Andrade “Cien” Almas Makes Main Roster Debut at WWE Royal Rumble 2018

Andrade "Cien" Almas made his WWE main roster debut Sunday in the Royal Rumble match at Royal Rumble 2018. Almas was the seventh entrant in the match.

His arrival came a night after he defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. As WWE showed on Twitter, Almas came with the NXT title in tow:

Almas signed with WWE in late 2015 and made his televised NXT debut in June 2016, as he defeated Tye Dillinger at NXT TakeOver: The End.

He initially struggled to gain his footing as a babyface and fell down the card a bit after losing to Bobby Roode at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II.

After turning heel on Cedric Alexander, however, Almas started to gain traction and developed a character befitting of the main roster.

While his cockiness made him a more entertaining, all-around performer, Almas didn't enjoy much in-ring success in terms of wins and losses at first.

El Idolo fell to Roderick Strong at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio and followed that up with another defeat at the hands of Aleister Black at NXT TakeOver: Orlando the night before WrestleMania 33.

Despite the fact that the losses were piling up, Almas was making progress as a heel to the point where it became clear that he could be an asset on the main roster.

He was eventually rewarded for that when he defeated Gargano in the opening match of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III under the guidance of Zelina Vega.

That led to Almas going on an impressive roll that culminated in a match against Drew McIntyre at NXT TakeOver: WarGames for the NXT Championship.

Also, Almas has improved his English and become capable of cutting shorter promos, but that is an area in which he will likely need to make further strides if he is ever going to be elevated to a level beyond the midcard.

Vega has been key to his development in that area, though, hearkening back to the old days when managers existed to elevate talent.

From an in-ring perspective, the 28-year-old Mexico native is highly athletic and technically sound, and he should be able to fall back on that regardless of how his mic work comes along.

The fact that Almas has international appeal is likely something that played into the decision to call him up—albeit likely for a one-off appearance for the time being—as well.

WWE Network is growing into a worldwide entity, and since Almas enjoyed success in Mexico and Japan as La Sombra, he could be a big help in terms of generating additional global interest when he makes his full-time transition to the main roster.

At the very least, Almas will be a quality worker on Raw or SmackDown Live who can regularly be counted on to execute solid matches against almost anyone in the company.

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