10 Ways AEW Has ALREADY Made Wrestling History

When Dynamite and NXT began airing on the same night, ushering in the age of the Wednesday Night Wars, it marked the first direct competition between two major promotions since TNA briefly moved Impact!, to Monday nights opposite Raw in 2010, and over 20 years following the original Monday Night Wars that lasted from 1995 to 2001

And while comparing AEW's flagship to WWE's third-tier brand may seem like apples and oranges, it is without question a victory for the younger show that it dominated viewership during their time running against the competition.

Dynamite managed to beat NXT in overall viewership 63 times to NXT's 10 when airing head-to-head and outperformed the Black and Gold in the key 18-49 demographic every week except one.

On 30 March 2021, WWE announced that NXT would be moving to Tuesday night beginning 13 April, but this was not the end of the direct rivalry.

Dynamite managed to beat Raw in the coveted 18-49 demo a number of weeks in 2021, and the supersized Smackdown which aired on October 15th was beaten in the demo by Rampage during the half-hour that the two shows overlapped.

Although it must be noted that Raw and Smackdown do both draw larger viewerships consistently, it cannot be denied how impressive it is for a promotion with three years of history to be putting up such a strong fight against shows with 29 and 23 years of airing respectively.