WWE NXT Scores Major Ratings Boost Without AEW Dynamite Competition
An objectively great week for WWE's black and gold brand.
There was no Wednesday Night War this week after AEW Dynamite's NBA-imposed move to Saturday, allowing WWE NXT to come through with some excellent TV numbers.
The TakeOver XXX go-home show posted big increases in overall viewership and the key 18-49 demographic. The demo leapt from last week's 0.16 to 0.24, a jump of 50%, while viewership was up close to 40% from the previous week's 619,000, finishing at an average of 853,000 viewers across its two hours.
This is NXT's fifth-highest viewership ever, and its best since 17 November 2019. The show finished 23rd on the night amongst cable viewers.
Other notable points include the 18-34 demographic rating slipping from 0.11 two weeks ago to 0.09, which, as the Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online's Ryann Pike points out, suggests younger AEW viewers looked to other forms of entertainment rather than checking out the pro-wrestling alternative.
The upcoming calendar will be full of interesting ratings weeks. NBA playoff coverage have forced widespread changes to the upcoming AEW Dynamite schedule, starting with this Saturday's show, and WWE is now looking at being forced to move the 2 September episode of NXT as a result of NHL coverage.