WWE News: Why Debut of Antonio Cesaro Must Lead to Indy Wrestler Stable

Over the past several months, the WWE has been stocking its cupboard of talent in FCW with a number of highly-touted stars from the independent scene. Antonio Cesaro is one of those talents and he happened to make his debut in a backstage segment on SmackDown on Friday night. That shouldn't be the extent of WWE's infusion of new wrestlers, though.

Along with Cesaro, there are three other indy stars currently in FCW who appear to be on the precipice of joining the main roster. Those superstars are Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kassius Ohno. All of them are better known for their names on the independent scene as Rollins was Tyler Black, Ambrose was Jon Moxley and Ohno was Chris Hero.

All of them were big-time stars in other promotions as Cesaro (formerly known as Claudio Castagnoli), Rollins and Ohno were among ROH's best, while Ambrose took CHIKARA and Dragon Gate USA by storm. With Cesaro seemingly being on the verge of making his in-ring debut, his indy cohorts shouldn't be far behind.

Over the next few weeks on SmackDown, I envision John Laurinaitis continually doing the same thing as he brings one of the "Indy Four" into his office each week to discuss a contract. That means that about a month from now, all of them will be on the main roster and ready to contribute.

Too often new talent is brought up too early and squandered because there aren't any legitimate plans for them. There is no question that Cesaro, Rollins, Ambrose and Ohno are all ready for the big time, but whether they'll enter into meaningful storylines is a completely different issue.

This isn't necessarily a knock on the creative team, but I have a hard time believing that it can take four new wrestlers, debut them and keep all of them relevant in individual storylines. That's a lot to ask when you consider how deep the roster already is. There simply won't be enough television time to allow each of them to shine independent of each other.

Perhaps Cesaro and Ohno can team up (they did so as the Kings of Wrestling in ROH) and Rollins and Moxley can be paired to spice up the tag-team division, but that doesn't seem to be a concern for the WWE currently. If the company wants to ensure that all four of them succeed from day one, they would be best off forming a stable led by Laurinaitis.

The WWE doesn't like to acknowledge other companies most of the time, so it likely wouldn't be said that all four of them are connected by their indy stardom. Laurinaitis could simply say that they are the four superstars that he handpicked from developmental to be the future of the company and that would give them immediate credibility and heat.

I would have to think that their main target would be John Cena. This may sound an awful lot like the original Nexus storyline, and it has some similarities, but there is a much better chance it succeeds. Nexus, aside from Wade Barrett and maybe Justin Gabriel, was filled with jobbers and it wasn't believable that most of them could be legitimate stars.

Many fans know about the exploits of the "Indy Four" though, so they would seem a lot more credible. Laurinaitis is clearly trying to knock Cena off his perch atop the company by sending Brock Lesnar after him. Once that feud blows over, Laurinaitis can then unleash his stable of new talent on Cena and proclaim that the future is now.

Before the Nexus was booked poorly, it was quite successful, so there is no reason why another stable of virtual unknowns (to casual) fans can't gain some popularity. I'm not saying that Cesaro, Rollins, Ambrose and Ohno need to be linked forever, but in an effort to get all of them over at once, this is by far the best option.

Each of the "Indy Four" has the ability to be a huge star as an individual in the WWE and there is no doubt in my mind that allowing them to debut as a unit will do wonders for their long-term viability.