In the late 2010s, something shifted in the landscape of professional wrestling; people were no longer content with having a monopoly dominate the wrestling industry and wanted a real alternative with vast resources to compete with WWE, which was the only major American wrestling promotion following the collapse of WCW in 2001. That change would come in the form of AEW, created in 2019; however, there was a long road before it became America’s number two promotion.
Despite this appetite to have an alternative, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer in May 2017 cynically said to a fan on Twitter who asked if Ring of Honor, one of the most historically significant wrestling promotions, could sell 10,000 seats that it wouldn’t happen “any time soon”. Current WWE Champion Cody Rhodes who had left WWE in May 2016, saw Meltzer’s remark as a challenge, replying, “I’ll take that bet, Dave” Thus ‘All In’ was born, a show promoted by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks; Matt and Nick Jackson, it would sell out 11,263 in under 30 minutes at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois a suburb of Chicago. Crushing Meltzer’s belief it could not be done.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe success of All In during 2018 as a Supercard sanctioned by Ring of Honor created a domino effect which led to the establishment of ‘All Elite Wrestling’ owned by Tony Khan, son of Shahid Khan, who owns the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and English Premier League outfit Fulham FC. AEW would become the first time professional wrestling would be broadcast on TNT following WCW closing its doors in 2001, with its weekly television show ‘Dynamite’ airing on Wednesdays, making it the spiritual successor of the organisation. The parallels do not stop as AEW became instantaneously the second-largest wrestling promotion in the United States following its founding in January 2019.
Embed from Getty ImagesAEW founder Tony Khan
This is where WWE comes back into the picture flexing its muscle, WWE decided to go head to head against AEW’s new television programme pitting their developmental brand NXT against AEW airing on the USA network. The Wednesday Night Wars had begun sparking memories of the Monday Night Wars, wrestling’s most fondly remembered period.
AEW blew NXT out of the water in the first seven weeks head to head, forcing WWE to adopt NXT as no longer being developmental but a third main show like its flagship programmes RAW and SmackDown. Alongside this, NXT was given a spotlight in front of the main show audiences as Survivor Series approached, one of WWE’s ‘Big Four’ shows of the year. This refocused positioning allowed NXT to gain ground and beat Dynamite in the ratings for three of the last six weeks 2019.
Throughout 2020 and the pandemic era of professional wrestling, it was one of the few sports that never stopped, with shows being held in front of empty arenas. During this period, AEW Dynamite crushed NXT in every available key metric for the 18 months they competed, culminating in the decision to move NXT away from Wednesday night due to the sheer gulf in numbers between the two shows. However, NXT would win the final Wednesday Night battle with their Stand and Deliver show, essentially acting as the brand’s WrestleMania before moving to Tuesday, improving both shows’ numbers.
Fast forward to 2024 and a new trend is emerging, while comparisons did exist and you could argue the two shows were still competing with each other for midweek supremacy they were not considered directly at war with each other. In June, AEW’s numbers have declined sharply, with NXT dominating them in viewership following their excellent NXT Battleground show from the UFC Apex and the hype carrying into all WWE programming following Clash At The Castle. On June 13th, AEW garnered an average audience of 681,000 compared to NXT’s 718,000 average, a slight decline from the previous week. On June 21st, NXT’s victory was much more stark, with AEW having an average of 502,000 viewers compared to their 724,000.
Embed from Getty ImagesIWGP World Champion Jon Moxley
This sparks a question: If NXT could achieve a third successive victory like this in the ratings, could we be watching a second NXT vs AEW war akin to the Monday Nights of 30 years ago? Time will tell.