Will WWE Keep Running Pay-Per-Views Head-to-Head Against AEW After NXT Battleground?
WWE's NXT Battleground event will run head-to-head with AEW's Double or Nothing pay-per-view this Sunday. This isn't the first time WWE has run on the same day (or even the same weekend) and the much younger promotion, with the latest example being last September when the NXT vs. NXT UK Worlds Collide event wrapped up shortly before All Out. Shawn Michaels was asked about the decision during a media conference call on Thursday and seemed to indicate that won't be the case going forward.
"To the best of my knowledge, no (we won't keep running head-to-head)," Michaels said (h/t Fightful). "For me, and for us, the WWE as a whole, as I'm always honest with you guys, clearly there are people far more important than me that make decisions that they don't tell me about. For us, this was about a big Memorial Day weekend for WWE. Even though it's a little switched around, for us, it's a little bit of a throwback to when we would have joint weekends with NXT on Saturday and WWE pay-per-views on Sunday. This is just flip-flopped with Night of Champions on Saturday, especially coming in the afternoon, everyone felt it was a good combination to have NXT on Sunday night and create a big WWE weekend for WWE fans.
"For me, personally, I would love to have as many standalone weekends on us as we can get," he continued. "No different than having to go up against the (NBA & NHL) playoffs for the last several weeks. As much as I'm a basketball fan or NHL fan, it thrills me when the playoffs are done. The less competition we can get, the better."
AEW's Double or Nothing will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while Battleground will be at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts. The latter show will have a Stand & Deliver rematch between Carmelo Hayes & Bron Beakker for the NXT Championship while AEW's show will be headlined by MJF vs. Darby Allin vs. "Jungly Boy" Jack Perry vs. Sammy Guevara for the AEW World Championship.
AEW Double or Nothing 2023 Full Card
- AEW World Championship: MJF vs. Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
- AEW World Tag Team Championships: FTR vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal (Mark Briscoe as Special Guest Referee)
- AEW Women's World Championship: Jamie Hayter vs. Toni Storm
- AEW TNT Championship: Wardlow vs. Christian Cage (Ladder Match)
- AEW International Championship: 21-Man Blackjack Battle Royal
- AEW TBS Championship: Jade Cargill vs. Taya Valkyrie
- The Elite (Kenny Omega, "Hangman" Adam Page, The Young Bucks) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta) (Anarchy in the Arena Match)
- Ethan Page & The Gunns vs. The Hardy Party (Matt & Jeff Hardy, Isiah Kassidy)
- Adam Cole vs. Chris Jericho (Unsanctioned Match)