As a way to counter the special episodes of Dynamite from AEW with Fyter Fest on TNT, WWE decided to air two special episodes of NXT with the Great American Bash theme.
As part of these special NXT broadcasts, the shows aired with limited commercial interruptions. It turns out that it was the USA Network that made the decision for this change.
Dave Meltzer reported the news on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. The belief is that this situation was due to the network wanting to beat Fyter Fest in the ratings. So far, NXT has won the last two weeks in total viewership, but last week’s AEW show won in the key ratings demographic.
Meltzer thought it was very clear that Wednesday’s NXT show was all about winning the ratings battle and not about making money for the USA Network as they really wanted to win.
The viewership numbers for both shows from Wednesday night will come out this afternoon. That’s when we will find out whether the move paid off and NXT extended its winning streak over the rival show.
In addition to having limited commercial interruptions, there were also more picture-in-picture commercial breaks than usual on Wednesday’s NXT.
Fewer commercials were shown in the second hour, but no commercials for the main event that saw Keith Lee win the WWE NXT Title from Adam Cole in a Winner Takes All Match.
