Wednesday nights in the Wrestling World is War.
With All Elite Wrestling creating their weekly show: Dynamite instantly sent shockwaves in WWE’s corporate office. Dynamite would align itself with production company TNT on Wednesday nights – the night where WWE would show NXT on their network. WWE decided to make NXT a weekly live show on USA network to compete with AEW with the overall aim of brand supremacy.
Both shows would compete for the highest ratings (similar to RAW and Nitro) in order to show which show is better and if their product is being received positively by the fans – if this is the case then ratings would increase.
AEW would regularly beat WWE in the rating war but WWE has had their fair share of success in the war, recently being their two-week event Great American Bash, gaining the advantage over AEW in the war. As a wrestling fan, competition is healthy for a brand but with my personal alliance being with NXT and the freedom to have creative power, here are 3 things NXT needs to do in order to win the Wednesday Night Rating War.
Reinvent the Tag Team scene
NXT gained popularity in early 2016 due to their quality of Tag Team Wrestling. We have seen teams such as American Alpha, The Revival and The Ascension have countless matches deemed excellent by many, with their character being established at the same time. However, in recent months there has been no foundation for the tag team scene in NXT with current Champions Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel (Imperium) rarely showing up on weekly NXT television.
Their recent defence of the Titles on NXT against Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish was their first appearance in a while. With their absence meant there was little to no tag team excitement on NXT, this resulted in there being no attraction for Fans who specialise in Tag Team Wrestling. With Undisputed Era losing, signalling that their time in NXT is nearly over, they may have one more Takeover match but I doubt they’ll win the titles again which leads to the question, who is going to challenge for the titles next?
If NXT decides to have UE challenge Imperium for one more match there needs to be a build of a new tag team simultaneously to both build a new tag team and allow time for both teams to create a gripping storyline. A perfect way of building a Tag Team is through constant competition, this being in the shape of The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic! The Classic has been around for many years giving it a prestigious feel for Tag teams to try and win.
Now I could easily name all of the Tag teams that should be involved but then this will turn into a fantasy booking and that’s not the aim of this piece. The only thing WWE needs to focus on is having all of the teams be established Tag teams (no mixup of two mid-carders) this will give the tournament a feel of competition and excitement. The tournament could last for 6 weeks which gives Imperium enough time to finish their programme with UE and then they can turn their focus on the winners of the Tag Team Classic. With WWE using the Tag Team Classic means they have 8 Tag teams who have recently been on NXT TV at least once (giving them credibility) and also shows that Imperium are fighting champions if they face UE and the Winner of the Tag Team Classic.
That will increase viewers as tournaments always attract fans and it gives the Tag Team scene a sense of excitement due to a new tag team being given an opportunity against Imperium (possibly creating a first exchange between the two Tag teams). It will also allow NXT to build new tag teams as they have been given screen time and will grow on the audience at home.
Taking Their Time with the Woman’s Division
NXT can be deemed the home of the women’s revolution, with The Four Horsewomen constantly providing full sail university with excellent matches but there’s been a gap in women’s wrestling recently for the black and gold brand. The current woman’s champion: Io Shirai has the potential to become one of WWE’s greatest talents but in my opinion, she is not being utilised fully in the current NXT climate.
Shirai is going into a woman’s championship match against Dakota Kai at NXT Takeover XXX but that dynamic doesn’t portray both woman’s character correctly. The build towards Kai getting the opportunity was weak, she beat Rhea Ripley with the help from an interfering Mercedes Martinez, something I don’t understand the relevance of? With Kai winning means it’ll be a heel vs heel dynamic for the match at Takeover.
Understandably Shirai has been acting like a babyface due to her championship win but her character work at the minute is based of a heel so have her act like the heel we have loved since her transformation. NXT should not have had Rhea Ripley in the title picture this early on from her loss to Charlotte at Wrestlemania because another loss is showing Ripley as a weak competitor due to the constant losses on TV and PPV. The woman’s title scene looks rather misplaced at the minute – something that rarely happens on NXT.
In the past, we’ve had a dominant Shayna Baszler fighting off babyfaces such as Ember Moon etc thus giving the Woman’s title picture a food chain feel (something unique for a woman’s division). It’s understandable that there isn’t a ‘Baszler’ type figure at the top of the division but NXT could use Shirai in a similar fashion. NXT needs to slowly build a babyface who could possibly dethrone Shirai similar to Ripley and Baszler, personally I think this babyface needs to be Tegan Nox.
Nox is a perfect candidate for this due to her believable passion for the sport with her previous Injuries playing a part in this. Dakota Kai isn’t the correct direction for the Woman’s Divison at this moment in time so this makes the title match at Takeover very predictable due to the way Kai got the opportunity, she hasn’t been built correctly to take the title away from Shirai.
I firmly believe that if NXT pulls the trigger with Nox it’ll result in a lovable babyface who can produce excellent matches (similar to Bayley). Nox should be at the top of the card and the future match with Kai for the title would have an excellent build and could possibly be the feud of the year – all of the seeds are in place for it – NXT just needs to take their time with it.
Give the North American Title More Prestige
Since Takeover New Orleans, The North American Championship has had a rollercoaster of hype behind it. NXT introduced the title in an expert fashion – with a 6 man ladder match. The ladder match gave the title a promising ethos with the match even receiving 5 stars from Wrestling Observers Dave Meltzer. There have been numerous holders of the title ranging from Ricochet to Keith Lee and in recent months the prestige has dipped.
Keith Lee winning the championship from Roderick Strong gave the NXT universe positivity with a fan favourite being given the starting point he needs to become a future NXT Champion. Numerous matches with Dominik Dijakovic and Damien Priest has been given high praise throughout the wrestling world but when Lee relinquished the title due to him winning the NXT Championship from Adam Cole made the title look like a second choice and something not worth fighting for.
NXT has given the title some excitement with the triple threat matches resulting in the winners going onto NXT Takeover XXX to compete in a ladder match for the title but that puts us in a similar position as 2018 post-New Orleans. Cole defended the title against Ricochet but the title would constantly change hands over the year – there was no impressive champion for the title. After the ladder match at the upcoming Takeover (hopefully, Cameron Grimes walks out with the Championship) NXT needs the new champion to defend the title weekly to give the title a fighting champ it rarely gets.
Yes, Lee did consistently defend the title in amazing matches but in the end, he dropped it for the NXT Championship like it was nothing – knocking all of the previously hard work he had done in maintaining the prestige of the championship. There needs to a direction for the title which is similar to John Cena’s open challenge in 2015 because it would give excitement for the title and the show itself with a title match every week could result in many opportunities for starts who need the airtime.
If NXT has an open challenge for the title weekly it’ll start to generate speculation as to who will walk out next and face the champ (this then generating buzz for the company meaning more views)
It seems pretty simple, right? NXT needs to take its time with certain superstars in order to get the most out of them and the most out of fan reaction to them because if we’re not invested in a superstar then there will be no need to watch them every week when there are other alternatives in the wrestling world. So please, NXT just remember your routes and this raging war will be yours.
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