AEW’s flagship show on Dynamite has been on the air for three years. In that time it has gone from competing against NXT in what was dubbed the ‘Wednesday Night Wars’ to being broadcasted unopposed (by another wrestling show).
It was presumed that being unopposed would lead to increased viewership. However, that’s not entirely the case.
‘Lowest Ever in 18-49 on an unopposed Wednesday’ – Dave Meltzer
As part of his regular Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reports on wrestling shows’ TV and PPV/PLE viewership. And based on the info he got, The November 30th, 2022 edition of Dynamite did poorly.
Per the WON and Dave Meltzer’s Twitter account, AEW Dynamite was watched by 870,000 people in total and did an 0.26 in 18-49. Among viewers in the much-desired 18-49 demographic, Dynamite only drew 344,000. And when narrowed down further to the 18-34 demographic, AEW did even worse with a rating of only 0.20.
This was the lowest-rated AEW Dynamite in terms of raw viewing numbers since March 31st, 2021, and at that time Dynamite was still competing head-to-head against NXT.
The November 30th edition of AEW Dynamite featured the following events:
- A Jon Moxley promo in the opener along with ‘Hangman’ Adam Page’s return
- Bryan Danielson vs. Dax Harwood
- Samoa Joe retaining his TNT title against AR Fox
- MJF revealing his new AEW World Title belt and betraying William Regal
- Ricky Starks squashing Ariya Daivari
- Willow Nightingale vs. Anna Jay
- Jade Cargill’s TBS title celebration
- Match three of the Best of Seven Series between Death Triangle and The Elite
Per this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer, AEW Dynamite actually started with 1,030,000 viewers. However, more and more fans tuned out as it went on.
By the end of the Danielson-Harwood match and Ricky Starks’ promo, there were 877,000 people watching.
A few came back after MJF’s promo, leading to a viewership of 889,000.
That number dropped again after the follow-up to MJF’s promo. It continued to drop after Starks vs. Daivari and promos from Hayter and Baker to a new total of 869,000.
The viewership declined further during the Jay vs. Nightingale match to a new total of 838,000. Then after the main event trios match, only 795,000 viewers were still watching.