The Wednesday Night Wars

[Jack-Hammer]

According to the latest word from Uncle Dave, NXT heading to USA is said to be "a done deal" at this point. He also alleges that Triple H has been dropping hints to people here and there, saying that while he can't tell what's going on, he is saying that people should watch Raw this Monday. As a result, Meltzer believes that the official word about NXT coming to USA will be official sometime during Raw this Monday. The show may also wind up airing prior to the premiere of AEW on TNT October 2, which might mean NXT will make it's debut September 18th or 25th since the final episode for the most recent NXT TV tapings is set to air on September 11. The plan is still for the show to air live between 8 and 10 pm on Wednesday nights, though nothing was mentioned about whether it'll air from different locations each week or if it'll be strictly at Full Sail. Meltzer also stated that Vince McMahon is very likely to be heavily involved in NXT going forward since it's going to "war" rather than just NXT being moved to a TV network to increase it's value and viability to audiences.

The last bit of Meltzer's report is like a kick to the nuts. In the back of my mind, I've always feared that Vince would start taking an active role in NXT and essentially turn it into another sports entertainment fiasco where getting quality consistently was a complete roll of the dice on a weekly basis. If Vince turns NXT into what Raw and SmackDown are, then I think AEW will slaughter it on Wednesday nights; the same old, same old isn't what people want and is a big reason why AEW has been rolling along getting things done at a record pace. At this time 8 months ago, AEW existed on paper only and now they're set to air on a major cable network backed by a wealthy investor that's richer than Vince McMahon.

Well, if Vince is gonna be hands on, then so long NXT and it was a blast while it lasted.

['Ravishing' Ned Flanders]

Well, if Vince is gonna be hands on, then so long NXT and it was a blast while it lasted.

Pretty much my exact thoughts on the matter.

[Jack-Hammer]

It was officially announced today that NXT is moving to USA with the debut episode airing on September 18. It's also been confirmed that NXT will air live each week from Full Sail University. In a move I thought pretty unusual, every episode will also air on tape delay 24 hours later from 8 to 10 pm EST on the WWE Network; so if you don't watch if live Wednesday night, you can catch it on the network Thursday night. So yeah...now you don't necessarily have to choose between NXT or AEW on Wednesday nights as this sort of takes a lot of the "fighting" out of the war.

[Spidey]

Is Meltzer sure this time?

[Jack-Hammer]

I think we've all heard by now that there are reports saying that there aren't expected to be any big changes to NXT. Now, of course, this is comforting news, if true, but the problem is that I don't think anyone is really buying it.

One reason why fans love NXT is because it's so genuinely different from Raw and SmackDown from top to bottom, especially in regards to the creative decisions. That difference is one of the big reasons why so many fans seem to be excited for AEW and even if they won't admit it, I do believe that NXT has been an influence in how they want to do things over there. Just making NXT another Raw and SmackDown defeats the intrigue of NXT and if that is indeed how things turn out, then I'll eventually be switching over to TNT on Wednesday nights.

IF Vince genuinely gives NXT legitimate time to fail or succeed on the merits that made it what it is, and it fails to deliver the numbers that USA feels is appropriate and/or gets its ass royally stomped week in and week out by AEW, then I couldn't fault Vince for stepping in. After all, some financial reports have stated that each hour of NXT on USA will be worth about $2 million and that the deal is said to be for a couple of years; if true, then we're talking about a couple hundred million in revenue on the line and you can't blame somebody for not dicking around with so much money riding. What would be legitimate time? In my opinion, I think 4 to 6 months is extremely reasonable; if Vince keeps his hands off things for that long, allows NXT to be what it was that made it such a phenom on the WWE Network and it's not able to deliver the goods, then I don't think anyone could fault him without looking foolish.