The debut of the four NXT superstars comes in the midst of WWE preparing for WrestleMania weekend, which has big implications for their matches at NXT Takeover.

The decision to call them up means that WWE will probably have them working on both shows heading into Mania weekend before they make their last performance as members of the NXT roster - similarly to how WWE booked Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn after their main roster debuts.

What's next?

Ciampa is the current NXT World Heavyweight Champion, which means the title is likely to change hands during WrestleMania weekend, which would bring his reign to an end at 261 days.

--SPOILER ALERT--

Gargano is being portrayed as the NXT North American Champion, but a spoiler for this week's episode of NXT revealed that his title reign came to an end at the hands of Velveteen Dream.