There may be some very interesting scenarios and very interesting proposals as the WWE begins to negotiate its new U.S. TV rights with various broadcasters and interested parties.
When it comes to the NXT brand on the USA Network there has been more and more interplay with main roster talent with such stars as AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews, Dana Brooke, The New Day and others making appearances on the black and gold brand. Bron Breakker challenging WWE Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins to a title match on this week’s edition of NXT pushed that interplay even further surprising fans this week.
WWE CEO Nick Khan has laid out a method to that madness saying that the idea is for NXT to be far more than a developmental system going forward.
“Initially, NXT was on WWE Network. And then when the pandemic hit, USA/NBCU needed content, we did not miss a week of production. … So we went with Tuesday nights NXT on USA from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern time. NXT ratings are also trending up … so that is going in the right direction,” a hopeful Khan told The Hollywood Reporter.
Khan then laid out the NXT blueprint going forward. It is to increase, strengthen the value of NXT.
“We think NXT has the viability to be its own standalone brand instead of just being a developmental system – a third brand, if you will, where you can see cross-over from our superstars on Raw and SmackDown to NXT while our young talent develops there. Once we get all of that situated, then we will look at other nights of the week to develop new content as well,” he said.
As far as the overall discussions with its various media and broadcasting partners Khan had this update.
“We are just out of the exclusive window with Fox; we are still in the window with NBCU. Conversations with both have gone phenomenally well. What we are trying to balance here is getting the maximum value for what we consider these media rights to be,” he said.