Report: Ryan Garcia Unlikely to Get Another WWE Run

Ryan Garcia’s surprise cameo with The Judgment Day is looking more like a one-and-done experiment than the start of a longer WWE run.

The boxer popped up on the July 27 episode of RAW, swinging a guitar at Joe Hendry and helping Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh clear out Hendry, Danhausen and the Minihausens in a segment meant to add heat heading into SummerSlam. It was a prominent, high-visibility spot for a first appearance — but the backstage reaction reportedly wasn’t kind.

According to insider chatter addressed during a recent WrestleVotes fan Q&A, the answer on whether Garcia comes back was blunt: no. The gist of the response was that a lot of people within the company weren’t fans of the segment, and WWE typically doesn’t double down on angles that don’t connect with the locker room.

That lines up with earlier word that several wrestlers were uneasy about Garcia being featured at all, given his well-documented run of public controversies outside the ring. Those internal reservations appear to have carried real weight, even after WWE had already committed camera time and a meaningful angle to the appearance.

It’s a notable turn considering how much was riding on the segment. WWE doesn’t typically hand a first-time outside talent a role in a build toward its second-biggest show of the year without some level of institutional buy-in. The fact that the company seems ready to quietly shelve the idea suggests the internal pushback was more than just a few grumbles — it reportedly reached a level that made continuing the storyline more trouble than it was worth.

Celebrity and crossover cameos are nothing new for WWE, especially in the SummerSlam build-up window, when the company has historically leaned on mainstream star power to draw eyeballs. Not all of them stick — plenty of one-off appearances from athletes, musicians and influencers come and go without a sequel. But Garcia’s case stands out because the attempted crossover ran directly into resistance from the roster itself, rather than simply fading due to lack of storyline need.

For Judgment Day, the angle itself doesn’t necessarily need Garcia to continue. Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh have plenty of heat to work with heading into SummerSlam without an outside presence, and Joe Hendry’s feud with the stable can keep moving regardless of who swung the guitar. If anything, dropping Garcia from future plans lets the story stay focused on the wrestlers actually built into the weekly product.

Still, it’s a reminder of how much internal roster sentiment can shape decisions even after a segment has aired. WWE creative may have seen upside in the mainstream attention a boxer like Garcia can bring, but if the locker room doesn’t buy in, that idea tends to have a short shelf life.

For now, all signs point toward Garcia’s RAW cameo being a one-off rather than the beginning of a longer program. Whether WWE revisits the concept with a different outside star as SummerSlam approaches remains to be seen.