Could what was old be new again? Nick Khan thinks so for NXT.
It’s been heavily debated that NXT was third brand for WWE, particularly when the “Wednesday Night Wars” kicked off in October of 2019, but since bouncing back to Tuesdays, this new era of the letters has embraced its developmental identity. However, WWE CEO Nick Khan injected some optimism for fans that want more from Shawn Michaels’ baby down in the WWE Capitol Wrestling Center.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Khan noted that the ratings for the Tuesday night program were trending up and that’s always a good indication for more things to come.
“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.”
Could NXT Create Further Confusion In Terms Of Brand Split?
Khan mentioned cross-over of “Superstars” to NXT and the developmental brand has certainly seen an insurgence of that as of late. WWE Draft “free agents” Baron Corbin and Mustafa Ali surprised fans by showing up a couple weeks back and Dana Brooke is also back in the brand fold. The term “cross-over” however can certainly conflict with the already laissez-faire sanctity of the company’s brand split. We’ve already seen AJ Styles, a member of SmackDown, already show up on Raw to team with Seth Rollins mere weeks after the split was supposed to be official. Khan previously confirmed that there were talks of a new show for WWE, but no word as if that’s associated with NXT.