What if NXT invades RAW and SmackDown Live?
It's official. NXT will begin airing weekly on the USA Network (Wednesday nights starting September 18) with its own two hour show in primetime. While the brand has gathered steam on the WWE Network and Hulu, it was really only accessed by hardcore fans who sought it out. With this new TV deal, the show has comparable footing to Raw and SmackDown in terms of getting into homes and potentially drawing in a more casual viewer base.
While NXT will surely continue to be tiered, with some prospects not getting much if any TV time, there’s a real argument to be made that the black and gold brand is becoming less a developmental promotion and more a legitimate third leg of the main roster.
So what if NXT were to invade Raw and SmackDown?
We’ve seen invasions in WWE before with WCW and ECW teaming up as the Alliance, or when the Nexus faction—spawned out of the original NXT—waged war on the locker room. This article takes a look at what might be.
5. NXT builds legitimacy as a third brand
Ask a hardcore wrestling fan, and they will likely as not tell you that NXT is every bit as good, if not better, than Raw or SmackDown. That goes in terms of match quality, storyline continuity, weekly shows, and particularly how consistently great the NXT TakeOver specials are relative to at times uneven offerings from the main roster.
The move to the USA Network, in and of itself will go a long way toward legitimizing NXT in the eyes of less invested wrestling fans. Seeing NXT talent actively engage with main roster performers will go a step further, though. Much like Aleister Black and Ricochet’s run hanging with full time main roster tag teams leading up to main roster paved the way for them to be taken seriously on the main roster, an invasion could build up the whole black and gold brand.