All Elite Wrestling to debut in the same time slot Oct. 2 on TNT

The USA Network debut of the WWE’s NXT brand drew 1.2 million viewers at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Nielsen.

The one-hour debut also garnered 553,000 viewers in the adults 18-49 demographic.

The pro-wrestling promotion’s minor-league brand jumped from streaming platform WWE Network to USA Network. For the first two weeks, it’s only airing the first hour on USA, while it wraps up the final season of “Suits” which airs at 9 p.m. “Suits” has one more episode on Sept. 25. So that means that, again, the 9 p.m. hour of “NXT” will shift over to WWE’s SVOD service.

Also Read: WWE's 'NXT' Series to Shift to USA Network, Go Head to Head With AEW on TNT

Beginning Oct. 2, “NXT” will air live on USA Network from 8-10 p.m. That’s the same day when All Elite Wrestling will premiere its two-hour show — officially titled “All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite” — on TNT. That week is big one for WWE: It also features the Fox debut of “SmackDown” (which is changing its name to “Friday Night Smackdown”) on Oct. 4.

“NXT” launched in 2010 with its primary purpose being to serve as a platform for talent to get exposure in front of a televised audience and ultimately (hopefully) make their way onto the bigger WWE brands “Raw” and “SmackDown.” According to WWE, 80% of its current main-roster talent came through NXT.

NXT has only run once before on USA — as a one-hour special in 2017. Airing at 7 p.m., that show earned a 351,ooo viewers in the demo and 841,000 total viewers.