When it was announced that NXT was going national, I was most definitely in the camp that met the news with a feeling of dread. Not just because I’m a cheapskate that doesn’t have access to the USA Network, much less cable television in general, but also because I was very puzzled and dubious about the whole planned execution of NXT, with the first half of the show being exclusive to the USA Network on cable television, and the second hour being exclusive to the WWE Network streaming.
When the day is over, the medium that brings in advertising revenue is going to win out, and I didn’t have to watch New NXT to have guessed that they were going to stack the first hour and then take their foot off the gas once the cameras switched over to streaming for hour two. Look no further to the hour by hour comparison in matches/segments and come to your own conclusion:
Hour 1 (Nationally televised on USA):
- Io Shirai vs. Bianca Bel Air vs. Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae, Fatal 4-Way for #1 Contender to NXT Women’s Championship
- Cameron Grimes vs. Sean Maluta
- Roderick Strong vs. Velveteen Dream for NXT North American Championship
Hour 2 (Exclusive to WWE Network subscribers):
- Pete Dunne vs. Arturo Ruas
- Xia Li vs. Aaliyah
- IMPERIUM promo
- Lio Rush vs. Oney Lorcan for #1 Contender to WWE Cruiserweight Championship
- Matt Riddle vs. Killian Dain
Sure, it’s hard to count the Grimes/Maluta match considering it was a squash where the entrances took 5x longer than the match itself, but two long-form matches featuring the top talents in both the men’s and women’s divisions, it’s clear that WWE is putting nationally televised first, and taking their foot hard off the gas in hour two, because fewer things denote a reduction in effort than an Aaliyah or Arturo Ruas match, regardless of whom they’re up against.