SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The post-WrestleMania episode of WWE Smackdown this week featured multiple call ups from NXT. During the show, Gunther, Marcel Barthel, and Raquel Gonzalez made their main roster debuts.
Consider the #SmackDown locker room on notice.@Gunther_AUT pic.twitter.com/naBkGhg2Xx
— WWE (@WWE) April 9, 2022
Welcome to #SmackDown, Raquel Rodriguez! @RaquelWWE pic.twitter.com/d1tSdLKhan
— WWE (@WWE) April 9, 2022
Gunther, formerly known as Walter, in NXT UK is the longest reigning NXT UK Champion in history. He led the team of Imperium in NXT. Barthel and Fabian Aichner were a part of that faction. Barthel has been renamed Ludwig Kaiser.
Gonzalez is a former NXT Women’s Champion. She was rebranded on WWE Smackdown as Raquel Rodriguez. Rodriguez won the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship with Dakota Kai at NXT Stand and Deliver over WrestleMania weekend. The team lost the titles to Toxic Attraction on this week’s episode of NXT 2.0.
CATCH-UP: VIDEO: PWTORCH DAILY NEWSWIRE 4/8: Tony Khan tweets, AEW and New Japan partnership, more
I thought it was funny when the announcers tried to say the crowd was chanting “Gunther” when they were clearly chanting “Goldberg”. I frankly found Gunther to be kind of boring. And I don’t watch NXT very often, so I didn’t realize how tall Raquel is. And I think maybe they should tone Ludwig Kaiser down a little, he came across as too cartoonish.