Rick Ucchino

This is exactly how you need to introduce a former NXT, former NXT North American champion on the show.

Let people know right out of the gate that this is a spot that he's going to be in, that he deserves to be in, that he has earned his way into.

And did he get the biggest pop?

No.

But by the time he came out to the ring later that evening, you had people in the crowd who were doing his thing as he was doing his entrance.

I thought he did well in the promo exchange with Cody.

I thought his match was great later.

This is exactly what I wanted to see.

Win, lose, or draw, that didn't matter.

Just being in the moment with Cody, I think, sent a massive message from the creative team that said, hey, this is what we think of Ricky Saints.

This is what you can expect him, the kind of spots for him to be in.

Very reminiscent of Carmelo Hayes when he got drafted, right?

Carmelo Hayes right out of the gate, wrestled Cody his first night.

And by the way, the thing I loved about this, and this was something that I had to be reminded of,

Ricky Saints debut in AEW when he was Ricky Starks was in an open challenge against Cody Rhodes for the TNT championship.

His first match on the main roster in WWE is against Cody Rhodes when he's the WWE champion.

I love the full circle moment there.

Yes, there was a reaction when he was talking, and I think that's why it was really smart to put him in the ring with Cody in that moment, too, because Cody was kind of like the security blanket of the situation where, you know, people are at least going to react.

to Cody in that moment, right?

They're going to be invested because Cody is in the ring.