AEW vs. NXT

[Montana]

Seems like this should have it's own thread... even though these are vastly different shows.

Ratings :

AEW 1.4
NXT .9

Week 1 thoughts....

AEW: I really liked the "feel" for the show. They made it feel like a big deal, and presentation and marketing were spot on. I'd say that's the good for the show. The wrestling action was sufficient. I like the Hager surprise. Felt the show needed that. Liked the Glass table spot a lot. Thought the Riho match was the best.

What i didn't like, was some of the matches came off sloppy. Handful of botches and slips. Felt like a noticeable lack of promos too. I would have had Moxley locked in for a promo, especially if he wasn't wrestling. Felt the show was good enough to keep most of it's fanbase to tune in next week. Really think in 6-12 months, they'll need to continue expand, grow, and hopefully not be shy to drop dead weight.

NXT: Clearly the better in ring product, and clearly they need to go to bigger venues than full sail. Think NXT hurts from just being a WWE branch. I don't need 6+ hours of WWE produced TV product. Not to mention, it comes across as reactive having NXT and AEW compete. Plus just being a development brand hurts them. Is the goal for the wrestler to win the NXT belt, or make the main roster?!? Think as time passes, people will notice the nxt roster is noticeably better with vastly superior training. The finn Balor surprirse was cool... think i popped a bit more for that, than Hager for some reason. Cole and Riddle was awesome too.


Overall thoughts.... we'll see how the ratings do next week. It kind of makes sense people would turn into AEW as it's something "New" . If this truly develops into a war think there will be a lot of tactics and money spent to get ahead. The fans are the winners, but at the same time, too much wrestling can turn people away.

[famicommander]

A 1.4 rating is not the same thing as 1.4 million viewers. The rating was a 0.7, which means that 7/10 of 1% of people in the 18-49 year old demographic watching television at that time were watching AEW.

[roacheyyy]

If you could build your ultimate fantasy AEW vs NXT card what would it look like?
Mine would be:

Pre-show:
The Inner Circle (Proud and Powerful & Sammy Guevara) vs British Strong Style
MJF vs Kushida
Awesome Kong vs Shayna Baszler
Darby Allin vs Angel Garza (C) - NXT Cruiserweight Championship

Main Show:
SCU (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) (C) vs The Lucha Bros vs Dominik Dijakovic & Keith Lee vs #DIY (Ladder) - AEW World Tag Team Championship
Hangman Page vs Walter (C) - United Kingdom Championship
PAC vs Matt Riddle
Jon Moxley vs Finn Balor
Riho vs Rhea Ripley
Chris Jericho (C) vs The Velveteen Dream - AEW World Championship
The Elite (Cody, Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) vs The Undisputed ERA (War Games)

[famicommander]

AEW is really stomping NXT right now. Doubling them up in the ratings.

AEW is getting a second show and there is a question about whether or not USA wants more episodes of NXT.

[dhads7161]

NXT was fine where it was. Most likely people aren't watching it live because it's still on the Network the next day.

[Montana]

AEW is really stomping NXT right now. Doubling them up in the ratings.

AEW is getting a second show and there is a question about whether or not USA wants more episodes of NXT.

NXT has been at 900K and NXT at 700K viewers the past couple weeks.... Not quite doubling them at the moment. I think you mean their demo rating. Personally i prefer total viewers.

To be fair... NXT kinda did this to themselves... They derailed their momentum in DEC, with their first head to head week being a award show in JAN, which was a big loss. Then the past two weeks, it's been the Dusty Rhodes tag classic. Which, idk if it's me, but seems random and no one cares about. They should have put more emphasis on building their stars and storylines, with Rhea, Finn, Riddle, Keith Lee , DIY , etc. etc. Clearly Survivor Series and using Raw/SD helped boost NXT. They've gotten away from that, and it's affected ratings as well.

I'm still surprised AEW went from like 700K to 900K viewers in Jan with a break in between. I guess them not airing, generated some interest in their return. I'm still surprised by that 200K jump with literally no reason behind it.

I will say AEW has been a pretty consistent product. I don't like everything by any means, and i do think the wrestling is noticeably better on NXT. The reason i tune into AEW is because 1) It's different than a WWE product 2) It's gives a feeling that anything can happen. Now the second reason will minimize over time, as we learn their habits, and are able to predict things better in AEW.

History of Ratings

October 2nd: AEW 0.68 demo rating (1.409 million viewers), NXT 0.32 demo rating (891,000 viewers)
October 9th: AEW 0.46 (1.018 million viewers), NXT 0.22 (790,000 viewers)
October 16th: AEW 0.44 (1.014 million viewers), NXT 0.20 (712,000 viewers)
October 23rd: AEW 0.45 (963,000 viewers), NXT 0.21 (698,000 viewers)
October 30th: AEW 0.33 (759,000 viewers), NXT 0.18 (580,000 viewers)
November 6th: AEW 0.35 (822,000 viewers), NXT 0.30 (813,000 viewers)
November 13th: AEW 0.43 (957,000 viewers), NXT 0.25 (750,000 viewers)
November 20th: AEW 0.39 (893,000 viewers), NXT 0.30 (916,000 viewers)
November 27th: AEW 0.26 (663,000 viewers), NXT 0.24 (818,000 viewers)
December 4th: AEW 0.32 (851,000 viewers), NXT 0.29 (845,000 viewers)
December 11th: AEW 0.28 (778,000 viewers), NXT 0.24 (778,000 viewers)
December 18th: AEW 0.25 (683,000 viewers), NXT 0.27 (795,000 viewers)
December 25th: AEW N/A, NXT 0.22 (831,000 viewers)
January 1st: AEW 0.36 (967,000 viewers), NXT 0.15 (548,000)
January 8th: AEW 0.36 (947,000 viewers), NXT 0.19 (721,000)
January 15th: AEW 0.38 (940,000 viewers), NXT 0.21 (700,000)

[famicommander]

You "prefer" total viewers?

That doesn't matter at all. Total viewers mean absolutely nothing.

Demographic rating is what matters. That's what advertisers pay for. WWE could get 15 million viewers but if they're all 86 years old nobody is gonna care.

[Montana]

You "prefer" total viewers?

That doesn't matter at all. Total viewers mean absolutely nothing.

Demographic rating is what matters. That's what advertisers pay for. WWE could get 15 million viewers but if they're all 86 years old nobody is gonna care.

You said AEW is doubling them in ratings, which just isn't true.

Most of what you said above is true, as it came from Dave Meltzer.... but WWE's tv deal is 10x better, so as it stands now, NXT is what advertiser would pay for as it's a WWE product. If 15 million people were watching advertisers would care. It just would be a different demo and advertising market.

[famicommander]

You "prefer" total viewers?

That doesn't matter at all. Total viewers mean absolutely nothing.

Demographic rating is what matters. That's what advertisers pay for. WWE could get 15 million viewers but if they're all 86 years old nobody is gonna care.

You said AEW is doubling them in ratings, which just isn't true.

Most of what you said above is true, as it came from Dave Meltzer.... but WWE's tv deal is 10x better, so as it stands now, NXT is what advertiser would pay for as it's a WWE product. If 15 million people were watching advertisers would care. It just would be a different demo and advertising market.

Let's try basic math, shall we?

The last three episodes of NXT have averaged a 0.1833 rating.

The last three episodes of AEW have averaged a 0.3667 rating.

0.1833 x 2 = 0.3667

You got that down, or do I need to call Scott Steiner?

[Montana]

I get math... This was your statement :

"AEW is really stomping NXT right now. Doubling them up in the ratings."

The correct way to put that statement " AEW in the past 3 weeks have doubled NXT in the Demo Rating.

That is all.

[famicommander]

I get math... This was your statement :

"AEW is really stomping NXT right now. Doubling them up in the ratings."

The correct way to put that statement " AEW in the past 3 weeks have doubled NXT in the Demo Rating.

That is all.

The phrase "right now" is a qualifier that limits the range of my statement to the recent past.

Ratings means demo rating.

What you're talking about is viewership, not ratings. And viewership is irrelevant.

[dhads7161]

How long until USA wants a 30 day window for an episode of NXT to appear on the WWE Network like things are with Raw and SmackDown?

[DXvsNWO1994]

The ratings performance for AEW since the new year has really surprised me. Given the fact that they were completely off for a week, and ended on a downer note with the Dark Order angle on 12/18, I don't think most would've expected this big of a bounce back. These last three weeks have been incredibly consistent, and we're basically back to where we were during the first four or five weeks, where AEW was either doubling or close to doubling NXT in the demo breakdowns.

Obviously the fluctuating numbers in November and December didn't bother TNT, since apparently they started renewal talks over the holiday break. Meltzer mentioned this on WOR, but this new deal that guarantees AEW on TNT through the end of 2023 essentially means that Vince McMahon lost this battle (if you said his goal was to prevent AEW from getting this type of long term deal on a major network, which I'm sure it was). Should be interesting to see if this new influx of cash, and general stability of the promotion, will work in their favor when it comes to signing more talents.

Also intrigued to see what becomes of this new show, in terms of where and when it ends up, and what it actually ends up being (a reformatted version of Dark, or Dark stays on YouTube as is and this new program is a third show).

With regards to NXT as a whole, and AEW recent performance, it's pretty obvious that the main roster talent (as well as the fallout from Survivor Series and the build to the big 12/18 show to an extent as well) is what gave NXT that boost, which makes it curious that those interactions haven't continued. They know what closes the gap now.

How long until USA wants a 30 day window for an episode of NXT to appear on the WWE Network like things are with Raw and SmackDown?

Not sure. As far as I know, NXT is still showing up on the network the next day, but I haven't been paying much attention to that.

[famicommander]

Taped episode of AEW with the results leaked online beforehand still beat NXT handily last night.

AEW: 0.35 rating with 871,000 viewers
NXT: 0.24 rating with 769,000 viewers

[famicommander]

AEW: 0.34 rating with 828,000 viewers
NXT: 0.22 rating with 712,000 viewers

Still a thorough trouncing.