IWE NXT

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Revision as of 22:30, 3 September 2011

IWE NXT
Format	Wrestling
Created by	Grant Mayer
Opening theme	"Wild and Young" by American Bang
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	78 (as of August 16, 2011)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Syfy (February 23, 2010 – September 28, 2010) Webcast (October 5, 2010 – Present)
Original run	February 23, 2010 – Present
Chronology
Related shows	IWE Raw IWE Smackdown IWE Superstars IWE Tough Enough
Website
IWE.com

IWE NXT is a program produced by IWE that debuted on February 23, 2010. Described as a hybrid between reality television and IWE's scripted live event shows, the premise of the show follows select talent contracted to IWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in a competition to become IWE's next breakout star with the help of mentors from IWE's Raw and SmackDown brands.

The show originally made its debut on Syfy in February 2010, replacing XCW, which concluded the previous week. Less than a month after its premiere, it was announced that IWE SmackDown would move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy in October. NXT aired its final episode on Syfy on September 28 to make way for SmackDown, and began airing as a webcast at IWE.com for visitors from the United States on October 5. Outside of the United States, the show is still televised.

Although this show has a similar premise to IWE Tough Enough, and debuted after Tough Enough was canceled the first time, NXT ran concurrently with the new Tough Enough series that debuted in April 2011.

Format

IWE NXT pairs up wrestlers from IWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (dubbed "Rookies") with wrestlers from IWE's existing Raw and SmackDown brands (dubbed "Pros"). Each episode features the Rookies being mentored by the Pros as they develop their characters and performance skills in front of a live audience. The pairings also enable the show to crossover into IWE's Raw and SmackDown programs. As the length of each season differs, features of the competition occur at different times accordingly.

Weekly challenges

In addition to matches, weekly challenges are held during the competition to further test the Rookies' physical and mental skills. Past physical challenges include a keg carrying contest, an assault course contest and a "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em" tournament. Past non-physical challenges include making 30-second promos on a given topic and selling programs within a time limit.

During seasons 1 and 2, the winner of the weekly challenge receives a special prize such as a main event match, a talk show segment or a feature on IWE's official website. One of the more frequent prizes given out to the winner is an "Immunity Pass", which gives the holder immunity from elimination in the next round of polls.

From season 3 onwards, a greater emphasis on challenges was placed on the show. Instead of awarding prizes to the winner of the challenges, points are instead awarded to the winner with a cumulative tally of points recorded before each of the first three polls. The Rookie with the most points before the next upcoming poll is awarded immunity. In season 3, one point is awarded for winning the challenge. In season 4, the number of points vary on the difficulty of the challenge. In the result of a tie-break, the audience is then asked to vote for the Rookie they want to get immunity.

Season 4 also saw the introduction of challenge matches involving the entire roster of Pros or Rookies where the winner would be given the chance to swap their respective Rookie or Pro for another.

Polls and elimiantions

In various weeks, polls are held and evaluate the success of each Rookie and determine the winner of the competition. The poll rankings are entirely determined by votes from the Pros and starting from season 2, votes from fans via IWE's official website. Their votes are based on the following four criteria:

• Win-loss record within the show
• Strength of opponents
• Work ethic
• "It" factor

Initially in seasons 1 and 2, the full results and rankings from the poll were revealed. However since Week 11 in season 2, only the elimination is revealed. The first poll, usually held a third of the way through the competition, determines the Rookies' rankings. Subsequent polls are held several weeks later near the end of the season, where the lowest ranked Rookie without immunity is eliminated. Season 2 was set to use this format, but was changed to have the first poll an elimination poll.

The show continues until the season finale, where final two or three Rookies appear. One or two final polls are then held to determine the winner of the competition. The prize for the winner is a (kayfabe) IWE contract as well as a championship match at any pay-per-view.

Outside of the polls, Rookies can still be eliminated via an executive decision from IWE management. Season 1 saw Kevin Elbert and Kody Brown eliminated by management for a lack of self-confidence.

Seasons

Season 1

IWE NXT
Season 1
Broadcast from	February 23, 2010 – June 1, 2010
Host(s)	February 23, 2010 – June 1, 2010
Broadcaster	February 23, 2010 – June 1, 2010
No. of episodes	15
Winner
Daniel Gonzalez, winner of season 1
Name	Daniel Gonzalez
Hometown	Manchester, England
Pro(s)	Kris McGowan
Runner-up
David Mahrt

Contestants

Poll results

Season 2