Cody Rhodes has claimed that NXT lost the ‘Wednesday Night Wars’ between themselves and AEW Dynamite with WWE’s third show having moved to a different night.
AEW rocked the foundations of pro wrestling when the company was announced on New Year’s Day 2019. Their flagship show AEW Dynamite was scheduled for Wednesday nights, the night that NXT had previously aired on the WWE Network.
WWE then raised eyebrows when NXT was shifted from their network to the USA Network, debuting on the same station that carries Raw just weeks before Dynamite’s debut. With fans clamouring for their favourite show to come out on top in the ratings, the duel harkened back to the days of Raw vs Nitro in the Monday Night Wars of the late nineties.
Ultimately AEW Dynamite was the dominant show, winning the rating battle most weeks. Rumours began swirling before WrestleMania that WWE’s black and gold brand could be set for a shift away from Wednesday and that came to pass in the week after WrestleMania with NXT debuting full-time on Tuesday nights.
As part of a conference call ahead of AEW Double Or Nothing, AEW EVP Cody Rhodes commented that NXT had lost the war on Wednesdays. Rhodes also addressed the speculation in recent weeks suggesting that there is tension between himself and AEW’s other EVPs. Something which Rhodes and the Young Bucks have played up to on Twitter. However, speaking to Sean Ross Sapp, Rhodes played down that suggestion.
Cody Rhodes stated:
“Well, when I heard that that story was floating around, it is one of the things I chopped up as we’ve been very successful, AEW. With NXT, losing the Wednesday night wars that created a lot of anger. And I understand that there’s a lot of hardcore NXT and WWE fans out there and that’s why those stories, stories like that, don’t surprise me, I think people need to cling to something. And as sexy as that story is, I talked to Matt and Nick. Every day, I talk to Kenny, very often, I support their projects fully. They’ve been supportive of all my projects.”
Cody Rhodes will adopt his father’s moniker of ‘The American Dream’ for one night only as he squares off with Olympic boxing bronze medallist and The Guv’nor of AEW, Anthony Ogogo.