Wednesday Night War: AEW Dynamite Wins Another Week While WWE NXT Rebounds From Record Low Ratings Week

Friday’s ratings revealed that while NXT rebounded from one of its lowest ratings week, it wasn’t enough to overcome another strong performance for AEW Dynamite.

AEW Dynamite won out another week in the ratings with 947,000 viewers, Showbuzz Daily said. It’s a small drop from the Jan. 1 episode of Dynamite, which drew a 967,000 rating. The win was reflected in the demographic as AEW scored a 0.36 among the 18-49 audience.

At the heart of Wednesday episode was whether or not Jon Moxley would join Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle. Moxley ultimately said no, smashing a bottle over Jericho’s head and making it clear he was coming for the AEW World Championship.

Fans were also treated to a second women’s title match as Riho defended her AEW Women’s World Championship against Kris Statlander. While Riho won, the match devolved into chaos as Brandi Rhodes and her Nightmare Collective interfered. It ended with the debut of Dr. Luther, known for his time as a hardcore wrestler in Japan, as the fourth member of the Nightmare Collective.

It was also a show of firsts as Cody and Dustin Rhodes faced the Lucha Brothers for the first time in a fast-paced match. This was followed by the Jurassic Express scoring its first win as a trio over the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy.

While NXT didn’t win, it still managed to pull in 721,000 viewers. It was a significant bump from Jan. 1’s episode, which had 548,000 viewers. However, it once again suffered in the 18-49 demographic with a 0.19 score.

The show’s main event saw Keith Lee, Cameron Grimes, Dominik Dijacovic, and Damien Priest face off to determine the No. 1 contender for Roderick Strong’s NXT North American Championship. Keith Lee walked away successful and will face Strong for the North American Title on the Jan. 22 episode of NXT.

The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic also kicked off with Imperium defeating The Forgotten Sons and the Undisputed Era beating Gallus to move on. It was then revealed Kushida’s tag team partner for the tournament would be former TNA star Alex Shelley, who previously teamed with Kushida while the pair was in New Japan.

It was an eventful night for the women as well, with Toni Storm starting the show by challenging Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship at WWE Worlds Collide on Jan. 25. It quickly escalated to a six-woman tag match with Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm and Candice LeRae beating NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray, Bianca Belair and Io Shirai. Chelsea Green also debuted on NXT alongside her new manager Robert Stone, laying out Kayden Carter and Mia Yim.