“Raw and Smackdown are like this band you were into when they first started,” Levesque tells me hours before the USA Network premiere. “They were small, and no one had heard of them, and they were the greatest band ever, right? Then, five, six years and two, three albums down the line, they go mainstream and hit it big. Casual people are all into them because they’re selling out stadiums, and you’re like, ‘That is the worst piece of crap sellout song they’ve ever made. You’ve got to go back and listen to these first two albums!’

“Raw and Smackdown are the thing that want to try to grab everyone,” he continues. “NXT? I want to grab people at that base level, where they started, where this is the greatest band ever. There’s not as many of them, but they’re super-engaged from day one. We’re gonna be laser-focused on the stuff that the more passionate fans will care about — the pure product, as opposed to just the spectacle.”

NXT is fighting the Wednesday Night War against AEW—and against blending in with the rest of WWE. I spoke with Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Bianca Belair, Adam Cole, Pete Dunne, and Matt Riddle about it for Thrillist.