The "Wednesday Night Wars" between AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT ended nearly five months ago.
The wars (completely lopsided in AEW's favor from start to finish) lasted a year and a half, spanning from Oct. 2, 2019 to Apr. 7, 2021. But after WrestleMania 37 weekend, WWE shifted its NXT program over to Tuesday night slots, effectively ending the battle with AEW.
With AEW Dynamite viewership skyrocketing in recent months, the company can really focus on catching WWE's two main television programs, Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown on USA Network and FOX, respectively.
If you ask AEW wrestler and former WWE superstar Chris Jericho, however, it won't be long until Dynamite draws better ratings than WWE's flagship program.
"Sooner or later, we’re going to start beating RAW," Jericho said during an appearance on Busted Open Radio (h/t WrestleZone). "It’s not going to be every week, but I bet you over the next 2-4 months, maybe 4-6, we’re going to start beating RAW, and that’s my prediction that I’m saying to you guys right here...We book smartly, if you watch our show it’s like watching the first three Star Wars episodes—one thing always leads to the next and sometimes you’ll see where the seeds were planted months earlier, but we always know what we want to do and where we want to go."
In terms of viewership, Dynamite and RAW are headed in two completely different directions. Per WrestlingInc.com's viewership tracker, six of the last eight episodes of Dynamite have recorded over one million viewers. From Jan. 6 to July 7, Dynamite only surpassed that special mark three times.
Now, RAW is still drawing several hundred thousand more viewers than Dynamite, but the viewership for the show has dropped considerably throughout the years. Even if the ratings are higher on RAW, WWE officials have to be concerned with where their main show is trending compared to Dynamite.
What's even more worrisome for WWE? Following this week's episode, RAW will have to compete with ESPN's Monday Night Football program for the next four months. So it's hard to envision viewership getting much better in the near future.
Not Out Of The Question
Dynamite viewership has increased significantly without competition from NXT. The arrival of CM Punk has already been a giant game changer for the company, too.
If Dynamite keeps trending up in viewership, and if Raw continues to slip (especially against Monday Night Football), AEW could absolutely catch WWE's flagship program in the time frame that Jericho provided.