AEW Dynamite vs. WWE NXT: Who Won the Nov. 27 Battle of the Wednesday Night War?

After delivering eight weeks of really good wrestling television, the sports newest powerhouse promotion All Elite Wrestling faltered for the first time in its existence.

In front of an exhausted crowd in Chicago, many of whom had likely also seen WWE's two events the previous weekend, they put on an ordinary old wrestling show.

It wasn't bad. It wasn't great. It just was.

Across the dial on the USA Network, meanwhile, NXT continued to find its voice. In the first show since its Survivor Series triumph over Raw and SmackDown, everyone shined a little brighter. The brand itself felt a little more vital. And, in the ring, it presented the strongest Wednesday night wrestling product—and arguably the strongest in the world.   

The battle between the two shows over the last several weeks has been amazing, but there was a clear winner this week.

Let's take a deeper dive into both shows and take a look at what worked, what missed the mark and who heads to Thanksgiving dinner as the weekly champion.

AEW Dynamite

Where: Chicago, Illinois

Main Event: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Scorpio Sky

Match of the Night: Kenny Omega vs. Pac

Moment We'll Remember: The Butcher and The Blade standing in front of a mostly silent crowd after dispatching Cody Rhodes. While it's too early to pass judgment on a new act, this left the live audience mostly scratching their heads. The same was true on television. While announcer Excalibur acted like we should be familiar with the tag team, I suspect the audience at home was just as confused as poor Jim Ross about who we were seeing and why we should care.

What Worked:  Even the successes felt like they should come with asterisks this week. Kenny Omega and Pac had an excellent match, particularly the mat-based finish that was executed perfectly by two master craftsman. That almost feels like a given—after all, these are two of the best performers in all of wrestling.

But was this really a match we needed? Was anyone in the audience craving it, especially in this abbreviated form? The Chicago crowd just saw these two battle at All Out on Aug. 31, and there is no real storyline reason to toss them in the ring together. And that's what this felt like: two guys, between stories, just having a match.

A good match, sure, but just a match.

On the storytelling side, it finally feels like The Dark Order is taking form. There was a great video package explaining a bit more about the group that critics might call a cult, explaining they have infiltrated society in many forms and across professions.

Who at AEW might be a secret, sleeper agent waiting to emerge? I suspect time will tell, but this act suddenly feels compelling. I wish they'd come up with this expanded concept weeks ago. I hope it's not too late to repair the damage done by the early, lackluster presentation.

Missed the Mark: Everything this week felt a little rushed. The promotion presented six matches, just like last week. The difference? Five of last week's matches were over 10 minutes long. This week, only two hit double digits. 

That's not necessarily a bad thing. They needed the extra time for Chris Jericho's long celebration to open the show (and sell his new bubbly, a classic carny wrestling move).

But when you center a program, especially one that is famously devoted to in-ring action, around a skit, that skit had better deliver in a big way. This one was only a little funny and a lot long. That's a bad combination for a company trying to distinguish itself from WWE.  

Most disappointing was the bout between "Hangman" Page and MJF for a diamond ring worth progressively more each week. The match was too short, the presentation too long and the whole thing just fell flat. It feels like forever since MJF cost Cody the title, and the expected blood feud between the two has fizzled.

While there is no doubt they will set fire to the world eventually, AEW has taken its time out of the gate with this. That would be fine—except there isn't another central narrative to replace it.

Grade: B

NXT

Where: Orlando, Florida

Main Event: Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Match of the Night: Lio Rush (c) vs. Akira Tozawa (Cruiserweight title)

Moment We'll Remember: Adam Cole, en route to interfere in the tag title match between Undisputed Era and Keith Lee/Dominik Dijakovic, gets launched into the stands by Lee. This was a really cool spot and the big man's rise to the top of the promotion has been fun to watch. 

What Worked: This was a fantastic night of wrestling television, especially in the ring. This could have been a week very much like AEW's, a pallet cleanser before the promotion began setting up a series of feuds leading into the next Takeover. But, without the main roster interlopers here, the core group took advantage of their recent shine to dazzle the wrestling world.

Lio Rush continued his ascension, making a case that the WWE's cruiserweight class is equal to anyone else's worldwide. And while disjointed due to a Bobby Fish injury that saw Roderick Strong—still wearing his jeans—replace his Undisputed Era teammate, the opening tag was 20 minutes of fun.

Shayna Baszler, fresh from her win over two of the top women in the entire sport—Becky Lynch and Bayley—showed an increasing confidence on the microphone. The world is ready for her feud with Rhea Ripley. They've loaded the bases for this one, and now it's time to knock one out of the park.

Missed the Mark: While the status of announcer Mauro Ranallo has been the talk of the wrestling internet, it was the elephant in the room that no one at NXT was willing to acknowledge.

I thought his replacement, Tom Phillips, did an excellent job guiding the broadcast, allowing color commentators Nigel McGuinness and Beth Phoenix to shine. But Ranallo has a strong connection with the core NXT audience, and WWE owes them an explanation for his absence.

Grade: A

Overall: While Phillips helped the NXT broadcast move smoothly from segment to segment, the AEW team struggled a bit in Chicago. There was a guest commentator in the first match whose presence wasn't entirely explained, and then Ross and Excalibur seemed to really miss the presence of Tony Schiavone, who was on assignment for the University of Georgia.

I appreciate AEW respects the intelligence of its audience and doesn't overexplain stories that speak for themselves. WWE has been drilling stories into our heads so savagely for so long that a respite from that style has been nice.

But sometimes this can extend too far. There is a neat narrative underpinning the surprise appearance of The Butcher and The Blade. The team, led by Allie Kat, attacked Cody Rhodes. I suspect this was to avenge the humiliating encounter between Allie and Cody's wife, Brandi, and the monstrous Awesome Kong. This was never made explicit on the broadcast, though, and Allie really could have used a minute or two on the mic to connect all the dots here. 

The entire week felt this way for AEW. The pieces of an excellent broadcast were there, but they just never managed to put the puzzle together. 

Winner: NXT

Overall: AEW (6), NXT (3)