"Developmental, my ass" indeed.
It's official #NXTTakeOver: Brooklyn is S O L D O U T!! Record crowd of 13,000+ @barclayscenter #ThankYou #WeAreNXT pic.twitter.com/WqUq1qZWg8
— Triple H (@TripleH) August 10, 2015
A full sellout is a legitimately huge deal for NXT. Obviously it being in a hot market where people are already congregating for SummerSlam is necessary context, but any way you look at it, the developmental brand selling 2,000 more tickets than WWE's last main roster pay-per-view (PPV), Battleground, and being run in the same building as SummerSlam is an incredible feat for a brand this young.
Looking at this, and compared with WWE's main roster live gates going down 10% this quarter really reflects on one area where NXT is succeeding, while the main roster is failing. I've had problems with NXT's television output over the past few months, but what has never wavered is NXT's ability, in people like Sasha Banks and Kevin Owens, as well as their challengers for the show, Finn Balor and Bayley or Becky, to create performers that fans are willing to pay to see.
While the main roster mires most of its performers in 50/50 parity booking, NXT has taken people like Kevin Owens and Sasha Banks and made them into honest-to-God stars, and it's reflected here with this incredibly impressive sell-out. The addition of Jushin "Thunder" Liger to the show also seems to have paid huge dividends for NXT here. Initially, their expectations were 6,000, and they've more than doubled it here.
Editor's note: Dave Meltzer at The Wrestling Observer (subscription required but recommended) reports that plans were to configure Barclays Center for 6,000 seats, but demand lead to their increasing it to the full WWE footprint of 13,000.
Where NXT goes next with their two biggest stars on the main roster will definitely be an interesting challenge, but for today, the most important thing is that Triple H's brand has seen its greatest success to date.