WWE will make at least $50 million from NXT on USA Network
Wrestling fans are still soaking in the news that WWE NXT will move to the USA Network, but just how much money could the promotion make from the deal?
Raw and SmackDown Live are arguably the USA Network’s two most valuable properties, as weekly WWE programming has been a mainstay for the television network. After Fox Sports 1 was linked to a move for NXT for a few months, WWE have convinced USA to take on their third brand on a weekly basis.
Airing weekly on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET, NXT will go head-to-head with All Elite Wrestling’s weekly show on TNT. Wrestling fans used to watching NXT on the network will be able to catch episodes 24 hours after they air on television, making this a friendlier outcome than a potential 30-day window to episodes on the Network, which is the case for Raw and SmackDown.
But how much money will WWE generate from NXT in television rights? According to the Wrestling Observer News’s Dave Meltzer, via Fightful.com’s Jeremy Lambert, WWE will make a minimum of $50 million per year in rights fees.
That number is likely in flux depending on how many viewers NXT gets. Episodes of SmackDown generally pick up around a little over 2 million viewers, while episodes of Raw can hover near the 3 million mark depending on what is advertised beforehand, other sporting events, and the proximity of the episode to a major Pay Per View. Since the minimum fee is a quarter of the rights for main roster programming, WWE could stand to make even more from NXT if the show were to crack one million in the ratings.
It would be interesting to see what NXT’s starting point is in the ratings, if the show grows in interest as fans get hooked, and how variable fluctuations are with Pay Per Views and with AEW’s ratings on Wednesdays.
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NXT is often praised as the best offering from WWE, but more critical fans point out that TakeOver Specials are often much better than the pre-taped episodes of NXT. But with NXT moving from one hour to two hours, that makes it possible for more wrestlers to be showcased, with most fans hoping for NXT to start taking its loaded women’s division far more seriously.
A $50 million deal is a tidy sum for WWE, but there’s the potential for the promotion to earn even more money if NXT takes off in a ratings war with AEW. Perhaps competition will make both shows better and more popular, and this is, at a minimum, another extremely interesting development for wrestling fans to monitor this Fall.