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Irrespective of which wrestling show fans are cheering for on Wednesday Nights, it certainly looks like both AEW and NXT have benefited from the ongoing TV rating war between the two promotions. While AEW just announced a new deal with TNT, the NXT roster has benefited from the show being on the USA Network.
According to Fightful Select, several members of the NXT roster received significant raises back in October 2019. However, these raises came with new three-year deals and not everyone has signed those contracts.
There is no undermining the fact that NXT has risen as a legitimate third brand in WWE, as opposed to being a developmental one. They had a fantastic showing at Survivor Series in 2019 and several members of the roster shined at Royal Rumble 2020 (like Bianca Belair, Shayna Bazler, and Keith Lee).
Even Charlotte Flair, who won the women's battle royal, will most likely challenge Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36. In a sense, the move to USA Network and the rise of AEW has certainly forced WWE to shine a spotlight on the WWE NXT roster.
With that being said, the move to the USA Network has given the NXT roster a good pay bump in their salaries. Fightful Select reported:
"Several NXT talent got significant raises back in October when the new television deal with USA Network kicked in. We heard that it wasn't exactly Raw or Smackdown money, but was "substantial" for those that ended up signing them compared to what they were making before."
"We're told that most of the contracts came with new three-year agreements as a result. Not all of the talent offered signed the new deals. We're working to find out who offered is among those."
"When we'd asked one talent whether or not they were getting a raise for the move to TV in the summer, they said "we'd better be," and mentioned that other talent echoed that same sentiment. However, not everyone signed the new deals offered."
It'll be interesting to see how things shape up for the Black and Gold brand in 2020.
