WWE Must Avoid Ramping Up Wednesday Night AEW War with Reckless Booking

The worst thing WWE could do now is go all-in on the Wednesday Night War. 

And the allure has to be there after suffering a setback in the opening round. All Elite Wrestling's Dynamite on TNT clobbered WWE's NXT in the ratings department, particularly in notable younger demographics. 

This is problematic for WWE should it become a trend. Maybe it doesn't. If WWE is lucky, the ratings are just a result of AEW putting on their first show and getting a bunch of curiosity viewers. NXT was running what could fairly be described as "just another show." 

Worst-case scenario? Wrestling fans tired of the same old WWE—and even NXT—flocked to AEW and are now committed viewers. 

Either way, WWE can't afford to overreact. One of the NXT program's biggest moments was the return of one Finn Balor: 

It's a great moment. Yet, it is also perhaps a flag. 

Balor back on NXT is fun but problematic. The first-ever Universal champion has now been promoted from NXT, worked the other programs and has now gone back down, clearly in response to the competition from AEW. 

And while WWE wants to push this idea that all three brands are equal, that simply isn't the case. In fact, the worst possible thing that could happen to NXT now is a loss of identity. The company threw it on Wednesdays to compete with AEW for a reason: it was best suited to do so. 

But if Balor is only the beginning and more and more main-roster stars start going down to NXT for matches and feuds, it would overlap and dilute the product. Before long, NXT could just morph into a third main brand almost indiscernible from Raw or SmackDown. 

This goes beyond NXT. This puts the red and blue brands at risk, too. There was always a fun sense of surprise around both programs because an NXT talent could get "called up" and mix things up. Granted, those call-ups have had some laughable, spectacular failures, but the allure of the call-up remains. 

If top-of-card guys like Balor are going down to NXT, though, and some of these developmental Superstars aren't going to make the jump anymore, the two main programs suffer. Instead of continuing to reach for this sense of "anything can happen" that brings in viewers, another element of it is lost. 

In the long run, NXT may not need to do anything but outlast the competition. AEW isn't guaranteed to pull these kinds of ratings each week. Granted, the show was mostly superb, with big performances from Chris Jericho, firmly establishing its women's division as one of the best on the planet and even making someone like Jake Hager, former WWE Superstar Jack Swagger, feel enormous. 

But the ratings could fade while the numbers NXT puts up remain in a holding pattern. And AEW is a new thing entirely, meaning it isn't immune to mistakes or turning viewers away. As of now, NXT is the comfy, familiar place for fans to go when they feel the urge for what it presents. 

And let's be honest—WWE is going to be just fine either way. Clearly, those in charge care about AEW and the threat it presents or it wouldn't have positioned NXT as it has. But over the long term? WWE has the Fox deal for SmackDown, its own network, it goes on and on. "Losing" this war on Wednesdays isn't the worst thing in the world that can happen. 

At the end of the day, the opening round of this "war" that has mostly been quite friendly so far has produced one big winner: the fans. Having options in this industry is a good thing. Now that AEW has shown it can put on a compelling product with massive production values and simply do more than a one-off pay-per-view event, it almost feels like WWE has more to lose because of the impact compensation booking could have on the company's other two big programs. 

NXT is NXT. There isn't a need to dilute it more or pull the show out of Full Sail. The ebb and flow of ratings over the coming months, if not years, will be interesting to watch. But the ball is in WWE's court with how to respond coming out of the first week and the best approach is a slow and steady one, lest an arms race create mistakes and only drive more viewers to the new, clearly potent competition.