The decision to move WWE NXT to the USA Network will mean that the NXT brand will be profitable for the first time because they will be receiving a rights fee for the show.
Dave Meltzer reported last week that NXT will be getting paid somewhere between $30 million to $50 million per year in what appears to be a two-year deal. This brings the question about wrestler pay since NXT is clearly no longer just a developmental brand that was solely meant to get wrestlers ready for Raw and SmackDown Live.
Bruce Mitchell at PWTorch.com confirmed that wrestlers have already begun to see pay increases. I reached out to a WWE source to confirm the story and I was told that the pay structure will be changing for current wrestlers and wrestlers all wrestlers that sign with NXT in the future. The pay scale for NXT wrestlers ranged from the $50,000 range to six figures for top free agents from the independent scene.
The NXT pay scale increase will allow WWE to stay competitive with AEW when they are in a bidding war for talent that they would rather use on NXT instead of Raw and SmackDown Live.
NXT on the USA Network will start on September 18, two weeks before AEW starts on TNT on October 2nd.
