WWE CEO Nick Khan Believes NXT Can Be Its Own Standalone Brand
The viewpoint on NXT by WWE has seemingly been all over the place in recent years. It started out as a talent competition reality show and then became a developmental brand to help produce new Superstars. As it grew it then became a standard bearer for great wrestling within WWE and started to transition into a third brand under Triple H. That was brought to a halt later though, and it was back to being developmental, though with elements of a third brand. WWE CEO Nick Khan revealed that NXT is heading towards that third brand status once more, as he said NXT has the viability to be a standalone brand in a new interview with THR.
"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," Khan said.
"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," Khan said.
This was all part of a discussion regarding WWE possibly splitting the rights amongst its programs even further, taking inspiration from the NBA and how they have split rights in the past and could split things even further in the future.
"We are always in touch with all of the buyers in the marketplace about what they are looking for," Khan said. "If you look at the NBA situation, my belief is the NBA is going to split the rights which are now split two-ways between Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney. They could split them four to five ways. And we think that is good for everybody. We followed the NBA's playbook five years ago in wanting to not have one exclusive partner for Raw and SmackDown and to split them two ways. Now we are looking at the marketplace in its totality and thinking there might be more options than even that."
We'll have to wait and see if NXT can move into that third-brand position and stay there, which would be a huge benefit to the stars in NXT. The consistent crossover at the moment between Raw, SmackDown, and NXT has not only helped draw more eyes, but it's also having a positive effect on the NXT Superstars, who are getting to work with experienced talent on a weekly basis.
What do you think of Khan's comments? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!