WWE NXT Destroys Historically Low AEW Dynamite For 5th Straight Time

WWE NXT Showdown destroyed AEW Dynamite for the fifth straight time in head-to-head competitors. NXT faces off with AEW in head-to-head competitors one Tuesday per 12 months as a result of Dynamite being preempted by the MLB playoffs. NXT has defeated AEW handily each time with AEW at an obstacle on an unfamiliar evening.

NXT drew 625,000 viewers (0.12 in 18-49) for its NXT vs. TNA Showdown particular. That is up 8% from 572,000 final week. AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday drew 321,000 with .07 in 18-49. That is down 31% from 465,000 final week and the bottom viewership within the historical past of AEW Dynamite. Final 12 months’s Tuesday broadcast of AEW Dynamite drew 329,000 viewers.

WWE NXT Showdown Vs. AEW Dynamite Viewership

WWE NXT Showdown Scores | 625,000 Whole viewers; 0.12 in 18-19
AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday Scores | 321,000 Whole viewers; 0.07 in 18-49

Viewership knowledge utilizing the old Nielsen panel-only methodology yielded a particularly lopsided victory for NXT Showdown, which garnered 685,000 viewers (0.14 in 18-49) beneath the previous methodology in comparison with a scary low 301,000 viewers (.07 in 18-49) for AEW Dynamite Title Tuesday.

The brand new Nielsen Large Information + Panel rankings period is the large story behind these rankings and can proceed to be a serious story transferring ahead. Final week’s rollout of the Large Information rankings ceded abnormally low viewership for professional wrestling broadcasts on tv throughout the board. Decrease rankings for professional wrestling within the Large Information period spell panic for all the trade, however it may have a very adversarial impact on AEW.

“Now unexpectedly [TV networks] are paying that a lot cash for these numbers which can be a lot decrease, that adjustments the sport,” mentioned Dave Meltzer of the “Wrestling Observer Radio” (h/t Wrestling Inc.)

“From a CW standpoint, I don’t see any issues as a result of the fact is that they didn’t pay lots for ‘NXT’ to start with they usually obtained nothing else that’s doing the 18-49 quantity. AEW, it was a big-money deal and I really feel they’re essentially the most susceptible as a result of TBS and TNT, they do not want it. It is good to have and the rankings have been actually ok to justify the cash within the unique deal however once you take that stuff down 15%, we do not know … if the [HBO] Max numbers are actual massive then it nonetheless could also be price it, even with these decrease numbers however we do not know what the Max numbers are for certain.”

NXT’s dominance over AEW of their annual head-to-head tilts is a far cry from AEW’s successful methods through the Wednesday Evening Struggle. AEW received that battle with a powerful 63-10 document in viewership, with two ties and NXT was pressured to retreat to Tuesday nights. NXT has rallied again because the extra profitable present, significantly in whole viewership over the previous 12 months. Since NXT’s transfer to the CW on October 1, 2024, NXT has defeated AEW in total viewership in 48 out of 52 weeks.

It’s price mentioning that each single day within the historical past of NXT on the CW, the lads’s world champion has been Black. Imagine that.

NXT extending its win-streak in its annual head-to-head battle with AEW was already tutorial, however Tony Khan and co. didn’t even put up a struggle. NXT constructed its present round a high-profile NXT vs. TNA storyline leading to a Survivor Collection-like Showdown between Group NXT and Group TNA. Showdown was book-ended by two girls’s and males’s elimination matches, respectively.

By evening’s finish, TNA edged NXT 3-2 in 5 interpromotional matches.

Tony Khan Continues To Concern WWE

AEW did little or no to construct up Tuesday’s Dynamite exterior of extending its runtime by half-an-hour. Regardless of being promoted as Title Tuesday, AEW Dynamite solely booked two title matches in 2.5 hours. Kyle Fletcher defeated Kyle O’Reilly for the TNT Championship. Mercedes Mone defeated Lacey Lane (the previous Kayden Carter) in an open problem for the TBS Championship. With all due respect to Lane, the reveal hardly matched even the restricted hype of “An area Florida expertise.”

Tony Khan ducking the smoke from WWE has turn into a serious theme in 2025. AEW has moved a number of pay-per-views to the daytime as an effort to keep away from head-to-head counterprogramming from WWE PLEs. This most just lately occurred when WWE’s Wrestlepalooza debut on ESPN was scheduled to go head-to-head with AEW All Out 2025. Khan promptly moved All Out to the daytime.

“We’ve been capable of stick and transfer and make it work rather well for us,” Khan said about AEW avoiding same-day WWE reside occasions. “There’s all the time going to be powerful competitors, and on this sport, it’s very powerful competitors, a form of competitors that makes you’re employed actually exhausting 52 weeks a 12 months.”

Tony Khan “sticking and transferring” is comprehensible from a enterprise standpoint. Going head-to-head with the largest wrestling promotion on the planet is a frightening activity, and even AEW’s flagship present has did not beat WWE’s developmental model head-to-head relationship again to 2022. However Khan kowtowing to WWE created a dynamic the place WWE can management AEW’s begin time anytime they please. AEW lets WWE bully them out of their very own timeslot, and because of this, AEW followers should fly in at totally different instances. This inconvenience typically leads to AEW Sickos paying a stick-and-move payment by rescheduling their flights.

WWE reportedly has no more counterprogramming plans for the rest of 2025. However given the accuracy of dirtsheet media experiences and the ever-changing panorama of professional wrestling, this needs to be taken with a grain of salt.