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It was recently reported by Brandon Thurston and John Pollock that WWE NXT India program would be initiated in the year 2021.
Sources have told SK Wrestling that while the upcoming tournament will feature Indian talent, the WWE NXT India tapings will happen in the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
This is, of course, because of travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The WWE NXT India program is being initiated to fulfill the terms of a contract between WWE and SONY Sports Network and will be broadcast on both the WWE Network and on one/more SONY Sports Network channel(s).
More details about the WWE NXT India brand
While details are still being finalized, sources inform SK Wrestling that the proposed launch date for the WWE NXT India show is the 26th of January, a day that India celebrates as Republic Day.
Alongside NXT India, NXT Asia, featuring talents from locations such as Japan, China, and Singapore, will also be a focus area for WWE going forward. It is also believed that, if things normalize by then, a fully-functional Performance Center will be launched by WWE in India in the year 2022.
While the names of the participants for the upcoming tournament haven't been set in stone, our sources believe that it may include the following names- Jinder Mahal, The Singh Brothers, Indus Sher, Jeet Rama, and one or more of the three recruits who were recently signed by the company after the tryouts in Mumbai- Gurvinder Singh, Sukhwinder Grewal, and Laxmi Kant Rajpoot.
In an interview with SK Wrestling prior to the tryouts, Canyon Ceman, Senior Director of Talent Development had revealed the following:
India is one of our top international markets. In terms of audience size, it is our largest. Something like 89 million Indians watched WrestleMania 33, 50 million Indians watch RAW and SmackDown every week (on Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 1 HD). Sunday Dhamaal has 25 million tuning in. And those are numbers greater than any other international markets we have.
Our sources also believe that WWE wants to consolidate the South Asian and Southeast Asian markets with properties such as WWE NXT India and NXT Asia because of AEW's strong presence in Asia and the vast potential that can potentially be tapped.
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