Welcome to the latest edition of Who Won The Week?, the series where ComicBook.com’s team of wrestling writers come together and vote on which Wednesday night wrestling show put on a better episode — NXT or AEW Dynamite? We then tally up the score and declare the winner for the week, then check out the fan poll results. Be sure to check back every week, as we’ll be keeping score on who wins and who has the advantage in the “Wednesday Night Wars.”
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A couple things to keep in mind — these votes have nothing to do with television ratings. Just because one show had more viewers doesn’t necessarily make it the better episode. Also this isn’t to determine which one show you should watch each week. We want you to watch both of them so you can join in on the conversation!
Check out the results for Oct. 16 below!
Connor Casey: NXT
Of the first month of shows, this was easily the hardest week to pick. Dynamite did nothing wrong per se — I loved the tag matches, KOmega looked like he was back in New Japan form against Joey Janela (though I’m not sure where that leaves his storyline with Moxley) and that segment between Cody & co. vs. The Inner Circle was one of the most entertaining arena brawls I’ve seen in a while.
And yet, nothing AEW did could top NXT’s final 30 minutes. Strong vs. Lee vs. Dijakovic managed to blow past every expectation I had (which were pretty high already given the men involved), and I was absolutely floored by Balor’s heel turn. Going back over it I love all of the small details sprinkled throughout, like how Balor exchanges glances in the ring with Cole yet never lays a hand on Ciampa during the brawl. And once the finger guns were out, my jaw hit the floor. I have no idea how far they’re going to go in bringing back Balor’s “Real Rock’n Rolla” persona, but I’m dying to find out.
Meanwhile Dynamite’s main event was… just okay. I love both Moxley and PAC and think this will be a world championship pay-per-view main event down the road, but I also got the feeling the folks in AEW know that too hence the time limit draw. It was the right call, it just didn’t bring the “must-see” vibe NXT’s closing minutes had.
Ryan Droste: NXT
This was a really tough decision this week. All in all, both promotions gave us a fantastic two hours of wrestling. I tried to pick a winner on Wednesday night but felt I needed to sleep on it to let everything simmer. Even so, it wasn’t any easier picking a winner when I woke up this morning.
AEW Dynamite started white hot, with the Lucha Bros and Private Party continuing what has been an amazing tag team tournament. With the show starting off with both teams in the ring just waiting for the bell, you knew we’d be off to a fast start. And boy did we ever. This was just about as good as television wrestling matches can get.
Dynamite’s first hour all together was just fantastic. Things slowed down a little bit with SCU vs. The Dark Order immediately following that great opener for a couple of reasons. One, good luck following that first match. Two, SCU was the obvious victor since they laid the ground work last week for a SCU/Lucha Bros story, added in with the fact that Dark Order hasn’t really been able to gain any real momentum. However, the match heated up a bit by the finish and had the crowd into it once more.
The rest of Dynamite saw another great match between Kenny Omega and Joey Janela, a really good segment between Cody and Chris Jericho (featuring a surprise appearance by DDP), a decent Young Bucks vs. Best Friends match (did Best Friends kind of seem to be working in slow motion to anyone else?), Britt Baker’s homecoming, and a time limit draw between Moxley and PAC that has wrestling fans divided on the finish.
NXT, on the other hand, had their best showing since week one when I picked them to have won the night (the only time they have up to this point). Gone were the abundance of squash matches that have seemed to plague their two hours, something that has dragged them down when going up against Dynamite’s competitive, fast-paced cards.
NXT started off with two rising stars in Bianca Belair and Rhea Rhipley. While I assume most fans flipping back and forth between TNT and USA were more interested in the AEW tag that opened, Rhipley is a future mega star that you will see on RAW and/or SmackDown for years to come. Matt Riddle vs. Cameron Grimes followed that up and put on and outstanding match, clearly outshining SCU vs. Dark Order on the other network.
Things slowed down a little bit with Breezango and Isaiah Scott taking on Forgotten Sons but picked back up again for Angel Garza and Jack Gallagher. For those who haven’t watched 205 Live or paid attention to the Cruiserweight Division over the last couple of years, you’re in for a treat with Gallagher. This guy is fantastic.
That was followed by a good women’s match pitting Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai vs. Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke for a chance at the Women’s Tag Titles. The fans were into it with there being some real stakes behind the bout and popped for Nox and Kai’s victory.
However, with all of that in the books, NXT featured a final 30 minutes that was unrivaled this week. As good as Lucha Bros vs. Private Party was, NXT topped them with an outstanding triple threat between Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and Roderick Strong. And following Strong’s sneaky victory, we got the moment of the week as Finn Balor came out and shocked the world by turning heel.
In sum, AEW’s first hour won the night and NXT’s second hour won the night. I essentially looked at this week as a draw on the surface, so my tie-breaker is the fact that the Balor heel turn is the moment from this week that will go down as the biggest highlight of the night for either show with the most significant long term consequences, giving NXT a victory by the smallest of margins.
Matt Aguilar: NXT
AEW has come out swinging the last few weeks, but tonight NXT just had too much great content to be denied. Both started off strong with AEW’s Lucha Brothers vs Private Party and NXT’s Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair, and while AEW’s next tag match was fine, it wasn’t as entertaining as Matt Riddle vs. Cameron Grimes, and I can’t believe I’m saying that, as I’ve not been on the Grimes bandwagon in the least.
AEW definitely came back with a fantastic match between Kenny Omega vs Joey Janela and a hilarious bit between Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle and Cody Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, MJF, and DDP, but the remainder of the show just couldn’t capture the moment to moment action of NXT’s lineup, including the main event of MOX vs PAC, which could have been fantastic but ended up being a rather plodding affair until the very end.
In contrast, NXT’s Women’s Tag Team Championship Challengers match between Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox vs Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke was hard-hitting and full of energy from Kai and Nox, and succeeded in building a compelling hook as they go onto face the Kabuki Warriors for the titles.
NXT would follow that up with a slobber knocker of a main event between Roderick Strong, Keith Lee, and Dominik Dijakovic, which was as thrilling as it had the potential to be. There were so many fun spots but it all felt like a coherent story instead of just a spot fest, highlighted by Lee and Dijakovic going back into the ring to finish the match Strong interrupted last time. Strong would capitlize on that to take the victory, but that was just paving the way for an even more thrilling ending that many didn’t see coming.
Having Finn Balor come out after Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano to take on the Undisputed Era would be fun in its own right, but the heel turn from Balor was executed perfectly, leaving jaws on the floor and also setting up a Balor Gargano feud and furthering the already established feud of Ciampa vs. Undisputed Era at the same time. They even managed to tease Balor’s Bullet Club by show’s end, putting a cherry on the best episode of NXT since heading to USA.
The Winner: NXT
Record: NXT 2, AEW 2
Fan Poll Results
Do you agree with this week’s results? Sound off in the comments section and be sure to cast your vote in next week’s poll!
