Edge and Christian discussed the forthcoming Wednesday Night Wars between NXT and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on an episode of their podcast, E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness. The two expressed their excitement, stating that everyone will be performing to the best of their ability to help their promotion pull ahead in the ratings.
“I really do think it ups everyone’s game. I think right now if you’re a [professional] wrestling fan, if you’re a performer, what an exciting time to be involved in the industry. So, you have RAW and SmackDown sure, but man, Wednesday nights are going to be the night now. I just think it’s fun,” Edge said.
“I think back to the Nitro and RAW stuff and everything. I’m not saying AEW is WCW. I don’t even know if AEW looks at this thing like a competition. I just think they want people to have a different option or another option, but now it’s coming to this because hey it’s Vince [McMahon] and WWE and if you start a promotion we are going to try to run you out of town. But I think that does up everyone’s game.”
Christian agreed, adding that competition is healthy as it keeps everybody on their toes. Ultimately, he believes the winners are fans of pro wrestling.
“It keeps everybody sharp. And the people that are going to win – I’ve said it in the past – the people that are going to win in all of this are the fans because they are going to get some really, really great content, as far as [professional] wrestling goes, going forward.
Two Hour NXT
Edge discussed that NXT’s move to USA Network makes it WWE’s third brand, rather than ‘developmental.’ He expressed that there will no longer be conversations about moving to the main roster. Instead, if Superstars were to move between brands, it could be considered a “lateral shift.”
They spoke about NXT extending to two hours, with Edge voicing concern over fans being able to concentrate for that amount of time.
“[…] to me, one of the things I loved about NXT was that it was an hour because if you’ve got that ADD, you can probably focus through that hour and it’s just enough time to not overexpose anything. You expose enough, and that to me is kind of the biggest question mark. My hope is that if there’s talent that’s spinning their wheels and can do so much more like an Apollo Crews, like a Cesaro, so many people, let them go to NXT, man. Let them shine there. That, to me, is how you can fill up those two hours. That, to me, is how you can use those guys to teach the younger folks, ‘okay, this is live TV – this is how this works.’ And I think that that’s the key.”
WWE NXT debuts on USA Network on September 18th. AEW’s first show on TNT airs two weeks later on October 2nd.
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
