NXT has gone through some big changes this year, being part of Survivor Series for the first time, moving from one pre-taped hour on the WWE Network to two live hours on USA, and becoming a big part of the WWE vs. AEW conversation. Some recent reports and announcements about NXT indicate that while more changes are coming, some things about the black and yellow brand are going back to normal.
WWE executives have said that another major change will come to NXT in the future: its television show will start touring like Raw and Smackdown. However, a report from PWInsider has revealed that that’s several months away. NXT is contracted to continue filming at Full Sail University through March 2020.
While NXT wrestlers made appearances on Raw and Smackdown during the build to last weekend’s PPV, PWInsider also reports that those crossovers are over. Now that the WWE draft and Survivor Series are over, the brand split should be fully in effect, with the Raw, Smackdown, and NXT rosters keeping to themselves.
That being said, not only regular NXT but NXT UK and 205 Live continue to fall under WWE’s NXT umbrella, and just as one fight for brand supremacy wrapped up, another will soon begin. WWE announced earlier this fall that NXT, like last year, will not have a TakeOver event on Royal Rumble weekend, but will have the third inter-brand Worlds Collide event.
In the winter of 2019, Worlds Collide began as a tournament on Royal Rumble weekend in which male wrestlers from NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live competed for a shot at the championship of their choosing in matches that were pre-taped and streaming on YouTube and the WWE Network later. On WrestleMania weekend, the second Worlds Collide event featured inter-brand matches filmed at WrestleMania Axxess. This third collision of the WWE worlds that aren’t Raw and Smackdown will be a “clash for brand supremacy” between NXT and NXT UK.
So, per these recent reports and announcements, the possibility of Imperium vs. Undisputed Era faction warfare in the near future is very real, although it might be over t-shirt colors — but it will be built up at Full Sail.
