Chase U almost made it to the WWE main roster, and Andre Chase knows more about it than he probably should.
While speaking with The Wrestling Classic, Chase was asked whether he ever thought Chase U could work on Raw or SmackDown. His answer was clear. Yes, it was possible, and at one point, the group’s name was apparently in the mix for a WWE Draft move. Chase admitted he may not have been supposed to know it, but he said Chase U was initially on a Draft list before plans changed.
“Definitely. There were times, and I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to say this because I probably wasn’t supposed to know it, but there was one of the drafts. I guess our names were on the list initially.”
He said the group was pulled aside and told there was at least a chance they could be called up.
“We got pulled, and they were like, ‘Hey, there’s a chance you guys might be getting called up.’ So there were a couple of times.”
That would have been a wild jump for Chase U. The group started as a classroom comedy act in NXT and turned into one of the brand’s strongest fan favorites. Andre Chase, Thea Hail, Duke Hudson, and the student section became a real thing, and fans brought the Chase U energy to bigger shows outside the Performance Center.
Chase also put the whole thing in perspective. He said he never started in WWE expecting any of this because he was originally told he was not even supposed to be on television.
“You got to understand, from when I started, I had no expectations because I wasn’t even supposed to be on television. My whole NXT run or my whole WWE career, I was playing with house money. I just thought whatever happens, happens, because I wasn’t even supposed to be there, much less have an almost six-year run on television.”
That does not mean he did not want the main roster shot. Chase admitted Raw, SmackDown, and WrestleMania were all things he would have loved, but he was too focused on building Chase U to obsess over it.
“Of course, I wanted to be on Raw and SmackDown and potentially go to a WrestleMania, but that wasn’t something I aspired to do because I was just so busy building the Chase thing.”
Chase also revealed that WWE had creative talks about pairing Chase U with Alpha Academy or possibly putting the two groups against each other. That makes sense on paper, because both acts had a teacher-student setup and plenty of room for comedy.
“I know at a couple different points there was talk creatively of doing something with Alpha Academy because they were kind of similar, and then they didn’t know if it was like if we join up with them or if we come in and feud with them.”
The problem may have been that the acts were too close to each other. Chase said that might have been why WWE never pulled the trigger.
“I think ultimately the acts were too close, too similar at a certain point. When we were at our height in popularity, I think ultimately the decision was — and again, this is all secondhand, I don’t know for sure, I don’t have any inside information — but I think essentially the acts were too close, too similar at a certain point.”
Chase U getting a main roster run could have opened up a lot of doors. A feud with Alpha Academy, a team-up with Chad Gable’s crew, or even a WrestleMania comedy spot could have worked if WWE gave it the right room. Instead, the act stayed in NXT, where it built a strong legacy before Chase’s release.
Andre Chase may never have gotten that Raw or SmackDown call-up, but Chase U got far beyond what anyone expected. The group went from a weird classroom pitch to one of NXT’s most memorable acts, and now fans know it was closer to the main roster than they realized.
Do you think Chase U would have worked on Raw or SmackDown? Should WWE have pulled the trigger on the Alpha Academy idea? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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