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EditorialBiggest Takeaways from WWE NXT Premiere on USA Network

Biggest Takeaways from WWE NXT Premiere on USA Network

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The first step in a new era of WWE kicked off tonight with the debut of NXT on the USA network. This premiere was more than just a change to a new channel, though. With it comes so, so many consequences, both good and bad.

There’s less incentive for fans to want the WWE Network, now that NXT is not live solely on that platform. However, more eyes will be on the product, now that they’re on cable and people can easily stumble across it.

WWE has to bridge the gap between the old and the new audience by presenting a product casuals can get into without losing the die hard fans who are worried too much will change from their beloved show.

This was only the first episode, but already, we can see what direction WWE is heading for how the next phase of NXT will play out, and as far as I’m concerned, these were my big takeaways from the premiere:

Misfires in the Advertisement / Commercial Department

WWE clearly didn’t do a good enough job telling fans about the time split, as I don’t know how many people I had to inform about why it was only one hour instead of two on USA. The more casual people I came across just assumed it was two hours already and wrote it off as that they must have been wrong, not knowing about the second hour on the WWE Network.

To WWE’s credit, I don’t know if saying this 100 more times would have helped clear things up, anyway. There are some people that just don’t pay attention and you could explain something over and over without it clicking. But it’s still a lame thing to have to explain: “Well, NXT is going to be 2 hours on USA, but for the first two weeks, it’s one hour on USA and the second hour on the WWE Network because USA needs two more weeks of the show Suits, so it changes on October 2nd, but it’s still two hours tonight and going forward. You just have to switch to the network for hour #2.” — That’s a mouthful compared to how they’ve been treating it as simple as “NXT moves to USA at 8pm on Wednesday.”

If the numbers aren’t good for the second hour, I bet it’s because of that confusion.

But on another note about advertisements, who in their right mind signed off on allowing an AEW commercial to air on USA at 8:20pm?! Unless Tony Khan payed a TON of money for that, it would have made more sense to have literally any other available advertisement in that slot instead.

You don’t advertise the competition that will give people an alternative to watch at the exact same time on another network! This isn’t rocket science! It isn’t even as if this is WWE advertising Miz and Mrs. on E! while 205 Live is happening on the WWE Network, wherein you can at least argue that they’re turning viewers away from one of their shows for another. There’s no benefit to USA for this AEW commercial other than the money for the slot and zero benefit at all to WWE for having advertised their competitors.

The commercial flow of the show was also weird. Perhaps I’m just used to NXT not having those breaks, or maybe it’s due to the production team itself not mapping things out better, but it didn’t have the feel of Raw/SmackDown, nor NXT—just the typical “as NXT rages on” phrasing, which goes to show some habits never die.

More than a few times tonight, I felt like the commercials were coming at the wrong moment and it came off jarring, and not in a good way. That’s not to say I enjoy how much they forecast a commercial break is coming up soon on Raw and SmackDown, as I detest how often they do things like have people fight on the outside just to set up a commercial and say “as Raw rolls on” and such, but the way they handled this felt off to me.

I hope they get into a better rhythm. Maybe they tried to pack too much in and that threw them off. Perhaps they were all too nervous, or there were some miscommunications backstage. Whatever the case, they should definitely have improved by next week and I’m expecting them to have worked out the kinks by at least the end of October. It will take a little bit of time to adjust, but they can’t keep it like this forever.

The Visuals

Was I the only one who thought the frame rate was off, or the cameras were different? There was something strange about the visual presentation of the show compared to normal.

Raw and SmackDown have always looked different compared to NXT, and NXT UK has its own feel, too, but this had yet another feel, and I couldn’t get used to it yet.

I’m not a fan of the so-called “soap opera effect” from motion control. A crisp image is great, but I’d rather have a 1080p 60hz resolution that looks natural than a 4k 120hz MotionFlow situation. Obviously, that’s just one opinion and there are others who couldn’t disagree with me more, but this felt more like that, and I wasn’t a fan of that.

Like with anything, there will be an adjustment period that I’m sure my eyes and brain will get used to and a month from now, I won’t think anything of it. But I want to know if you agree or disagree with me on this, so leave a comment. If this is how SmackDown is going to look, I’ll be disappointed.

205 Live is Totally Dead Even if WWE Doesn’t Admit It

Nothing has been confirmed, but with Oney Lorcan and Lio Rush competing to become the No. 1 contender for Drew Gulak’s Cruiserweight Championship, I can’t help but to think 205 Live is going to be cancelled.

WWE has remained coy about what is happening with the brand. Not once have they confirmed one way or another if it’s staying on the schedule to follow SmackDown after the move to Friday nights, if it’ll be recorded in advance somewhere and air at another time, or if it’ll be outright taken off the lineup.

Typically, this is because WWE is trained to treat negatives as a positive—or, at least, to pretend and sell it that way to the fans. 205 Live won’t be “cancelled because not enough people are watching it, so we’re bringing those guys onto the other shows.” No. Instead, they’ll just say that wrestlers from the cruiserweight division will now be shown on NXT, NXT UK, Raw and SmackDown and pitch the positives of that, while quietly removing 205 Live from the show list and not drawing attention to it.

I’m a fan of 205 Live. Hell, I’m one of the few people who watches it, it seems. But that’s the problem, as not enough people watching means the show doesn’t justify its existence when the talent can just work other programs and the resources can be spent elsewhere.

I’m assuming no official announcement comes until at least next week’s 205 Live, which may be the final broadcast. Either they say that’s the last episode, or they wait until SmackDown on October 4 and say nothing and if you log onto the network, you’ll just see a rerun of something going on at 10pm instead of an episode of 205 Live.

Then, the draft will happen on October 11th and 14th and we’ll see people move to Raw and SmackDown and that will be the end of it, with the vast majority of the talent just working NXT from now on.

What’s Happening for WarGames?

Normally around this time, we’d have a set of tapings (previously set for last week) that would have given us a good indication of what WWE would be building toward for WarGames on November 23rd.

Naturally, that isn’t the case anymore, and rather than jump too far ahead, WWE is putting that on the backburner for now.

That is a good decision. It would be strange to start setting up an angle that won’t play out for two months, particularly on a first-impressions episode.

I do have to think, though, that Candice LeRae vs. Shayna Baszler happening on television means those two won’t face each other at WarGames for the title. I don’t know what the alternative will be, but doing that match and then waiting a few weeks just to do it again will be tough, as the rematch will need something to justify why it’s must-see after just watching it.

We do have Imperium in the mix, now, though. Maybe the four members of that stable will face the four members of The Undisputed ERA? That’s a long shot, but it would be interesting.

But unlike some of the other points, not knowing what will happen for WarGames is not a criticism. In fact, I like that. That means I’m more intrigued to watch the upcoming episodes to figure out how they set up that event and what they’re building toward.

NXT UK Has Officially Been Annexed

Triple H has made it clear in the past that NXT UK is part of the NXT umbrella and not necessarily a standalone brand. After all, we’ve seen people like Tyler Bate fighting on NXT before NXT UK even had its own program, some TakeOver events featured the NXT UK roster, and both Pete Dunne and Rhea Ripley recently switched their focus to the American roster.

With Imperium’s appearance, it’s firmly established now that NXT UK is an offshoot that will operate both alongside and underneath the flagship show of NXT.

They didn’t “invade” NXT. They’re simply part of it and were brawling with the rest of the roster at the end of the show. As they aren’t outsiders, we could see all three NXT UK titles defended on NXT in the future as if they’re the same as the North American Championship.

Even NXT is Not Immune to WWE’s Indecisiveness

One of the most frustrating things about WWE is how often they’ll promote something, just to not follow through with it. The card is always subject to change, but you’d think a company with the ability to book this stuff in advance would only have to do that once in a while due to unforeseen circumstances and not pretty much at least two or three times a week, guaranteed.

Sadly, it seems as though NXT is going to fall victim to the same last minute changes that happen to Raw, SmackDown and 205 Live. This was shown with how The Street Profits were scheduled to face Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish for the NXT Tag Team Championship, yet the match never happened.

In this case, I’m all for that. We don’t need to see those teams face each other again. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins are on Raw now and have to establish themselves there, rather than hang around in NXT to fight past demons and lose to The Undisputed ERA again.

But this is a rare circumstance of a positive coming out of the change instead of a negative. Most of the time, it’s just frustrating to have to adjust all the preview content, and if you’re a fan looking forward to what was advertised and you don’t get it, there’s nothing good about that.

Everything Comes in Threes

Luke Harper was an obvious goner from WWE after months spent on the shelf with reports that he was being paid to sit at home while his contract was extended to keep him away from AEW as long as possible following his request to be let go. He popped up at Clash of Champions.

Rusev (and Lana) have been away for months, keeping hush about their future. While The Ravishing Russian is still missing, The Bulgarian Brute randomly showed up on Raw to illustrate that he’s not going anywhere, either.

Now, for the third time this week, it happened again. Lio Rush has spent all the time since WrestleMania posting cryptic tweets about the future with no signs of his return on the horizon, only to show up on NXT and immediately become the No. 1 contender for a title.

At this rate, it seems like the longer you spend away, the more beneficial it’ll be when you come back. Watch out for The Colons and The Ascension, as they’re practically going to be squashing Brock Lesnar by that rationale!

In all seriousness, this is a great thing for all three talented stars. Harper is already featured more than he had been in a long while, Rusev looks leaner than ever and Rush seems back on track in the division he can make a lot of waves in.

I’m just curious if he’s supposed to be a cocky babyface or if he’s still a heel, but toned things down a bit.

The Extra Hour is a Saving Grace for Performance Center Talent

I figured that extra hour of content to fill each week would be beneficial for the roster and I’m glad to see some confirmation of that already.

With each taping, there would typically be only a few spots for some of the up and comers to make an impact. Often, someone like a Raul Mendoza would be relegated to a jobber position to put over a Damian Priest on one episode out of a four week span, for instance.

This week, we saw Cameron Grimes defeat Sean Maluta (why is he not signed yet?) in a squash, Xia Li beat Aliyah which gave more time to Vanessa Borne as well, Denzel Dejournette was seen for the first time in God knows how long, Arturo Ruas actually had a match and we still had more than enough time for lots of the big guns.

I’m expecting to see folk like Mansoor, Bronson Reed, Dexter Lumis, the tag team of Riddick Moss and Dorian Mak, maybe some Deonna Purrazzo for the first time in an absurd amount of time, MJ Jenkins and others who normally don’t have their time on the playground.

That will keep things fresh and interesting so that we don’t have the same 5 women and 10 men each and every week burning themselves out and now, more fans will be familiarized with this roster before they come up to the main roster, rather than wondering who Rik Bugez is and getting Boa mixed up with Babatunde.

What did you think of NXT’s debut on USA? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!

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