Without the August 30th additions to NXT 2.0's upcoming match card, the Worlds Collide event would have been buried by the WWE premium live event Clash At The Castle and by AEW's All Out pay-per-view. NXT Worlds Collide will be airing on September 4th, 2022, one day after Clash At The Castle and mere hours before AEW All Out. Worlds Collide will focus on the collision between current NXT talent and former NXT UK superstars.
NXT UK is scheduled to take a brief hiatus after Worlds Collide, with an intended return and rebranding scheduled for 2023. Since NXT UK is going to expand into NXT Europe, the previous UK Championships are being unified with the standard NXT titles at the Worlds Collide event. The UK belts might only be the first of several WWE championships that Triple H plans to retire. While pitting NXT against UK at the premium live event was certainly promising for hardcore NXT viewers, Worlds Collide was getting lost in the shuffle as both WWE Clash At The Castle and AEW All Out feel increasingly monumental.
To bring the eyes of the casual WWE viewer down to NXT, the August 30th edition of the show featured several unannounced NXT and NXT UK alumni who have since made a name for themselves on either Raw or SmackDown. While this betrayed WWE's awareness of how forgettable Worlds Collide was beginning to feel, adding names like Rhea Ripley and Intercontinental Champion Gunther to Tuesday night's discussion gave viewers who normally skip the developmental show a reason to tune in and reconsider their opinion of Worlds Collide. More significantly, some of these main roster athletes were even added to the September 4th match card.
WWE's Main Roster Makes NXT Worlds Collide More Exciting
The Raw tag team of Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop were the first main roster superstars added to Worlds Collide. The respective NXT and NXT UK veterans appeared to challenge NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Kayden Carter and Katana Chance. Their inclusion suggests that WWE plans to treat the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships with as much respect as the company has recently shown the titles' main roster equivalents. For fans of WWE's recent Women's Tag Team Championship Tournament, or for those just curious to see the future of the women's division, this bout has made NXT Worlds Collide all the more interesting.
Of course, Nikki and Doudrop weren't the only main roster guests on NXT 2.0 this Tuesday. SmackDown superstar Ricochet returned to NXT for the first time since April 2019. Ricochet appeared to confront current and two-time North American Champion Carmelo Hayes. Carmelo, one of NXT's most charismatic competitors, was completely absent from the Worlds Collide match card until Tuesday night. Ricochet is not just a former Intercontinental, United States, and North American Champion either. He has been a WWE fan favorite since 2018, captivating viewers with his high-flying athleticism on NXT, Raw, and SmackDown. Ricochet and Carmelo Hayes have a real shot of being not just a great match, but the most athletically contested match of the entire weekend.
NXT on Tuesday fixed another immediate WWE issue by identifying shortcomings in the product and working rapidly to amend them. The addition of Ricochet, Doudrop, and Nikki A.S.H. to the Worlds Collide premium live event was a quick and surefire way to compel the average viewer to tune in to the WWE product on Sunday. While interest for Worlds Collide might not be at the level of Clash At The Castle, it's comforting to know that even as WWE pulls ahead in the war against AEW, not even NXT will be resting on its laurels when it comes to leaving fans of professional wrestling satisfied.