After a long stint in NXT that only featured a handful of television matches, Arturo Ruas was called up for Raw Underground in the summer of 2020.
Raw Underground was WWE's take on an underground fight club that was led by Shane McMahon.
Speaking to Lucha Libre Online (translation via Luis Pulido), Ruas recalled his time in the underground.
"My first experience in Main Roster was when Paul Heyman was the [Executive Director] of RAW and he came down to NXT on a frequent basis to talk to us about the business. He came up to me and told me “You are ready for the Main Roster”. Time passed on and Heyman was removed from his position and we did not know what was going on, but four to six weeks later, we started to talk about RAW Underground, and then it happened. The only thing here is that I received a message that only has a location, a time, the arena, and the date. We had a Work App and my profile no longer said NXT, but it did say RAW, so I headed to the arena and it was RAW. Everything happened very quickly, as they did not even ask what my name was or anything. Paul Heyman spoke to me prior, but after he left the plans changed to RAW Underground. I loved doing it and I loved my time there, but it ended really quickly," he said.
After Raw Underground would last less than two months, ending on September 21 after debuting on August 3.
Ruas would return to NXT for one match against Kushida before being released on June 25. He was planned to be part of Diamond Mine before his release. You can find his comments on those plans and his release by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t to Fightful and Luis Pulido for the translation.
