It's Official: A New Era Has Begun In NXT

On 18 September 2019, NXT made the enormous leap between two very different Networks, moving from its safe haven on WWE's streaming service to the cut-and-thrust world of actual television with USA.

Both sides were theoretically playing things quite safe, even if their goals were a little different. Building off a relationship with Vince McMahon spanning decades, USA had a relatively good idea of what they were getting in the black-and-gold brand. Numbers weren't always revealed from how the show did for WWE (though weekly Top 10s sometimes listed 'Table For 3' et al outperforming it), but TakeOvers sold out buildings comparable to Monday Night Raw and the network's soon-to-be former property SmackDown Live. This was another wrinkle in the arrangement between WWE and USA - the blue brand was about to shift to Fox on Fridays. A week bookended by McMahon programming was about to be halved, until NXT slotted quite nicely into the schedule on Wednesdays - the night it would always air on the WWE Network.

But that's not why it aired on Wednesdays. Nor why it was moved at all.

AEW Dynamite was set to premiere on 2 October on TNT. That NXT got a two-week head start (that was patchy at best - the company had to split the shows between USA and their own Network due to the rush release) speaks to how desperate WWE to marginalise the success of their new opposition before they were even acknowledged as such.

A year later, and that audience-splitting marginalisation is just about the only thing left about the once-beloved three letters that seems to function precisely as intended.

CONT'D...