On a night where both companies took different approaches to the idea of running a show with no fans, AEW Dynamite scored a big ratings success with their version of an empty arena show.
Dynamite averaged 932,000 viewers on Wednesday night, up 22 percent from last week. With news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic dominating the cable ratings, Dynamite finished 20th in the 18-49 demo. That said, the rating in that category was a 0.35, up 35 percent from last week.
The viewership was the best number for Dynamite since January 15.
NXT, on the other hand, presented a show with no live wrestling action and video packages building up their current feuds. It averaged 542,000 viewers, down 22 percent from last week. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.16 rating, dropping all the way to 81st in that category.
The viewership was the lowest to date on USA Network. The 18-49 demo number was the second lowest, trailing only the January 1 episode, which was a Best Of show that also featured the NXT year-end awards.
Detailed demo ratings for NXT are not available since the show finished outside the top 50. For Dynamite, the strongest demo was men 18-49, where it actually tied for seventh overall on cable with a 0.47 rating.
Here’s a look at the last 10 weeks of ratings and viewership totals for both Dynamite and NXT: