Episode Details

It's time for the 3rd episode of Season 8 of SHOT OF NOSTALGIA and we're continuing our journey through the WEDNESDAY NIGHT WARS between AEW DYNAMITE and NXT. October is behind us, AEW has won every head to head ratings battle, and now WWE is beginning to use the full strength of its television operation to make NXT a much bigger part of the conversation. ACEFIELD RETRO is jumping back into the DELOREAN for November 6 through November 27, 2019, when AEW presents its first Full Gear of the Dynamite era, NXT becomes central to the Survivor Series build and the competition suddenly extends far beyond Wednesday nights.

Over on TNT, AEW heads into Full Gear with Chris Jericho defending the AEW World Championship against Cody Rhodes, who puts his future championship opportunities on the line, while Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega prepare for an unsanctioned Lights Out match that becomes one of the most controversial spectacles of the company's first year. MJF throws in the towel on Cody before betraying him, Moxley survives an absolutely brutal encounter with Omega, Hangman Page defeats PAC and the company continues establishing its championships and younger stars. Back on Dynamite, Wardlow arrives alongside MJF, PAC and Hangman continue their rivalry, Darby Allin challenges Moxley, Private Party defeats Santana and Ortiz, Kenny Omega gets a major victory over PAC and Chris Jericho eventually defends his championship against Scorpio Sky. We're examining how AEW was attempting to turn the excitement surrounding its launch into meaningful stories while figuring out which performers could carry the company into 2020.

Meanwhile, WWE takes advantage of the Crown Jewel travel problems to introduce NXT's stars to the SmackDown audience, with Adam Cole defeating Daniel Bryan and performers like Tommaso Ciampa and Rhea Ripley suddenly receiving exposure on a much larger platform. That momentum carries into Wednesday nights as AJ Styles and The O.C. invade NXT, Becky Lynch faces Rhea Ripley, Matt Riddle battles Ricochet and the Undisputed ERA takes on the Revival. Everything builds toward NXT TakeOver: WarGames, where Dakota Kai betrays Tegan Nox during the first women's WarGames match, Kevin Owens makes a surprise return to NXT and Tommaso Ciampa sends Adam Cole crashing from the top of the cage. The following night at Survivor Series, NXT wins the battle for brand supremacy with four victories, Keith Lee makes an enormous impression against Roman Reigns and Shayna Baszler defeats Becky Lynch and Bayley in the main event. We're looking at whether WWE was genuinely establishing NXT as an equal third brand or simply using its biggest stars and events to win a television competition.

And the ratings tell an absolutely fascinating story as the enormous gap from October nearly disappears. On November 6, AEW draws 822,000 viewers against NXT's 813,000, before Dynamite rebounds to 957,000 against 750,000 following Full Gear. Everything changes on November 20 when NXT finally wins its first Wednesday night with 916,000 viewers against AEW's 893,000, followed by another victory on Thanksgiving Eve with 810,000 against 668,000. Across the four November broadcasts, AEW averages 835,000 viewers compared with NXT's 822,250, a difference of just 12,750 viewers per episode, although Dynamite continues winning the adults 18 to 49 demographic every week. We're breaking down how WWE's Survivor Series strategy affected the numbers, why AEW continued attracting a younger audience and what the actual television results reveal about the different ways both companies were attempting to build stars.

More than anything, Episode 3 is about the moment the Wednesday Night Wars became a competition involving the entire WWE machine rather than just the NXT roster. AEW was still building a national wrestling promotion from scratch, making some excellent creative decisions and some questionable one