Ricky Saints versus Oba Femi II is set for NXT DeadL1ne. The two are set to battle for the NXT Championship once again, with expectations being that Saints will win again, pushing Femi closer to the main roster. While it is pretty clear that Oba Femi fits in perfectly on the WWE main roster, that picture isn’t so rosy for Ricky Saints.
The men’s divisions on both SmackDown and Monday Night Raw have grown stagnant. There isn’t a lot of upward mobility. While the women’s division is thriving building new names like Lyra Valkyria, Roxanne Perez, and Maxxine Dupri, the men’s division continues to hold on to the same few performers even as they push into their 40s. Yes, Bron Breakker is under thirty and making his way into the main event scene, but he’s the only one cracking that core.
That is why it is hard to see where Ricky Saints fits if and when he moves to the main roster. There was once a rumor that he was a planned addition to The Vision, which would have been a big deal. But looking back at it, not only does it seem like that wasn’t truly the case back then, it is even harder to see that as Saints’s creative direction in the future.
Let’s say he does lose this title back to Femi and Saints is the one to make the main roster move rather than Femi. WWE SmackDown would be the best place for him to land. Fans have wanted to see Saints get involved in a major storyline against Cody Rhodes. That would be an intriguing step to take, as both men are excellent on the microphone. They could easily tell a story that would get everyone wrapped into what is set to happen next. Would WWE book Ricky Saints to defeat Cody Rhodes and take the Undisputed WWE Championship? Probably not, but hey there have been other surprising things that have occurred.
Ricky Saints is a special performer. Fans recognized that while he was in All Elite Wrestling, and have seen flashes of that during his time in NXT. But WWE has struggled to book new stars in the men’s division on the main roster. That leads to a lot of concern about how Saints fits on either Raw or SmackDown, and only time will tell if things work out in the right way.