WWE News: WWE Set To Push The NXT Brand In A Major Way, NXT Title Match At ‘WrestleMania 32’?
WWE has dipped in ratings in a major way. The last three episodes of WWE RAW have ended up with terrible ratings for WWE, so much so that they have been equal to or worse than any in WWE history outside of holiday events. Some even beat those. WWE is considering several ideas on how to make the main roster shows better. While that will include top names returning to help out, this will also include the use of WWE NXT more often on the main roster.
NXT has been proven as a draw. In fact, many credit the WWE Network numbers to NXT. While everyone knows that every PPV is on the Network, WWE NXT being a regular show with live events every quarter makes people want to tune in. Plus, you see some of the best wrestling from the stars of tomorrow….and sometimes of today.
According to Daily Wrestling News, the plan is for WWE to push NXT starting now. There has been a lot of talk backstage about NXT as a brand. While WWE has been offered network deals for the show, it is still set to remain a WWE Network exclusive. This is of course barring the deals they have with stream services and network deals overseas.
The thought is that NXT will continue to break barriers and gain even more exposure. People are talking about NXT more than any wrestling product in the world today. Trend wise, NXT stars tend to be highly searched and matches are highly touted. On top of this, the moment they come on WWE RAW and SmackDown, numbers go up because of them. What is so fun is that NXT is only continuing to bring in some of the top names in the world from the Indy scene.
WWE is considering the idea of having NXT involved with WrestleMania 32 in some way. WWE has already hinted that we will get a live NXT Takeover event the night before WrestleMania. However, WWE wants NXT to work the Axxess event and potentially work WrestleMania. It is unknown whether or not NXT would open the show or simply be a pre-show addition. The thought is that WWE feels that NXT is getting big enough to where people know it as much as WWE RAW and SmackDown. That said, fans are going to know them and they would be a perfect fit for WrestleMania.
It is not yet confirmed that NXT will be on the WrestleMania show, but there is a strong chance that the current stars from the show will be on.
Keep in mind however that WWE will probably end up bringing people like NXT Champion Finn Balor, Bayley, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, and Hideo Itami up before WrestleMania. So the potential plan would be to use a few or all of them in some way for NXT on WrestleMania. Since they would be working the main roster shows already, WWE can build around the NXT title on RAW and SmackDown. Basically they would use NXT stars that recently came up to be more precise about it all.
That is not all when it comes to WWE’s plans for NXT.
Currently, WWE is considering having some NXT names come up to work against WWE United States Champion John Cena in his open challenge each week on WWE RAW. The idea is that this was such a huge hit over the summer, Cena would easily continue to put on great matches with the best NXT has to offer. It would also help get them over to work with the top guy in the business and have a competitive match with him. While there is currently no plan for a Kevin Owens type of thing to happen with another NXT star, there is a thought that a person WWE wants to come up permanently will end up beating Cena for the US Title.
So if WWE wants Finn Balor to be called up, he might still work NXT for a little while longer but he will win the US Title and then be part of the main roster on a regular basis.
WWE is planning to have the NXT stars come up but not stay. So we won’t see people come in like Kevin Owens and remain on the main roster very often. So it will be a simple appearance and then it will be right back to NXT. This is helpful for WWE, as it makes the Cena open challenge a must see event AND it helps to build stars. It will help ratings and help develop names, so there is no downside to it.
This idea for NXT stars to come up and work against Cena may very well happen sooner rather than later. WWE is working the northeast and will make their way down to the southeast from now until the end of October. Since most of the East coast is a hotbed for wrestling, it would be the perfect crowd for NXT stars to come up and work in front of.
All of this being said, WWE sees the potential of NXT and they are certainly going to milk it for all it’s worth as long as fans wish to see it. There is no reason not to.
[IMG Credits: RollingStone.com, tjrwrestling.net, wrestlingphoto.tumblr.com]
