How AEW's Numbers OBJECTIVELY Prove Its Success

NXT has defeated AEW Dynamite just once in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. That date fell on December 18. NXT has on occasion defeated Dynamite in overall viewership, but never again where it really counts. In terms of the 18-49 demo, barring the biggest upset win yet later today, NXT's win tally will remain at 1. That is a bloodbath. It's barely a competitive squash in the "big picture", either; in overall (head-to-head) competition, AEW Dynamite is defeating NXT 40-8 with one exact draw in between.

NXT, increasingly, is no longer the competition. AEW has in recent months defeated the flagship, RAW, in key demographics. RAW, of course, enjoys the luxury of immense, monopolised market visibility and is not opposed by pro wrestling competition. In the week beginning July 20, AEW Dynamite defeated RAW and SmackDown in the female 18-34 demographic. In the week beginning August 10, Dynamite all three hours of RAW in the overall 18-34 demo .29 to .22. This should not be happening, and yet, it is. In a tornado of a year, AEW's renegotiated TV deal might have been sealed a bit too early.

The strong viewers-per-home number - as of August 11, AEW had broken that figure for the third consecutive week, and that trend has continued to improve into October - is also interesting. It proves what Twitter, with its smaller-than-expected sample size, perhaps cannot; AEW is a show that unites people in passionate discourse, and is therefore more likely to grow, in theory, through word-of-mouth buzz. The data yields a potentially interesting theory: if more people are willing to watch wrestling together, and more young people are being coaxed back in, then maybe, gradually, AEW is breaking - or might break - the uncool stigma that has dogged and stultified the business for two decades.

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