Quoted By:
I'd get rid of NXT entirely, and move LVL UP to branded dark matches before Raw and Smackdown, making both of them three hour blocks that begin at 8PM live, with the 10PM slot being the dark matches that aired three hours prior. So to a TV audience it looks like:
>8PM 1ST HOUR RAW/SD
>9PM 2ND HOUR RAW/SD
>10PM 3RD HOUR LVL UP
This is because the 10PM slot is the weakest historically for advertisers and ratings, but it allows fans at home to gauge any rookies or underused talent they like, just like now. Only the most hardcore are watching NXT/LVLUP anyway.
To a live audience, it looks like:
>7PM LVL UP DARK MATCHES
>8PM 1ST HOUR RAW/SD
>9PM 2ND HOUR RAW/SD
It forces the crowd to sit through LVL UP to give it an actual audience which will make rookies ACTUALLY READY when they debut on the main show. The production staff for it has approximately one hour and thirty minutes to make any necessary edits to it before it goes gold for air, and since they just watched it live that shouldn't be a problem for a competent staff.
But WWE isn't going to do any of that so I just typed my headcanon for nothing. C'est la vie.
