Last month, WWE announced that NXT broadcasts would be moving to Wednesday nights on USA Network - thus starting competition with the rival AEW promotion.
AEW is set to begin its weekly Wednesday television broadcasts on TNT in the fall. Thus, it's quite obvious that Vince McMahon's decision to move NXT to Wednesdays was done for the purposes of competing with AEW's show.
But in an interview with Alex McCarthy of TalkSport.com, Triple H said that NXT isn't looking to compete with anyone. Not only that, but he suggested the move to Wednesdays was done because it's the "best place" for the brand and its superstars.
"To me, people can say what they want, how they want. I don’t approach it like as a competitive thing or it’s anything else, we’re just going to put on our shows.
We’re going to put on our shows when we need to put them on, in the best places we need to put them on, in the right timeslots for them and the best talent I can find in the world – and we already have them. I’m confident in that...
For me it’s not competitive against anyone or anything, I just want to put on the best show for the fans of NXT...It’s funny because a few years ago we were doing this and doing the same kind of thing, wowing people, and there wasn’t competitors out there. So I guess we were just doing it for competitive reasons then? To compete with ourselves?"
Triple H has done a remarkable job in finding so many tremendous talents all across the world, and he's the reason why NXT has become extremely successful over the past five or so years. Thus, it's easy to believe NXT will greatly benefit with more exposure on the Wednesday night time slot. It's alsoworth noting that The Game also denied reports about Vince's involvement in NXT.
Related: The Young Bucks React To WWE Countering AEW'S Big Moves
Vince has been doing everything in his power to "counter" AEW's big moves. WWE Network aired Evolve 131 on July 13, the same day that AEW performed its Fight for the Fallen pay-per-view. On Saturday, WWE put on NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff - the same day that AEW performed its All Out pay-per-view.
WWE is far ahead in the competition right now, being the world's largest wrestling promotion and all. But Vince clearly doesn't even want to give AEW a chance, which would explain his strategy for booking shows and events that can compete with those of AEW.
What This Means
It'll be interesting to see how NXT's ratings will stack up against AEW. Triple H has put together an elite roster full of world-class talents in NXT, but AEW has seen immediate success as well. The Wednesday night wars promise to be can't-miss television, as both NXT and AEW try to put on their absolute best performances while competing for ratings supremacy.