The ratings battle between AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT on Wednesday nights officially concluded last week after 18 months.
Two weeks ago, WWE announced the plans to move NXT over to Tuesday nights. The change began this week following WrestleMania 37 weekend. And predictably, both shows recorded excellent viewership numbers.
According to Showbuzz Daily (h/t Marc Middleton of WrestlingInc.com), this week's episode of Dynamite record 1.219 million viewers.
This week marked the second-best viewership in Dynamite's 18-month history. Only the show's premiere on Oct. 4, 2019 recorded a higher audience (1.41 million viewers, per Middleton).
This is also the first Dynamite episode of 2021 to reach over one million viewers. Previously, the March 3 episode (934,000 viewers, per WrestlingInc.com's viewership tracker), was the most-watched episode of 2021.
NXT won the final edition of the "Wednesday Night Wars" last week. Night one of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver drew 788,000 viewers, while Dynamite recorded 688,000.
With no competition from Dynamite, NXT also drew a strong audience this week with 805,000 viewers, per Middleton. This also marked the show's highest viewership of 2021 so far.
The main event of Dynamite saw Darby Allin successfully defend his TNT Championship against Matt Hardy in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
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Former World Heavyweight Champion boxer Mike Tyson made another appearance on Dynamite, joining Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle.
Following NXT's move over to Tuesday nights, Impact Wrestling decided to move their programming over to Thursday nights. So fans of the three promotions now get to enjoy WWE, AEW and Impact television on all five weeknights.
Viewership Will Continue To Increases
With no more competition against each other, both NXT and Dynamite can expect increased viewership over the long run. This week was a sign of what's to come for both shows. Both promotions benefit greatly from NXT's move to Tuesdays, but as Cody Rhodes previously pointed out, the fans are the "real winners".