Wednesday Night War! WWE NXT vs. AEW Dynamite

Hi everyone! We’re in to the 12th week of the Wednesday Night War. After WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite drew in the ratings last week, both will want to get ahead before Christmas arrives. There will be no article for the Wednesday Night War next week for two reasons: 1) I do not work Christmas Day, and 2) There’s no AEW Dynamite scheduled.

Wednesday Night War – Week #12

AEW Dynamite

Can AEW Dynamite get one over NXT after the draw? They built to this episode more than usual, but did they do enough to at least be on a par with NXT?

The Good

The show started well with Hangman Page & Kenny Omega vs. The Lucha Brothers. Not sure what’s going on with Page, but perhaps he’s joined The Dark Order? Pentagon Jr is a star and “Cero Miedo” is over.
I like The Butcher, but after seeing The Blade as Braxton Sutter in Impact he still has a lot to prove to me. Darby Allin was awesome in the match as well, although it made QT Marshall look a bit weak in comparison.
Pentagon Jr. insulting Christopher Daniels by saying he doesn’t have it anymore. Ouch!
Some good wrestling in the main event, and a clean finish is always nice.

The Bad

I don’t know what it was about this episode, but it felt off. That’s not me being a hater, I just think they’re perhaps trying too hard to get people over rather than focusing on producing quality wrestling matches like NXT. Awesome Kong did not need another squash match.
Chris Jericho and Jungle Boy felt like a waste. They decided to put a random young kid in there and figured he’d get over if he could last 10 minutes with the champion. He managed that, but it didn’t really make us feel any better of him (he’s still yet to win a match). Jericho throwing a fit again felt forced, and once again he’s offering Moxley something to join The Inner Circle when we all know it’s super unlikely.
Kris Statlander goes from having no gimmick one week, to beating Hikaru Shida the next, to becoming the #1 contender the next. Ok.. now I do like pushing new stars, but even I thought this was too much. Give her some time to settle in and get the fans used to her face and gimmick before you put her up against Riho (speaking of which.. where is Riho??).
While there was some good wrestling in the main event, how often do The Young Bucks get these opportunities? Feels like every week. Also The Dark Order invasion is way too soon, they were building to this really nicely with a steady pace, but it feels like they pulled the trigger too soon. At least wait til the fans start demanding it.

WWE NXT

WWE NXT stacked the deck high this week, and they’ll be airing an episode on Christmas Day as well. I probably won’t end up seeing it as I’ll be busy for several days.

The Good

Wow, what can I say about this episode. From top to bottom, it was pretty amazing. Of course we open with a NXT Championship match between two former Bullet Club leaders, and the safe way to end it was by bringing back Johnny Gargano to get revenge on Balor.
I don’t think Damian Priest and Killian Dain can ever have a bad match. I think it’s about time they move on from one another, but I didn’t mind seeing them go at it one more time.
Cameron Grimes.. defeated Kushida. My jaw literally dropped, because I’ve seen what he did as Trevor Lee and know the talent of Kushida. So it was unbelievable to me, seeing Grimes going over here, but it was necessary to continue the program.
Io Shirai vs. Santana Garrett was probably the weakest match on the card, but it still had enough quality to entertain the fans. Shirai could become NXT Women’s Champion next year. Now she just needs to stop moonsaulting her opponents legs.
I’m not the biggest fan of Travis Banks, but he showed his value here against The Bruiserweight Pete Dunne. A great match in the end, which was very deserving of them both.
It was about time we saw Shayna Baszler vs. Rhea Ripley and they worked a PPV quality match on free television. Such a feel good moment when the whole locker room piled out there to celebrate with Ripley; who I think couldn’t believe the support she had behind her. Baszler is likely to move on to Raw or SmackDown and probably partner up with a returning Ronda Rousey.

The Bad

It’s tough to say anything bad about NXT these days because the shows are booked so well, and the fans at Full Sail eat everything up. They lost some quality when they went to 2 hours, but they’ve figured it out and got back on track. When NXT is in this form, it’s tough for anyone to compete. The only negative I can take from it is them bringing back the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.. which is pretty unnecessary now that both Rhodes brothers are in AEW. The NWA is producing a Hard Times PPV along with the return of the Television title, and it feels like everyone’s using Dusty Rhodes’ name except Cody & AEW. I know Dusty played a huge role in the evolution of NXT, but it doesn’t feel right anymore; or maybe it’s just me.

The Winner

NXT by a landslide. I think AEW needs to come back after the New Year and reevaluate. Something changed lately and we’re getting too many throwaway matches with no implications on the standings. How does Kris Statlander go from virtual nobody to #1 contender in a couple of weeks? When are guys who haven’t earned an opportunity to face Jericho going to stop? Why is it so incredibly difficult for Pac to get a match with Kenny Omega? It’s all rather confusing. Unlike NXT, where everything makes sense and flows from one thing to the other, as they keep the excitement levels up throughout the show.

So with this result, it puts my tally to 5-4-3 in NXT’s favour, which I believe is the first time they have gone ahead (IMO) in the Wednesday Night War? Correct me if I’m wrong on that. I’ve yet to see the ratings.. but I’m gonna’ check on it now. And Mamma Mia! Well.. NXT deserved to win emphatically. And next week NXT has no competition, so there’s little point continuing this series til we return on New Years Day. Thanks for reading everyone! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.