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AEW Beats NXT in Ratings with Sting, Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega and KENTA's Debut
February 4, 2021
AEW scored another ratings win over WWE NXT on Wednesday night with its special Beach Break edition of Dynamite.
According to Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline, Dynamite averaged 844,000 viewers during its two-hour broadcast on TNT, while the two-hour episode of NXT on USA Network averaged 610,000 viewers.
The main event of Dynamite was a six-man tag pitting Jon Moxley, Pac and Fenix against AEW World champion Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers.
Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson won the match, but it was what happened afterward that truly had the wrestling world buzzing. After Lance Archer ran down to help Mox fight off Omega and The Good Brothers, New Japan Pro-Wrestling star KENTA showed up and choked out Moxley.
Moxley, who is the IWGP United States champion, recently appeared on NJPW programming and agreed to put the title on the line against KENTA. Wednesday marked the continuation of their rivalry.
Another major happening on Dynamite saw Chris Jericho and MJF win a tag team battle royal to earn an AEW World Tag Team Championship match against The Young Bucks at Revolution.
Also on Dynamite, Sting cut a promo with Darby Allin, Britt Baker beat Thunder Rose, Lance Archer defeated Eddie Kingston in a lumberjack match, Hangman Page and Matt Hardy beat Chaos Project and both Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor crashed the wedding of Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford.
NXT featured an appearance by 2021 men's Royal Rumble winner Edge, who interrupted a promo segment between NXT champion Finn Balor and Pete Dunne.
Edge told Balor and Dunne that he would be watching their title match at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day and would consider facing the winner at WrestleMania 37.
The Rated-R Superstar also had a run-in with Karrion Kross, who vowed to win the NXT title and perhaps be the one to face Edge on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
The main event of NXT was a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic quarterfinal match that saw Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher beat Adam Cole and Roderick Strong of Undisputed Era in a hard-hitting, entertaining affair.
Additionally, Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai beat Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter to advance to the finals of the women's Dusty Cup, Legado del Fantasma defeated Lucha House Party in a men's Dusty Cup quarterfinal, Austin Theory beat Leon Ruff, and Cruiserweight champion Santos Escobar defeated Curt Stallion to retain the title before having a tense confrontation with Kross.
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