10 Things NXT Did Specifically To Beat AEW

3. Saving Jonny Gargano

A wrestler so synonymous with the brand that he's christened himself "Mr NXT" hasn't been on either of the opening two shows. On the face of things that's a simply staggering development but when pulled apart it's clearly all part of a much wider strategy.

The short answer (and we'll get to the long one in the final part of this article) is that NXT want to keep their powder dry for the actual head-to-head episodes. Getting over a million viewers the last two weeks is great, but it counts for absolutely nothing if that figure gets slashed when the competition finally launches.

You could easily make the argument that establishing him for the new audience is the smarter strategy, but if NXT had blown its entire load in the opening fortnight then that leans squarely into the "fresh new product" narrative AEW will be hoping to cultivate. Existing fans will be clamoring for his return, thus it'll seem like a massive, massive, massive deal for everyone else when he eventually does.