Why AEW Rampage Hasn't Quite Worked (Yet)

Ratings talk has been partially cannibalised by much of wrestling's worst critical base.

The criticisms thrown at both WWE and AEW since the latter's 2019 launch by the most staunchly tribal on either side are desperate to the point of irrelevance. It's bubble stuff informed entirely by unwavering - and often unsupported - belief in one set of initials over another.

TV numbers are interesting to dig into to try and find trends, but the objective realities don't have reflect one's subjective taste. And even then they can be manipulated to fit an argument.

The September 24th edition of Rampage finished Number One in cable, posted demographics consistent with AEW's pleasing form in that field, and would have scored the show's second highest viewership ever without the bonus second hour dragging the average down. The other way to shape that story? "Lowest viewed Rampage in the show's history". This, as you may remember, is because wrestling is often analysed in restrictive and derivative binaries.

It's ironic; a "quite good" or a "not bad" won't spark conversations, but with AEW, they should. "All Elite" makes it pretty clear what wrestling you're supposed to be receiving from the show. Fans aren't so expectant that they need that from everything, but the longer Rampage strays from the USP, the more it'll undermine this wonderfully improbable wrestling utopia.