A rare sight was spotted on the June 9 Friday Night SmackDown edition where a set of titles from the main roster was announced to be unified from a pair of titles with the WWE NXT brand. With this move, WWE could be solidifying its plans to see the latter brand as a distinctive one rather than just using it for developmental talents and training purposes.
As seen on SmackDown, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler confronted WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn. Ronda said that this tag division isn’t big enough for them and so they wanted to take over Alba and Isla’s tag division too. Shayna also claimed that she was the reason why the tag division on the latter brand was innovated in the first place.
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WWE Smackdown: Reason behind championship unification
The tag champs from the WWE NXT brand were quick to accept a Championship Unification challenge. Alba and Isla also attacked Ronda and Shayna and they retreated from the ring, essentially suggesting that they aren’t afraid of these two intimated in-ring personas. Thus, the title unification match will take place on SmackDown in two weeks and there will be only one set of women’s tag champs in the WWE.
Nick Khan has his own vision to elevate WWE NXT as the third brand
According to insider source BWE, this championship unification is happening for a reason and it’s an idea originated by WWE CEO Nick Khan. As a part of his vision, Nick views WWE NXT as the legitimate 3rd brand, and not just a developmental brand in the WWE. This is the reason why he wants to use more main-roster superstars on Tuesday nights. As a result, we are already seeing more crossovers, these days.
This is also the reason why Bron Breakker has challenged Seth Rollins to come to WWE NXT to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against him. Now, the likes of Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler Baszler could also be seen on Tuesday nights which could pull up the ratings and viewerships of the show.
While speaking at the J.P. Morgan 51st Annual Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference in Boston, WWE CEO Nick Khan also admitted that WWE NXT is indeed being seen as the third brand,
“We think NXT has the viability to be its own standalone brand instead of just being a developmental system – a third brand, if you will, where you can see cross-over from our superstars on Raw and SmackDown to NXT while our young talent develops there. Once we get all of that situated, then we will look at other nights of the week to develop new content as well.”
