• Loading stock data...
Saturday, April 19, 2025

How the WWE’s Farm Circuit Became a Primetime Draw

  • NXT, the developmental circuit, boasts a new major broadcast network TV deal.
  • “We feel like we’re college football. … If ‘Raw’ or ‘SmackDown’ are the NFL, we’re the NCAA.”
WWE
Jun 7, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem (40) during the fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets in game three of the 2023 NBA Finals at Kaseya Center.
Exclusive

Udonis Haslem Joins ESPN As Full-Time NBA Analyst

He won three NBA championships during his 20 years with the Heat.
Read Now
January 30, 2025 |

It’s difficult to imagine Minor League Baseball or G League basketball occupying a prime-time slot on network broadcast television. But on Oct. 1, following a five-year deal worth a reported $20 million to $25 million annually, NXT—the WWE’s developmental circuit—debuted on The CW.

The somewhat surprising media win is due to the unique business of pro wrestling’s farm system.

NXT not only produces generational talent—like Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, and Bianca Belair—for WWE’s weekly flagship shows, but also routinely creates stars out of athletes with no background in the ring. 

And NXT’s “talent factory” is not a figurative reference. Unlike the sprawl of other developmental leagues, there is a single complex in Orlando that cultivates wrestling stars and puts them on a fast track to the main pro rosters.

“I think the Performance Center and NXT have been a game-changer for the WWE and for the industry,” says WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, the company’s SVP of talent development, who spearheads NXT’s creative. “We want to be on a level with the NFL and the NBA. I think we’re close. We feel like we’re college football. If Raw or SmackDown are the NFL, we’re the NCAA.”

NXT’s success has also spelled a body-slamming boom for the big league business. Earlier this year, WWE and Netflix reached a reported 10-year, $5 billion–plus deal to bring Monday Night Raw to the streaming titan in January 2025. That was followed by Friday Night SmackDown returning to the USA Network just this month as part of a reported five-year, $1 billion–plus deal worth. 

Carmelo Hayes. Credit: WWE

NXT’s debut on The CW hit a peak audience of 965,000. The 895,000 average viewers were a 44% increase over the final episode on USA Network, and the telecast was The CW’s top telecast this year among the 25-to-54 and 18-to-49 demographics. The Tuesday night network could continue to mean that many more eyes on WWE’s developmental hotbed—something that NXT Women’s North American Champion Kelani Jordan is psyched about.

“It’s a huge opportunity for us,” Jordan tells FOS. “Just as a brand to see a broadcast network pick up NXT, it also just shows that the future is now.”


Since opening its doors in 2013, the WWE Performance Center in Orlando has become a well-oiled machine.

The philosophy is simple: Garner talent from the company’s various tryouts, relocate them to Florida, engage them in daily in-ring training and professional development classes led by former pro wrestlers, and place them on NXT television where they cultivate their skills in pursuit of landing on the main rosters of Raw or SmackDown. (The Performance Center, and this path to the pros, was portrayed in the 2019 movie Fighting with My Family, which highlighted the journey of former WWE superstar Paige in NXT.)

Prospective wrestlers who step foot into the Performance Center learn the WWE’s nuts and bolts from the ground up. Before anything, they’re taught to respect the ring, getting in and out of the squared circle safely, while also keeping it clean.

The next step is simply getting comfortable moving around the ring and then hitting the ropes. This is followed by learning how to execute fundamental moves. As wrestlers grasp those basics, Performance Center coaches increase their skill sets curated to the archetypes they usually fall in: technicians, high-flyers, powerhouses, giants, and more.

Wrestlers take the ring for three hours a day, four days a week, working on everything from in-ring training to strength and conditioning and promo class where they practice the art of public speaking and develop their characters. 

A promo is a wrestler’s way of holding court on the mic and addressing the live crowd and TV audience. The worst result is an indifferent crowd, which could stagnate that character and prevent the storyline from progressing. A pop in the form of cheers or the ability to generate heat—or animosity—is vital to success. 

Carmelo Hayes. Credit: WWE

“Sometimes promo classes can run, like, two to three hours,” says Carmelo Hayes, who earned the call-up from NXT to SmackDown earlier this year. “I remember one time we did a promo class where they printed out old promos from different wrestlers, so it was like [John] Cena. You’d have six minutes to memorize the whole promo and pretty much perform it in front of everybody and that was just a drill. ‘How quickly, if you were given a promo, can you recite it?’ It was just like an exercise to kind of get comfortable with memorizing bullet points and things like that.”

The microphone work paid off for Hayes who likes to charismatically remind WWE fans that he is him—that guy—after becoming the first superstar in history to win the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, North American Championship, and NXT Championship. 


Hayes and Kelani Jordan, who are in an off-screen relationship, had far different journeys to the WWE Performance Center and NXT.

Fresh off the COVID-19 pandemic, Hayes knew someone with a link to WWE. Already competing on the pro-wrestling industry’s independent scene, he filled out an application and sent photos to the company and got a call back.

He quickly ascended under the tutelage of Shawn Michaels, who estimates he logs about 80 hours each week running NXT’s creative, though he loves it too much to dub it “work.” Michaels saw components of Hayes’s wrestling game that reminded him of himself.

Meanwhile, Jordan was a gymnast at Michigan State when she was solicited by the WWE directly. Jordan says she received a message on Instagram from WWE Recruit. The company’s recruiting website, which lays out the tryout process with transparency and touts its own Instagram page with more than 122,000 followers.

“I remember reading the DM, but I was also finishing up school. But the message kept lingering in my mind,” she continues. “At first, I didn’t believe that it was real because I was like, ‘There’s no way WWE is reaching out to me.’ But the page had a blue check mark. So I was like, ‘O.K., you know what? I’m gonna go for it.’” 

Kelani Jordan. Credit: WWE

Since December 2021, when WWE’s Next In Line program launched as a pipeline from collegiate athletics to pro wrestling, 60 athletes have signed NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals. Its fourth class saw 14 college athletes ranging from two of the nation’s top-ranked wrestlers to Division I football players and firsts in the form of a baseball player, male cheerleader, and acrobatics athlete. Upon completion of the program, these athletes may earn a WWE contract.

WWE has tryouts centered on its premium live events—WrestleMania and SummerSlam—in addition to auditions in the form of college campus rushes. Jordan participated in the SummerSlam 2022 tryout and made the cut. 

“You have a Carmelo Hayes who has had a little bit of a path in from an independent standpoint. So he had a little bit of experience, clearly talented and has the ability,” Michaels says. “But then you go to a Kelani Jordan, who has never done this, who comes in from a college and a university with a background in gymnastics, and then you see that she has all of these tools and also this unbelievably, very wonderful, infectious personality. I’m sure she has a one-way ticket to the main roster not too far down the road. So, it’s a system that certainly works, but I think you have to be able to know that there isn’t a one size fits all.”


WWE’s main competitor, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), doesn’t have official training grounds like the Performance Center. It signs talent from pro-wrestling schools such as the Nightmare Factory in Atlanta; the Monster Factory in Paulsboro, N.J.; and Create A Pro Wrestling Academy in Hicksville, N.Y. But Pat Buck, AEW’s VP of talent development, says AEW may follow suit: “I would not be surprised if we have some sort of official training ground. … I think, personally, it’s just a matter of time.”

Meanwhile, for Michaels, an undoubted pro-wrestling legend who has won every major WWE title, steering the next batch of superstars is most gratifying when he’s able to observe their “aha moments.”

“It happened probably about, maybe a month ago now with [NXT Women’s Champion] Roxanne Perez,” Michaels says. “It happened with her and Thea [Hail] live on TV and you just saw Roxanne just … everything kind of came together and it’s that light bulb went on and she sort of became in that moment a ring general. You felt like, ‘Oh my goodness, this one’s going to be the catalyst that moves her forward.’”

One of many to come. For Kelani Jordan, Trick Williams—who regained the NXT Championship last week—and others, the opportunity is there in prime time to make the development circuit increasingly mainstream.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Sep 29, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) dribbles the ball against New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones (35) during game one of the 2024 WNBA Semi-finals at Barclays Center.
PRESENTED BY ISOS CAPITAL

A’ja Wilson’s Star Continues to Rise With Release of Nike Shoe

Shoe deals have picked up alongside growing popularity of the WNBA.
Feb 3, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Super Bowl LIX signage at the Hyatt Hotel.

New Orleans Home Rentals Skyrocket Around Super Bowl

Short-term rental revenue has already reached $10.5 million.
Jun 12, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; NBA TV analyst Charles Barkley talks on set before game three of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.

Charles Barkley Will Deny NBC, Amazon Offers to Stick With Turner

Barkley has repeatedly flip-flopped in his career plans in recent years.
Feb 2, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; AFC wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. of the Jacksonville Jaguars (7) carries the ball against NFC return specialist KaVontae Turpin of the Dallas Cowboys (9) during the 2025 Pro Bowl Games at Camping World Stadium.

NFL Pro Bowl Ratings Drop Again Despite Flag Football Push

ABC, ESPN, and Disney XD drew 4.7 million viewers for Sunday’s simulcast.

Featured Today

‘Ultimate Throwback’: The Unimpeachable Cool of Hartford Whalers Gear

Nostalgia and street cred have driven a consistent frenzy for merch.
January 20, 2024; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Kristin Juszczyk, wife of San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44), before a 2024 NFC divisional round game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi's Stadium.
February 1, 2025

The New WAGs: Sports Wives Building Business Empires

Athletes’ wives and girlfriends are bucking stereotypes and cashing in.
Feb 3, 2019; Berkeley, CA, USA; California Golden Bears mascot dances on the court during a stoppage in play in the second half against the Stanford Cardinal at Haas Pavilion.
January 31, 2025

The Toll of Bicoastal Travel on New ACC Members Cal and Stanford

Cal and Stanford face missed flights, chaotic sleep schedules, and academic demands.
January 28, 2025

It’s Starting to Pay to Be Good at Cornhole

American Cornhole League players made $7.7 million in 2024.

NFL Aims for Eight International Games in 2025 but May Fall Short

The league wanted to expand from five to eight international games next season.
Jan 27, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Washington Wizards forward Richaun Holmes (22) and Dallas Mavericks forward Markieff Morris (88) and guard Quentin Grimes (5) chase the loose ball during the second half at the American Airlines Center.
February 3, 2025

Investor Says He Sold Stake in Warriors Because Competition Is Coming for..

Chamath Palihapitiya owned 10% of the Warriors from 2010 to 2022.
Feb 3, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a press conference ahead of Super Bowl LIX at New Orleans Saints Locker Room.
February 3, 2025

Goodell: 18-Game NFL Season Not on Table Until CBA Talks Begin

Goodell won’t negotiate an 18-game season until collective bargaining talks begin.
Sponsored

How UBS Crafts Impactful Partnerships Across Sports, Arts, and Culture

As UBS continues to expand its impressive array of sports and entertainment partnerships, the company solidifies its position as a leader in wealth management.
Dec 19, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson (2) reacts after making a three point basket against the Toronto Raptors in the second half at Scotiabank Arena.
February 3, 2025

NBA: 5 Notable Players Who Can Still Get Dealt Before Trade Deadline

After a pair of blockbuster trades, who else could be dealt?
Feb 1, 2025; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; The Canadian flag is passed along during the National Anthem prior to start of game between the Minnesota Wild and the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre.
February 3, 2025

Canadian Fans Boo U.S. National Anthem Over Trump Tariffs

Trump imposed a 25% tariff on most Canadian goods.
February 2, 2025

Super Bowl LIX Security Overhauled, but Challenges Loom in New Orleans

Super Bowl LIX faces heightened security in New Orleans after recent terrorist attack.
Jan 26, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) walks in the tunnel before the NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field.
February 1, 2025

Super Bowl LIX in Charts: Big Figures Behind the Big Game

Putting the business of the Big Game in perspective.