It is no secret that the indies have been doing well. Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, New Japan, and even Lucha Underground have been drawing more viewers. Now, it certainly seems like Vince may be worried about the increase of indie success, leading to NXT being moved!
The WWE has announced it will be changing it schedule for WrestleMania weekend. To put it briefly, the brand will be switching NXT Takeover with the Hall of Fame ceremony.
“WWE will be going back to its previous WrestleMania Week schedule with NXT TakeOver on Friday, April 5 and the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, April 6. We believe this better serves our fans.”
Vince and his board of directors have paid little attention to the indies in the past. In fact, several staff members working for the WWE have reported that board members “had a good laugh” at the expensive of various indie promotions. Now, it would seem Vince is worried about the increased success of Ring of Honor.
Ring of Honor has been airing its Supercard of Honor since 2013 and it’s during the same weekend as WrestleMania. They even host their event in the same city, something that has played in their benefit over the years.
The WWE countered the Ring of Honor move with the arrival of NXT, and promptly recruited some of the biggest indie names for the promotion to boot. The NXT promotion became a huge success, prompting a response from ROH.
To respond to the success of NXT, Ring of Honor moved its show to Saturday night, and made Supercard of Honor a pay-per-view event. The promotion also started cooperating with New Japan, enabling them to provide an even wider array of talent.
The indie circuit has been honing its talent, attracting a lot of viewers, and posing a serious danger to the WWE. Wrestlers such as Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and even Dalton Castle have been increasing the viewer rates for Ring of Honor. Once again, the WWE fought back by offering live chats with Triple H after their NXT event.
It is clear that the switch of NXT Takeover enables the WWE to avoid some competition from Ring of Honor. While I do not believe they need to worry about NXT, WWE Raw is an entirely different matter.
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