10 Booking Steps For WWE NXT (25 Sept)

This is the big one.

You might be tempted to think that next week - with SmackDown moving to Fox, Raw's "season premiere" and the launch of AEW - is the big one but, nope, this is the big one. This is the last time NXT goes into a week of professional wrestling as the biggest talking point on TV. After this, they could end up as a footnote in their own Wednesday night war, or emerge as the unlikely number one in the tussle for supremacy.

Last week saw their maiden broadcast on the USA Network, officially making them a bonafide television product as opposed to a cult weekly offering for an on-demand service designed to showcase bigger, "better", wrestling. The ending thrilled some but underwhelmed many, as a Riddle/Dain streetfight saw the show go off the air to little more than confusion. All in all, a really strong show, but not one that set the wrestling world into a frenzy.

But this is the big one.

Nailing this episode of TV not only takes the legs out from under the competition (or at least makes it harder for their hype machine to get going) but eases the pressure on both Raw and SmackDown next week. WWE have all the tools they need to do this, if they just book accordingly.