Though Vince McMahon’s announcement Tuesday was vague, one key detail became clear–in three weeks, ECW will cease its run and be replaced in the timeslot by the “next evolution” of the WWE product.
PWInsider.com reported that the new show, which will focus on younger wrestlers, will be called WWE NXT. That was not confirmed explicitly in the announcement, but it does fit the overall motif of McMahon’s cryptic words.
Plans to drop the ECW moniker, especially since the current product in no way resembles the “extreme” nature of the brand, had been in development for several months. The show’s poor ratings had become an area of concern for both WWE and SyFy, and the hope is that a rebranding can breathe some life into the product.
Sources had said recently that SyFy returned to its original idea of asking WWE to incorporate science-fiction and alternative elements into the Tuesday wrestling broadcast. It is unclear if WWE’s new vision honors said request.
