WWE NXT Beats AEW Dynamite In Total Viewers For The Second Straight Week

WWE NXT edged AEW Dynamite for the second consecutive week this past Wednesday despite AEW advertising a world championship main event.

Dynamite drew an average viewership of 683,000 down 1% from 692,000 last week. Dynamite came in at No. 32 in the Top 150 original cable telecasts among the 18-49 demographic.

WWE NXT garnered 692,000 viewers, down .15% from 693,000 last week, coming in at No. 51 in the 18-49 demo. WWE NXT once again failed to place in the Top 50 for the fifth consecutive week.

AEW Dynamite vs. WWE NXT: Wednesday, April 15, 2020

• AEW Dynamite Total Viewership—683,000
• AEW Dynamite Rating in 18-49 Demo—.25, No. 29
• WWE NXT Total Viewership—692,000
• WWE NXT Rating in 18-49 Demo—.17, No. 58

AEW Dynamite seemed like all but a shoo-in to return to its winning ways in what has been a one-sided head-to-head ratings battle since it began in October of last year. Dynamite paid off an AEW World Championship match between Jake Hager and Jon Moxley inside an empty arena with a two-week build.

On average, for every one head-to-head victory WWE NXT has, AEW Dynamite has around six with a dominant year-to-date record of 23-5-1. With a stacked lineup for next week, however, WWE NXT very well may piece together it’s first three-week win streak of the Wednesday Night Wars.

WWE NXT kicked off an interim Cruiserweight Championship tournament on a show main evented by the Broserweights (with Timothy Thatcher subbing in for Pete Dunne) retaining their NXT Tag Team Championships against The Undisputed Era.

After Florida’s statewide stay-at-home order spelled potential doom for both Florida-based promotions, WWE controversially being deemed an essential business in Florida could be an auspicious sign for both promotions. WWE as an essential business is likely to open the floodgates for other combat sports to operate out of the sunshine state.

Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum told Steve Kim of ESPN.com that he will be looking into the WWE Performance Center as a possible venue for future bouts.

“It’s very, very interesting, and we’re going to be in touch with [WWE]. There’s a possibility to use their facility to maybe do events without a crowd.”

Combat sports being deemed essential also means AEW could possibly return to Daily’s Place in Jacksonville once its multi-week slate of canned shows have aired.

Upcoming AEW Dynamite Debuts, Matches and Segments

• Lance Archer vs. Colt Cabana—Quarterfinal Match in the TNT Championship Tournament*
• Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin—Quarterfinal Match in the TNT Championship Tournament*
• Dusty Rhodes vs. Kip Sabian—Quarterfinal Match in the TNT Championship Tournament*

Upcoming WWE NXT Debuts, Matches and Segments

• Jack Gallagher vs. Hijo Del Fantasma—Group Round of the Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament+
• KUSHIDA vs. Tony Nese—Group Round of the Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament+
• Drake Maverick vs. Jake Atlas—Group Round of the Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament+
• Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai and Raquel+
• Velveteen Dream vs. Finn Balor+