AEW Beats NXT in Ratings Battle as Sting Makes Debut on Dynamite

After narrowly losing the viewership battle last week, AEW Dynamite bounced back to beat WWE NXT this week with its Winter Is Coming edition of the show. 

According to Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline.com, Dynamite averaged 913,000 viewers during its two-hour show on TNT, while NXT garnered 658,000 viewers on USA Network.

Dynamite was headlined by an AEW World Championship match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega, which resulted in a new champion being crowned, as Omega beat Mox with some help from his friend and mentor, Don Callis.

Callis, who began the match on commentary, handed Omega a microphone, which he used to bust Moxley open before hitting him with multiple V-Triggers and a One-Winged Angel.

After Omega's win, he and Callis ran out of the building, and Callis told an interviewer that Omega would appear on Tuesday's episode of Impact to explain what happened, perhaps signaling the beginning of a working relationship between the two companies.

Also, on Dynamite, WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW star Sting made his shocking debut following a tag team match pitting Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin against Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs.

Following Sting's appearance, it was announced that AEW President Tony Khan had signed The Icon to a multiyear, full-time deal, meaning fans will be seeing a lot of the 61-year-old legend moving forward.

On NXT, the focus was primarily on building toward Sunday's NXT TakeOver: WarGames pay-per-view, as the show was headlined by a ladder match between Shotzi Blackheart and Raquel Gonzalez to determine which team will have the advantage in the women's WarGames match.

Blackheart somewhat surprisingly won thanks to interference from NXT Women's champion Io Shirai, who was named the final member of Team Shotzi.

Undisputed Era and Pat McAfee's squad hyped up their WarGames match as well, and the unlikely duo of North American champion Leon Ruff and Damian Priest beat Santos Escobar and Raul Mendoza of Legado del Fantasma in a tag team match to set up Sunday's Triple Threat between Ruff, Priest and Johnny Gargano.

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