WWE NXT is reportedly moving to Wednesday, November 4, which would put it head-to-head with AEW Blood and Guts, according to Dave Meltzer. SEScoops has reached out to a rep from The CW for comment.
Meltzer reported the move on Wrestling Observer Radio and was clear about how firm it is. “I don’t know this 100%. I was told by people who know that CW wants to move NXT to that Wednesday,” he said. The reason is election coverage, with the midterm elections set for Tuesday, November 3. Meltzer said it “probably will be moved because if it’s on Tuesday, it’ll be preempted on far too many stations.”
Upcoming listings for NXT, including Netflix and The Futon Critic, now show the episode airing Wednesday instead of its usual Tuesday slot on The CW.
Three WWE Shows In One Slot
Blood and Guts airs as that Wednesday’s Dynamite from Jacksonville. Meltzer said AEW now has two Blood and Guts matches set up for the show, and the men’s match was made official after Steven Borden returned on Dynamite and declared he was back for Blood and Guts.
Meltzer said WWE would “actually have three shows going against Blood and Guts”: NXT, EVOLVE and Main Event. “They’re competing with themselves on three levels, and they’re competing with one of AEW’s signature shows of the year on their own night.”
He added that NXT will have to shoot a big angle at Halloween Havoc because of the situation. The event airs Saturday, October 31 on The CW, with Grayson Waller defending the NXT Championship against Tony D’Angelo.
NXT has been here before. After the presidential election preempted its regular slot, an NXT special called NXT 2300 aired on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, and beat Dynamite in both viewership and the key demographic. The two shows also went head-to-head every week in the Wednesday Night Wars, from October 2019 until NXT moved to Tuesdays in April 2021.
What Khan And Ospreay Have Said About Counterprogramming
Nothing in the reporting suggests this move is a deliberate scheduling attack, since the cause is election preemption. It still arrives weeks after WWE and AAA ran Worlds Collide in the Chicago area on the same night as AEW All Out.
After All Out on September 26, Will Ospreay said, “Do not f**king step to us ever again.” In a more recent interview with Brandon Kravitz, Ospreay said WWE questions come with the job and that he would rather talk about AEW.
Tony Khan has been more measured. He told the Battleground podcast in July that the scheduling of events is predatory but also a compliment to AEW, adding, “it’s not something unexpected to have competition and I do welcome it.”
After All Out sold out, Khan questioned a report that WWE was surprised by the ticket sales. “Why would they be surprised that we would sell out?” he asked.