The small, studio-sized WWE Performance Center will be swapped out for significantly larger venues twice later this year when NXT kicks off its newest era.
NXT announced Tuesday that the brand will host a pair of events in U.S. arenas later this year, marking the first two weeks following their switch from airing on The USA Network to The CW Network.
NXT’s first week on the channel will air live from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois on October 1. A week later, the program will head to the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. CM Punk will be on the Illinois card, and Randy Orton is expected to show up in Missouri.
Since late 2020, NXT has been mainly hosted at WWE’s Performance Center venue in Orlando, Florida. The promotion has gone on the road for small live cards and presented their larger Premium Live Event shows across the continent. However, it has been rare for them to host TV outside of their small venue in recent years.
NXT has visited the Allstate Arena before, hosting TakeOver cards in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Missouri has been visited by the brand in the past as well, although the upcoming visit will be their first broadcasted card in St. Louis since NXT was a competition series in 2011.
The upcoming events will put NXT in arenas that have been used for main brand WWE tapings just earlier this year.
In October, NXT’s multi-year deal with The USA Network will come to a close. While NXT has a history of being on web services – including the WWE Network and Hulu – the show will remain on traditional cable when they switch over to The CW in the fall.
