Eric Bischoff Discusses If WWE Should Expand NXT To Two Hours
The WWE NXT television show has evolved over the years from a competition-based show centered around rookies to a developmental brand that some see on par with Raw and SmackDown.
The success of NXT has some thinking that, perhaps, the show should expand to two hours. WWE Raw went from one hour to two hours to its current format of three hours due to increasing popularity and NXT could follow a similar path.
Eric Bischoff discussed the notion of NXT expanding to two hours on the latest episode of After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson.
"I think a lot of that depends on how much of a talent base they have," stated Bischoff. "Keep in mind NXT serves two purposes. It's a real-life, real-time, as close as you can get to primetime training opportunity, and the next step.
"It's kind of like AAA baseball or AA baseball. It's that next step right before you get to primetime, so it has two purposes. Obviously, you want it to be as successful as a television property as it can be. But I think the real purpose of that show is really more to groom people, to get them ready for the next step [more] than anything else."
If anyone knows about overexposure, it's Eric Bischoff. He was initially reluctant for WCW to create WCW Thunder as he thought the overexposure of an additional two hours a week would make storylines less significant. Nitro went from a one-hour show to three hours, before cutting back to two hours before WWE bought WCW. Bischoff said that WWE expanding NXT to two hours is a good idea if they don't run the risk of overexposing talent.
"I think if they've got a deep enough roster, and if there's enough people there that need that exposure and two hours can accommodate that, then bam! Do it! Why would you even wait? But if the roster's thin and you find yourself really tapping into that same roster of talent on a weekly basis, you may run the risk of overexposing at least some of them," Bischoff noted.
You can watch the full interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit After 83 Weeks with Christy Olson with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.