Danny Burch Recalls NXT Changing Plans Based On AEW, Having AEW On In Gorilla

AEW Dynamite premiered in October 2019, going head-to-head with NXT. NXT started on USA Network two weeks earlier than AEW started on TNT, and moved to a live format after being taped in bulk and airing on the WWE Network.

Appearing on Cafe De Rene, Martin Stone (Danny Burch in NXT) recalled how NXT would keep an eye on AEW.

“It wasn’t until AEW got announced, and then they were like, ‘this is the greatest day ever! We’re going live!’ It was obviously in an attempt to compete with AEW. It was always funny because everyone is like, ‘Man, we’re going to crush them.’ Shawn used to say, ‘You’re just working guys that we didn’t want.’ I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Technically, we’re going up against the like of Chris Jericho and people like that.’ They weren’t concerned with what we were doing. We would have two TVs in Gorilla, and they would be watching AEW and they were trying to change the show to compete with what they were doing.

“I’ll never forget, me and my tag partner were scheduled for a 30-minute main event, and I was really excited that day. We were tag champs, we were going to get to go out there and really kill it. They were watching, and there was a women’s match on first. It cuts to ten minutes, with entrances, and said, ‘You guys are going to go on first so we can steal the opening stuff.’ When they turn around and say, ‘We were never in competition,’ you’re full of it. Yes, you were.”

Burch held the titles with Oney Lorcan during their time in NXT. They opened the December 23, 2020 episode of NXT against Killian Dane & Drake Maverick in a street fight. AEW opened with Chris Jericho and MJF that night. That was the only time Lorcan & Burch opened an episode of NXT as tag team champions.

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