Wrestling TV ratings during a pandemic remain unpredictable, and nationwide civil unrest doesn’t exactly make things more stable. This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite lost a significant number of viewers, while the latest NXT only lost a few.
As reported by Showbuzz Daily, AEW Dynamite had 730,000 viewers this week. That’s significantly down from last week’s 821,000 viewers, for a PPV fallout episode featuring a guest appearance from Mike Tyson. That show drew 821,000 viewers. AEW’s ratings were also a bit down, with a 0.29 in the 18-49 key demographic, only .03 points lower than last week’s rating of 0.32.
NXT’s viewership was a bit down as well, but not by nearly as much as Dynamite’s. This week’s NXT had 715,000 viewers, compared to 731,000 last week. That means more people watched NXT last week than AEW this week, but this week AEW still managed to come out on top. Last night’s NXT was the go-home show for this Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House. NXT ratings in the 18-45 demo did go up slightly, with a 0.20 this week as opposed to last week’s rating of 0.19.
Some of the drop in ratings is almost certainly attributable to world events, with the protests over police violence across the country, not to mention the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. So it makes sense that CNN Tonight and Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN topped the key demo ratings for Wednesday Night with a 0.60. Hannity on FOX News had the most total viewers that same night, with 4.839 million.