Since All Elite Wrestling burst on the scene, WWE has be trying everything they can to stop its momentum and keep their audience from jumping ship. The fear is that WWE fans will realized there is a better product than out there.
Despite going full out and bringing in RAW and Smackdown stars to the NXT brand. The show still struggles to get the same ratings as AEW. During WWE’s annual shareholder meeting Triple H was asked about NXT’s TV ratings.
“As far as the ratings go, I’m very happy with them, especially in the current circumstances. Everything is going well. We look at the long-term of that, not the short-term of that. And the long term is very exciting. We have a lot of stars. There are a lot of hungry young athletes, and the pipeline to bring in more as they continue to train and get better is very exciting. The future is very bright in that regard.”
They do have lots of ‘hungry young athletes’ but using main event talent on their brand hurts other talent getting TV time. He goes on to talk about NXT being the third global brand.
“So I think if you were to look at the NXT brand, it would be both. While it is, as Frank mentioned earlier, a third global brand, along with Raw and Smackdown, and our partners at USA, it is also the place where we make new stars and increase our talent and stars for the future, of both Raw and Smackdown. So that is the pipeline, and that is the – if you wanted to say, ‘the feeder system’, it is that, but it also has become its own third brand.
A feeder system where some of the stars on NXT don’t want to go to the main shows. Triple H was asked whether AEW has taken market share away from WWE.
“To me, there’s a moment in time when you begin something and it’s very exciting and it’s fresh and there’s some interest in it, certainly. But it’s a big world. We continue to be focused on our product, continue to be focused on the development of our stars and our performers. And as Vince said earlier, we have a very long track record of doing this incredibly successfully for many, many, many years, and we will continue to do so.”
Ratings for RAW have continues to hit an all time low. We shall see if this many many years will continue.
H/T WrestleNomics.com
