For one night, the Tuesday Night War returned as AEW Dynamite and NXT aired head-to-head against significant sports programming.
On the unfamiliar Tuesday night, AEW Dynamite averaged 752,000 viewers and approximately 339,000 (0.26) in the 18-49 demographic compared with NXT’s 676,000 viewers with 235,000 (0.18) in the demo, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
Dynamite ranked #8 among cable originals while NXT was #12. Dynamite was ahead of everything outside of NBA & MLB programming.
The night was dominated by live sports with the start of the NBA season with two games occupying the top spots. Dynamite and NXT aired against the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics averaged 2,984,000 and 1.24 in 18-49 on TNT and the MLB playoff game between Philadelphia and San Diego that averaged 4,099,000 viewers and 1.00 in the demo on FS 1. There were also NHL games airing back-to-back on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. ET that aired against both wrestling shows.
AEW’s move to a different night and airing against the various sports saw its audience drop by 23.5% from last Wednesday’s episode and the 18-49 audience dropped by 18%. In the key demo, women were down 38% while males only fell by 8%.
AEW beat NXT in all the key demos except for females 18-49, females 12-34, and adults 50+. Dynamite doubled NXT among adults 18-34.
NXT had a loaded-up episode featuring tons of main roster talent wrestling and appearing on the show including Raquel Rodriguez, Rhea Ripley with The Judgment Day, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, The O.C., Sonya Deville, Shotzi, and Austin Theory. The show also had a seven-minute overrun segment.
The show fell 8% in viewers from last week with the 18-49 audience increasing by 17.5%. The show saw its largest increases with females 18-49 growing by 33% this week and adults 35-49 up by 27%. There was a drop of 17% among adults 50+, although they narrowly beat AEW in that demo.
In the 18-49 demo, it was NXT’s largest audience since August 16th.
In Canada, Dynamite averaged approximately 76,000 viewers and 48,000 in the 25-54 demographic on TSN 2 while Sportsnet 360 did not air NXT live due to NHL programming.
Dynamite returns to its regular night next Wednesday with a show from Norfolk, Virginia.
VICE TV’s Tales from the Territories on the AWA was not listed among the top 150 cable programs on Tuesday.
Below are the key demos from each program (Courtesy: Showbuzz Daily):
ADULTS 18-49
AEW: 0.26
NXT: 0.18
FEMALES 18-49
AEW: 0.13
NXT: 0.14
MALES 18-49
AEW: 0.39
NXT: 0.23
ADULTS 18-34
AEW: 0.20
NXT: 0.10
FEMALES 12-34
AEW: 0.07
NXT: 0.08
MALES 12-34
AEW: 0.25
NXT: 0.08
ADULTS 25-54
AEW: 0.32
NXT: 0.24
ADULTS 50+
AEW: 0.33
NXT: 0.34
