WWE: Why upcoming NXT TakeOvers will be on Sundays
WWE has confirmed that the next NXT TakeOver special will occur on Sunday, Feb. 16 in Portland, Oregon, and there’s a reason why the company has switched from Saturday to Sunday.
NXT TakeOvers specials are always a wonderful night of wrestling and what makes them even better is that they usually occur on the night before a major WWE Pay-Per-View. TakeOvers make the weekend even more enjoyable for wrestling fans, as WWE viewers get to enjoy two action-packed nights of wrestling that taste quite differently.
But this winter, WWE will be doing something different. The upcoming NXT UK TakeOver will take place in Blackpool on Jan. 12, which falls on a Sunday. The next NXT TakeOver special won’t take place over Royal Rumble weekend, but rather on Feb. 16 in Portland. That’s also a Sunday.
According to the Wrestling Observer News’s Dave Meltzer, via SEScoops.com’s Andrew Ravens, WWE is doing this Sunday switch for a simple, scientific reason: they want to “experiment” and see if the viewership on the WWE Network changes by giving TakeOvers their own Sunday instead of a Saturday evening prior to a Raw/SmackDown Pay-Per-View.
I have no guesses as to how the ratings will differ, so it will be interesting to see what WWE insiders report after the next NXT UK and NXT TakeOver specials this winter. If the ratings drop, it was worth a try from their perspective. If they pop, WWE could look to see why and could potentially make a permanent switch to staggering Pay Per Views.
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NXT is now part of the WWE main roster as a third brand, which was solidified by their victory at Survivor Series. Now that NXT has an expanded roster, has a two-hour weekly show, and goes head-to-head with AEW on Wednesday nights, the brand has taken on greater strategic importance for the company, which means they could have more TakeOvers in 2020 and beyond.
If that’s the case, then the promotion could have traditional Saturday PPVs for their third brand, in addition to their own Sunday shows after this experimentation period, depending on how things go.