WWE Character Change For NXT Call-Up

WWE

One of the names from NXT who was called up to the main roster in the WWE Draft is in the midst of undergoing something of a character change.

In total, there were 18 NXT wrestlers called up to the main roster this time around, those being:

Raw: Indi Hartwell, Apollo Crews, Zoey Stark, JD McDonagh, Katana Chance, Kayden Carter, Jinder Mahal, Sanga, Veer, and Odyssey Jones

SmackDown: Alba Fyre, Isla Dawn, Elton Prince, Kit Wilson, Cameron Grimes, and Grayson Waller

Free agents: Von Wagner and Xyon Quinn

With the post-draft rosters coming into effect at the start of next week, last night’s May 2 episode of NXT theoretically would have been the last time we’ll see any of those names on the developmental show.

However, it seems that might not be the case for Von Wagner, whose “free agent” label could be used in a way to explain him sticking around in NXT a bit longer.

Two weeks ago, Wagner pleaded with his manager Mr Stone not to leave him, promising to open up to Stone so he could get Wagner’s full potential out of him.

This included Wagner, completely out of character for someone who’s been a quiet big man heel for a year and a half, saying:

“Stone, I’m ready. Come on man, don’t leave, I’m ready, please, come on. I’m ready to open up.

“My name is Von Wagner and I always wanted to be in the WWE.

“Because this is in my blood, and my dad was a Beverly Brother.”

Wagner, real name Cal Bloom, is the son of Wayne Bloom, who wrestled as Beau Beverly of the Beverly Brothers tag team alongside Mike Enos, known as Blake Beverly.

Last night, we saw the continuation of this, with Wagner talking to Stone about his father and looking through a photo album, with one specific photo being his father wrestling at SummerSlam 1992 at Wembley Stadium.

However, when Stone saw a photo of Wagner as a child with what looked to be stitches in his head, Wagner refused to comment and ended the conversation.

So essentially, the idea is Stone wants Wagner to open up about himself and his struggles, but Wagner is reluctant.

It’s unclear right now if the direction is actually Stone using this to lead Wagner to better things, or possibly, the idea that we should feel sympathy for Wagner not wanting to open up about his issues, with Stone plotting to use all of the info against him to turn on him at some point.

Either way, it would appear this storyline is set to continue on NXT TV for a while before Wagner actually moves onto being a full-time main roster member despite his draft call-up.

We also don’t know whether this storyline was started a couple of weeks ago knowing Wagner was going to be called up, or if the timing is an issue and now they just have to finish what they started because those in NXT didn’t actually know he’d be main roster bound yet when they planned it.

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• Von Wagner
• WWE Draft
• nxt
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