WWE Considering Cutting NXT House Shows

NXT Superstars need as much experience as they can get. The company has utilized several Florida venues to provide the most opportunities to perform as possible. Now they might be cutting back on some of those events.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE is considering cutting back on the number of NXT house shows they produce in 2020. This would especially change the Florida house show loops.

It was noted that attendance is down “pretty significantly” this year. The current idea is to cut back on their Thursday night house shows since those are historically the lowest drawing events.

The issue could be that WWE has simply burned out the local Florida market by running so many shows. The fact that newer fans are seemingly disrupting the enjoyment of older fans is also an issue they are facing.

According to one person familiar with the Florida scene, the issue is local burnout. There’s not one specific reason, but a number of things that they believe have hurt attendance, some of which has to do with the divergence of fans (the respectful fan vs. old school fan who comes to yell at heels and make noise and often drink a lot and try and rile up heels leaves both fans not having fun when you’re in a small building with so few fans). Then it becomes an issue with security, as if they let the old school fans go, the new school fans are mad the crowd isn’t respectful and it’s no fun, or they think the crowd is cheering match quality and not booing heels and it’s no fun.

It was also reported that NXT is experiencing an issue with these house shows because they don’t advertise which Superstars will be performing. Those shows are mostly stacked with people who are not on television as some of the main event names in NXT no longer work those Florida house shows. This is especially true if NXT has out of town tour dates booked.