Wednesday Night Wars: AEW Dynamite Continues Ratings Dominance Over WWE NXT Ahead Of AEW Revolution

AEW Dynamite remains unbeaten in Friday’s ratings report over WWE NXT ahead of its next pay-per-view event, AEW Revolution.

ShowbuzzDaily said AEW Dynamite won Wednesday night with 865,000 viewers, on par with the show’s ratings from the previous few weeks. The most notable change was that, for the first time since coming on the air, Dynamite won every demographic, not just the 18-49 demo.

Dynamite opened with the 30-minute iron man match between PAC and Kenny Omega. Omega went ahead momentarily after PAC got himself intentionally disqualified until PAC scored a quick pinfall to tie it up at one fall each. Despite PAC locking in his submission, called the brutalizer, Omega lasted to end the 30-minutes in a tie. The match restarted under sudden death rules and Omega beat PAC after catching him off guard.

Other matches on the show included a tag team match between the Best Friends and The Butcher and The Blade, Jurassic Express vs. the Inner Circle in a six-man tag match, and a four-way women’s match between Big Swole, Yuka Sakazaki, Shanna, and Hikaru Shida.

Wednesday’s episode was also the final episode before AEW Revolution on Saturday and much of the show was spent building some of the big matches on the show. This included a video highlighting everything Cody went through to get his match with MJF, the Dark Order challenging SCU, and the addition of PAC vs. Orange Cassidy to the card.

Jim Ross sat down with the Young Bucks and the AEW World Tag Team Champions, Omega and Hangman Page, to discuss the title match at Revolution. Tensions between Page and the rest of The Elite boiled over quickly and he walked out of the interview.

The show ended with the official weigh-in for the AEW World Championship match between Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley. While the segment started calm, things devolved after Moxley head-butted Jericho. As the rest of the Inner Circle attacked Moxley, Dustin Rhodes and Darby Allin came out to even the odds. Rhodes brawled with Jake Hager to the concession stand while Sammy Guevara was able to lay out Allin. Jericho ultimately left Moxley lying on the mat after hitting Mox with a DDT and stood tall.

NXT ended the night with 717,000 viewers, similar to the overall viewership ratings it has scored over the last few weeks.

NXT began with a match between Dominik Dijakovic and Cameron Grimes. While Dijakovic remained in control for most of the match, Damien Priest interfered and hit Dijakovic in the leg with a baton. Grimes was able to capitalize and beat Dijakovic with a double stomp to the chest.

Finn Balor followed the match and spoke about how he was the top guy in NXT, regardless of what people think or say. However, he was interrupted by Imperium who attacked him, teasing a potential match between Balor and NXT UK Champion WALTER at either TakeOver: Tampa Bay or TakeOver: Dublin.

Other matches on the show included a tag team match between the Grizzled Young Veterans and the Forgotten Sons, Killian Dain vs. Bronson Reed, and Mia Yim battling Xia Li.

Tommaso Ciampa also faced off with Austin Theory, which ended with Ciampa scoring a win over the NXT newcomer. However, Johnny Gargano ran out after the match and brawled with Ciampa before leaving him lying as Gargano mocked Ciampa on the apron.

In the main event, Bianca Belair faced Charlotte Flair in Flair’s first NXT match since 2015 after she attacked Belair and Rhea Ripley after their NXT Women’s Championship match at TakeOver: Portland. Despite Belair’s best efforts, Flair won as she continued her march toward Wrestlemania 36 and her NXT Women’s Title match against Ripley.