WWE’s yellow brand, NXT, turned 10 years old today, having been formed back on February 23, 2010 following the end of WWE’s version of ECW.
NXT took over the Florida Championship Wrestling brand which served as the developmental territory for WWE two years later when WWE stopped FCW and moved all its operations to Full Sail after WWE struck a deal with the university to host its television show.
Before transforming itself into a third brand, NXT was a segment on WWE television shows where developmental wrestlers were teamed up with main roster Superstars with each episode showing the progress of their characters. WWE held five seasons of the original NXT before in 2012 the move was made to transform it into another stand alone show.
In February 2014, NXT held its first live televised show, NXT ArRIVAL, which was also the first live event on the WWE Network. The first event using the name Takeover was in May and after that, all NXT special events used the name Takeover. 2015 was also a big year for the brand as it started moving out from Full Sail University and holding shows across the United States, with NXT Takeover: Brooklyn being the first one to be held in a major arena.
Last September, WWE and USA Network announced that NXT would be moving live every Wednesday with its own two-hour show on cable, pitting NXT in direct competition with All Elite Wrestling.
The plan is also to go global with NXT. The United Kingdom already has its own NXT UK branch and rumors are that NXT Japan will also start in the near future.
The @WWENXT brand was born 1️⃣0️⃣ years ago today…
Let the celebration begin with Episode 1: https://t.co/R1rFoI6cGD pic.twitter.com/KcywmKXCzs
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) February 23, 2020
