More on AEW vs. NXT Week 50 Viewership

More on AEW vs. NXT Week 50 Viewership

The September 8th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT decrease slightly in overall viewership and key demographic rankings. The September 9th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW generate their highest viewership of the year and top the one million mark in viewership for the first time since October of 2019.

NXT drew 838,000 viewers on the USA Network and a #15 ranking in 18-49 demographic while AEW drew 1,016,000 viewers on TNT and a #7 ranking in the 18-49 demographic.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that in terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 481,000 viewers while NXT had 286,000 viewers.

Meltzer reported that NXT suffered the most with younger viewers due to stiff sports competition from the NBA and NHL Playoffs. NXT’s biggest decline was with the Females 18-34 group which was 43.8% lower than last week’s show. The only demographic group to not suffer a decline reportedly was the Females 35-49 group which was around the same viewership as last week’s show.

NXT’s high point in terms of overall viewership reportedly was the Cage match between Rhea Ripley and Mercedes Martinez. The high point for 18-49 demographic group was the latter half of the NXT Championship match between Adam Cole and Finn Balor. The high point for the 18-34 demographic group was the NXT Championship match. The high point for the 35-49 demographic group was the Cage match.

Meltzer reported that AEW drew their highest overall viewership since their October 9, 2019 episode and their highest key demographic viewership since their January 15th episode. In terms of comparisons with WWE RAW, AEW came close to matching RAW in overall 18-34 viewership at 155,000 viewers compared to 164,000 for RAW. AEW reportedly beat RAW in terms of Females 18-34 viewership at 64,000 viewers compared to 63,000 viewers for RAW.

AEW’s high point in terms of overall viewership was the TNT Championship match between Dustin Rhodes and Brodie Lee. The high point for 18-34 demographic group was the Adam Page interview segment and the Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss tag team match. The high point for the 18-49 and 35-49 demographic groups was the ending of the Jericho & Hager vs. Janela & Kiss match, Jericho post-match interview, MJF and Wardlow segment, and Jon Moxley interview.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 989,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the TNT Championship match of Dustin Rhodes vs. Brodie Lee which gained 93,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the FTR Tag Team Championship celebration segment, the Ricky Starks promo segment, and the beginning of the Tay Conti vs. Nyla Rose match which lost 37,000 viewers.

WWE NXT started off with around 812,000 viewers and their biggest gain was the Cage match of Rhea Ripley vs. Mercedes Martinez which gained 98,000 viewers. NXT’s biggest decline of the night was the Finn Balor and Adam Cole backstage segment and the Robert Stone, Shotzi Blackheart, Aliyah, and Io Shirai segment which lost 57,000 viewers.

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United Kingdom and Canadian Viewership for Several AEW & NXT August and September Shows

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW drew 151,000 viewers for their August 30th episode on ITV 4 in the United Kingdom. Meltzer reported that ITV had moved that week’s show from its usual Friday time slot, which had been averaging around 100,000 viewers for shows, to a Sunday time slot.

AEW reportedly drew 117,400 viewers for their September 9th episode on TSN in Canada. AEW’s September 2nd episode reportedly did not rank in the top sports programming for the night meaning it drew less than 97,100 viewers.

NXT reportedly drew 65,600 viewers for their August 28th episode on Sportsnet 360 in Canada.