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AEW Dynamite’s Blood & Guts special beat WWE NXT in the ratings on Wednesday, winning both total viewers and the key demographic in a rare head-to-head night.
According to PWTorch, which first reported the numbers, Dynamite averaged 792,000 viewers on TBS with a 0.24 rating in the 18-49 demographic. NXT averaged 552,000 viewers with a 0.13 in the same demographic.
Dynamite was up 27.7 percent from the 620,000 viewers who watched the October 28 episode, which aired against the World Series. The 0.24 was the show’s best 18-49 rating in more than two years and its largest 18-49 audience of the year. It was also the most watched Dynamite since the September 30 tribute to PAC, which drew 899,000 viewers.
NXT moved to Wednesday this week because The CW’s local stations aired election night coverage on Tuesday. The show featured main roster stars John Cena, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, with Punk challenging Grayson Waller for the NXT Championship. NXT was still up 6.2 percent from last week.
The last time the two shows went head to head, on October 6, NXT won total viewers 532,000 to 495,000, while Dynamite won the 18-49 demographic 0.11 to 0.10. This time AEW won both.
The numbers cover television only. Streaming figures from HBO Max for Dynamite and ESPN Unlimited for NXT were not included.
AEW President Tony Khan also responded on social media to a post claiming NXT had won the night, posting a gif from Succession and accusing the poster of lying about the result.
What is confirmed is the ratings win for Dynamite. What is not confirmed is the full audience once streaming is counted, which neither company has reported.
