WWE Responds After NXT Loses To AEW In Wednesday Night Ratings War

AEW Dynamite wins the first battle of the Wednesday Night Wars.

Vince McMahon SmackDown
WWE.com

While the official numbers have yet to come out for last night’s episode of NXT, it looks as if the TNT premiere of AEW Dynamite has come out victorious in the initial battle of the Wednesday Night Wars.

Earlier today, it was reported that Dynamite brought in 1.5 – 1.7 million viewers for its debut offering – with even the most optimistic of AEW executives surely blown away by that strong number.

In a classy move, WWE has released the following statement to praise All Elite Wrestling and promise a “competitive and wild ride” as AEW and NXT continue to air up against one another every Wednesday night.

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“Congratulations to AEW on a successful premiere. The real winners of last night’s head-to-head telecasts of NXT on USA Network and AEW on TNT are the fans, who can expect Wednesday nights to be a competitive and wild ride as this is a marathon, not a one-night sprint.”

Considering that WWE has gone out of their way to completely ignore the existence of other promotions in recent years, it’s certainly a surprising move on the part of Vince McMahon’s company to acknowledge, let alone praise, what many view as a rival promotion.

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Now let’s wait to see the big slap on the back WWE gives to Impact Wrestling for their recent move to AXS TV…

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.