AEW Dynamite vs. WWE NXT: Who Won the Oct. 23 Battle of the Wednesday Night War?

Week 4 of the Wednesday Night Wars was the best night of wrestling television in ages, with two shows finding their strides, seemingly well-aware of the other's forward momentum.

All Elite Wrestling continued its streak of fantastic efforts, heating up the angle between Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho to boiling temperatures and delivering match after match of high-flying, fast-paced, all-action wrestling. 

After three weeks of losing in the ratings and moving at what felt like a glacial speed in comparison to its rival on TNT, NXT took the training wheels off and finally let talent shine. 

The result was something beyond expectations. We all hoped the competition between two brands would deliver spectacular results, but I don't think anyone dreamed it would be quite like this.

Of course, no one wants to sing "Kumbaya" and hear about the possibility of existing together, of fans enjoying both events, of a wrestling renaissance where the rising tide of genius floats everyone's boat so high that they almost touch the sky. 

We want winners and we want losers. So, let's take a deeper dive into Wednesday's shows to see who emerges as the weekly champion.

AEW Dynamite

Where: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Main Event: Pac vs. Jon Moxley 

Match of the Night: Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela

Best Spot: Marq Quen's Shooting Star Press may be the best one I've ever seen.

Moment We'll Remember: Cody Rhodes punches through a glass window for the opportunity to get his hands on Chris Jericho.

Analysis: The first hour-plus of this program was downright spectacular. It was as close to perfect as you can get, the kind of wrestling television that turns casual fans into devotees. 

The night started with Private Party and the Lucha Bros already in the ring, eschewing long introductions and entrances. It was a signal to anyone paying attention that this night was going to be packed to the brim with action—and, boy, was that true. 

Just a few months ago, even the most hardcore of hardcore fans would have been forced to do a quick Google search if you asked them about Private Party. Now, after just four weeks of television, they are poised to be the tag team of the future.

Unfortunately for them, the Lucha Bros are the team of the now and dispatched them after an excellent match filled with the kind of action you just don't see anywhere else.

That bout set the tone for the whole night. Omega and Janela, in a rematch from their instant classic last week at AEW Dark, somehow managed to top it, and Pac and Moxley went all out to try to one-up that match. It's that kind of competitive spirit, friends looking to challenge each other for who will have the best bout on a given card, that leads to special nights like this. 

I'm sensing many more in our futures.

Of course, despite all the derring-do in the ring, the night will be remembered for the epic confrontation between Cody Rhodes and posse and Chris Jericho's Inner Circle.

Jericho, as usual, was perfect on the microphone, haughtily challenging Cody while showing just enough fear in his eyes to make it clear his bravado had limits.

When he hid in a locked room, The American Nightmare borrowed MJF's scarf and punched his way in through a glass window. Then the chase was on as all eight men brawled in the concourse area, using crutches, Dippin' Dots and anything else they could get their hands on. It was a fire segment on a show that was already steaming along. 

This was a very delicate segment. It succeeded in making Cody look extraordinarily strong without making Jericho look weak. That's not as easy as it sounds.

Normally, in contemporary wrestling, the good guy looks like a hapless sad sack in these moments, standing in the ring and listening to someone mock him mercilessly. Cody refused to play that role, but Jericho remained the coolest guy in the room despite it all. This match, when it goes down at Full Gear on November 9, is primed to be something special.

Things slowed down a bit, if you can imagine that, for The Young Bucks and Best Friends, a technical match filled with crazy moves but without much in the way of stakes. But it caught flame again for the main event as Moxley and Pac threw their hats into the ring for potential match of the night. 

What Worked: Excellent matches throughout, culminating in a time limit draw between two top stars. The show not only worked as a two-hour block of incredible programming, it also served to build up a pay-per-view main event that is already one of the most promising of the year.

Missed the Mark: The Dark Order lost in the tag team tournament and is the first AEW project that has completely failed to launch. The women's division, despite the promotion's best intentions, doesn't have the horsepower to stand out in a field this crowded with extraordinarily gifted wrestlers.

Grade: A

NXT

Where: Orlando, Florida

Main Event: Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic vs. Roderick Strong (North American Title)

Match of the Night: Main Event

Best Spot: Matt Riddle's lightning-fast series of finishers against Cameron Grimes.

Moment We'll Remember: Finn Balor turns on Johnny Gargano and, by extension, the entire NXT Universe.

Analysis: The formula of featuring a showcase match or two alongside a series of glorified squashes was tweaked, allowing for competitive, action-packed matches throughout the two hours. 

Last week's NXT, for example, had five matches that lasted less than four minutes. This week, there was just one—and it was a competitive bout that saw the dominant team (the Four Horsewomen) upset at the end by spunky babyface underdogs.

The show is starting to find its voice, staying true to the spirit and ethos of many of the performers who came to WWE from the independent scene. That's always been the strength of the NXT Takeover shows. They never seemed to be trying too hard to be something they weren't, playing to their strengths and programmed as if they were part of a distinct universe.

That illusion has fallen apart since the move to cable television, especially with the inclusion of WWE talents like Tyler Breeze and Finn Balor. But Wednesday night's show wasn't just another WWE brand. For the first time, it felt like a distinct entity, something more than WWE-lite. 

The women's division here, in particular, continues to shine. Io Shirai is one of the best wrestlers in the entire company and NXT is doing its level best to highlight her character right alongside her workmate, fighting cultural and linguistic barriers in the process. Whether it will work remains to be seen, but you can't say they'll fail because of a lack of effort.

Working for certain is Rhea Ripley. She has the look of a future megastar and can already deliver a really good match as she showed against Bianca Belair. Together with Shirai, Candice LeRae and champion Shayna Baszler, those two women form the backbone of the best division in all of American wrestling.

The main event was as logical as three-way dances come. Strong looked, well, strong when he needed to but also managed to get out of the way at times to let Dijakovic and Lee continue their budding rivalry. Those two have potential that stretches miles. If anything, they do too much. Spots they do as routine near-falls in throwaway matches should be the kind of things memories are made of. Instead, they are instantly forgettable because they come too cheap.

The key will be limiting these two men, saving their best stuff for when it can truly be impactful while also preserving their bodies for years on the grind.

Of course, this show will go down in wrestling history for the final segment, a confrontation in the ring between Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa and The Undisputed Era.

When Balor's music played, most assumed he was there to even up the odds. Instead, he brutally destroyed Gargano, including hitting a devastating looking Bloody Sunday on the ramp to leave him laying.  

What Worked: I would have bet money after it was done that Matt Riddle vs. Cameron Grimes would win match of the night. It was that good. That there was a better bout later on in the evening is a pretty good indication this was a special show.

I like just about everything here. Tyler Bate made an appearance in the crowd and left Grimes in a heap on the floor in a funny spot. They also set up title challengers in the women's tag team and cruiserweight divisions and created a ton of intrigue surrounding Balor and his future. So, in addition to being wildly entertaining, it was a productive night.

Missed the Mark:  As a standalone show, this was truly great. But while I know time is limited, I wish they would do more to push some of the primary acts. There was no Walter for the second show in a row, champion Adam Cole has been little more than an afterthought and, after stealing the show the week before, Damian Priest and Pete Dunne pulled a disappearing act.

Grade: A

Overall: In some ways, there were no losers on Wednesday night. In other, more accurate ways, there can be only one. And, once again, AEW was the better show. As great as NXT's final segment was, AEW's first hour-plus was the kind of wrestling television that makes you feel alive. It doesn't get much better than that.

Winner: AEW

Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.