WWE’s brand split was reportedly supposed to be in full effect after Survivor Series, but that hasn’t been the case. Raw’s Akira Tozawa showed up on NXT to unsuccessfully challenge for the Cruiserweight Championship and more recently NXT’s Deonna Purrazzo appeared on Raw to job to Asuka.
Some noted that though Purrazzo was called as an NXT Superstar while on Raw, she hasn’t appeared on the Wednesday night program in a while. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, that’s a significant part of why she was chosen to appear on the red brand for a match she was obviously going to lose.
According to WON, part of NXT being treated as an equal third brand to Raw and Smackdown is its talent not bringing up to lose in one-off appearances, like NXT UK’s Walter did with Seth Rollins in the UK recently. If NXT wrestlers are going to be used as jobbers, these will be wrestlers who aren’t active characters on its television show.
Of course, one could point out that makes Purrazzo’s appearance more confusing from a certain perspective because though she doesn’t wrestle on Wednesday nights on the USA Network, she was acknowledged as an NXT wrestler and she did lose on Raw.
