It’s been milled about for some time, rumored you could say. But more in the context of something that was merely in consideration, never officially decided on. As we move closer to the suspected date however, things seem to have changed. Now it seems all but announced… per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, NXT is now tentatively scheduled to begin airing live on FS1, every Wednesday from 8PM to 10PM. That’s presumably EST as is the norm.
This is apparently far enough along now that those at FOX are letting their affiliates know about it. I don’t think that happens unless it’s about a done deal. So I suppose it’s officially time to stop talking about this one as an ‘if’.
Going from a taped one hour show to a live two hour show is quite a dramatic shift, not to mention moving from the WWE Network to cable television. The reason for this happening obviously couldn’t be more clear, it’d be to go up head to head with AEW. Now as a product and as a roster, I do think NXT is more than ready for this… but I’ve already made my concerns clear. My stance hasn’t changed. Week 1, I think this will still be Triple H’s show, the same NXT long-time fans know and love just on a bigger stage than ever. And that sounds awesome. But I don’t think that would last for very long.
Vince is doing this to stick it to AEW and if they end up having more viewers then NXT, then I definitely don’t see him letting it run as-is without his input. And AEW having more viewers is fairly realistic considering it’s on TNT versus NXT being on FS1.
If AEW beats NXT Week 1, expect Vince to take over Week 2.
That’s just the reality, and if that happens, it’ll swiftly lose everything that ever made it unique. Everything that got it to where it is now, to a point where using it to combat AEW seems remotely plausible. It will inevitably become just another show like Raw or SmackDown, likely complete with changing the set to look identical save for using yellow lights instead of red or blue.
As someone who loves NXT enough to dedicate a faux tournament to it on our very site, the very notion shakes me to the core. I wish I could be excited about this, but I have this dreadful feeling that it’s the beginning of the end. The end of what I’ve watched build for the last seven years.
But maybe that’s a pessimistic view. Perhaps there’s reason to take heart and expect the best. I’d like to think that Triple H, the showrunner of NXT, had a lot of say in whether or not it ended up being used this way. Perhaps it was part of the deal that should it happen, he’d still always be the guy in the Vince role for the show, for lack of a letter term. And maybe, just maybe, if he made that deal with his own son-in-law… perhaps Vince would stick true to his word.
I mean, y’know, Vince also once promised his father that he would never destroy the territories and turn the WWF into a national promotion… but uh, he had the decency to wait until he was dead to do that, so maybe he won’t renege as long as Triple H alive, hey?
Here’s hoping…
