RATINGS NEWS: NXT Defeats AEW In The December 18 Wednesday Night War
NXT's double main event scores victory in the last battle of 2019.
NXT defeated AEW Dynamite in the final ratings battle of 2019, registering 795,000 to All Elite's 683,000, according to regular aggregator ShowBuzzDaily.
This represents a 17,000 lift for a black-and-gold brand episode offering Shayna Baszler Vs Rhea Ripley and Adam Cole Vs Finn Bálor for the NXT Women's and Men's Championship respectively, and a drop-off of 95,000 for a Dynamite sold on the promise of a Young Bucks Tag Team Title clash and Chris Jericho's 10-minute challenge against Jungle Boy.
Both shows slipped in the overall cable ratings due to blanket coverage of Donald Trump's impeachment by most cable news networks, but a combined total of nearly 1.5m suggests fewer folk abandoned wrestling than those that did during major sporting events earlier this year.
As interesting (as usual), was the demographic breakdown. For the first time since the ratings war began, NXT topped AEW in the all-important 18-49 demographics, scoring an 0.27% total audience share to AEW's 0.25%.
This is the last battle between the brands until January 8th. Neither show will air live on Christmas Day, with AEW returning to action on January 1st a week ahead of NXT.