NXT could someday be more to WWE than just a developmental system.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Nick Khan touted the WWE's popularity in the USA, saying that it's time to monetize. Beyond Raw and SmackDown, however, the WWE CEO spotlighted NXT and shared his belief for the Tuesday night program to be more than a developmental system.
“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.” Concluded the WWE CEO: “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.”
WWE's TV rights deals with NBCUniversal and Fox will be up in 2024, and its deal with the Peacock streaming service will expire in 2026. WWE entered into a transaction agreement with Endeavor that will see WWE merge with UFC and form a new publicly traded company once the deal is complete.
Additionally, Khan stated that once the media rights of Raw, SmackDown, and NXT have been figured out, the company is exploring potentially adding shows for other nights of the week. One adult-focused program was brought up as a possibility.
Khan recently stated that WWE would ideally have programming on every night of the week. Check out his comments here.
Check out Khan's comments about SmackDown potentially moving to a different night here.
