The Wednesday Night Wars proved shrinking wrestling audience

This week marked the end of the Wednesday Night Ratings War that has had fans glued to their phones every Wednesday the night after AEW and NXT finishes their shows.

When All Elite Wrestling announced that AEW Dynamite would take place on Wednesdays in the fall of 2019, it was meet with a positive reception. The idea of an upstart promotion battling against WWE’s developmental brand on Wednesday nights sounded like a good idea. Two shows that were expected to have great wrestling, good stories, and upcoming feuds for both AEW and WWE are good for all of the wrestling community.

But that is the first issue there. The WNW only appealed to a niche and hardcore audience. AEW’s first few weeks on air has scored over a million viewers while NXT has failed to score at least one million viewers at all during the head-to-head battle. While fans would argue back and forth on the ratings results and which is the better show, the core audience for both shows did not grow.

While it was reported that TNT Network is satisfied with AEW having at least over 400,000 viewers, that speaks volumes to the level of how professional wrestling is seen to the casual audience. Casual fans want larger-than-life characters and compelling stories and neither show pushed the needle to get that audience. I also believe that NXT going to two hours halted the growth of the brand in the casual viewers’ eyes.

This war was not going to reach the level of the Monday Night Wars, but it did surpass the level of the WWE vs. TNA wars. But that is not saying much. There was no urgency to watch either show. NXT’s lack of star power and AEW’s inability to grow their core audience factored into why the viewership stayed at the level that it did.

One thing that NXT has over AEW is that NXT does not need to tell the viewer to keep up with storylines through different youtube channels or social media. All the feuds should be on television. I would sure not tell my family that they would have to follow this, or watch that on YouTube to get ready for a feud to continue on the next show. They would not care to watch as it would take up too much time and I could not blame them.

It also does not help that AEW is too hard to follow and keep track of. There are currently multiple stables on the brand like it is the end of 1997 WWF. There are more people in AEW that cannot distinguish themselves as babyfaces or heels than how NXT presents them. And over on NXT, there are times that they are in a rebuilding phase after a Takeover, but it felt like it was a long rebuilding phase for the brand.

The pandemic also affected both shows. While NXT wrestled without fans and an empty arena for a few months, AEW Dynamite had a better presentation than NXT as they were the first to use their talent as fans to add the extra feeling like a normal show. NXT eventually adapted this while also using the Thunderdome. But the ratings still did not improve.

Now that both shows will be on different nights starting soon, this will be the true test for both shows to see if they can either maintain or grow their audiences. I am all for wrestling shows to stay. But I have been really the whole time of this ratings war that only the small niche audience would appeal to this over the masses.