An article in Variety this morning, published just hours before ECW airs its final show on SyFy, details the format of the WWE NXT show.

The show will pair up eight current WWE stars with eight rookies from Florida Championship Wrestling. Vince McMahon had narrowed down the teams to 12, but wouldn't disclose names. He said he will whittle that down to eight when the show starts next week.

The concept will center around pros mentoring rookies. "This is an opportunity to show another side you've never seen," Vince McMahon, WWE's colorful chairman and CEO told Daily Variety.

WWE NXT will be broken into two or three season each year, with talent graduating to one of WWE's top brands, Raw or Smackdown.

"These kids crash and burn a lot," McMahon said. "By putting them into this environment we'll find out if they can make it. There's no better way to develop skills than being in front of an audience. And that makes for good television."

He says the show will have a different feel than ECW or any other WWE programming. Regarding ECW, McMahon said the brand felt old and tired. "You have to continue to reinvent yourself," he said.

"Syfy is excited to continue our partnership with WWE, Vince and his team with this innovative live event-reality show," said Syfy president Dave Howe. "The 'NXT' rookies take the challenge of our new tagline 'Imagine Greater' to heart as they embark on their ultimate dream quest to be the next generation of revered heroes and champions in the fantastic arena of the WWE."

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Keller's Analysis: It sounds a bit like a melding of Tough Enough, The Ultimate Fighter, and even the structure of MMA where experienced fighters work with and train younger athletes with great potential. I'm excited about a new concept on Tuesday night. I agree with McMahon that ECW, as executed, had lost its sense of purpose and did feel like a tired brand. I also like the seasonal concept where there's a beginning and an end with a fresh start afterward with new veterans and rookies.

WWE was also hesitant to show wrestlers before they were polished, for fear that viewers would never accept them as big stars. So it'll be interesting if WWE protects the rookies or decides, even if a wrestler has potential, to expose their warts and growing pains.

I'm curious to see how it actually plays out, whether viewers participate with voting of some kind, whether veterans wrestle rookies or it's all rookies against rookies, whether we get to know the rookies as real people with profiles outside of the ring, whether they're thrown in a house like on The Ultimate Fighter or Real World, etc. So while Vince answered a lot of questions, there's still a lot to wonder about and look forward to next Tuesday.

[Vince McMahon art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

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