The CW expands its sports offerings with WWE’s NXT; The five-year deal will be a showcase for up-and-coming wrestlers transferring from USA Network

The CW will become the official broadcast home of WWE NXT under a new five-year deal that will see WWE’s rising stars move from USA Network in October 2024.

The channel will broadcast 52 live events weekly throughout the season. This makes NXT the latest addition to the CW’s growing live sports programming, including ACC football and basketball games, which air on Saturdays throughout the season, and LIV Golf. The CW is also the new home of weekly studio series Inside the NFL and will broadcast the NASCAR Xfinity Series starting in 2025. The station has announced that it will soon offer more than 500 hours of sports programming.

NXT is part of TKO Group, the newly formed publicly traded company that houses WWE and UFC, and is majority owned by Endeavor.

WWE renewals have been a bit of musical chairs. In September, TKO announced that WWE and NBCUniversal had reached a five-year domestic media rights deal. Friday Night SmackDown to USA Network, also starting in October 2024, leaving its current home at Fox. The deal would be worth $200 million. Raw, WWE’s highest-rated showcase, which airs Monday on USA Network, was not discussed at the time of the deal.

The financial terms of NXT’s deal with CW have not yet been disclosed, but Deadline has learned that it is more than double the current contract’s price of $15 million per year.

“We are pleased to welcome the WWE brand to the CW Sports portfolio as it plays an integral role in our mission to bring live sporting events to the network year-round,” said network president Dennis Miller. “WWE NXT is a perfect fit for The CW with its dynamic young talent, the sport’s hottest rising stars and exciting, unpredictable weekly events. The passion and dedication of the WWE fan base is unmatched and we are committed to growing this audience as WWE NXT’s new home on television.”

“The CW has made impressive strides with its live sports programming schedule over the past year. “This is a truly exciting opportunity to grow NXT’s audience by televising the show for the first time in NXT history,” said WWE President Nick Khan.

“Given the new leadership and ownership, the economics of the deal and the fact that their broadcast network now reaches over 100 million households, it was a no-brainer to move NXT, one of our most important weekly shows, to the CW bring..” he told Deadline. .

NXT was created by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, a former professional wrestler. WWE has been broadcast weekly since 2012 and according to its partners has “the brightest young talent in sports entertainment”. said. Almost 90% of last year’s WrestleMania contestants were developed under the NXT banner.

Led by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, NXT is popular with younger viewers and ranked first in cable time among adults 18-49 and 18-34 on Tuesday night in the final quarter. Year to date, NXT’s average viewership among adults 18-49 is up 30%. WWE superstars such as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch have emerged through NXT.

The next generation of WWE stars will be trained in a program created as a hybrid live event/reality show, with popular WWE Superstars mentoring newcomers before transitioning to a more traditional professional wrestling program. NXT serves as a training ground for wrestlers to get used to competing in front of television cameras before eventually making the jump to WWE.

TKO will publish its first quarter figures later today. Endeavor reported this on Wednesday morning. A lot is happening here after the company led by CEO Ari Emanuel announced two weeks ago that it was considering strategic alternatives but would retain its TKO stake. Endeavor’s largest shareholder, Silver Lake, has said it plans to take the company private.