AEW Beats NXT in TV Ratings with Shaquille O'Neal and AEW Revolution PPV Hype

AEW's go-home episode of Dynamite prior to Sunday's Revolution pay-per-view scored a ratings victory over WWE NXT in the Wednesday night wrestling war this week.

According to F4WOnline's Bryan Alvarez, Dynamite averaged 934,000 viewers during its two-hour broadcast on TNT, while NXT's two-hour show on USA Network averaged 692,000 viewers.

The headline match on Dynamite was a mixed tag team affair pitting Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal and Jade Cargill against Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet.

Shaq impressed in the match, as he hit Cody with a big powerbomb and took a bump through some tables. O'Neal and Cargill won when Cargill hit Velvet with a variation of Beth Phoenix's Glam Slam for the victory.

AEW also featured the on-screen debut of Paul Wight, who formerly wrestled as Big Show in WWE for 22 years.

Wight took part in an interview with Tony Schiavone and dropped big news. He announced that AEW has signed a "Hall of Fame-worthy talent" that will be revealed at Revolution on Sunday.

Other major happenings on Dynamite included Ryo Mizunami beating Nyla Rose in the finals of a tournament to determine Hikaru Shida's opponent for the AEW Women's Championship at Revolution; Max Caster beating 10 of Dark Order to qualify for the Face of the Revolution ladder match at Revolution; "Hangman" Adam Page and John Silver defeating Matt Hardy and Marq Quen; and FTR and Tully Blanchard defeating Jurassic Express thanks to the return of Shawn Spears.

On NXT, Roderick Strong and NXT champion Finn Balor competed in the main event, with Balor coming out on top. Adam Cole showed up and stared Balor down to close the show ahead of their NXT Championship match next week.

The WWE Women's Tag Team Championships were also on the line with Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax defending against Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai. Baszler and Jax retained in a controversial match that saw the referee get knocked out, prompting NXT general manager William Regal to say he will make a huge announcement regarding the NXT women's division next week.

Also on NXT, LA Knight made his in-ring debut cutting a promo, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch beat Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher, Ember Moon defeated Aliyah and Cameron Grimes beat Bronson Reed.

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