How have AEW's ratings compared to NXT's recently?
The ratings are in, and for a second week in a row, USA Network's WWE NXT has topped All Elite Wrestling's Dynamite on TNT.
According to Showbuzz Daily, Wednesday's AEW Dynamite on TNT drew 663,000 viewers while NXT drew 810,000 viewers on the USA Network. This see's NXT beating Dynamite by an impressive 22%. Now while it is true that both shows may have seen a sharp decline due to it being Thanksgiving in the States, AEW suffered a far worse drop than NXT. Last week's NXT episode drew 916,000 viewers, which means they had an audience drop of just over 100,000, while AEW had drawn 893,000 viewers, which means they had a loss of 230,000 viewers.
This already has fans asking, is All Elite Wrestling beginning to lose momentum?
This is of course referring to the previous speculation from fans and critics back when AEW first started that they might have been enjoying a lot of early success due to it being a new alternative to WWE, and that after a few months, things would wind down. I like AEW and watch it every week, so this is by no means a jab at them, but this is now the second week in a row now that they have lost to NXT, a very big drop in ratings this week which also leads to a large margin between the two and there are at least two photos making the rounds of AEW pulling poor attendance.
I think something else that has also been helping a lot here is WWE's fantastic booking of NXT over the past month. A big area for viewership that has seen both NXT and AEW struggle with has been the 'casual fan'. Both NXT and AEW are known for having a very loyal hardcore fan base, similar to that of ECW and earlier years of Ring of Honor, where many of their fans are those who regularly attend independent wrestling events and care more about the actual wrestling than theatrics.
So now, thanks to WWE's tremendous booking of NXT in the weeks leading to Survivor Series and the event itself, the 'casual fan', who both NXT and AEW previously struggled to attract, is now perhaps a fan of NXT. Over the past month we have seen NXT's top talents defeat RAW and SmackDown's biggest stars in very convincing fashion, and seeing the black and gold brand stand tall may have earned them some new followers.
Personally, I think it is too early to tell and AEW still have plenty of opportunities to take back the Wednesday night Championship, but for the moment, things may take a big turn in NXT's favor.