WWE: Moving on from Wednesdays is the best move for NXT

WWE could move NXT from Wednesday nights to another day, and that would be the best decision for professional wrestling fans.

Remember when wrestling fans were excited about the “Wednesday Night Wars?” WWE’s NXT and AEW’s Dynamite, going head-to-head on the USA Network and TNT in primetime every single Hump Day. Well, except for the times the NBA and NHL got in the way.

I can only speak for myself here, but the reality is that I haven’t enjoyed two simultaneous wrestling shows on Wednesday nights. Yeah, I get that the “Monday Night Wars” were all the rage in the 90’s when WCW and WWE were going at it in the ratings.

But this isn’t the 90’s. This is 2020. Save for a few people who buy into the whole “brand loyalty” drivel, nobody really carries about this whole “war” thing. We don’t care about the ratings, the demos, 18-49, Nielsen, or any of that.

We just want to see as much great, live professional wrestling on our televisions for “free” as we possibly can.

Wrestling fans don’t want to choose between WWE NXT and AEW

It’s just hard to do that when two of the best wrestling shows for the so-called “hardcore” wrestling fan air at the same exact time.

I don’t like that feeling of picking which show I’m going to watch beforehand, worrying about missing out on the other show if I don’t watch it live, fretting over closing and switching applications to watch both, and wondering if I come off like I’m biased for watching one show over the other in any given week.

WrestleVotes recently reported that there have been “discussions” about NXT moving from Wednesday nights, and the numbers NXT gets over these Tuesday specials could play a role in the decision made by WWE and the USA Network.

NXT jumped up in the ratings to 849,000 viewers without AEW running at the same time, meaning they did about 200,000 viewers better than usual. AEW benefited, too, hitting 928,000 viewers on Wednesday night unopposed.

Moving shows can help both promotions get bigger numbers, and while there’s this conspiracy that WWE air on Wednesday night to hold AEW’s ratings down, NXT has ALWAYS aired on Wednesday nights. So throw that logic out immediately.

The increased ratings for both shows are important, because they tell us something many of us know. There’s a lot of overlap between fans who watch NXT and AEW. Sure, there are some fans who only watch one of them and prefer one to the other, but even those fans would be more likely to watch both if they are not on at the same time. And there are the fans like me who actively WANT to watch both and would welcome NXT moving to a different day.

Wednesdays were NXT’s first, but the USA Network could be ready to make a move to get more viewers on their ad spots and their channel. Cutting the business argument out of it, this would be a great move for professional wrestling fans.