WWE NXT Can Be the Third Brand That ECW Wasn’t

WWE’s NXT development system has grown into what might be a third brand for the sports entertainment giant that would benefit the company when the brand split does eventually happen.

It’s no secret that the WWE might be considering going into a brand split. It really all depends on how the WWE continues the storyline with between the members of the McMahon family. When the WWE roster is eventually split between Raw and SmackDown, many would begin to look at NXT as the third brand of the WWE roster.

Sure, it is a developmental brand that initially started as a territory under Florida Championship Wrestling. But tell that to the fans who sell out the shows across the country with a unique spin on WWE live events – for example, a theater meant for concerts and performance plays in the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Wash., hosted a successful NXT live event.

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Fans are writing positive reviews of the NXT brand through various sites and social media accounts and it is becoming a product often graded in comparison to what is see on the main roster. In a lot of ways, NXT is able to compete with Raw and SmackDown in terms of entertainment value – the ratings are not easy to compare considering that NXT is not on a television network like USA.

ECW was originally made into a third brand of WWE’s roster that was filled with many of the ECW originals before it slowly started to become a feeder to test out the newer talents before they made the switch to Raw or SmackDown. It was a result of the popularity from the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view events held in 2005 and 2006.

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Unfortunately for ECW, it started to lose popularity around 2008 because it tried to capitalize on a brand that had a cult following. Sure, we had some great moments like Rob Van Dam being a world champion and the debut of CM Punk, but it also had a roster of C and D level talents with a few mid-card talents like Christian and Mark Henry.

On the other hand, NXT is a brand that has developed their own cult following and hasn’t needed to live off anyone’s name. The fans love it for what it is and not for anything it used to be; which is a good thing considering how disastrous NXT was in it’s final years after switching from a competition-style program. Long gone are the days where the main heels were Tyler Reks and Curt Hawkins.

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The NXT brand has a combination of veterans from the independent circuits (because they’ll never mention TNA Wrestling) and their own homegrown talents they have developed through their performance center in Orlando, Fla. It is a much different setup than what they had when trying to build ECW into a brand.

NXT can be the third brand the WWE couldn’t get from the ECW name and maybe that was their plan all along. However, it should not be a brand that tries to compete against Raw and SmackDown like ECW did. NXT should remain what many would call the Triple-A league of the WWE; providing a chance for young superstars to develop their skills before they get the call up to the main roster and a place for veterans to get warmed up before returning to television.

The WWE is continuing to evolve and with a great development system to continue producing tomorrow’s superstars, it’s looking like a much brighter future for the sports entertainment giant.