Kenny Omega Will Return To Impact Wrestling, PPV Matches Likely

After helping Impact Wrestling achieve their highest television ratings in quite some time this [...]

By Ryan Droste

After helping Impact Wrestling achieve their highest television ratings in quite some time this past Tuesday night, it looks like AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will be returning to the promotion. According to a new report, Omega will appear on next Tuesday's edition of Impact Wrestling on AXS-TV, and the promotion is planning on him participating in some PPV matches in the future as well.

This information is from this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In the report, Dave Meltzer writes "Impact teased the idea of Omega vs Rich Swann with both titles on the line. We do know Omega will make appearances including back on 12/15 and headline some PPVs."

This is great for Impact, as the massive bump in viewership last Tuesday was entirely due to Omega's appearance on the show. Their next step will be to hook some of these new viewers and keep them returning to the product, even when Omega isn't there. Impact has a very strong women's division and the men's division has been revamped as well, presenting some intriguing television for wrestling fans that haven't been following Impact closely in recent years.

Impact also issued a press release touting their bump in viewership this week:

This past Tuesday night's edition of IMPACT! on AXS TV shattered IMPACT Wrestling viewing records across digital platforms and trended No. 1 on Twitter.

More than 750,000 fans tuned in to AXS TV on December 8 or have logged on to official streams to witness the historic, industry-shaking episode.

Reigning All Elite Wrestling World Champion Kenny Omega joined IMPACT Wrestling Executive Don Callis in breaking their silence following last week's stunning events. AEW owner Tony Khan, flanked by AEW commentator Tony Schiavone, also appeared on IMPACT Wrestling's flagship show in a sponsored segment.

"The intrigue of what Kenny Omega and Don Callis were going to do on IMPACT! on AXS TV powered a huge night for us," said IMPACT Executive Vice-President Scott D'Amore.

According to Nielsen TV ratings, 244,342 tuned into the 8pm ET and 11pm ET repeat.

The usual 8pm ET live-stream on Twitch peaked at 55,396, with an average of 42,953 viewers for the two-hour show's duration. IMPACT! was the fourth largest Twitch stream of the day. The live NFL game – which went head to head with IMPACT! – peaked at just over 30,000.

Special encore presentations on IMPACT Wrestling's Facebook and YouTube pages added 68,918 and 268,414 viewers respectively to the television audience. The show trended in the Top 15 on YouTube and IMPACT Plus recorded record peak concurrent views.

In addition, the segment of Josh Mathews interviewing Callis and Omega already has more than 197,242 views on Facebook and more than 342,00 views on YouTube. On Instagram, the segment currently has 146,000 views and 219,000 views on Twitter.

D'Amore said: "It is hard to compare apples and oranges, and some digital media provide better watch-data than others, but we feel confident over 750,000 U.S.-based fans watched the episode in the first 24-hours and 1-million fans have clicked on the various highlights we've put out on social media."

He added: "It was a huge night for us. For me, the best takeaway is that fans who may not have seen IMPACT Wrestling before, or perhaps haven't checked us out for a while, they all got to see what IMPACT is all about.

"They saw the depth of talent in the KNOCKOUTS division, the rekindling of the red hot Sami Callihan vs Eddie Edwards rivalry and a great main event featuring Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Chris Bey and Moose."

Asked whether Omega would make his way to IMPACT next week, D'Amore said: "Don Callis alluded to this being years in the making; paradigm's don't shift in one night. See you on Tuesday."

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