well for a so called T-shirt company, they are doing well.
TV Ratings Thread
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well for a so called T-shirt company, they are doing well.
Senor M
SFAEW World Heavyweight Champion
I just find it ridiculous that people are still pretending that AEW is "new" and we shouldn't be judging them at "such an early point".
If we compare it to the Monday Night Wars--- by 2 years in Nitro was already riding on it's 83 week run and had doubled it's weekly audience.
The highest rated episode of Dynamite was still the debut episode. Even signing Punk, Danielson & Adam Cole couldn't get more viewers to turn in than the very first episode.
Yes-- it's an enjoyable product. But it's still a niche product.
Yes two years is an early point. Especially when about 13-14 months of them were with no real live crowd and in the same building every week. If they are still around 950 to 1 million Jan 23 (1 year of TBS ie. not being moved around) you can definitely argue growth has stagnated and this could be their ceiling.
Nitro was a show designed to compete against WWF Raw.
WCW was previously the NWA, which had been around a lot longer than 2 years which AEW has only been operating in. So in terms of being new, it still is.
Because wrestling in general is a niche product. Is just a question of how big a niche they can carve out. And as far as ridiculous that would be comparing AEW to WCW. They are most definitely 'new' compared to WCW in 1995/96.
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Senor M
SFAEW World Heavyweight Champion
But the "niche" that AEW carved out was maxed out during their pilot episode.
There's been over 100 episodes of Dynamite and there's no evidence of any growth so far.
Lynchy04
Cancelled
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Because dynamite is garbage much the same as raw.
Lynchy04
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I should rephrase it and say because half the show is garbage. They do some awesome stuff but clearly not overall awesome to draw the viewers across. If they can’t do it with Danielson and Punk they will struggle to.
Well if we're talking about the absolute first episode then yes. But that's not what I was quoting and arguing was it? I'm just saying I personally think calling the current level their ceiling is a bit premature. I think they can get to be consistently 1.1 million or more as it was before being bounced around for sports (which won't happen anymore). But yes it's possible this time next year it could be about the same. Which wouldn't be disastrous either if a little underwhelming.
Senor M
SFAEW World Heavyweight Champion
I think complaining that it's "too early" to judge a TV show after 100 episodes is being overly protective of the product and doesn't allow for discussion about AEW has (or hasn't achieved).
It's done well in building a niche audience, but there's been plenty of things that have occurred that people have said "just wait for "x" to happen, that will boost the ratings":
- Featuring an appearance by a "pop culture" star in Shaq
- No longer going head-to-head with NXT
- Getting back on the road & leaving Daily's Place
- Signing CM Punk
- Signing Bryan Danielson
- Hangman finally winning the title
All of those events have got the "casual" fan base partly interested-- but there is no evidence that in the past 2 years that the AEW brand is anymore popular than it was on Night #1.
Cleavy
Hall of Famer
there is no casual fanbase, it's just the hardcore wrestling fans who are left.
Nah
- Mar 29, 2019
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SmackDown below 2 million viewers again and Rampage down to 404k. Yikes.
I wish Reigns would go on hiatus so people would see how utterly garbage SmackDown is outside of him. The only reason SmackDown is more tolerable than RAW is because it's shorter.
I wish Reigns would go on hiatus so people would see how utterly garbage SmackDown is outside of him. The only reason SmackDown is more tolerable than RAW is because it's shorter.
I would actually watch Smackdown if I knew that Roman wasn’t going to be on it. Hopefully the E just starts putting him on house shows, and off tv permanently. While it may not make everyone happy, it would make me happy, not having tofast forward through his crappy matches and promo segments. The guy has zero charisma.
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It's a shame Dynamite did such a low rating this week because it was one of my favourite episodes they've ever done, with an all time great segment to kick it off.
Ratings aside, I do wonder what WWE fans honestly feel after this past week. Survivor Series was such a mess of a show. AEW follow that up a few days later with a Punk vs MJF promo masterclass, Bryan Danielson knocking a blokes tooth out and using it to gain heat, then a barn burning main event with crowd participation Vince and Co could only dream of in modern times.
Cornette said it recently and I have to agree. No matter your feelings towards AEW, when it comes to the quality, liveliness and entertainment value of these two companies, WWE is backed into the corner taking shot after shot and refusing to cover up to blunt any of the blows.
If Dynamite isn't posting the same ratings as RAW and Smackdown that's entirely the fault of the wrestling fanbase tuning into the wrong show and not the fault of AEW themselves.
Ratings aside, I do wonder what WWE fans honestly feel after this past week. Survivor Series was such a mess of a show. AEW follow that up a few days later with a Punk vs MJF promo masterclass, Bryan Danielson knocking a blokes tooth out and using it to gain heat, then a barn burning main event with crowd participation Vince and Co could only dream of in modern times.
Cornette said it recently and I have to agree. No matter your feelings towards AEW, when it comes to the quality, liveliness and entertainment value of these two companies, WWE is backed into the corner taking shot after shot and refusing to cover up to blunt any of the blows.
If Dynamite isn't posting the same ratings as RAW and Smackdown that's entirely the fault of the wrestling fanbase tuning into the wrong show and not the fault of AEW themselves.
AEW is the better show. Even with its various flaws, there's no doubt that it is of far higher quality, and I think diehard fans/astute observers can see that they are at least trying hard to make a good product, even if they don't always pull things off or they're not appealing to everyone's tastes. WWE on the other hand is an extremely bland, by-the-numbers product now which just seems to exist and go perpetually through the motions. The attitude motivating the level of bean counting which has seen the recent swathe of releases seemingly permeates into the on-screen product as well.
But despite all this, AEW can't really get out of its current ratings rut and WWE isn't really plummeting ratings-wise. WWE appears to have its rusted-on fanbase intact. AEW has its audience. Neither of them is doing anything that is drawing in or keeping the more casual observer, based on ratings anyway.
RossFC
Moderator
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I've got in a bit of a habit of skipping the 2 minutes where his music plays, the 2 minutes of him standing on the stage, 2 minutes walking down the ramp, 2 minutes of a video recap of something, 2 minutes of standing in the ring stalling before saying his catchphrase and then the 10 minutes he is rambling for.
Senor M
SFAEW World Heavyweight Champion
Yeah-- let's blame the fans for AEW not doing enough to draw in their attention
They shouldn't be allowed to decide what wrestling program to watch--- Tony Khan should go to their homes and force them to watch.
Lynchy04
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No NBA competition and Dynamite put out a pretty poor rating considering the star power of Punk and Bryan and a decent show.
Will the arrival of KO/Gargano or Zayn potentially help increase the ratings? Would think its highly unlikely. Can't help but feel they missed a trick with the hype after All In.
Will the arrival of KO/Gargano or Zayn potentially help increase the ratings? Would think its highly unlikely. Can't help but feel they missed a trick with the hype after All In.
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Was wondering when the SmarkBusters would show up here. Love these guys. They were right back in 2013 about what wrestling would become, and they've been proven more right every year.
They said 9 years ago nearly, that appealing to and catering the product to the smarks and online fans would drive fans away, that pushing guys like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles etc. Would drive fans away, and what do you know? All these years later viewership is at an all time low because they catered the show to smarks.
I still maintain that Batista should have stayed course and won the WWE Title at Mania, and we should have gotten Batista vs Lesnar.
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I made it to the one minute mark… 
won’t get that time back.
won’t get that time back.
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Wasn’t viewership declining year on year when Super Cena was the top guy for so long ?
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It was, these guys hate Cena too, they reckon Cena and Orton are the ones who ruined wrestling. But they think appealing to the smark audience and pushing guys who were big on the indies also hugely contributed to the fall in ratings.
