Tommaso Ciampa Says AEW Vs. NXT Ratings Battle "Sure As Hell" Matters

Once AEW made its TNT debut in October and WWE decided to put NXT on USA Network, many have christened Wednesdays as the start of the Wednesday Night Wars. That phrase has become popular amongst fans and people in the wrestling media, but what do pro wrestlers think about the competition between AEW and NXT?

Tommaso Ciampa of NXT was asked about going head-to-head with AEW in an interview with Sportskeeda.

"It makes it a little bit more fun. It brings that competitive edge out," said Ciampa. "I mean, I have friends over there and I also have people over there I've never met or ever shared a ring with.

"It's awesome to see, you know, everyone just elevating their game. Everyone just wants it. I don't know if people say ratings don't matter... they sure as hell matter. Like, you want to win."

So far, AEW has clearly won the ratings battle and has posted better numbers in all 11 head-to-head shows in 2020. But while AEW is the ratings winner so far, their margin is small over NXT as the average distance between the two shows is around 115,000 viewers.

In addition to NXT's move to USA for competition sake, that move also signaled an end of the "developmental brand" stigma according to Ciampa.

"Now that we're on USA, we're doing live TV. There's just no more 'yea buts.' They're [NXT roster] doing everything that you would constitute of as a main roster player," stated Ciampa. "I think that's the main thing, that switch. That developmental like, stink is just gone."