NXT made headlines two weeks ago when they announced a two-week Great American Bash special that would run against AEW's two-week Fyter Fest special. The decision to brand two weeks of NXT television as the Great American Bash was curious to many as it seemingly came out of nowhere and was only done to run against AEW's special.
Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Triple H gave his reason as to why NXT decided on a two-week Great American Bash special.
"It absolutely is part of healthy of competition. Anyone that thinks it isn’t, to a degree, is being naive to the situation. You saw that back in the day when Clash of Champions was counter-programming [to WWE’s WrestleMania IV in 1988]. At the same point, it can’t drive your booking decisions," he said. "Obviously there are counter-programming decisions, but I can tell you exactly how this came about. Almost all of these storylines were headed where they are now. There was a gap, timing wise, between In Your House and what will become the SummerSlam TakeOver, and you need a halfway point and a build. This is that halfway point. So it doesn’t change our decision-making process. I don’t counter-book, I book what’s right for NXT."
In terms of viewership, the counter-programming worked for NXT as they garnered more viewers than AEW for night one of Great American Bash vs. night one of Fyter Fest.
Fightful will have live coverage of both Great American Bash and Fyter Fest on Wednesday beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
