As NXT fans theorize about and try to cope with the black-and-yellow brand’s move to the USA Network and what a two-hour, live show format means for the program creatively, reports continue to emerge about the business side of this change.
There are a few different estimates of how much WWE is making from this deal. According to Deadline, “Guggenheim Securities analyst Curry Baker estimated the deal was worth about $30 million annually to the WWE for ‘one or two years,’ citing conversations with the company.” Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter originally stated WWE would be paid $50 million per year, but on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio agreed it could be $30 million a year for a two-year deal.
Additionally, as WrestlingInc. outlines, J.P. Morgan analysis David Karnovksy has estimated that the NXT brand “could generate about $70 million in revenue” and MKM Partners analysist Eric Handler estimates WWE will make between $50 million to $100 million in revenue per year from it.
According to WON, the deal that generated all this revenue really is in response to what people think it is, All Elite Wrestling‘s new television show on TNT airing on Wednesdays. The new version of NXT will start airing on September 18 while AEW TV will premier on October 2, and you’ll have the option to change channels between both of them for maximum nineties nostalgia, or, you know, watch one of them later very easily because it’s 2019.
