AEW Beats NXT in TV Ratings with Pinnacle vs Inner Circle 'Blood and Guts' Match

Thanks to the Blood and Guts main event between The Pinnacle and The Inner Circle, AEW Dynamite beat WWE NXT in viewership this week.

According to Showbuzz Daily, Dynamite averaged 1.090 million viewers during its two-hour broadcast on TNT on Wednesday. Meanwhile, NXT brought in 761,000 viewers during its two-hour Tuesday show on USA Network.

Not only did AEW win the ratings battle, but it also achieved a notable milestone:

Dynamite was headlined by the highly anticipated first Blood and Guts match in AEW history. Blood and Guts was essentially an offshoot of the WarGames concept created by the late Dusty Rhodes, and it featured two teams of five going to battle.

The Pinnacle (made up of MJF, Wardlow, FTR and Shawn Spears) defeated The Inner Circle (comprised of Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz) when The Inner Circle surrendered to prevent MJF from throwing Jericho off the top of the cage.

Even so, MJF threw Jericho from the cage anyway, sending him crashing through the stage, which may have been AEW's way of writing him off television so he can go on tour with his band Fozzy.

Also on Dynamite, Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston beat Kenny Omega and Michael Nakazawa; Cody Rhodes defeated QT Marshall; SCU won an AEW World Tag Team Championship eliminator match; Britt Baker won a squash match.

AEW made Baker vs. AEW Women's champion Hikaru Shida official for Double or Nothing as well and announced a match between Orange Cassidy and Pac to determine Omega's opponent for Double or Nothing.

While much of the hype within the wrestling world was focused on Blood and Guts, NXT put on an excellent show in its own right, headlined by a street fight for the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships.

Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell beat Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon to become the new NXT Women's Tag Team champions, marking LeRae's first title win of any kind in WWE.

NXT also featured a great opening bout, which saw Isaiah "Swerve" Scott beat Leon Ruff in a Falls Count Anywhere match with help from his entourage.

Additionally, Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher beat The Grizzled Young Veterans; Sarray defeated Zayda Ramier; LA Knight beat Jake Atlas; Cameron Grimes won a squash match.

To top it off, several Superstars set their sights on Karrion Kross and the NXT Championship, including Finn Balor, Kyle O'Reilly and Pete Dunne, while Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory took Kross out ahead of Kross vs. Theory next week.

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