Backstage Updates On Vince McMahon's Role In The WWE NXT Revamp

By Marc Middleton

The weekly WWE NXT show will reportedly not be directly produced by WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon and Senior Vice President & Executive Director Bruce Prichard with the upcoming revamp that kicks off this month.

As we've noted, it was reported this week, via Wrestling Observer Live, how McMahon and Prichard were to produce the weekly NXT TV show beginning with the September 14 live episode, which will feature the wedding of Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis. The report noted that McMahon and Prichard will be behind the big decisions for the NXT brand, but not the smaller ones. They will also be responsible for marketing, promotion and direction of the NXT brand. It was also said that NXT will be like "the old NXT" moving forward, which appears to be a reference to how the brand was at its peak, around 2015-2018 or so.

In an update, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE held a meeting with talent and staff where they were told the story of McMahon and Prichard directly producing the weekly NXT TV show is incorrect. Word is that McMahon and Prichard simply do not have the time to produce another weekly TV show.

While McMahon and Prichard won't be directly producing the weekly NXT TV show, Vince remains in charge of everything in WWE, and there have been, and will continue to be more big-picture decisions on the NXT brand that are made my higher-ups in the company, those outside of the NXT circle, including decisions related to creative, branding and marketing. An example of this is the recent round of NXT releases, which included Bronson Reed and Bobby Fish. Another is the new colorful NXT logo that has been making the rounds as it was created with no input from the NXT side.

The people making these decisions, on their own, will be a group made up of McMahon, Prichard, President & CEO Nick Khan, Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis, and Executive Producer & Chief of Global Television Distribution Kevin Dunn. This group will have more influence on whoever they want pushed or protected in NXT, but it was noted that they likely will not be involved in weekly booking since they already have so much going on.

Regarding the changes in NXT, it was noted by The Observer that people who work the brand, talent and non-talent who should be in the know, have noted that they are likely to be the last to know anything. Fightful Select adds that numerous WWE sources have effectively denied the original story on McMahon and Prichard directly producing NXT.

It was also noted that McMahon and Prichard were not at the recent set of NXT TV tapings. However, influential WWE Producer Jamie Noble has been seen at the WWE Performance Center more often than usual as of late. Furthermore, Prichard is scheduled to be at the Performance Center this weekend. There's no word on what Prichard's Saturday visit is for, but talent is not mandated to be there.

It remains to be seen exactly what this NXT revamp will mean for WWE's Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development Triple H and his crew. We noted earlier this week that the NXT brand will still be "very much in the hands" of Triple H and his team, which includes Trainer & Assistant Coach Shawn Michaels, Director of Talent Development & Head of Global Recruiting William Regal, Head Coach & Vice President of Talent Development Matt Bloom, and others. Word was that the day-to-day operations of NXT won't change too much, but that the revamp will mean at least some loss of power for Triple H.

It's been reported for weeks now that the NXT brand is headed for a new look and feel, which includes the new logo and theme song, and a new creative direction. Khan recently confirmed the revamp during an interview, which you can read about at this link.

The original report on McMahon and Prichard producing NXT led to a "#RIPNXT" hashtag trending worldwide on social media.

Stay tuned for more on the NXT reset.

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