Wednesday's NXT To Open With Adam Cole Vs Finn Bálor Commercial Free

Black-and-gold brand repeats USA premiere strategy with HUGE ad-free NXT Championship opener.

by Michael Hamflett
Adam Cole Finn Bálor
WWE

NXT will open their final live episode of 2019 with Adam Cole's NXT Championship defence against Finn Bálor, with the match also promised to run commercial free as Cole's last televised defence against Matt Riddle did earlier this year.

The announcement was made through NXT's official Twitter yesterday shortly ahead of All Elite Wrestling reminding audiences that their own red hot start will air, "as always" without ads.

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Last week's Wednesday Night ratings war was one of the most intriguing thus far, with both brands registering 778,000 views with age demographics continuing to narrow between the brands.

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Both NXT and Dynamite have subsequently stacked their December 18th editions - Shayna Baszler will defend her Women's Title against Rhea Ripley following the aforementioned Cole/Bálor clash, whilst AEW will open with The Lucha Bros Vs Kenny Omega & Hangman Page on a card that'll also feature Jungle Boy taking on Chris Jericho, Cody & Darby Allin squaring off against The Butcher & The Blade and The Young Bucks getting their first ever shot at the AEW Tag Team Titles against current Champions SCU.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett