The ratings war between AEW and WWE returns for one night only. Tonight will see AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT go head-to-head for the first time since WWE’s black and gold brand moved to Tuesdays in April 2021. That migration ended what fans called the Wednesday Night Wars, a ratings battle between AEW and WWE that lasted for over 75 weeks. During that time, Dynamite bested NXT in viewership in every week except one.
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While WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque has downplayed AEW’s ratings victories before, saying that “they beat our developmental system,” AEW President Tony Khan emphasized that his promotion prioritizes being the highest-viewed wrestling program.
“It’s important for us to be the most-watched wrestling show,” Khan said to Sports Illustrated. “We want to maintain the great audience we consistently have on Wednesdays and bring it to this one-time-only Tuesday special. We want to be the number-one wrestling show this week on Tuesday.”
Both AEW and WWE have stacked their respective shows tonight as well. NXT will feature main roster stars like Rhea Ripley, Raquel Rodriguez, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in matches as well as former WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens in an in-ring segment. Raw’s Finn Balor has also teased showing up at tonight’s NXT.
On the AEW side, Dynamite will feature four championship matches, a rarity for AEW TV.
“It’s ‘Title Tuesday,’ only the second time in Dynamite history we’ll have four title matches on the same show,” Khan said. “We’re going to deliver in a major way.”
When AEW burst onto the scene in 2019, executives within the company pushed it as an alternative. That tune quickly changed in Summer 2021, when NXT left Wednesdays and multiple high-caliber free agents opted to become All Elite. Khan recognizes where WWE falls in the wrestling hierarchy, but he also emphasized AEW’s value to the landscape.
“That doesn’t mean you’re an industry leader, but it’s certainly not niche, either,” Khan said. “We are a major company. We’re the Pepsi of pro wrestling. Pepsi has their own identity and strong brand affinity, which is what we’re building, too.
“A challenger brand involves being straightforward, and we’ve tried to do that, too. I studied Burger King marketing, too. It’s really fascinating, and there have been plenty of ways to learn from their strategies.”
AEW Dynamite airs tonight at 8 PM ET on TBS.
