Last week on NXT, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins created history when he defended his title on the show. He became the first WWE star to defend a WWE World title in the NXT against an NXT star. Former two times NXT Champion Bron Breakker was the challenger of Rollins’ World title.
This was a pretty surprising move as main roster stars hardly appear on NXT and defending a main roster title on NXT is even more unlikely. Rollins is one of the most popular stars of WWE right now and NXT fans were extremely happy to see The Visionary working in their favorite brand.
Inside Scoop: Wrestling Legend Breaks Down Seth Rollins’ Surprising WWE NXT Appearance
But what was the actual reason behind bringing Rollins into the main roster, and most importantly, why did he even defend the World Heavyweight title on the NXT? Definitely, WWE wanted to build him as a fighting champion, something that he promised to be even before winning the title.
Rollins defending the World Heavyweight Championship was a historical decision taken by WWE. WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff recently talked about this iconic decision of the promotion. Speaking on the on the “Strictly Business” podcast, the inaugural General Manager of Monday Night RAW said;
Seth Rollins Defeated Bron Breakker On NXT To Retain His World Heavyweight Championship
“I love seeing that,” Bischoff said on the “Strictly Business” podcast. “It’s great for the brand. It’s great for that developmental talent to be on the show and be a part of something that’s growing and [getting] bigger. It’ll give everybody confidence. It’ll give some talent a chance to learn at a higher level because they’re working with more experienced talents. In the case of Bron Breakker, he was in there with Seth Rollins. So I can’t think of a negative thing to say about it. It’s all positive.
“In terms of can go to the well too often? Sure you can, sure you can. When it’s no longer a big deal and a special event, then you’ve gone to the well too many times. But I think they’re a long way from that. I’d love to see, you know, if not monthly, at least every other month, a story playing out on ‘NXT’ from the main roster. It just makes sense to me. I think the numbers will certainly justify it.
“It makes me wonder — not makes me wonder, but I have to consider, was this a move that’s being made in anticipation of rights deals? You know, a television rights deal? Are we growing that audience now? Stunting that audience and growing that audience in order to enhance negotiations or conversations? Likely, right? Kind of makes sense. I would. I’m not sure I know anybody who wouldn’t do that. But, we’ll see. We’ll see if this is a long-term commitment or just a little bit of a short-term strategy.”
The actual reason behind this appearance has to be a little different. NXT had been suffering from weak ratings and viewership from a long time. Having Seth Rollins defend the World title on NXT improved the ratings and viewership of the show by a massive margin. There are rumors of more big names from the main roster working in the NXT soon.
Credit “Strictly Business”
h/t to Wrestling INC. for the transcription