WWE NXT is a professional wrestling television program for developmental talent produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) which debuted on February 23, 2010. The original format was described as a hybrid between reality television and WWE's scripted live event shows, the premise of the show follows select talent contracted to WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in a competition to become WWE's next breakout star with the help of mentors from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands. In its current form it is no different than any of the WWE's other scripted live event shows other than it primarily features developmental talent.
The show originally made its debut on Syfy in February 2010, replacing ECW. Less than a month after its premiere, it was announced that WWE SmackDown would move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy in October. NXT aired its final episode on Syfy on September 28 to make way for SmackDown, and began airing as a webcast at WWE.com for visitors from the United States on October 5. Outside of the United States, the show is still televised.
History
On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that ECW would be going off the air and would be replaced with a new weekly program in its slot that McMahon called "the next evolution of WWE; the next evolution of television history." It was later announced that ECW would air its final episode on February 16, 2010, and on the February 9, 2010 episode of ECW, the successor show's name was announced as WWE NXT.
NXT began as a reality competition. From 2010–2012, the show consisted of pairing "Rookies" with WWE Superstars (known as "Pros"), with the pairs competing in challenges until there was one sole winner. The winners of the show were Wade Barrett (Season 1), Kaval (Season 2), Kaitlyn (Season 3) and Johnny Curtis (Season 4). Before season five ended, WWE revamped the show to make it a sports entertainment show, moved the tapings permanently to Florida, and changed the show's roster to feature more developmental wrestlers.
Production
NXT was taped in large venues before the WWE Smackdown tapings and used the universal WWE HD set from 2010–2012. When WWE revamped the show, they moved the tapings to Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida, with the venue known as Full Sail Live. WWE started taping NXT in Florida on May 17, 2012. NXT aired on Syfy from 2010-2011. In 2011, when SmackDown moved to Syfy, NXT moved to WWE.COM, and after Season 5, NXT stopped broadcasting in the US until September 2012 when WWE reached a deal with Hulu Plus, on which new episodes of NXT began airing September 26, 2012. From February 27, 2014, to January 7, WWE NXT streamed over the WWE Network every Thursday night at 9:00 ET/ 8:00 CT. On January 14, 2015, WWE NXT was moved to Wednesday nights at 8:00 ET/ 7:00 CT.
Championships
Active
- NXT Championship
- NXT North American Championship
- NXT Tag Team Championship
- NXT Women's Championship
- NXT Women's North American Championship
- NXT Heritage Cup Championship
Inactive
On-air personalities
Authority Figures
| Authority Figure | Dates | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Matt Striker | February 23, 2010– May 17, 2012 | Host |
| Ashley Valence | June 22, 2010– August 31, 2010 | Co-Host |
| Maryse* | March 8, 2011– October 28, 2011 | Co-Host |
| William Regal | February 27, 2012– May 17, 2012 August 28, 2014 – January 5, 2022 |
Match Coordinator General Manager |
| Dusty Rhodes | May 17, 2012- September 12, 2013 | Commissioner |
| John "Bradshaw" Layfield | September 12, 2013 - August 28, 2014 | Interim Commissioner |
| Michael Cole | November 25, 2015 | General Manager |
(*) On August 24, Maryse underwent surgery for an abdominal hernia and was on medical leave from WWE, therefore Maryse's role as co-host ended. She would later be released from WWE on October 28, 2011 and would not return to NXT. As of November 2011, there is no official co-host.
Commentators
| Commentators | Dates |
|---|---|
| Jim Ross and Byron Saxton | June 27, 2012 - July 4, 2012 |
| Byron Saxton, William Regal and Jim Ross | July 11, 2012 - October 17, 2012 |
| Jim Ross and William Regal | June 20, 2012 October 24, 2012 - October 31, 2012 |
| Tony Luftman and William Regal | October 24, 2012 - October 31, 2012 |
| Tony Dawson, William Regal, Tom Phillips and Brad Maddox | November 7, 2012 - July 31, 2013 |
| Tony Dawson, William Regal, Tom Phillips and Alex Riley | August 7, 2013 - September 20, 2013 |
| Tom Phillips, William Regal, Byron Saxton, Alex Riley, Jason Albert and Renee Young | September 20, 2013 - April 3, 2014 |
| Tom Phillips, William Regal, Byron Saxton, Rich Brennan, Alex Riley, Jason Albert and Renee Young | April 10, 2014 - July 24, 2014 |
| Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Renee Young, Rich Brennan, Alex Riley and Jason Albert | July 31, 2014 – September 11, 2014 |
| Rich Brennan, Alex Riley, Jason Albert and Renee Young | September 18, 2014 – December 11, 2014 |
| Rich Brennan, Alex Riley, Jason Albert, Renee Young and Corey Graves | December 11, 2014 - January 21, 2015 |
| Renee Young and Corey Graves | December 25, 2014 |
| Rich Brennan, Tom Phillips, Alex Riley, Corey Graves and Jason Albert | January 28, 2015 - March 4, 2015 |
| Rich Brennan, Tom Phillips, Corey Graves and Jason Albert | March 11, 2015 - March 18, 2015 |
| Rich Brennan and Corey Graves | March 25, 2015 - April 22, 2015 August 26, 2015 - September 9, 2015 December 30, 2015 - January 6, 2016 |
| Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton | April 29, 2015 - August 22, 2015 September 16, 2015 - December 23, 2015 |
| Tom Phillips and Corey Graves | January 13, 2016 – December 14, 2016 December 28, 2016 – January 4, 2017 |
| Tom Phillips, Corey Graves and Percy Watson | December 7, 2016 - February 1, 2017 |
| Tom Phillips, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson | February 8, 2017 – June 21, 2017 |
| Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson | June 28, 2017 – April 11, 2018 May 16, 2018 - May 8, 2019 |
| Mauro Ranallo and Percy Watson | November 29, 2017 January 31, 2018 April 18, 2018 - November 14, 2018 |
| Mauro Ranallo and Nigel McGuinness | November 14, 2018 |
| Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuinness | May 15, 2019 - March 11, 2020 |
| Mauro Ranallo and Nigel McGuinness | June 12, 2019 |
| Tom Phillips, Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuinness | November 27, 2019 |
| Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett and Beth Phoenix | August 26, 2020 - November 30, 2021 |
| Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett | June 29, 2021 August 10, 2021 October 19, 2021 December 7, 2021 - September 27, 2022 |
| Vic Joseph and Booker T | October 11, 2022 - present |
- Notes
- ^ Jim Ross only called the main event.
- ^ The pairings of Dawson and Regal and Phillips and Maddox commentate on alternate shows. Riley replaced Maddox in August 2013 after Maddox became General Manager of Monday Night Raw. Scott Stanford serves as narrator.
Ring announcers
| Ring announcer | Dates |
|---|---|
| Caylee Turner, Summer Rae and Chris Russo | June 20, 2012 - October 17, 2012 |
| Howard Finkel | Main Event, July 29, 2012 (aired August 29, 2012) |
| Summer Rae and Byron Saxton | October 24, 2012 - February 14, 2013 |
| Byron Saxton, Eden Stiles, Alexa Bliss, Kendall Skye and Veronica Lane | February 21, 2013 – September 19, 2013 |
| Eden Stiles and JoJo | September 26, 2013 – October 10, 2014 |
| Byron Saxton and JoJo | October 16, 2014 – November 6, 2014 |
| JoJo | November 13, 2014 – April 29, 2015 |
| JoJo and Greg Hamilton | May 6, 2015 – July 15, 2015 |
| Greg Hamilton and Dasha Fuentes | July 22, 2015 – August 24, 2016 |
| Andrea D'Marco and Mike Rome | August 31, 2016 – January 4, 2017 |
| Mike Rome | January 11, 2017 – April 5, 2017 May 3, 2017 – August 23, 2017 |
| Dasha Fuentes | April 12, 2017 – April 26, 2017 |
| Mike Rome and Kayla Braxton | August 30, 2017 – April 11, 2018 July 4, 2018 - August 15, 2018 |
| Christy St. Cloud | November 29, 2017 - March 16, 2018 |
| Kayla Braxton | August 22, 2018 - April 17, 2019 |
| Alicia Taylor | April 24, 2019 - present |
Gallery of Logos
See also
External links
| NXT Takeover |
|---|
|
Takeover • Fatal 4-Way • R Evolution • Rival • Unstoppable • Brooklyn • Respect • Dallas • The End • Back to Brooklyn • Toronto • San Antonio • Orlando • NXT TakeOver: Chicago • Brooklyn III • WarGames • Philadelphia • New Orleans • Chicago II • Brooklyn IV • WarGames II • Phoenix • New York • XXV • Toronto II • WarGames III • Portland • Tampa Bay • TakeOver: In Your House • XXX • XXXI • WarGames IV • XXXIII • Vengeance Day • Stand & Deliver • NXT TakeOver 36 • WarGames V • Stand & Deliver • |
| Current World Wrestling Entertainment programming |
|---|
| Primary television |
| Raw • SmackDown • NXT • NXT Level Up |
| Secondary television |
| The Bump • Main Event |
| Classic programming |
| MSG Classics • The Vintage • Classics On Demand |
| Television specials |
| Hall of Fame • Tribute to the Troops |
| Pay-per-view |
| List of pay-per-view events • Free for All • WWE Kickoff Show |
| Former programming |
| WWWF Championship Wrestling • WWF All-Star Wrestling • WWF Superstars of Wrestling • WWF Wrestling Challenge • Tuesday Night Titans • WWF Super Astros • WWF Action Zone • WWE Heat • WWE Velocity • WWF Shotgun • WWF Shotgun Saturday Night • WWE Confidential • Total Divas • Total Bellas • WWE Saturday Morning Slam • 205 Live |
| Television channels |
| USA Network • Fox |