Professional wrestling is a numbers game. Since All Elite Wrestling burst onto the scene in 2019, television ratings have been the talk of the town. While WWE’s viewership has been covered for decades, the launch of AEW on network television meant that there was legitimate competition for the first time in years, making the digits that much more notable. When AEW Dynamite and WWE’s NXT ran head-to-head from 2019 until 2021, ratings and viewership were analyzed heavily, with specific categories like the demographics and hourlies factored into reports. Even though AEW Dynamite is the lone wrestling program on Wednesdays nowadays, ratings are still paramount to the promotion’s success.
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Top AEW star Chris Jericho has taken notice of the numbers, even proclaiming himself to be the “Demo God” during the height of the Wednesday Night Wars. While Jericho has since moved on from that monicker, he still takes note of the AEW talent that are doing good for the promotion’s weekly television.
“TV ratings are so important,” Jericho said on WTF With Marc Maron (h/t Fightful). “I read the minute-by-minute TV ratings every week. How did I do? How did this guy do? Who is drawing every week? You can kind of see this pattern of whenever [someone’s] on, the ratings go up.”
One of the wrestlers that follows that positive ratings pattern is Swerve Strickland.
“Swerve Strickland is one of those guys,” Jericho continued. “He’s not a ratings bonanza, but whenever he’s on, the ratings go up.”
Beyond Strickland, Jericho noted that AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill does strong viewership in her segments.
“[Swerve & Jade] are stars and I want to see what this person is doing,” Jericho added. “That matters.”
Not only does viewership determine a show’s success, but it also is crucial in deciding the future of that talent’s television time. Jericho revealed that AEW President Tony Khan puts significant thought into AEW’s booking structure depending on the ratings.
“My boss, Tony Khan is a numbers fanatic. If you are put in that position and the ratings go down, you won’t be put in that position anymore,” Jericho said. “That’s part of it. You have to connect and people have to watch you on screen. If not, you won’t be on screen in that position, or maybe you won’t be on the main show, you’ll be on the next show. There are levels to that too.”
AEW Dynamite returns to television tonight, airing at 8 PM ET on TBS.
