WWE NXT definitively wins Tuesday Night War with AEW Dynamite

The numbers are in for the Tuesday Night War, Oct. 10, 2023’s one night battle between WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite.

Per Wrestlenomics, WWE won in both total viewers and the 18-49 year old demographic. NXT had a total audience of 921,000, and scored a .30 rating in the demo. Both are big numbers that top anything the show’s done in years, including recent impressive performances for Becky Lynch-led episodes. In terms of besting the competition (whether they’d deem to call them that or not) and bolstering WWE’s efforts to establish NXT as a viable third brand worthy of its own big media rights deal, the night was a success for Triple H, Shawn Michaels & team.

AEW delivered a much more modest 609,000 viewers. But Dynamite’s 18-49 rating held up extremely well considering it was the show bumped off its usual night. The .26 was just 7% less than it did last Wednesday in its regular timeslot. Combine that with how NXT was loaded up with main roster stars and Hall of Famers, and you can probably get a sense for how Tony Khan will spin this. And there will be a lot of merit in said spin.

But the bottom line is that a whole lot of people were watching wrestling in primetime on a Tuesday. Compare last night to Oct. 18. 2022 — the last time both shows were on the same night. Viewers were up 7% for the two shows combined year-over-year, and the NXT + AEW demo number was up 27%. And according to SportsTVRatings, wrestling did this while airing opposite a Major League Baseball Playoff game that was watched by more than four million people on FOX, and the 8pm portion of ESPN’s coverage of the National Hockey League’s opening night, which drew 1.4 million viewers.

More to come, surely. In the meantime...

Here’s NXT’s audience and ratings share of the 18-49 demographic over the past year:

• Oct. 11. 2022 - 737,000 / .15
• Oct. 18 - 676,000 / .18
• Oct. 25 - 716,000 / .15
• Nov. 1 - 670,000 / .13
• Nov. 8 - 664,000 / .15
• Nov. 15 - 663,000 / .17
• Nov. 22 - 624,000 / .12
• Nov. 29 - 644,000 / .13
• Dec. 6 - 534,000 / .13
• Dec. 13 - 666,000 / .17
• Dec. 20 - 705,000 / .15
• Dec. 27 - 588,000 / .12
• Jan. 3, 2023 - 653,000 / .16
• Jan. 10 - 700,000 / .15
• Jan. 17 - 600,000 / .14
• Jan. 24 - 607,000 / .12
• Jan. 31 - 587,000 / .13
• Feb. 7 - 562,000 / .11
• Feb. 14 - 640,000 / .15
• Feb. 21 - 589,000 / .14
• Feb. 28 - 555,000 / .13
• Mar. 7 - 624,000 / .17
• Mar. 14 - 590,000 / .15
• Mar. 21 - 550,000 / .12
• Mar. 28 - 620,000 / .16
• April 4 - 555,000 / .13
• April 11 - 528,000 / .13
• April 18 - 565,000 / .14
• April 25 - 647,000 / .18
• May 2 - 568,000 / .14
• May 9 - 601,000 / .17
• May 16 - 564,000 / .14
• May 23 - 578,000 / .16
• May 30 - 607,000 / .17
• June 6 - 615,000 / .17
• June 13 - 581,000 / .16
• June 20 - 773,000 / .23
• June 27 - 622,000 / .17
• July 4 - 508,000 / .13
• July 11 - 671,000 / .20
• July 18 - 746,000 / .21
• July 25 - 703,000 / .23
• Aug. 1 - 717,000 / .23
• Aug. 8 - 776,000 / .23
• Aug. 15 - 680,000 / .19
• Aug. 22 - 720,000 / .19
• Aug. 29 - 614,000 / .16
• Sept. 5 - 673,000 / .18
• Sept. 12 - 850,000 / .26
• Sept. 19 - 824,000 / .24
• Sept. 26 - 636,000 / .18
• Oct. 3 - 857,000 / .22
• Oct. 10 - 921,000 / .30

And here’s a breakdown of AEW viewership and rating in the 18-49 demo over the last year:

• Oct. 12, 2022: 983,000 / .32
• Oct. 18: 752,000 / .26
• Oct. 26: 997,000 / .32
• Nov. 2: 911,000 / .29
• Nov. 9: 930,000 / .32
• Nov. 16: 818,000 / .28
• Nov. 23: 880,000 / .32
• Nov. 30: 870,000 / .26
• Dec. 7: 840,000 / .29
• Dec. 14: 950,000 / .33
• Dec. 21: 957,000 / .30
• Dec. 28: 876,000 / .28
• Jan. 4, 2023: 864,000 / .26
• Jan. 11: 967,000 / .33
• Jan. 18: 969,000 / .31
• Jan. 25: 1,003,000 / .32
• Feb. 1: 901,000 / .31
• Feb. 8: 899,000 / .30
• Feb. 15: 824,000 / .27
• Feb. 22: 1,028,000 / .35
• Mar. 1: 833,000 / .27
• Mar. 8: 858,000 / .29
• Mar. 15: 852,000 / .27
• Mar. 22: 954,000 / .33
• Mar. 29: 833,000 / .28
• Apr. 5: 877,000 / .30
• Apr. 12: 866,000 / .28
• Apr. 19: 830,000 / .28
• Apr. 26: 863,000 / .28
• May 3: 776,000 / .28
• May 10: 877,000 / .32
• May 17: 814,000 / .28
• May 24: 846,000 / .32
• May 31: 923,000 / .29
• June 7: 903,000 / .33
• June 14: 832,000 / .30
• June 21: 902,000 / .33
• June 28: 809,000 / .24
• July 5: 855,000 / .29
• July 12: 825,000 / .29
• July 19: 953,000 / .34
• July 26: 898,000 / .29
• Aug. 2: 894,000 / .31
• Aug. 9: 846,000 / .29
• Aug. 16: 874,000 / .32
• Aug. 23: 870,000 / .32
• Aug. 30: 871,000 / .30
• Sept. 6: 887,000 / .31
• Sept. 13: 888,000 / .31
• Sept. 20: 984,000 / .36
• Sept. 27: 855,000 / .28
• Oct. 4: 800,000 / .28
• Oct. 10: 609,000 / .26

If you missed any of this week’s NXT, we’ve got you covered with a live blog, our review, and video highlights.

For complete results and this week’s Dynamite live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here. For video highlights of the show click here.