It looks like WWE is making a change to the time formatting of the NXT Takeover: Chicago shows. The recent shows have run a little longer than 2 and a half hours and apparently, that will be a permanent thing.

The AXS events website is now listing a 3:15 pm start time (local) for NXT Takeover: Los Angeles. The first 45 minutes are usually reserved for taping matches that would air after Takeover on the weekly NXT TV show. The live Takeover show would start at 4 pm local time (7 pm eastern).

On Saturday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the change.

“WWE NXT is gonna be staring an hour earlier. I don’t know if the next Takeover [in Brooklyn] is starting earlier. I’ll try to get that confirmed in the next couple of days…The idea is that the shows will be under 3 hours.”

Meltzer added, “The idea is not to lengthen the shows but based on history of the changes in WWE… I think it’s probably gonna end up the same thing. It is what it is. As far as entertainment goes, I like the time of an NXT show at 2 and a half hours. Would it be bad if it went 2 and 45 minutes or 2:50 or 3 hours? Probably not. I don’t think that is gonna water down the show or hurt the show. It’s the move that they’re making.”

In the grand scheme of things, this is not a major change because the shows will not drag out 4-5 hours like the main roster pay-per-views. Let’s hope that they don’t decide to cram more matches into the Takeover shows because 5 matches seem like the right amount.

For what it’s worth, according to the Barclays Center website, the live Takeover: Brooklyn show is still scheduled for 8 pm eastern and the pre-Takeover matches are scheduled for 7:15 pm eastern as usual.











