14 Ups & 5 Downs For AEW In 2021
4. Major Business Gains
The move to coast-to-coast live airings of Dynamite has undone said gains.
The hope for AEW is that the move to TBS will create a sense of stability. No being pre-empted by the NBA; no bouncing around time zones; no excuse to build the audience back to where it was during All Out season.
Blood & Guts represented a milestone for the company; that special edition of Dynamite topped the Nielsen rankings for the first time, which for a while became a pattern upon AEW's return to live touring. The top-to-bottom segment-to-segment buzz, combined with seismic rumours of CM Punk and Bryan Danielson's debuts, informed a steady, hugely impressive viewership climb.
Dynamite defeated RAW in the key 18-49 demographic on two consecutive weeks in September, where Rampage beat SmackDown when each show aired head-to-head for a half hour. All Out smashed the company's PPV record with 205,000 buys, where the Grand Slam Dynamite broke AEW's attendance record and out-drew WWE in New York City - which, together with Chicago, has quietly become Tony Khan's territory. That is a not at all insignificant development. These aren't random cities. They are major markets known for a trend-setting audience.
At time of writing, AEW has slipped - but there are countless major matches left to promote.