Chris Jericho was recently a guest on Busted Open Radio on Sirius XM. During the interview, he spoke about NXT moving to the USA Network. This will put them head-to-head against AEW.
Specifically, Jericho shared what he thinks will happen with NXT when Vince McMahon gets involved.
Here is what Jericho said (h/t to Wrestling INC for the quotes below):
“If it’s another show on the USA Network – not on FS1, and not on the WWE Network. If it’s an official, legitimate, nationwide cable show on the USA Network, do you think Vince McMahon is going to be involved in it? Of course he is! It’s Vince McMahon; he is a genius. But here’s the thing – I think the appeal of it is that it’s its own little entity outside the WWE, and when Vince McMahon gets a hold of it and gets involved with it it is going to become another SmackDown and another RAW.
“I think you are going to see all three of those shows interacting with one another. I think it’s going to be just another WWE show, so whatever the appeal is with NXT, whatever the specialness of it is is going to be changed to another RAW and another SmackDown. I think if you like RAW and SmackDown then you’re going to like NXT on Wednesday nights. If you don’t, then I don’t think you’re going to like NXT on Wednesday nights because there’s no way that Vince McMahon is going to stay home and not be involved with it. That is what he does, so, great. I think it’s another 2 hours of incredible WWE programming on Wednesday nights. If you love WWE then there’s more for you to love, and if you don’t, then I don’t think it’s going to make a difference.”
Jericho on the impending war between AEW and NXT:
“You do have the cool factor in right now. Part of it is because we are brand new and it’s always cool to have brand new, but we never came into this trying to be in a war or go to battle anybody. Obviously, we are all grown ups here. The very fact that we exist, the war begins. But I think the war started when Chris Jericho signed with AEW – I think that was the first real deal thing. I think that started a war in Vince McMahon’s mind. I think he likes it, I think he thrives on it which, of course, he does because this is what he has done his whole life, and he wins every war he has been in. I told the guys in AEW, ‘There is going to be a war’. Their response is that we don’t want a war but I told them that it doesn’t matter what you want, there’s going to be one. I said, ‘Let’s have some fun with this’.”
“I think it’s very exciting. It is exciting for the wrestling business, it’s exciting for the guys, and Lord knows it’s exciting for the WWE roster who all made huge raises as soon as I signed with AEW, which you’re welcome for that, guys. But I think it gives you an alternative – not competition but an alternative. And listen, if you are an NXT fan, you don’t have to go to the WWE Network to watch it. Now you can watch it every Wednesday night live, so what is the bad in this? We’ll see how it shakes out. I think it’s going to be a really cool year for the fans and the guys. I think it is going to be exciting just like it was in 1997 and 1998 in the height of the Monday Night Wars.”
Let me know what you think in the comment section below or on Twitter.
In other news, check out our Wrestlemania 38 predictions.
On a related note, check out 5 matches that WWE could book for the main event of the first episode of NXT on USA.