NXT beats AEW Dynamite in viewership and key demo rating in special renewal of Wednesday night head-to-head battle

NXT outdrew AEW Dynamite in terms of total viewership and the key 18-49 demo rating last night. AEW Dynamite aired as usual on TBS at 8 ET on TBS while NXT aired on The CW on Wednesday night instead of its usual Tuesday night slot.

NXT emanated from the former “ECW Arena,” now known as 2300 Arena, and featured nostalgic ECW content including a reworked opening theme using the original ECW TV show music from the 1990s and guest appearances from a number of well-known ECW wrestlers from the original era. That was enough to give NXT the edge over a typical Dynamite episode.

AEW Dynamite averaged 523,000 viewers, down from 628,000 the prior week. The last ten weeks, excluding when Dynamite aired on Tuesday night last month, it has averaged 656,000 viewers, so they were 133,000 below that last night.

NXT drew an average of 619,000, up from 588,000 the prior week but below the 702,000 the week before that. It aired a day later than usual, but had a special theme to help offset that. The prior ten weeks averaged 687,000, so they about 70,000 below that.

In the key demo, AEW Dynamite drew a 0.16 rating. The prior ten weeks, excluding the Tuesday episode, averaged 0.21.

In the key demo, NXT drew a 0.17. The previous ten weeks averaged 0.19, so it held up pretty well despite being on a different night.