AEW Dynamite Drops in Numbers for Taped Show, NXT Draws Best Rating Since September

– Showbuzz Daily has the overnight ratings for last night’s Wednesday Night Wars battle between AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT. It was a much closer race than usual, but AEW Dynamite just barely managed to scrape ahead of NXT in the overall viewing audience.

Last night’s taped edition of Dynamite on TNT lost about 100,000 from last week’s live broadcast. The show drew 754,000 viewers compared to 854,000 for last week. NXT was live on USA Network this week.

Meanwhile, NXT finished only 34,000 viewers behind AEW Dynamite with 720,000 viewers. It was NXT’s first time to break 700,000 viewers since the Dec. 16, 2020 episode.

In the P18-49 key demo ratings, Dynamite also saw a sizable drop. Last night’s episode drew a 0.29 rating in the key demo, while the show last week drew a 0.36.

NXT drew one of its stronger key demo ratings in a while. The show finished with a 0.21 rating in the key demo. That is NXT’s best rating in over months, since the September 8 episode drew a 0.22 rating in the same demo. That episode ran unopposed that night due to Dynamite being pre-empted because of the NBA Playoffs airing on TNT.

Additionally, it’s the best head-to-head rating for NXT against Dynamite since July 1, which NXT’s Great American Bash Night 1 vs. the Fyter Fest edition of Dynamite. That show drew a 0.22 rating vs. 0.29 for Fyter Fest, but NXT managed to outdraw AEW in overall viewership with 792,000 viewers vs. 748,000 for AEW.

The NBA game featuring the Lakers vs. the 76ers on ESPN topped the ratings for last night with a 0.65 rating in the key demo. The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC topped the viewership for last night with 3.742 million viewers.

While the numbers were lower this week, Dynamite did manage to surge up the Cable Top 150 rankings as last week’s rankings on January 20 were largely dominated by the coverage of the Presidential Inauguration for Joe Biden. Dynamite ranked No. 6 this week, solidly back in the Top 10 after ranking No. 33 last week. NXT also hit the Top 25 this week after finishing at No. 24 compared to No. 67 on January 27.

Next week, AEW will be presenting a live special Beach Break-themed episode of AEW Dynamite. Here are the week-by-week AEW Dynamite vs. NXT numbers:

January 22nd: AEW 0.35 (871,000 viewers), NXT 0.24 (769,000)
January 29nd: AEW 0.34 (828,000 viewers), NXT 0.22 (712,000)
February 5th: AEW 0.36 (928,000 viewers), NXT 0.22 (770,000)
February 12th: AEW 0.30 (817,000 viewers), NXT 0.24 (757,000)
February 19th: AEW 0.31 (893,000 viewers), NXT 0.25 (794,000)
February 26th: AEW 0.30 (865,000 viewers), NXT 0.23 (717,000)
March 4th: AEW 0.35 (906,000 viewers), NXT 0.23 (718,000)
March 11th: AEW 0.26 (766,000 viewers), NXT 0.21 (697,000)
March 18th: AEW 0.35 (932,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (542,000)
March 25th: AEW 0.34 (819,000 viewers), NXT 0.20 (669,000)
April 1: AEW 0.25 (685,000 viewers), NXT 0.15 (590,000)
April 8: AEW 0.26 (692,000 viewers), NXT 0.19 (693,000)
April 15: AEW 0.25 (683,000 viewers), NXT 0.17 (692,000)
April 22: AEW 0.25 (731,000 viewers), NXT 0.18 (665,000)
April 29: AEW 0.27 (693,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (637,000)
May 6: AEW 0.28 (732,000 viewers), NXT 0.18 (663,000)
May 13: AEW 0.23 (654,000 viewers), NXT 0.15 (604,000)
May 20: AEW 0.26 (701,000 viewers), NXT 0.13 (592,000)
May 27: AEW 0.32 (821,000 viewers), NXT 0.19 (731,000)
June 3: AEW 0.29 (730,000 viewers), NXT 0.20 (715,000)
June 10: AEW 0.23 (677,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (673,000)
June 17: AEW 0.28 (772,000 viewers), NXT 0.20 (746,000)
June 24: AEW 0.22 (633,000 viewers), NXT 0.19 (786,000)
July 1: AEW 0.29 (748,000 viewers), NXT 0.22 (792,000)
July 8: AEW 0.28 (715,000 viewers), NXT 0.20 (759,000)
July 15: AEW 0.29 (788,000 viewers), NXT 0.14 (631,000)
July 22: AEW 0.32 (845,000 viewers), NXT 0.17 (615,000)
July 29: AEW 0.30 (773,000 viewers), NXT 0.18 (707,000)
August 5: AEW 0.36 (901,000 viewers), NXT 0.20 (753,000)
August 12: AEW 0.32 (792,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (619,000)
August 19: AEW N/A, NXT 0.24 (853,000)
August 22: AEW 0.31 (755,000 viewers), NXT N/A
August 26: AEW N/A, NXT 0.24 (824,000)
August 28: AEW 0.29 (813,000 viewers), NXT N/A
September 1: AEW N/A, NXT 0.26, (849,000)
September 2: AEW 0.36 (928,000 viewers), NXT 0.04, (183,000)
September 8: AEW N/A, NXT 0.22 (838,000)
September 9: AEW 0.37 (1.016 million viewers), NXT N/A
September 16: AEW 0.34 (886,000 viewers), NXT 0.18 (689,000)
September 22: AEW 0.26 (585,000 viewers), NXT N/A
September 23: AEW 0.32 (835,000 viewers), NXT 0.18 (696,000)
September 30: AEW 0.33 (866,000 viewers), NXT 0.19 (732,000)
October 7: AEW 0.31 (753,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (639,000)
October 14: AEW 0.30 (826,000 viewers), NXT 0.17 (651,000)
October 21: AEW 0.30 (753,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (644,000)
October 28: AEW 0.31 (781,000 viewers), NXT 0.25 (876,000)
November 4: AEW 0.30 (717,000 viewers), NXT 0.14 (610,000)
November 11: AEW 0.30 (764,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (632,000)
November 18: AEW 0.37 (850,000 viewers), NXT 0.14 (638,000)
November 25: AEW 0.26 (710,000 viewers), NXT 0.20 (712,000)
December 2nd: AEW 0.42 (913,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (658,000)
December 9nd: AEW 0.45 (995,000 viewers), NXT 0.17 (659,000)
December 16th: AEW 0.32 (806,000 viewers), NXT 0.19 (766,000)
December 23th: AEW 0.32 (775,000 viewers), NXT 0.19 (698,000)
December 30th: AEW 0.40 (977,000 viewers), NXT 0.12 (586,000)
January 6th: AEW 0.25 (662,000 viewers), NXT 0.16 (641,000)
January 13th: AEW 0.30 (762,000 viewers), NXT 0.14 (551,000)
January 20th: AEW 0.36 (854,000 viewers), NXT 0.15 (659,000)
January 27th: AEW 0.29 (754,000 viewers), NXT 0.21 (720,000)