AEW Dynamite Soundly Beats WWE NXT As Wednesday Night Wars Return
Dynamite almost doubled NXT's rating this week.
The Wednesday Night Wars are back, and ratings, as a consequence of this, are down.
AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT resumed direct competition for the first time in several weeks, with NBA and NHL playoffs forcing both shows to move away from their usual timeslots on more than one occasion. Dynamite, as usual, “won” the week, though going back to this needless head-to-head battle of attrition makes it hard to consider either show a winner.
Falling from the previous week’s 0.37 (the show’s strongest rating since January), AEW scored 0.34 in the key 18-49 demographic. This was almost double the NXT number of 0.18 (down from 0.22). Dynamite finished third on the night amongst cable viewers, while NXT sat at number 31.
As far as overall viewership goes, AEW fell from the previous week’s 1.016 million (the highest since October 2019) to 886,000. NXT, meanwhile, dropped to 689,000 from 828,000.
Both shows were up in the 18-49 demographic and overall viewership compared to the last head-to-head week (12 August).
The dropoffs further highlight the folly of the Wednesday Night Wars, strengthening the argument that NXT should move to a different night on a permanent basis. These counterproductive head-to-head battles are hurting both shows.