Wednesday Night Wars

Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The Wednesday Night War or Wednesday Night Wars refers to an ongoing period of mainstream televised American professional wrestling in which All Elite Wrestling (AEW)'s Dynamite airs on TBS and Max opposite to WWE's Evolve program, which airs on Tubi.

The Wednesday Night War initially pitted Dynamite against WWE NXT on USA Network in a competition for Nielsen ratings each week.

This was the first direct competition between two major promotions since Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, later Impact Wrestling), briefly moved their flagship series, Impact!, to Monday nights opposite WWE Raw in 2010,[2] and over 20 years following the original Monday Night War that lasted from 1995 to 2001.

[3] In 2010, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which targets an adult audience, moved their flagship, weekly series, Impact!, to Monday nights on Spike TV opposite Raw from January to May 2010.

[13] In the years since the revamp, NXT garnered critical acclaim for its more grounded storylines and sports-based presentation compared to WWE's "main roster" programming,[14][15][16] with fans and pundits eventually viewing the brand as its own distinct entity and its TakeOver specials to be superior in quality to WWE's monthly pay-per-views.

[17][18] On January 10, 2018, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, members of the stable known as The Elite, announced an independent event called All In, which was scheduled for September 1 of that year at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Four months after All In, Cody, The Young Bucks, and “Hangman” Adam Page left New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor and announced plans to start a new wrestling promotion.

[21][22] The promotion, which became known as All Elite Wrestling (AEW), began operations on January 1, 2019, and announced that its first event, Double or Nothing, would be held on May 25 of that year.

[23] Ten days before Double or Nothing was held, AEW reached a deal with WarnerMedia to broadcast a weekly show on TNT, which would later become known as Dynamite.

The premiere of Dynamite marked the return of professional wrestling to a Warner-owned network after TNT broadcast the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001.

[33][34] These developments helped NXT to place first in the ratings for three out of the six remaining weeks of 2019, which culminated in a match where Rhea Ripley defeated Shayna Baszler to win the women's championship on the December 18 episode.

[42] In January 2025, it was reported that WWE were planning to revive Evolve, an independent wrestling promotion it acquired in 2020, as a brand.