New week, same result — at least in terms of whose hand was raised at the end. TNT’s “All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite” pinned USA Network’s “NXT” clean in the middle of the ring last night, winning its second Wednesday in a row.
Last night, the AEW show received 1.018 million total viewers, which was a decline of 28% from the prior week’s series debut. WWE’s “NXT” posted 790,000 total viewers. Both weekly wrestling shows air from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET.
Last week, the new All Elite Wrestling series debuted to 1.409 million total viewers, besting USA Network’s “NXT,” which posted 891,000 total viewers over the same two-hour period. “Dynamite” had more than doubled its competition in the key adults 18-49 demographic, scoring 878,000 viewers compared to “NXT’s” 414,000.
USA and TNT are direct competitors, battling for basic-cable supremacy each year. USA still houses WWE flagship show “Raw” on Monday nights, but Fox’s broadcast network acquired “SmackDown” in a billion-dollar deal.
NXT began as a revamped feeder system — a minor league wrestling promotion — for WWE. It has since become much more than that and currently stands as a legitimate wrestling brand of its own.
The weekly “NXT” series used to air Wednesdays on streaming service WWE Network. WWE, still the No. 1 pro-wrestling league in the world, moved the show over to USA after long-running drama “Suits” left the schedule.