WWE NXT Preview: NXT Championship No. 1 Contender's Match, Kushida vs. Imperium Six-Man Tag Match
NXT returns to action on Wednesday night in what will be its final show before it makes the full [...]
NXT returns to action on Wednesday night in what will be its final show before it makes the full transition from the WWE Network to the USA Network. Due to the series finale of the USA original series Suits, the show will air its first hour live on USA starting at 8 p.m. Eastern, then switch to the WWE Network for the second hour.
This week's episode will feature another Street Fight between Matt Riddle and Killian Dain. The first bout between the two was tossed out last week when a sizeable chunk of the locker room got involved. General manager William Regal announced after the show that the two would fight again, only this time the winner would earn a shot at Adam Cole's NXT Championship.
The show will also feature the return of Dakota Kai as well as the continued rivalry between Keith Lee and Donavan Dijakovic.
9-25-19 - @USA_Network debut.
*Achievement Unlocked* pic.twitter.com/bnMgAeyCiL
— Motivational Lee (@RealKeithLee) September 25, 2019
The second half of last week's episode feature the surprise arrival of NXT UK Champion Walter alongside his Imperium faction. The four wound up brawling with Kushida, leading to the champ announcing a six-man tag match for this week's episode where Kushida will pick two partners to face Alexander Wolfe, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel. It's easy to assume the big man will also get involved in the match at some point.
NXT is already hard at work promoting its first full episode on USA on Oct. 2. The card thus far features an NXT Women's Championship match between Shayna Baszler and Candice LaRae and an NXT Tag Team Championship match between The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) and The Street Profits.
In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Cole spoke about how NXT won't change its creative direction even though its moving from a streaming service to cable.
"I think an important recipe for NXT success, and I can tell you that our team feels this exact same way, is we need to keep and stay true to what made NXT NXT," Cole said. "Because this move to the USA Network is not a mistake."
"It's not by accident," he continued. "It's because of what NXT brings to the table already. So I think we very much recognize that keeping that formula and doing more of what this brand does better than anybody is how we're going to succeed on the USA Network. Of course, there's going to be some exciting new things happening in NXT, but at the same time, we know what brought us to the dance, and we're going to stay true to that."
