AEW Dynamite Tops WWE NXT, Continues Strong Ratings Run

In this week's edition of the Wednesday night wrestling ratings war, AEW Dynamite topped WWE NXT once again.

According to NoDQ.com's Aaron Rift, Dynamite averaged 730,000 viewers during its two-hour broadcast on TNT, while NXT on USA Network garnered 715,000 viewers.

Mike Tyson wasn't present on this week's Dynamite after getting into an altercation with Chris Jericho last week, but AEW still delivered a newsworthy show headlined by Cody successfully defending the TNT Championship against Jungle Boy in his first title defense since beating Lance Archer for the title at Double or Nothing.

Dynamite also opened with a title match, as Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page retained the AEW Tag Team Championships against Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc.

There were also a couple of key promo segments on Dynamite, including AEW World champion Jon Moxley confronting Brian Cage ahead of their match at Fyter Fest. FTR spoke for the first time in AEW as well before getting into an altercation with The Butcher and The Blade.

Other notable moments on Dynamite included Chris Jericho defeating Colt Cabana and Nyla Rose bouncing back from dropping the AEW Women's Championship to Hikaru Shida at Double or Nothing by beating Big Swole.

On NXT, the final build for Sunday's NXT TakeOver: In Your House pay-per-view took place, but it was the main event between El Hijo del Fantasma and Drake Maverick for the interim Cruiserweight Championship that truly stole the show.

Maverick was one of many WWE Superstars released from their contract in April as part of budget cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he was allowed to remain in the cruiserweight tournament. While many assumed Maverick would merely compete in a few matches and then leave, he went on a magical run.

He made it all the way to the finals before losing to Fantasma, but Maverick was a winner in the end, as NXT closed with Triple H presenting Maverick with a well-earned NXT contract.

Other big matches included Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae beating Keith Lee and Mia Yim in a mixed tag team match ahead of Gargano facing Lee for the NXT North American Championship at TakeOver, and Breezango making their return to win a Triple Threat tag team match against the team of Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch and Undisputed Era to become the No. 1 contenders for Imperium's NXT Tag Team Championships.

NXT aired a couple of engaging and comprehensive video packages regarding the TakeOver: In Your House NXT Championship match between Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream and the NXT Women's Championship match between Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai.

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