Last Tuesday, WWE and All Elite Wrestling briefly revived their television war. The MLB playoffs airing on TBS forced Tony Khan's company to move up the broadcast of this week's episode of AEW Dynamite by a day, pitting it directly against NXT.
This situation led fans to wonder which show would achieve higher ratings, a victory both companies desired at all costs. AEW was the first to make a move, announcing the special theme of the episode (Title Tuesday) from day one. WWE's response came later but was quite impactful. They announced the presence of John Cena, Asuka, and Paul Heyman for the night and hinted at an appearance by The Undertaker, as we saw last night.
The exchange of announcements continued until just hours before both shows started their broadcasts. WWE confirmed that the first half-hour of NXT would have no commercial breaks. Only a few hours later, Tony Khan responded in kind by adding an extra half-hour of programming in the form of the Buy In. On their part, WWE hinted at Jade Cargill's appearance just a couple of hours before the competition officially began.
The result was a clear victory for NXT. The WWE developmental brand's episode averaged 921,000 viewers, surpassing AEW Dynamite's viewership for the second consecutive week. Dynamite recorded an average of 609,000 viewers this time. These figures are also the best of the year for NXT and the lowest for Dynamite.
In terms of the key demographic (18-49 years), NXT achieved a 0.30 rating, while Dynamite had a 0.26 rating. WWE's show ranked fifth among the most-watched cable TV programs of the night, two spots ahead of Dynamite, which came in seventh place.
This is also the most significant margin of victory NXT has ever achieved over Dynamite in the so-called "Wednesday Night Wars" (2019 to 2021). WWE's strategy indeed had the desired effect, making the latest episode of its third brand truly special. However, WWE promoted it as "the best NXT show of all time."