NXT Snaps AEW Dynamite's Winning Streak With a Higher Viewership for the 4/8 Episode

For the first time in 2020, NXT brought in more viewers than AEW Dynamite for the April 8 episode. The show drew 693,000 viewers, beating out Dynamite's 692,000 according to ShowBuzz Daily. However, Dynamite still had the advantage in the 18-49 demo with 0.26 rating compared to NXT's 0.19. NXT's victory stops Dynamite's winning streak at 14 consecutive weeks.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic both shows were aired on tape delay from inside empty venues. NXT featured two matches that were originally scheduled for NXT TakeOver: Tampa Bay in the six-woman ladder match and Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano, while Dynamite was headlined by Cody Rhodes beating Shawn Spears in the first match of the TNT Championship Tournament.

Hours before the show Triple H addressed the Black and Gold Brand's losing streak in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

"I'm a believer in the long-term game," Triple H said. "You create the right product, and over time, people will find it. I think back to Monday nights years ago, and it looks different now, but there were periods of time when WWE was putting on much better shows and the content was much better, but we were still getting beat. We were not winning 'the war,' but we stayed true to who we were.

"If it's a flash and it's exciting at first but you can't maintain it, then it loses that pizzazz. It's long-term duration, for me, that's how you win. I've been saying it since the beginning — I'm not concerned about those numbers week-to-week. It's about trying to put out the best show you can every week."

Meanwhile Rhodes said in an interview back in January that AEW officials don't obsess over ratings.

"There's a romantic way to look at the ratings and say 'Here we are, it's the late 1990s again. Every Thursday let's check 'em,'" Rhodes said. "It's fun to look at the ratings but I know internally we're not having any pep rally speeches. Our concern is not NXT and I believe NXT's concern is not us. If anyone is going to succeed, we cannot be a reactionary brand. One really good, positive takeaway that the ratings war doesn't show is that there is a lot less crossover between the fan bases, there's a lot less of the turning the channel between one and the other. That means there's a lot of people just watching wrestling on Wednesday nights. Making wrestling destination programming again is cool."