NXT and SmackDown Reportedly Won’t Air Live on the West Coast

Update (9/23): AEW will also be on tape delay on the west coast.

NXT on USA and SmackDown on FOX won’t air live in the pacific or mountain time zones in the US, and instead will air three hours later.

Last night’s NXT aired at 8 PM pacific time rather than live at 5 PM PT and that’s expected to be the schedule going forward. It will air at 9PM MT.

SmackDown on FOX is also expected to air on a three hour delay in the pacific and mountain time zones, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

That’s how WWE is already currently set up, with Raw and SmackDown both airing three hours later on the west coast on USA. People who have satellite dishes and access to the east coast USA channel are able to see the show live.

There was some thought that SmackDown could air live on the west coast when it moves to FOX since FOX wants to treat it as sports programming, but it looks like that’s not going to happen. According to the Observer, one reason is that local news on FOX affiliate stations that’s usually scheduled for 6 PM PT would not want to be preempted every Friday for SmackDown.

AEW, on the other hand, is expected to air live all over the US, the Observer says, citing sources at TNT. So it’ll be on from 8-10 PM ET and 5-7 PM PT.

This would actually be an advantage for NXT, the Observer says, because it’ll be airing on prime time all over the US, while the 5-7 time slot traditionally doesn’t do as well in the ratings.