Wednesday Night Wars: AEW Dynamite Scores Sixth Straight Ratings Win Over WWE NXT, Both Shows Up In Overall Viewership

While both shows experienced a bump in viewership, AEW Dynamite remained on top of WWE NXT in Friday’s ratings report from ShowbuzzDaily.

AEW Dynamite won in the ratings for a sixth week in a row with 928,000 viewers for Wednesday’s episode, up 100,000 viewers from the Jan. 29 episode. The bump in viewership was reflected in 18-49 demographic where it scored a 0.36, up from 0.34.

The centerpiece of Wednesday’s episode were the 10 lashings Cody had to take from MJF as part of the latter’s three conditions for Cody to get a match against him at AEW Revolution. Cody stuck it out and took the 10 lashes before MJF delivered a low blow and fled through the crowd.

Tensions continued growing between Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley as the two traded barbs on the way to their respective AEW World Championship match at AEW Revolution. Moxley opened the show in a match against Jericho’s Inner Circle teammate, Ortiz, which ended with Moxley jamming his car key into Ortiz’s eye as payback for the Inner Circle injuring his right eye.

Hangman Page’s problems with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks also proved costly in an eight-person tag match. The four lost to the Lucha Bros, the Butcher, and the Blade, after Page refused to tag in either of the Young Bucks. Page then left as Omega tried to play peacemaker with the frustrated Young Bucks.

While NXT lost to AEW in the ratings, it managed to rebound from 712,000 viewers on the Jan. 29 episode to 770,000 viewers for Wednesday. However, that bump was not reflected in the 18-49 demographic, which stayed at 0.22.

The show opened with Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne celebrating their win in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, earning them a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship at NXT TakeOver: Portland on Feb. 16. It led to a chaotic scene at the NXT Arena as Riddle and Dunne brawled with the Undisputed Era, with the former joined by Tommaso Ciampa later in the show. This led to a six person tag match that ended with the Undisputed Era beating down Ciampa, Riddle and Dunne before Velveteen Dream returned to save them and end the show.

Charlotte Flair also made her return to NXT to answer the challenge NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley laid out on Monday Night Raw for Wrestlemania 36. While the two traded words, Bianca Belair refused to be considered an afterthought and made it clear to Ripley not to forget about their match at NXT TakeOver: Portland.

Two additional matches were announced for TakeOver as Dominik Dijakovic will face Keith Lee for the NXT North American Championship while Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai will try to settle their problems in a street fight.