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What's the story?
WWE's new TV deal with FOX is set to kickoff on October 4th, when SmackDown Live officially moves to FOX Sports and airs live every Friday night.
The last few weeks have seen rising speculation that NXT might move to FS1 when the new FOX deal kicks in, and according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the move might be to compete with All Elite Wrestling.
In case you didn't know...
All Elite Wrestling officially announced earlier this week that the company's new television show on TNT will premiere on October 2nd at 8pm EST, just two days before SmackDown Live debuts on FOX.
The heart of the matter
According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, talks about moving WWE NXT to FS1 are said to be "serious", and began recently in light of AEW officially announcing its TV deal with TNT.
As for the nature of NXT on FS1, it remains unknown if WWE will make it a live show, or if it will continue to be taped weeks in advance. College basketball might pose a big threat to WWE airing NXT in the new night and time slot, however, as FS1 currently has a deal in place to air Big East basketball games on Wednesday nights.
The Observer noted that should NXT move to FS1, the show will likely feature sporadic appearances from main roster talents, but for the most part, it will be presented in its current form.
As for how NXT could fare up against AEW, Dave Meltzer noted, "The elite talent in NXT can at least be competitive with the elite talent in AEW when it comes to in-ring, with both groups having a strong top tier. While in-ring is usually not what drives ratings, it is more important now in a group’s popularity than at any time in history and if there is a Wednesday night battle, it will be a key part of it."
What's next?
Should a deal to air NXT on FS1 fall through, it's possible WWE could try to air the show on FS2, however, that channel reaches 57 million homes in the U.S., far fewer than the 82 homes reached by FS1. TNT still has the greatest reach of the three channels, reaching an estimated 89 million homes in the United States.
Would you like to see WWE NXT move to FS1 and leave the WWE Network? Let us know in the comment section!
