Tony Khan: It Blows My Mind That NXT Would Watch AEW During The Wednesday Night Wars
From October 2019 through April 2021, NXT and AEW Dynamite went head-to-head on Wednesday nights.
Dynamite won 63 of the 75 weeks in terms of overall viewership and 74 weeks in the 18 to 49 demographic.
Speaking to David Penzer on Sitting Ringside, Khan discussed how AEW was able to focus on itself and not worry about the competition during those 75 weeks.
“We just do our shows and keep AEW as strong as possible,” he said. “The competition is going to change and there will be different competition on different nights and it will always be a battle as long as we’re healthy because they are going to be around for a long time. Whether it was the launch of Dynamite or Rampage, we have to focus on ourselves and put our best foot forward for fans rather than think about what other people are doing. I’ve heard that when we were on head-to-head on Wednesday nights, our competition was watching our show in Gorilla. They had a monitor with it on. That blows my mind. I have never once, this is the 100th episode of Dynamite this week, in 99 episodes, I have never once had another wrestling show on in Gorilla or thought about what anyone else is doing. We have so much going on with our own show, I can’t be thinking about counterprogramming. We have to put on our best program.”
NXT moved off Wednesday nights on April 7, finding a home on Tuesday. AEW Dynamite remains on Wednesdays and regularly tops the cable charts in the 18 to 49 demographic.
AEW is set to hold its All Out event on Sunday. You can find the current lineup for the show by clicking here.
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