AEW Dynamite Wins The Night In ‘Tuesday Night War’

AEW and WWE programming went head to head on Tuesday as Dynamite and NXT revived their ‘Wednesday Night Wars’ with a familiar outcome in the ratings.

From October 2019 until April 2021 wrestling fans took a renewed interest in television ratings for wrestling shows as a new war emerged between AEW and WWE programming. Despite lower total numbers than in the heyday of the ‘Monday Night Wars’ between WWE and WCW, the competition was no less fierce.

For the vast majority of those occasions, Dynamite came out the winner against the then-black and gold brand before NXT moved to Tuesday nights following WrestleMania 37.

Now the two shows went head-to-head again as a result of a schedule change for Dynamite and both shows were stacked. NXT was full of main roster WWE talent as Rhea Ripley, Raquel Rodriguez, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Kevin Owens all appeared on the show. AEW filled its show with championship matches with no less than four titles defended on the show.

The numbers are now in thanks to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and they spell another win for Dynamite – but not an emphatic one. Dynamite drew a total of 752,000 viewers and a 0.26 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic compared to NXT’s total viewership of 676,000 viewers and a 0.18 rating in the 18-49 demo. The demo ratings had Dynamite in 8th place for the night on cable and NXT in 12th.

Those numbers mark a drop for both shows with Dynamite from the previous week drawing 983,000 viewers and NXT bringing in 737,000 viewers. The demo rating was down for AEW’s flagship show from 0.32 for the week before but there was better news for NXT in that regard as their rating increased from the previous week’s show from 0.15.

It was a tough night for other shows on television as they faced stiff competition from NBA games and MLB playoffs. Dynamite’s demo is the lowest since October 23rd, 2021 which might not come as a surprise due to the switch from its usual night.