It's been a busy couple of days for the roster page department on Joey Styles' team at WWE.com.
First, they broke the news that Rey Mysterio is finally a free agent. Now, former interim WWE champion The Brian Kendrick has been listed as an active participant on the Network's Wednesday night keystone, NXT.
Kendrick debuted on the most recent episode, falling to the #1 contender for Kevin Owens' NXT Championionship, Finn Bálor. Reports indicated that there was no agreement in place between one half of the longest-reigning WWE Tag Team champs and the company, but this would seem to indicate that he'll at least return at some point in the future. The NXT roster list is full of performers who have only made sporadic appearances on television, but being placed there does place a character in the kayfabe continuity.
Additions like Kendrick and Rhyno make sense both from the program's initial premise as a showcase for the company's Developmental talent, but also to support Triple H's stated mission to grow the brand into a complementary offering, or even a quasi-competitor, to Raw and Smackdown. Veterans with lots of experience both in and out of WWE are useful as trainers and mentors at the Performance Center, but they're also established names that will help drive subscribers to WWE Network and sell tickets at house shows.
Which is very similar to what other promotions in the same space like Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground and even TNA use thirty-something former Vince McMahon employees to accomplish.
Excited for more of The Brian Kendrick on Wednesday nights? Is this a smart move for NXT? Who else would you like to see The Game sign to face the likes of Bálor, Owens, Hideo Itami, Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn?