NXT (WWE brand)

NXT

Logo for the brand and the NXT television program as of September 13, 2022
Product type	Professional wrestling Sports entertainment
Owner	WWE
Produced by	Paul "Triple H" Levesque Shawn Michaels
Country	United States
Introduced	February 23, 2010[1]
Related brands	Raw SmackDown ECW 205 Live NXT UK
Tagline	8 NXT Rookies. 8 WWE Pros. 1 Dream. (2010–2012)[2] We Are NXT. (2015–present)[3]
Other names NXT 2.0 (2021–2022)

NXT is a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was introduced on February 23, 2010. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to NXT primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, NXT. It serves as a developmental brand for Raw and SmackDown, which are WWE's primary brands considered as the main roster. Due to its developmental status, NXT operates regardless if there is a brand extension in effect or not.

In its original incarnation, NXT was a reality-based television show in which rookies competed to become a star in WWE. In 2012, NXT was relaunched as a separate brand and replaced the now-defunct Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) as WWE's developmental territory. Primarily holding its events in the Orlando, Florida area since its relaunch, the brand would be expanded upon over time, having embarked on national and international tours. Wrestling critics and fans came to view NXT as its own distinct entity during this period, with the brand's shows being praised for their high-quality matches^[4][5] and storylines. It is also praised for its increased focus on women's wrestling as its women's division is presented as legitimate wrestlers and not as eye candy in the past, eventually giving way to the WWE Women's Evolution.^[6][7]

In September 2019, NXT's weekly television series was expanded to a two-hour format and moved to USA Network. The brand faced direct Nielsen ratings competition from All Elite Wrestling's flagship show, Dynamite, during this period as part of the "Wednesday Night Wars". In April 2021, NXT's television series moved to Tuesday nights, and the brand would relaunch under the "NXT 2.0" banner later that September, reinstituting its original function as a developmental brand. A year later, the brand would revert to its original "NXT" name.^[8]

In addition to NXT's main television program, the brand's wrestlers also appear on the supplementary show, Level Up; some NXT wrestlers also occasionally appear on Raw's supplementary program, Main Event, typically when they are in consideration to being promoted to the main roster. From 2014 to 2021, the brand held its major events under the NXT TakeOver series, but this event series was discontinued with the rebranding to NXT 2.0. WWE also operated a subsidiary brand under NXT called NXT UK, which was based in and produced for wrestlers in the United Kingdom; the brand is currently on hiatus and will relaunch at a later time as NXT Europe to become a Pan-European brand. Another subsidiary brand, 205 Live, existed under NXT from 2019 until 2022 when 205 Live was dissolved.