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As Dave Scherer and I discussed on the PWInsider.com Elite section earlier this week, there have been a lot of rumblings about WWE taking WWE NXT off the WWE Network and placing it elsewhere, with FOX Sports 1 being the most speculated possibility.
However, over the last 48 hours, PWInsider.com has been told there’s a pitch for the series to be moved to Wednesdays on the USA Network starting this October, with the idea NXT would be graduate into a live two-hour series from Full Sail University in Florida. The idea would be for the series to start in that form on 10/2, which of course is the same date that All Elite Wrestling launches its own weekly series on TNT.
Should this pitch move forward, the head to head would be the closest approximation of the old Monday Night War between WCW and the then-WWF since March 2001 as there would be two wrestling brands on similar cable broadcast platforms at the same time. It should be noted that with the evolution in technology, such as streaming, DVRs, etc. 2019 viewing would change the outlook of the head to head aspect with metrics being measured much differently than just the Nielsen ratings, as was the norm in the Monday Night War era.
It should be noted Impact Wrestling did attempt to go head to head with Monday Night Raw several years ago, but the idea died a fast death with Impact retreating back to its former home of Thursdays on SpikeTV after just ten weeks.
The USA Network aired an episode of WWE NXT on 12/13/17 as part of a "WWE Week", bringing in 841,000 overnight viewers.
WWE officials have not, as of yet, responded to a PWInsider.com request for comment.
While nothing is "official" yet, the ball is certainly in play. Stay tuned.
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