Peculiar Visitors Showed up to NXT Last Night (Spoiler)

Indie wrestlers showing up to NXT isn't necessarily a marquee occurrence. Some of them are actually signed to full-time developmental deals, which usually spaces out a month or so after their signings. Others, like Leva "Blue Pants" Bates, come in as enhancement talent for the actual, contracted employees. A third, fairly new mode of appearance, however, has given indie wrestlers provisions to work for NXT as a name talent and take bookings elsewhere. Granted, that deal was given only to two guys right now, established wrestlers Rhyno and Samoa Joe (and Joe's deal turned full-time once Ring of Honor tried booking him for its television show). That's why it was so odd to see two prime/newish indie guys get the red carpet rolled out for them on NXT last night. Spoilers are after the jump, so don't click if you don't want to know.

Oh sh... Photo Credit: @MrJacobCohen

Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa debuted for NXT last night, complete with a Tron and their indie names intact. They took on Bull Dempsey and Tyler Breeze in a tag match, which the indie guys actually won. Granted, the spoiler reports everywhere said that a post-match angle went down between Breeze and Dempsey afterwards, so I'm not sure whether Gargano and Ciampa were just angle fodder or if they were angle fodder AND it was meant to jump-start their journey towards a NXT Tag Team Championship opportunity against either the Vaudevillains or the Dubstep Cowboys.

Still, it's pretty cool to see indie guys get cycled into NXT. The cupboards are pretty bare right now with so many wrestlers pulling double duty or being graduated to the main roster altogether. Plus, Gargano is with the WWN Live group, and Ciampa's ROH contract is a distant memory right now. They're unfettered with the legal tangles that WWE is not into right now. Everything other than the concrete portions of their appearance for the September 2 episode of NXT is speculation, but it is some exciting news at least.