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AEW Beats NXT in TV Ratings with Moxley and Archer vs. Omega and KENTA
February 11, 2021
AEW continued to roll in the Wednesday night wrestling war this week, as Dynamite scored another ratings win over WWE NXT.
According to Showbuzz Daily, Dynamite averaged 741,000 viewers during its two-hour broadcast on TNT, while NXT's two-hour show on USA Network brought in 558,000 viewers.
Dynamite featured a huge main event pitting Kenny Omega and New Japan Pro-Wrestling star KENTA against Jon Moxley and Lance Archer in an anything goes tag team match.
The Good Brothers interfered on Omega's behalf, which allowed Omega to hit Archer with the One-Winged Angel and pick up the victory for his team.
KENTA got the last laugh on Moxley by beating him down after the bell, giving him plenty of momentum ahead of their IWGP United States Championship match at NJPW's The New Beginning later this month.
Dynamite also featured a title defense in the opening match of the night with Darby Allin beating Joey Janela to retain the TNT Championship.
Other Dynamite results included Cody Rhodes and Lee Johnson beating Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi, Pac defeating Ryan Nemeth, Chris Jericho and MJF beating The Acclaimed and Thunder Rose defeating Leyla Hirsch in the first round of the AEW Women's Championship eliminator tournament.
NXT featured the final build before Sunday's NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day pay-per-view and the finalization of the card, as the finals of the men's and women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournaments were determined.
On the men's side, MSK opened the show by beating Legado del Fantasma, and in the main event, The Grizzled Young Veterans upset Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher, meaning it will be MSK vs. GYV for the Dusty Cup on Sunday.
In the women's tournament semifinals, Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon defeated Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, setting the stage for a finals clash against Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai, who already punched their ticket last week.
NXT also saw Kushida beat Austin Theory by disqualification ahead of his North American Championship match against Johnny Gargano at TakeOver, and Xia Li won yet another squash match.
NXT general manager William Regal made it official that Karrion Kross will face Cruiserweight champion Santos Escobar on next week's episode of NXT as well.
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