“Fans Have Started a Revolution”- Tony Khan Ecstatic After AEW Touches Almost One Million Viewers

AEW surpassed all expectations this week and recorded one of its best TV ratings in months. The Tony Khan led promotion drew a massive 995,000 viewers in an episode headlined by Sting’s first promo, an appearance by Shaquille O’Neal, and the fallout of AEW’s possible collaboration with IMPACT Wrestling.

Needless to say, professional wrestling audiences flocked towards this stacked card, while NXT suffered another dud this week. The Black and Gold brand of WWE could only attract 659,000 viewers.

In fact, this was AEW’s biggest victory over WWE NXT since the March 18th edition of both shows.

The story gets even more polarizing when we come to demographics. AEW drew an impressive 0.45 in the key 18-49 demographic, while NXT was reduced to a meagre 0.17. This was AEW’s biggest victory in this demo since the start of the Wednesday Night Wars.

Talking about week on week increase in viewership, AEW again passed with flying colours. While AEW grew 82000 from its 913,000 last week, NXT had a marginal 1000 increase from its 658,000.

Tony Khan was ecstatic after AEW registered a huge victory

AEW’s CEO, Tony Khan, is possibly the most visible professional wrestling promoter at the moment. While most bosses prefer working behind the scenes, Khan likes to give fans minute by minute updates.

After the latest triumph by his growing promotion, Khan thanked fans on Twitter.

It’s clear that Khan orchestrated today’s events through meticulous long-term planning. All of the major story arcs in AEW have culminated beautifully towards the end of the year, resulting in absolutely loaded shows.

Sting’s massive return to professional wrestling has co-incided with the shocking appearance of Shaquille O’Neal in the AEW ring. On top of that, AEW’s possible collaboration with IMPACT Wrestling has piqued the interest of many fans.

Hence, Khan is not exaggerating when her terms the current influx of viewers as a revolution in professional wrestling. AEW is doing a lot of stuff that is unprecedented.

In the stagnant world of professional wrestling led by what many call a conservative monarch, creative ideas certainly sell a lot more than what people think. It’s not professional wrestling that was a dying art; it was creative booking.