VIDEO: NXT Star Makes SmackDown Debut

Strike up the band! NXT is a weird place as you see some of the newest coming stars getting their chance to showcase themselves. That it exactly the point of a developmental television show and NXT does it as well as almost anyone else in the world today. One of the cool moments is getting to see the NXT star make their main roster debut, which was the case this week.

Rick Boogs, former knock as Eric Bugenhagen in NXT, made his main roster debut this week on SmackDown. Boogs appeared before Shinsuke Nakamura’s match against King Corbin, playing Nakamura to the ring on his guitar. Late in the match, Boogs began playing his guitar again, this time to distract Corbin so Nakamura could steal the pin. There is no word on if this will be a permanent promotion or partnership between the two. Boogs also portrayed Joe Average in a series of Old Spice ads during WWE television earlier this year.

This was pretty awesome. Check out Boogs’ debut, the match, and Boogs’ time in NXT:

Rick Boogs plays Shinsuke Nakamura to the ring to face King Corbin: SmackDown, May 21, 2021

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. King Corbin: SmackDown, May 21, 2021

Kayla Braxton joins Eric Bugenhagen's epic encore: NXT Exclusive, Feb. 6, 2019

Eric Bugenhagen rocks NXT with an energetic encore: NXT Exclusive, March 6, 2019

Opinion: This worked well because Boogs is not the kind of character who requires a detailed explanation. He comes out there, he plays his guitar, he does his thing, and he’s done. You can get the concept of the character in a hurry and that is a good thing in this case. I’m not sure if he is going to be anything more than Nakamura’s mascot, but having him around for the entrances alone will be pretty cool.

What did you think of the debut? How do you want the partnership to go? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books.

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