WWE Monday Night Raw: The 10 for February 18, 2019

A 10-point breakdown of everything notable that went down on this week’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw.

This week, WWE Monday Night Raw hailed from Lafayette, Louisiana, perhaps not the most prime location for the surprises the company had in store for the crowd and viewers at home. But soldier on along the road to WrestleMania we must, as well as absorb whatever fallout comes from Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.  Here’s The 10 for this week’s episode of Raw.

1. Let’s make new friends

Triple H opened Monday’s show in the ring, first breaking down the happenings at Elimination Chamber the night before and then putting himself and his D-Generation X stablemates over on the heels of the day’s news that the group will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April. But the biggest news — which WWE itself spoiled earlier in the day — was that four of the biggest stars from NXT would be making their Raw debuts throughout the night. Ricochet, Aleister Black, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano and NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa will all be in action.

The reaction of the Lafayette crowd was subdued, to say the least. While it might have been the time, in Triple H’s mind and in Vince McMahon’s, perhaps this wasn’t quite the right place. NXT is H’s baby, which is good, but it also means he is at times blinded by its beauty. In many ways, it’s a superior product to the main-roster brands, but it is also still a niche show, existing only on the WWE Network. While its a fair assumption that fans who will pay for tickets to Raw would also subscribe to the network, last night proved that’s not necessarily the case.

However, the point of these four top NXT competitors showing up on the Red Brand is to increase their visibility and recognition. This was just step one of what (we can only assume) is a larger plan. But next week’s Raw in Atlanta may have proven a better venue at least from the perspective of crowd reaction.