Backstage News on the Upcoming “NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn” Special

New reports have provided some backstage news on the upcoming “NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn” special that is set to air live on the WWE Network on Aug. 22. The event will take place in the same arena as “SummerSlam” on Aug. 23 and “Monday Night Raw” on Aug. 24, Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Center.

According to Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline.com, up until a week or so ago, WWE was still planning on running the next “NXT TakeOver” event on Aug. 12 from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida, where “NXT” is usually shot. As previously reported, WWE was discussing doing an NXT Live Event either the Friday or Saturday night before “SummerSlam” in New York, possibly at the Manhattan Center, but plans were adapted to move the event to Barclays Center and draw more people in the door.

Meltzer states that a show like this will really be the litmus test for WWE to see how hot of a brand NXT really is, saying,

“The company announced that they would be running three straight nights at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with the announcement of a WWE network special on 8/22 of the most ambitious NXT show to date. To this point, NXT has mostly booked 1,000 to 2,000 seat arenas, with the exception of selling out San Jose (4,700 seats) over WrestleMania weekend.

This would be a 13,500 seat arena, although we’re told they are going to set it up for about half of that for the NXT show (SummerSlam sold out instantly and Raw is also sold out), and if they need to release more tickets, they will do so. It’ll be interesting to see what their max is because this will be a big show, in the sense all the TV will be building matches for Brooklyn, plus while it’s not the kind of tourism that Mania gets, there are still lots of people who travel for SummerSlam and it is the New York market. Plus, NXT really is a hot brand right now so I expect it to do very well.

My feeling is that TNA, when they weren’t a damaged brand, could have done 7,500 or more in New York for a major PPV show like Bound for Glory or Lockdown, since they did 5,500 for just a house show at the stadium and did 5,500 in Lowell, MA, for a Lockdown show many years ago. NXT doesn’t have the exposure level of TNA but it has WWE promoting it, it’s piggy backing off SummerSlam, and has the hot product buzz.

This is a real test to see where NXT is, because New York is going to be the best market, the day before SummerSlam is a great day for them to do a show and it’s the first time running a major arena. The matches themselves, at least the top stuff with the good workers, are likely to be tremendous. The next set of NXT TV’s will be all about promoting this show.

They would go head-to-head with two other shows in the market, an ROH show at MCU Field with Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada as guest stars, as well as a WWE house show in White Plains, which will have most of the mainline stars and it’s a lock the NXT show will greatly outdraw both. Jim Ross is also at press time doing a live talk show at the Gramercy Theater in Manhattan, which is about six miles away from the Barclays Center, but there is at least a good shot that will be moved to an afternoon show to avoid the competition.

So they will be doing a live network special on 8/22, SummerSlam, another live network special on 8/23, followed by the live Raw, also at the Barclays Center, on 8/24. The 8/22 show will be promoted as the next Takeover show, that was originally scheduled for 8/12 at Full Sail University, or at least that was the plan as of a few days ago.”

Tickets for “NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn” go on sale through Ticketmaster on July 18.

Editor’s Note:

Yeah…I’ll be there. No doubt. Where Brooklyn at?