AEW Draws “First Blood” In Wednesday Night War

The first round of pro wrestling’s “Wednesday Night War” is in the books and it appears AEW will walk away victorious. AEW’s ‘Wednesday Night Dynamite’ walked away with 1.4 million viewers, while NXT managed to pull in 851,000. This is an important “first blood” type of victory for AEW as it shows there is definitely interest in the product. The biggest challenge from here though will be maintaining those numbers throughout future broadcasts.

NXT actually drew 1.1 million viewers for its premiere on USA on September 18th. Since then, they’ve seen a steady decrease in viewership, with this week being the lowest so far. Another interesting rating note is that AEW actually beat NXT in almost every key demographic, and finished second behind the MLB Wild Card game. AEW went toe to toe with WWE’s best “wrestling” product and won.

While it’s way too early to decide who will truly win, AEW should take comfort in this victory. If they can keep up the momentum, not only will NXT have a problem on their hands, but they could eventually start to chip away at RAW and Smackdown’s viewer base as well. Either way, in the end, the real winners are wrestling fans. That’s what matters most.