AEW Dominates NXT in Ratings With Matt Hardy and Luke Harper’s Arrivals

Even though the 24-hour news networks have dominated television ratings ever since the coronavirus pandemic began, All Elite Wrestling still managed to keep its winning streak over NXT alive with its March 18 episode. The show, which aired live at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville with no fans in attendance (though a few wrestlers cheered from the front rows), brought in 932,000 viewers with a 0.35 rating in the 18-35 demographic. Meanwhile NXT, which chose to air video highlight packages and interview segments rather than have matches, was unable to crack the top 50 programs on the night and wound up with 542,000 viewers and a 0.16 rating.

AEW has beaten NXT in viewership every week since the start of 2020. Meanwhile NXT brought in its lowest viewership since jumping to the USA Network.

Dynamite’s highlights included the reveal of The Dark Order’s Exalted One (WWE’s Luke Harper, now going by Brodie Lee) and the surprise arrival of Matt Hardy. Both debuts were well-received by fans, as was the main event six-man tag match between The Elite and The Inner Circle, Hikaru Shida’s victory in a four-way women’s match and Cody Rhodes’ show-opening promo.

Even though The Inner Circle won the advantage for the upcoming Blood & Guts match (which is reportedly getting pushed back), the Elite got the last laugh when Hardy revealed he’d be Nick Jackson’s replacement on their five-man team.

On Thursday Hardy thanked AW for bringing for bringing him in.