WWE NXT pairs up eight wrestlers from WWE's developmental territoryFlorida Championship Wrestling (dubbed "Rookies") with wrestlers from WWE's existing Raw and SmackDownbrands (dubbed "Pros"). Each episode features the Rookies being mentored by the Pros as they develop their characters and performance skills in front of a live audience. The pairings also enable the show to crossover into WWE's Raw and SmackDown programs.[2][3] As the length of each season differs, features of the competition occur at different times accordingly.
Weekly challenges
In addition to matches, weekly challenges are held in the middle of the competition to further test the Rookies' physical and mental skills.[6] Past physical challenges include a keg carrying contest, an assault course contest and a "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em" tournament.[6][7][8] Past non-physical challenges include making 30-second promos on a given topic and selling programs within a time limit.[9][10] The winner of the weekly challenge receives a special prize such as a main event match, a talk show segment or a feature on WWE's official website.[6][9][10] One of the more frequent prizes given out to the winner is an "Immunity Pass", which gives the holder immunity from elimination in the next round of polls.[11][12]
Polls and eliminations
In various weeks, polls are held and evaluate the success of each Rookie. Some of these polls lead to eliminations of Rookies and determine the winner of the competition.[13] The poll rankings are entirely determined by votes from the Pros and starting from season 2, votes from fans via WWE's official website.[14] In the Pros' votes, each of the Pros vote for their favorite Rookie, but cannot vote for their own Rookie.[13] Their votes are based on the following four criteria:[15]
The first poll, usually held a third of the way through the competition, determines the Rookies' rankings. Subsequent weekly polls are held several weeks later, where the lowest ranked Rookie without immunity is eliminated.[16] Season 2 was set to use this format, but was changed to have the first poll an elimination poll.[12][17] The polls end when only three Rookies remain.[16][18] The final three Rookies then appear on the season finale, where two final polls are held to determine the winner of the competition.[18][14] The prize for the winner is a (kayfabe) WWE contract as well as a championship match at any pay-per-view against any champion of his choosing.[16][19]
Outside of the polls, Rookies can still be eliminated via an executive decision from WWE management. Season 1 saw Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan eliminated by management for a lack of self-confidence.[20]
February 23 (2010-02-23) – June 1, 2010 (2010-06-01)
The first season of NXT began airing on Syfy on February 23, 2010 and ended on June 1, 2010.[19][18] The majority of the season 1 cast was revealed a week before the premiere on the series finale of ECW. However, before the season's premiere aired, Skip Sheffield's Pro was changed with William Regal replacing the announced Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP).[21][22]
Near the end of the season, several changes were made to the original plan of the format. The season was shortened from the planned 17 episodes to 15 episodes.[18][23] In the first elimination episode on May 11, both Michael Tarver and Daniel Bryan were eliminated by WWE Management and removed from that night's Pros' Poll after both made comments about wanting to be voted off. The show ended with three eliminations, with Sheffield ranked last in the Poll.[20]Carlito was released on May 21 for refusing rehab after violating WWE's Wellness Program. Subsequent Pros' Polls were held without him for the rest of the season.[24]
The winner of season 1 was Wade Barrett, who began performing on the Raw brand.[25] Immediately after the conclusion of season 1, the Rookies were used in a storyline that had them forming an alliance called the Nexus.[26][27] Led by Barrett, the group invaded the Raw show in an attempt to gain WWE contracts for the losers of NXT season 1. The invasion consisted of the group attacking then WWE ChampionJohn Cena as well as other wrestlers and WWE personnel.[26][28] Daniel Bryan was (legitimately) released from his contract when he strangled ring announcer Justin Roberts with Roberts' tie during the first ambush, which WWE reportedly felt was too violent for their TV-PG programming.[29][30] His release was put in a storyline, where the rest of the NXT rookies kicked him out of the group for showing remorse for his actions and declared he wouldn't be seen in the WWE ever again.[31] The group were eventually all signed to Raw, but continued their disruption of the show, including an attack on WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.[32] Bryan eventually returned to WWE two months later at SummerSlam, when he became the surprise seventh member of Team WWE in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match against The Nexus.[33]
June 8 (2010-06-08) – August 31, 2010 (2010-08-31)
The second season of NXT started on June 8, 2010 and is set to end on August 31, 2010.[17][35] The season 2 cast was revealed on the first season finale on June 1, 2010.[36] The season was originally planned to last twelve weeks. However, it was later extended to thirteen weeks.[17][35] In this season, the polls will be different as rankings will be based half on Pro votes and half on votes from fans via WWE's official website.[17]
The first poll was shown in Week 4.[12] Originally, the polls format was set to match season 1, with a non-elimination poll followed by weekly elimination polls three weeks later.[12] However, the first poll was made a surprise elimination round on the night with a second elimination poll held four weeks later instead.[17][12][37]
On February 2, 2010, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that a new weekly program would replace the cancelled ECW in its time slot on Syfy. McMahon described the show as "the next evolution of WWE; the next evolution of television history."[41]
On the February 4, 2010 episode of WWE Superstars, the new show's name was announced as WWE NXT.[42] The name was later discovered to be trademarked already in the United Kingdom by National Wrestling Alliance affiliate Scottish Wrestling Alliance (SWA) which also used "NXT" as their brand for upcoming stars. Both parties ultimately reached an agreement that resulted in SWA releasing the "NXT" trademark in favor of a new one before the show's debut.[43][44]
The show's format was revealed in an article by Variety on February 16, with a press release from WWE made shortly later that day.[2][3]NXT is the second reality-based series produced by WWE, the first being WWE Tough Enough which aired between 2001 to 2004.[2] Due to WWE's nature of airing weekly shows without hiatus, the current plan for NXT is to split the year's set of episodes into two or three seasons.[2] Due to the movement of SmackDown from MyNetworkTV to Syfy in October 2010, NXT will leave the network at the same time.[4] WWE is currently looking for another channel to broadcast the show.[5]
The show's opening theme song is "Wild and Young" by American Bang.[1] Also promoting it as an "official theme song" for the show, WWE NXT uses "Get Thru This" by Art of Dying as bumper music during the show.[45]
United States
