AEW has released a new ad for Dynamite that not only openly acknowledges NXT, it downright mocks it.
Ask higher-ups on either side of the Wednesday Night War and they'll both tell you the same thing. It's not a war. Well, fans might be more convinced of that if either side stopped taking thinly-veiled shots at one another. Whether it be a comment during a Hall of Fame speech or constantly referring to WWE as "the other place", neither NXT or AEW seems to be able to help themselves.
We say thinly-veiled. Some of the shots have not been veiled at all. In fact, the latest ad for Dynamite doing the rounds online right now mentions NXT three times despite it being less than 30 seconds long. That's two more times than the word Dynamite appears, not including on signs and ring skirts in the background.
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AEW isn't trying to sell ad viewers on NXT, of course. Quite the opposite. The word NXT appears in the ad three times as part of three separate press quotes claiming Dynamite to be the better show. The trio of quotes are all very similar, each choosing to claim Dynamite has a leg up on its competition in different ways. "Crushes", "trounces", and "buries" were the words used in the respective pull-quotes.
As entertaining as we find this, we can't help but think AEW's timing couldn't be worse. The ad has been released off the back of two straight defeats to NXT when it comes to ratings. Had this ad been created and ready to go when Dynamite was 7 and o then it would have piled the pressure on NXT. Releasing it now makes them seem as bitter about losing as WWEappears to be.
As has now been repeated about a thousand times, this Wednesday Night War is a marathon, not a sprint. Chances are NXT won't win the next five weeks in a row and bring the viewership score to an even 7-7, especially now all the cross-brand angles are over and done with. Maybe Dynamite will pick up its eighth win in week ten, and the braggadocious ad won't seem quite as poorly timed as it does right now.