Sami Zayn, the red-hot rookie who has been setting NXT on fire with his innovative arsenal and indy credibility, has tragically been demoted to WWE’s main roster.

Zayn debuted this week on Monday Night Raw, widely considered WWE’s second-rate “filler” program, where the less talented members of the roster ply their trade in hopes of getting “called down” to NXT.

Wrestling fans worldwide are crestfallen that such a talented performer would be wasted on Raw, where he wrestled against — and ridiculously lost to — the past-his-prime ham-and-egger John Cena.

According to backstage sources, members of the NXT roster are terrified they will be forced to follow in Zayn’s footsteps, performing hackneyed backstage skits and contrived storylines on Raw and Smackdown, rather than competing in high-octane NXT matches.

“Oh God, I hope they don’t send me up there too,” said Zayn’s longtime friend and sometime rival, Kevin Owens. “I worked my whole life to get to NXT, and I don’t think I could live with myself if I had to wrestle Corporate Kane or something.”

It is unclear why Zayn’s stellar NXT career has been derailed by the demotion, but one anonymous backstage source says it is because he was deemed “just generic enough for Raw.”