AEW Dynamite Viewership Falls During Friday Night Wars

The Wednesday Night Wars died a slow and uncomfortable death after WWE moved NXT to Tuesday. While many viewed it as running away from a fight, it worked in NXT’s favor. As for AEW Dynamite, they took on tougher challengers in WWE SmackDown, and have suffered.

AEW Dynamite is losing viewers

AEW Dynamite on TNT has been slipping in viewership numbers ever since the show moved to Fridays. The network moved Dynamite to that slot to avoid clashes with the NBA Playoffs. The company has also claimed the move to Friday is a logical step, especially with Rampage, their new show debuting in August.

Unfortunately for the past few weeks, WWE SmackDown has been eating Dynamite up in the viewership numbers. The likes of Roman Reigns, the Usos, Shinsuke Nakamura and somehow Baron Corbin are drawing better numbers than Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley and the Young Bucks.

Wrestling analyst Bryan Alvarez noted Dynamite’s numbers for this past week. According to him, Dynamite received a viewership of 487,000. Going below 500,000 viewers is a shocking stat for AEW, and isn’t good news, especially with another show planned.

Of course we have to take into consideration the fact that Dynamite is now taking on a show which has existed since 1999. Only WWE Raw surpasses WWE SmackDown’s legacy, but in terms of quality SmackDown is head and shoulders ahead of their competition.

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What do we take away from this statistic?

AEW Dynamite wanted to play in the big leagues, but they’re not off to an impressive start. It is fair since they’re still a minnow in a sea full of sharks, but they have the caliber to dominate the sharks as well. But for now, these statistics must play games with wrestler’s minds.

For the standard viewer, seeing AEW tank against SmackDown is saying Roman Reigns is more watchable than Kenny Omega. Both superstars are enjoying a career-best run holding their company’s top championship. However, there’s only alpha in this region and that is the Tribal Chief.

Take nothing away from the rest of SmackDown roster, as they’re the wind beneath the brand’s wings. With stars like Cesaro, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Apollo Crews and Nakamura, SmackDown is the show to watch. There was a reason AEW beat NXT with Chris Jericho as champion. However, this formula hasn’t worked for his fellow Winnipegger.

Read more: The Real Reason Chris Jericho Joined AEW