AEW Dynamite Viewership Decreases, Still Wins Ratings Battle with WWE NXT

All Elite Wrestling Dynamite continued its run on top of the Wednesday night ratings battle with another victory over WWE NXT this week.

According to Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer, Dynamite averaged 766,000 viewers during its two-hour broadcast on TNT, while NXT drew 697,000 viewers on USA Network. AEW was down from last week's 906,000 and NXT dropped slightly from 718,000.

The biggest angle of the night occurred on NXT, which was held at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, due to a scheduling conflict at the NXT Arena at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.

In the main event slot, Tommaso Ciampa hunted down Johnny Gargano, and they proceeded to brawl throughout the Performance Center. They damaged a ton of equipment and even broke a mirror in the weight room.

Their fight eventually spilled back out toward the ring, and they battled to the top of a perch. Ultimately, Ciampa hit Gargano with an Air Raid Crash off the perch and through the announce table to close the show.

Other key segments on NXT included Charlotte Flair assaulting NXT women's champion Rhea Ripley ahead of their scheduled WrestleMania match, Keith Lee beating Cameron Grimes to retain the North American Championship, and The BroserWeights beating Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish of Undisputed Era to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships after interference from The Grizzled Young Veterans.

On Dynamite, the rules for the upcoming Blood and Guts match between Inner Circle and The Elite were announced. The rules are essentially the same as a traditional WarGames match, with two combatants starting and a new one entering the double cage structure every five minutes.

The match may have undergone a significant change Wednesday, as Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks was attacked by The Inner Circle and taken to the hospital. If Jackson can't compete, perhaps someone like Dustin Rhodes, Darby Allin or AEW world champion Jon Moxley will be tasked with replacing him.

In other happenings, Cody defeated Ortiz while the debuting Lance Archer watched from the crowd alongside Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Death Triangle, composed of Pac, Pentagon Jr. and Fenix, beat Joey Janela and Private Party. The pairing of Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara fell to Adam "Hangman" Page and Dustin Rhodes in the main event, but they got the last laugh when The Inner Circle destroyed the remnants of The Elite.

Next week, AEW is advertising the revealing of Dark Order's Exalted One, while NXT will continue to build toward the upcoming NXT TakeOver: Tampa pay-per-view on April 4.

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