Verdict
Heading into this week, AEW is a perfect 5-0 in the rating war. That streak lives on to 6-0, but not by a margin that AEW is used to. NXT is breathing down the backs of AEW this week with the current hype surrounding NXT in the WWE. AEW Dynamite had 822,000 viewers and NXT had 813,000 viewers. NXT is the catalyst in WWE competing with AEW in rating supremacy.
It is 3-2 in my verdict between AEW Dynamite and NXT. This week, that is back to being split again as I tip my verdict in the favor of NXT. The invasion of RAW wrestlers on NXT helped bring something new to NXT and promote the upcoming Survivor Series Pay Per View, which I am looking forward to because of the brand invasions. The development of Dakota Kai going into War Games seems to have me thinking that she could end up on Team Baszler to spite Team Ripley and cause a rift with her tag team partner, Tegan Nox. Pete Dunne’s match was quality as was Dominik Dijakovic’s, which helped propel into an anticipated main event as The OC took on Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, and Matt Riddle. The lack of answers from Finn Balor works for me at the end of the show because he works as NXT’s biggest mystery at this moment heading into Survivor Series and War Games.
With AEW Dynamite, I do wish the pairings of matches were a little bit more competitive. I like Trent Baretta in Best Friends, but one-on-one against Pac left little to speculate. I felt the same with Private Party against The Dark Order. Brandon Cutler continues to be a blip on the radar in AEW, which makes me assume he will be doing the job. My favorite parts of AEW Dynamite were Cody’s segment with his announcement, the video package from The Inner Circle about Chris Jericho, and the main event including the aftermath, which will send the audience right into AEW Full Gear.
My verdict in favor of NXT makes the Wednesday Night Wars 3-3 if it were up to me. As far as the rating war is concerned, AEW still has quite the lead with a 6-0 run. Again, like last week, it begs the question if we value ratings more than we should over quality. In my opinion, basing your wrestling on quality brings NXT into the fold more than what they get credit for. Follow me on Twitter at EricReesePSN and come around next week for more Wednesday Night Wars!
