AEW Dynamite Ratings Bomb Badly For Build Toward Forbidden Door

SportsMoney AEW Dynamite Ratings Bomb Badly For Build Toward Forbidden Door Alfred Konuwa Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I write about men in tights and the money they make for men in suits. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jun 16, 2022, 05:40pm EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Dax Harwood vs. Will Ospreay did little to excite AEW’s TV audience. Credit: AEW AEW Dynamite drew its worst rating in its normal timeslot in more than one year with a putrid 761,000 viewers for last night’s “Road Rager” episode, down 19% from last week.

Dynamite also drew 365,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic, which was down 18%. This was AEW’s worst performance in its normal timeslot since the April 7, 2022 broadcast, which drew 688,000 total viewers. As AEW continues its build toward the niche AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view—one geared toward a predominately male hardcore wrestling audience—AEW drew male hardcore wrestling numbers.

Last night’s convoluted broadcast of Dynamite featured Jay White, Desperado and Will Ospreay in what AEW insisted was a “dream match” against Dax Harwood. In reality, as good as the match was, it was nowhere near as heated on television as the less than 5,000 in attendance at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis would lead you to believe.

With AEW promoting a show filled with wrestlers that much of its television audience is not familiar with, Dynamite’s viewership suffered. AEW Dynamite went head-to-head against stiff competition against the Stanley Cup Playoffs, however the Stanley Cup drew 4. 33 million viewers.

The Stanley Cup represents a weak excuse for Dynamite’s alarming viewership. Last week’s broadcast of AEW Dynamite garnered 939,000 viewers against the far more popular NBA Finals, which drew over 11 million viewers, more than double that of the Stanley Cup Finals. AEW Dynamite Ratings | 6/15/2022 AEW Dynamite Total Viewership: 761,000 AEW Dynamite 18-49 Viewership: 365,000 (.

28 rating) MORE FOR YOU WWE Extreme Rules 2021 Results: Winners, News And Notes As Roman Reigns Beats The Demon The World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2021: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo Reclaims Top Spot From PSG’s Lionel Messi The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Win Over The San Francisco 49ers It seems as if the closer AEW gets to Forbidden Door, and the more new faces from NJPW it forces onto its television, the lower the numbers. Forbidden Door presale tickets instantly sold out Chicago’s United Center among AEW’s fiercely loyal audience. But television numbers suggest that there is clearly a ceiling for the number of fans willing to invest in a crossover show designed for a niche audience, even among AEW’s own fanbase which skews toward a male hardcore following.

Forbidden Door will also be an interesting test of AEW’s ability to draw a strong pay-per-view buyrate two months in a row coming off AEW Double or Nothing, which drew an estimated 150,000 to 155,000 buys. AEW typically airs pay-per-views on a quarterly basis, but Forbidden Door—AEW’s male hardcore wrestling spectacular on June 26—represents an unprecedented two pay-per-views in back-to-back months. Wednesday’s low number for a show that was solely focused on promoting Forbidden Door, is an ominous sign.

It doesn’t help that AEW is currently without top stars MJF, Kenny Omega, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, all of whom can safely be considered needle-movers for AEW. AEW is also down Jeff Hardy after the troubled top star’s most recent DUI-related run-in with the law. With the Forbidden Door beginning to fall off its hinges, AEW has one more week to promote its niche pay-per-view to a television audience that seems largely uninterested.

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