Did you happen to catch the final match on RAW this week, WWE fans? It was… sort of weird, right? Like, A.J. Styles won his fun, No Disqualifications match over The Miz, he looked to the left of the commentator's table, and then the show just sort of… slithered off into Snake in the Grass, the show that has replaced Miz and Mrs.
If that was your final interaction with RAW for the night, you were probably very confused indeed, but if you instead decided to do a little digging and go over to Twitter – or just decided to replay the ending of the match to listen very closely to what Corey Graves had to say – you might have finally caught it: Dexter Lumis, the man tackled by security was none other than Dexter Lumis.
So the crashed car, the ambulance, the extra security running around? That was all to what? Allude to Michael Meyers from Halloween? If so, why wasn't there a closer camera on Lumis to really punch in his debut? Why weren't Graves and Byron Saxton more forthright about what was happening? Why was the ending so… anti-climactic?
Goodness, could you imagine how hyped up things would have been if the USA Network got the same footage as Wade Barrett of NXT? The reaction might have been even bigger than the return of Karrion Kross on SmackDown the week prior.
So what gives? Is the return of Lumis soiled already? Would he have been better off sticking in NWA as Samuel Shaw while moonlighting as a painter? Is this no longer The Way?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy, folks; while his initial return may have been botched ever so slightly, the arrival of Dexter Lumis into the RAW sub-Universe is very good news indeed, as bringing back the strange one, even without Indi Hartwell, could be a money angle that shakes things up in a very interesting away.
Is RAW ready for the return of WWE's resident weirdo?
The WWE Universe is at its best when the card is loaded up with variety. Sure, the show needs quality in-ring action, which Triple H has brought back to an incredible degree, but if every match was the same hard-hitting strong-style affairs that once made Shinsuke Nakamura a star, the shows would get rather boring, no? Like, for every dazzling display of brutality put on by Gunther, you need a fast-paced Rey Mysterio match where the number of moves is hit with a combo multiplier, and the exciting strikes come off the top rope instead of via a particularly stiff suplex.
Say what you will about Austin Theory – who was weirdly absent from RAW – but his slimy hellish persona serves as a good contrast to the conceited nature of The Miz, who, in turn, serves a good contrast to the mustache-twirling weirdness of Seth “Freakin” Rollins.
So where, then, would Dexter Lumis fit into the RAW ecosystem? Is he a heel ready to attack A.J. Styles for his good guy persona? Or is Lumis instead a babyface who was simply trying to get out of the grasp of security Frankenstein's monster-style after he crashed his car and was almost taken back to the mental asylum he has presumably been stuck in since his quiet exit from NXT?
Here's the thing about Lumis, the wrestler, not the Doctor from Halloween; he can quite literally be anything.
During his run in NXT, Lumis was effectively booked like the Black and Gold Brand's version of Orange Cassidy; he took part in unusual interactions, had a very unusual love affair with Indi Hartwell of The Way, and even brought a hatchet to his televised wedding to prevent anyone from objecting. Sometimes he was a beast in the ring who could cleanly destroy an opponent in short order, other times, he was booked for comedy spots where his weirdness was meant to result in a laugh from the audience both assembled in Florida and watching from home, and other times, he was used as a menacing presence meant to scare his foes.
If there was ever a performer to not cut due to an inflated talent budget, it would be Lumis, as he doesn't even need to get in the ring to make his money well spent.
So what's next for Dexter Lumis? Is he going to feud with A.J. Styles and/or The Miz? Will he come over to the SmackDown brand, too, and prove that no arbitrary brand split can stop his emotionless march? And what about Indi Hartwell, will she be getting a call up too? And what about Austin Theory, Hartwell's quasi-The Way sister? Could this be how he frees himself from the Vince McMahon connection? Fortunately, we will find out soon enough.