WWE isn’t taking any chances when NXT goes head-to-head with AEW Dynamite’s Blood & Guts special, and bringing in John Cena might be the company’s biggest move to make sure the ratings battle doesn’t turn into an embarrassment.
During the October 31 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the upcoming Wednesday night showdown between WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite. While the scheduling conflict wasn’t originally designed to put the two promotions against each other, WWE apparently wasn’t about to let AEW walk away with an easy victory.
The situation started with NXT being moved from its usual Tuesday night slot because of election coverage on The CW. With several affiliates carrying news programming, WWE’s developmental show ended up scheduled against one of AEW’s biggest television events of the year. And that’s where things got interesting. According to Meltzer, WWE President Nick Khan was concerned about how badly NXT could perform against Blood & Guts, especially with AEW having the advantage of airing on its regular night.
“Nick said, you know, I mean, I heard, you know, he was like, Nick says, we got to — we can’t go in, you know, they don’t want to go in there and get killed.”
Meltzer explained that AEW already has a significant advantage going into the showdown. Dynamite is airing in its normal Wednesday night slot, and Blood & Guts is traditionally one of the company’s biggest television attractions.
“In a sense, AEW has the advantage. It’s their night and it’s Blood and Guts. So it’s going to be one of their highest rated shows.”
That put WWE in a difficult position. NXT wasn’t moving to Wednesday because the company necessarily wanted another ratings war, but once the two shows were scheduled against each other, WWE had to figure out how to compete. And according to Meltzer, the company wasn’t interested in watching NXT get crushed in the ratings.
“They didn’t want to go in there and get humiliated or anything. So what do we do?”
The answer? John Cena. Meltzer pointed out that Cena remains one of the biggest television attractions WWE can bring in, making him an obvious choice to generate additional attention for NXT against such a major AEW event.
“The biggest drawing card on TV is John Cena, except for Dwayne.”
Cena’s involvement gives NXT a major name to promote at a time when casual wrestling fans might otherwise be more interested in watching AEW’s Blood & Guts match. Whether his appearance will actually make enough of a difference in the ratings remains to be seen.
The situation is also different from some of WWE and AEW’s previous scheduling battles. Meltzer explained that NXT’s move to Wednesday was driven by The CW’s election coverage rather than an intentional effort to disrupt Dynamite. However, WWE’s apparent response shows that the company still cares about how its programming performs when the two promotions go directly against each other. And with Nick Khan’s name coming up in the discussion, it’s clear that Meltzer believes this is about more than simply putting together another episode of NXT. WWE doesn’t want to suffer a lopsided ratings defeat, and Cena gives the company one of its strongest possible attractions to help prevent that.
Do you think John Cena’s appearance will give WWE NXT enough of a boost to compete with AEW Blood & Guts, or will Dynamite have the bigger night regardless? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
