AEW Smashes WWE NXT In First Ratings Battle Of 2020
The Wednesday Night Wars are rekindled in the new decade...
Jan 10, 2020
On this week's episode of NXT, Keith Lee became the number one contender for the North American Championship, Mauro Ranallo confirmed The Timesplitters will reunite next week, and The Undisputed ERA and Imperium advanced to the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
On AEW Dynamite, Japanese Deathmatch specialist Dr. Luther made his debut, Jon Moxley got a free Ford GT, and Dustin Rhodes & Cody defeated The Lucha Brothers.
American audiences determined AEW was the must-watch promotion on January 8th
as Dynamite garnered a viewership of 947,000 while NXT only attracted 721,000 viewers. This was the first time both companies had gone head to head with live wrestling since December 18th. On their final live shows of 2019, NXT beat Dynamite with a viewership of 795,000 to 683,000.
Dynamite was strong in the key 18-49 demographic with a 0.36 rating, making it the sixth most popular show of the evening in the demo. NXT struggled, however, as they finished 55th. More worryingly for WWE is that more people decided to tune in to Catfish: The TV Show, Alaskan Bush People, and House Hunters than the black and gold brand.
