New members of the Raw roster discuss their expectations.
As a part of the 2023 WWE Draft, Kayden Carter and Katana Chance were moved from NXT to Monday Night Raw. A vignette aired on the 5/8 Raw to promote the new additions to the brand.
The former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions have not made their in-ring debut but they spoke about being drafted while on Busted Open Radio.
Chance: It’s just surreal. We’ve been working for this for so long and together as a team as well, we’ve had the opportunity to stay together for so many years. It’s been four years now as a team so, to be able to share this moment and finally be there, it doesn’t feel real yet… It’s only been a week.
Carter: It hasn’t kicked in yet, it hasn’t kicked in yet.
Much like the current NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre, Carter and Chance did not know they were being drafted. Katana said once she saw Dawn and Fyre get drafted to SmackDown, she thought they would be the only team picked from NXT.
Chance: No (she said when asked if they knew they were being drafted). We actually were pretty sure it wasn’t happening. Not only did we not know, we thought we weren’t and especially when the Women’s Tag Champs got brought up, we were like, ‘Man, that’s the tag team that they’re taking and that’s it,’ you know? And then the very last — at like 10:30 on Monday and we’re at the watch party and we were like, ‘I think it’s over’ and then they just said our names and we were like, ‘Wait, what’s happening? What brand did they even say?’
They both dove into their expectations as they embark on this new chapter in their careers with WWE.
Kayden went on to recall being in the crowd at NXT shows when Mercedes Moné, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch were on their way up the proverbial ladder.
Chance: So I think we try to stay level-headed. We know what we are capable of. Whatever position they wanna put us in. We’ve had very long matches, banger matches on NXT. We’ve had very short matches that we do the best we can with it so I know that it is a very different system and we love what we’ve done so far so in my mind, we just wanna stay leveled. Whatever, we’ll fight for opportunities when we can and whatever opportunities we do get, make the best of ‘em. In the same way, connect with the people there. The fans, some are the same but it’s very different, it’s bigger, it’s a different group. Being able to be in different cities every time so, I think just do what we know we’re capable of, stay level about it, don’t get to, you know — I do overthink things so I’m just gonna be happy and do our best.
Carter: I just love wrestling and I feel like watching — it’s hard because I sat in NXT for like a whole year before I even got into wrestling school and I watched Sasha (Banks) and Charlotte (Flair) and Becky (Lynch) start from the bottom before they were these colossal stars. I got to physically watch that and always sit there and be like, ‘I want to do this’ and I actually watched my journey be the same. Now it’s starting to create and unfold and we weren’t a part of the women’s evolution because we were just starting out, we were just getting there and when we combined our skills together and joined forces, I think we were trying to create another wave of it, a different type of evolution for ourselves because we felt like — I’m not saying we were left out of it but we didn’t get to contribute in the way that I really love wrestling and just I wanna be a part of everything and help create the paths and everything for women. So, going up to the main roster, I just want the world to see what we’re capable (of) and know that it exists. Know that we came from a similar journey because people watched us grow from the very bottom from the other side of the barricade to now in the ring and we just want to create that history and I wanna see us happen for that so my expectation is I wanna go up there and just kill it with everybody and I wanna make magic with everyone and just so that people will actually see like, dang, they are making their own legacy or they are making their own kind of evolution and contributing to this women’s division.
Among those from NXT that made their Raw debuts this Monday were Zoey Stark and Indi Hartwell.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
