Dynamite and NXT had a rare head-to-head on Wednesday night due to the U.S. presidential election, and while NXT won the previous head-to-heads when Dynamite moved to Tuesday, it was expected that Dynamite would get the win due to them being in their regular time slot.
But AEW got a cold reality check as the ECW-themed episode of NXT from the 2300 Arena actually beat it in both overall viewership and 18-49 demo.
NXT drew 619,000 viewers overall while Dynamite averaged 523,000 viewers, a difference of 96,000 viewers. In 18-49, NXT had a 0.17 rating while Dynamite drew a 0.16, although NXT airs on network television while Dynamite is on cable.
While NXT had some ECW originals on the show, with the likes of Dawn Marie, Francine, Rob Van Dam, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Rhino, Nunzio, and Tony Mamaluke all showing up, AEW loaded Dynamite with their usual big stars, including Mercedes Mone, The Hurt Syndicate, Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, and others.
At one point during the broadcast, Christian Cage made fun of the competition, telling Hook that his father was the face of an outlaw promotion and was a big fish in a little pond who choked when he got to the bright lights.
Bully Ray, who wrestled on NXT, posted a photo of himself, D-Von Dudley, and Trick Williams with their arms raised, writing, “Demo Gods,” a shot at Chris Jericho when he used to call himself the demo god for having high 18-49 demo segments back in the day.
