Cruz Montana was the biggest surprise of Monday’s WWE Raw. Montana, a former TNA World Champion, attacked Roman Reigns as a masked man and then revealed himself as the newest member of 946. That makes Montana the fifth member of the 946 WarGames team against The Bloodline.
Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE made the decision to add Montana to 946 at the last minute and that even NXT was kept in the dark.
“The biggest news was Cruz Montana joining 946 and becoming their fifth member of War Games against the Bloodline team which will likely being back Jacob Fatu shortly,” Meltzer wrote. “It appears this was a late decision. Nobody in NXT was aware of it, but then again, WWE tries to keep these type of thing secret.”
Meltzer noted that NXT had plans in place for Montana as a top babyface on the brand. Shawn Michaels did not address the situation directly, but he talked about getting no notice before talent is called up to the main roster, so his team is forced to make changes.
“Shawn Michaels didn’t reference not knowing about this in specific but right after it did talk about how he gets no warning about main roster call-ups and they have to adjust,” Meltzer added. “NXT absolutely had plans going forward with Montana as a top babyface including a match two nights later where he was a babyface and 946 were babyfaces as well.”
Michaels celebrated the call-up on X as soon as Raw went off the air and noted that 19 NXT stars have been called up to Raw and SmackDown in the last 12 months.
Despite his move to Raw, Montana defeated Dion Lennox in a brutal Unsanctioned Match on Wednesday’s NXT, with UFC fighter Michael Chandler as the referee. Montana won with help from Royce Keys and 946, who ran out to take care of DarkState.
Montana debuted on NXT under a WWE contract on July 21, six days after his TNA deal expired. That means his NXT run lasted just 104 days, a lot shorter than Montana himself expected at the time.
A similar situation happened to Joe Hendry recently. Hendry, another former TNA World Champion, joined NXT in November 2025 and didn’t get the call to Raw until shortly after WrestleMania 42, about five months later.