AEW Dynamite Scores Massive Ratings Win over WWE NXT

AEW Dynamite won the first non-holiday ratings battle of 2020 with a triumph over WWE NXT.

According to Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline.com, AEW easily triumphed with an average of 947,000 viewers to NXT's 721,000. 

Alvarez added AEW's biggest advantage in the ratings came in the 18-49 demo:

Wednesday marked the first time since Dec. 18 that both AEW and NXT aired a live show. That week, NXT used an NXT Championship match between Adam Cole and Finn Balor, and an NXT Women's Championship match between Shayna Baszler and Rhea Ripley to win the viewership 795,000 to 683,000.

On Christmas, NXT aired an episode with pre-taped matches, and AEW did not air a show. Last week, AEW had a normal episode, and NXT had a pre-taped awards show.

This week, AEW was headlined by a closing segment that saw Jon Moxley answer Chris Jericho's offer to join the Inner Circle. Moxley initially accepted and celebrated with the Inner Circle before reversing course and saying he only wanted Jericho's AEW World Championship.

Also, Riho retained the AEW Women's Championship against Kris Statlander because of interference from Brandi Rhodes, Awesome Kong, Mel and the debuting Dr. Luther of the Nightmare Collective.

Other major segments saw Kenny Omega and Adam "Hangman" Page beat Private Party; Cody and Dustin Rhodes defeat The Lucha Brothers; and Sammy Guevara take down Christopher Daniels.

On NXT, a Fatal 4-Way match to determine the No. 1 contender for Roderick Strong's North American Championship was held. Keith Lee closed the show by beating Dominik Dijakovic, Damian Priest and Cameron Grimes to earn the title shot.

The show opened with a promo from Ripley, who was then interrupted by Toni Storm, Kay Lee Ray, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair and Candice LeRae. That led to a six-woman tag team match that saw Ripley, Storm and LeRae beat Shirai, Belair and Ray.

Also, Imperium and Undisputed Era won their Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic first-round matches against The Forgotten Sons and Gallus, respectively, plus Balor and Johnny Gargano agreed to fight at NXT TakeOver: Portland, and Tommaso Ciampa expressed his desire to face Cole for the NXT Championship in a series of vignettes.

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