I feel like a couple of months ago it was pretty well agreed that NXT was a developmental program. New talent came through NXT and we talked about the stars being called up to the main roster. I mean it's called NXT, right?

Then AEW comes along, goes head to head and beats the NXT television program and actually refers to NXT as developmental in a promo. Within like six weeks, NXT talent is decisively beating main roster talent all over the place, on TV and on a PPV.

Two established brands sacrificed, at least temporarily, to NXT. All to draw eyes to the program competing with AEW and to prove a point about this developmental program suddenly not being developmental. This is quite the gambit.

If it works and draws eyes to NXT, I hope they are ready to step up their game and make sure they lose the developmental feel to hold on to any new viewers more familiar with RAW and Smackdown.

It also has the potential to go spectacularly wrong if it doesn't achieve its objectives and the other established brands come out of this looking weaker and less interesting. I guess sometimes you have to roll the dice.

And if I ever have had any doubts about how important beating AEW was to the WWE, I don't anymore.