Posted in: AEW, Fox, Sports, TNT, TV, USA Network, WWE | Tagged: aew, bleeding cool, cable, dynamite, fox, nba, NXT, ratings, streaming, television, tnt, tv, usa, wednesday night wars, wrestling, wwe

AEW, NXT Ratings and Viewership Up Despite NBA Competition

The overnight cable ratings are in and it was a good night for wrestling, and for sports in general, all around. The NBA took the two top spots for the night and dominated in the 18-49 demo and in men 18-49, but that didn't mean less viewers or a lower rating in the demo for AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT. Instead, both Wednesday wrestling shows saw increases in viewership and in the 18-49 demo, with Dynamite scoring its highest viewership and rating in months.

AEW Dynamite Tops 900,000 Viewers, Gets .36 in 18-49

AEW Dynamite scored its highest viewership and its highest demo rating since before the pandemic took its effect on wrestling. AEW had 901,000 viewers, the most since March. The company scored a .38 rating in the 18-49 demo, which is the key demo looked at by networks and advertisers for determining the value of a show. That was enough to land Dynamite in fifth place for the night in the top 150 cable rankings. Last week's episode scored a .30 with 773,000 viewers and was ranked 6th for the night.

WWE NXT Draws 773,000 Viewers, Scores .20 in 18-49

Despite the success of AEW Dynamite, WWE NXT didn't have to suffer. NXT was also up from last week, with 753,000 viewers compared to last week's 707,000. The 18-49 demo was also up from .18 to .20, and NXT was ranked 27th for the night, one spot up from 28th place last week.

The Bottom Line 'Cause Chad Said So

On a night with strong competition from the NBA, it's impressive that not only did ratings and viewership go up for AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT, but in Dynamite's case, they did the best they've done in six months. The total number of people watching wrestling on Wednesday night this week was 1.654 million, which is close to WWE Raw's 1.715 million viewers this week. The combined demo of AEW and NXT was .58, which is actually higher than Raw's .51 average.

Taking that into consideration, The Chadster has had a change of heart about my usual fervor for NXT doing better than Dynamite. As it turns out, it's not that Dynamite is the enemy of NXT. Rather, Dynamite and NXT combined are the enemy of Monday Night Raw! Can you imagine if Wednesday night started beating Mondays in wrestling ratings? That would pretty much ruin my whole life. I would be so angry all the time Keighleyanne would probably stop talking to me. So hopefully both shows starting doing a lot more poorly in the future.

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