WWE NXT On USA: One Year On

Before September 2019, WWE NXT was one of the bright sparks of WWE. Ironically, despite being on the WWE Network, it had all the opposite qualities to people’s criticisms of RAW and Smackdown. It was only an hour long, matches had logical stories and conclusions and it was taped in batches. This meant that superstars were not featured as frequently, minimising the risk of overexposure. Also, with less bumps in a month reduces the risk of injury. The black and gold brand’s weekly TV show was worth the 9.99 subscription fee alone. But about a year ago things changed. Rival promotion AEW launched Dynamite. Their weekly show that also was due to air on Wednesday nights. To counter this, WWE decided to fight back! NXT became a two hour weekly show live on the USA network. Despite any differing opinions WWE say, this was done for one reason. WWE wanted to take viewers away from AEW and reduce their ratings. The result being that the network would not renew Dynamite after the initial run. Here are the good and bad points of NXT’s previous year on the silver screen.

The Good

A wider exposure of superstars getting the recognition they deserve. Finn Balor is arguably one of the most botched call ups from NXT to main roster. His return feels like he has never left though. He is (at the time of writing) once again NXT champion and showcasing his talent. We are also got to bask in the glory of Keith Lee and a showcase in one of the greatest female rosters ever. Io Shari is putting on show stealing matches at Takeover events and a dream match between herself and the returning Ember Moon can’t be too far away.

The Takeovers are still live on the network. The PPV events are still around the same frequency as AEW, but cost much less. The show is included in the 9.99 subscription to the network, whereas an AEW event will cost around $50. A rolling subscription will make people more inclined to watch, a $50 one off will have to have something special to make people part with their cash.

Match quality is still great. Unsurprisingly, a roster with as much talent as NXT frequently puts on some of the best TV matches each week. The moves are fluid and even though it is now live there are very few botches. However, this does lead onto the first negative…

The Bad

The finishes to matches are very main roster. One appeal of pre-TV NXT was the matches always reached a logical and usually clean conclusion. There would be a clear winner and loser to the majority of the bouts. Since to switch to TV, more matches seem to end in DQ finishes from run-ins or post-match angles where the winner gets beaten up. People watched NXT because it was an alternative. Adding main roster elements is one reason why rating may be declining.

It’s longer and you have to wait longer. Most people can find an hour a week free to watch something. Asking for two hours is a bit more demanding. There is also the fact that network viewers are now a week behind each show. This is similar to viewers having to wait a month for the main roster shows to reach the network. Especially outside of America, fans want to avoid spoilers so will find other ways to watch it. If illegal streaming services are quicker, this may motivate people to cancel their network subscriptions.

Injuries. The NXT ring style is hard hitting with big bumps and stunts on the weekly programming. Now that it is on TV, they need star power to keep up the ratings. With superstars taking bumps once a week as opposed to once a month, the risk of injuries is more prevalent. Karrion Kross had to vacate the NXT title due to injury and Finn Balor’s status is still rather unknown.

The main roster experiment. When WWE are desperate for ratings, they put big stars on TV and expect people to tune in. One of the few times they won the Wednesday night war was when they flooded it with main roster stars to promote Survivor Series. Then there was the Charlotte Flair experiment. They made her NXT Women’s champion and did nothing to promote the division. She was hardly on Wednesdays and only lost in a triple threat where she wasn’t involved in the decision. There was then no motivation to actually want to win the title back.

The plan backfired. As mentioned earlier, the only reason WWE did this was to try to cancel Dynamite from the TNT network. However, AEW are now on TV until 2023 and consistently perform well in key advertising demographics. Looking at numbers only, AEW are the better brand on Wednesdays.

What Next for WWE NXT?

With big stars out due to main roster call-ups or injuries, NXT should work on a rebuilding phase. Feature bigger stars less frequently e.g. have the NXT champion be the feature one week then the women’s champion the next week. This reduces the bump count and reduces overexposure. Have great TV matches with lesser-known talents and build them up into bigger stars. WWE NXT is still an entertaining show, but has lost some of its original shine. Go back to what worked and give the fans what they want. If word gets out they will return.

Image credit: WWE