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Originally Posted by screech
WWE started putting NXT on USA only a few weeks before AEW was scheduled to begin airing on TNT.
(Also re-airing shows is not a new thing in TV in general. You pick the weirdest shit to use as a "gotcha.")
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That doesn't change the fact that NXT was always on Wednesday nights.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat
They trademarked Tuesday first because they didn't have a TV deal at the time and figured that would probably be the date of their weekly show.
Once talks with TNT started to point to an actual TV deal being made, they trademarked Wednesday afterwards since TNT has NBA games on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
NXT probably would have went on Tuesdays had AEW got a weekly Tuesday deal since there were some speculation of the possibility NXT moving to that night when WWE was shopping the brand to interested networks.
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That still doesn't negate the fact that AEW's original strategy was to air on Tuesday nights. They play the victim card that big bad WWE is trying to hold them down by airing NXT on Wednesdays. HAD Dynamite been on Tuesdays, and HAD NXT suddenly moved to Tuesday nights, it would be one thing.
That's not what happened. AEW got the day and timeslot they got based on what TNT offered them. It just happened to be the same day NXT has aired their show on WWE Network. USA Network having lost Smackdown came in with an offer to get NXT for 2 hours for about 20 times less than Fox paid for Smackdown.
Yes, the NXT deal happened a few weeks before AEW was set to debut, because guess what, that is the week USA lost Smackdown. AEW's original debut date was planned to be on October 1st, 2019, the exact week WWE would be moving Smackdown to Friday nights.
Their plan was to absorb the fans that watched wrestling on Tuesday nights as soon as there was no more Tuesday Night wrestling. Because they couldn't get Tuesdays from TNT has nothing to do with WWE, that entire narrative that AEW is getting picked on by WWE because they are scared of AEW is bullshit.
Vince will take money for his content. It's why Fox Sports has classic WWE, it's why NBC's streaming service Peacock has WWE content, it's why Hulu gets next day episodes of Raw and Smackdown, and it's why Vince will take money from SyFy to reair the previous day episode of NXT.
Hell maybe I am wrong, maybe Vince is so afraid of AEW that he somehow convinces network presidents to not only put his show on the air, but to also pay him for the favor.