WWE Plans To Reduce NXT Live Events in 2020

Florida is home to the WWE Performance Center, numerous WWE superstars, and the home base for WWE [...]

By Ryan Droste

Florida is home to the WWE Performance Center, numerous WWE superstars, and the home base for WWE NXT at Full Sail University. Fans in the Orlando area in particular have a staggering amount of house shows and television tapings at their disposal.

That saturation of the market has WWE looking to cut down on the amount of NXT live events (house shows) they offer next year in the Sunshine State according to a report in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week.

Attendance for both WWE and NXT has been down this year, which was reflected in the company's recent earnings report. Over the course of the third quarter in 2019, NXT held 42 live events and had a paid attendance of 29,000. That attendance came along with an average ticket price of $38.20. During the same period in 2019, NXT held 46 live events and had a paid attendance of 37,600 with an average ticket price of $39.50.

These numbers break down to an average attendance per show of 690 in Q3 2019 versus 817 per show in Q3 2018. That's a drop of right around 15 percent per show on average, or 23 percent in total attendance (though there were more live events in 2018).

The Observer notes that Thursday live events in particular are what WWE is looking to cut down on for the NXT brand. These shows typically draw the lowest attendance and are the least financially viable.

One of the biggest issues plaguing these live events throughout Florida is the fact that most of NXT's top stars do not work them. Held in small venues, they typically feature some of the talents from the WWE Performance Center who have yet to break through on NXT television or who are not yet featured, regular acts. Names are often times not advertised ahead of time either, also hurting attendance. You wouldn't expect to see a Johnny Gargano or Adam Cole on these shows.

The NXT live event circuit often is used as a testing ground for new gimmicks before a performer gets to the main NXT television roster. For example, Patrick Clark (aka Velveteen Dream) was once testing out a pro Donald Trump character on the live circuit in Florida before settling into his Velveteen Dream character.

NXT presents TakeOver War Games this Saturday night on the WWE Network. Make sure to check out the ComicBook wrestling staff's predictions for the event.

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