Wednesday Night Wars: AEW Dynamite Continues Winning Ways In Ratings Over WWE NXT Despite Viewership Drops

AEW Dynamite remained atop WWE NXT in Friday’s ratings report, despite suffering a notable drop in overall viewership from the previous episode.

All Elite Wrestling’s win on Wednesday marked the seventh straight week Dynamite won the ratings battle. However, overall viewership was still down from 928,000 viewers for the Feb. 5 episode to 817,000 viewers. That drop was reflected in the 18-49 demographic as Dynamite scored a 0.3, down from 0.36 on Feb. 5.

Kenny Omega and Hangman Page opened the show defending the AEW World Tag Team Championships against the former champions, SCU. Page and Omega successfully retained before the scene descended into chaos as other teams competing in a battle royal on the next episode where the winners will get a tag title match at AEW Revolution.

Fans were treated to the second title match of the night later on as AEW Women’s Champion Riho defended her title against Nyla Rose in a rematch from the debut episode of Dynamite where Riho pinned Rose to become the first women’s champion. However, the same did not happen here as Rose defeated Riho to become the new AEW Women’s Champion.

The show ultimately built to Jon Moxley vs. Santana in the main event, which included an emotional interview with Santana and Jericho teasing the arrival of a “bounty hunter.” Moxley emerged victorious, but not before Jericho’s Inner Circle jumped him. The show then closed with the arrival of Jericho’s “bounty hunter,” indie wrestling star Jeff Cobb, who will face Moxley on the next episode of Dynamite.

Dynamite also featured MJF scoring a win over Jungle Boy, Dustin Rhodes defeating Sammy Guevara, and another interview between Tony Schiavone and Britt Baker. Dustin Rhodes vs. Jake Hager was then announced for AEW Revolution and Darby Allin challenged Sammy Guevara.

WWE NXT dropped in the ratings as well, but didn’t experience as sharp a decline as AEW Dynamite. It drew 757,000 overall viewers for Wednesday’s episode, down from 770,000 viewers on Feb. 5. However, it experienced a small bump in the 18-49 demographic, scoring a 0.24 versus the previous week’s 0.22.

Roderick Strong opened the show, calling out Velveteen Dream for jumping the Undisputed Era and Dream having Strong’s family airbrushed on his gear. This led to a match between Strong and Bronson Reed, who had been jumped by the Undisputed Era the previous week. While Reed was the physically bigger man, Strong emerged victorious.

Wednesday’s episode marked the final episode of NXT before NXT TakeOver: Portland on Sunday. Being the “go-home” show, it was marked by several video packages building to some of the big matches scheduled for TakeOver. They included Tommaso Ciampa talking about how he was going to “take his life back” from Adam Cole, WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry talking up the NXT North American Championship match between Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic, and the misadventures of Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle trying to get to Portland.

Bianca Belair had a short match against Santana Garrett, beating the relatively new NXT roster member before grabbing a microphone. She makes it clear Rhea Ripley shouldn’t look past her on the way to Wrestlemania. Ripley then comes out and tells Belair she isn’t and will retain the NXT Women’s Championship. It ended with Belair and Ripley brawling, with Belair standing tall ahead of their NXT Women’s title match on Sunday.

The show ended with NXT Champion Adam Cole in a nontitle match with Kushida and no backup from the rest of the Undisputed Era. Cole emerged victorious over Kushida when Ciampa came out to end the show in a staredown with Cole.