The Simple Solution To AEW's Biggest Problem

Dynamite's quarter-hour viewing figures paint a picture as damning as any fair, subjective criticism.

AEW aired 13 regular two-hour shows on TNT in August, September, and October. Quarter-hours featuring women's matches lost an average of just over 43,000 viewers during this three-month period (h/t the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for the data). Meanwhile, on the other channel, NXT's women gained around 4,000 viewers, though the likes of 28 October's Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae peaked higher than anything AEW could muster.

Quarter-hour numbers are an imperfect metric as most 15-minute windows aren't solely dedicated to women's segments (particularly in AEW, where the division's rank-and-file matches run shorter). Other matches and segments within those periods skew the ratings. Regardless, it is possible to deduce that to an extent, these bouts are prompting people to change the channel.

This is an objective problem.

The data tells us that the talents are not being received as stars. For the most part, they aren't pulling viewers in from elsewhere. This is a systematic failure. When you fail to build wrestlers up in ways that present them as big deals, it becomes harder for audiences to take them as such.

Fixing this should be a priority.

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