“500k Change”: Post Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s SmackDown Promo, WWE Lost Half a Million Viewers, Here’s Why

All Elite Wrestling’s recent episode saw a significant increase in viewership, something that sounded good for AEW but failed in comparison to the WWE. As fans pointed out the WWE has a much higher viewer base than Collision. This prompted a reply from a renowned pro wrestling insider who revealed that the Rock’s segment on SmackDown led to a sudden drop in viewership.

But is it true? Let’s find out!

The AEW & WWE debate puts The Rock in the crossfire

The most recent episode of AEW Collision on TNT Drama has recorded an audience of 621,000 viewers. This number represents an increase of 34.70% from the 461,000 that were obtained in Collision’s previous edition. However, a WWE fan was quick to point out that AEW lost a lot of quarterly viewers during the event, but Dave Meltzer came to AEW’s rescue as he noted that the WWE too lost an audience after the Rock’s segment in SmackDown. He wrote, “When WWE followed the NFL on FOX once, a hell of a lot more did that. Geez, they’ve had 500K change the channel after a Dwayne promo.” However, the reason behind it was that the NFL playoffs happened right before SmackDown. This resulted in a loss of viewership, as the viewers stayed only for the key attraction.

AEW too suffered the cross-sport effect as it went head-to-head with the NBA playoffs. However, All Elite Wrestling’s Saturday show earned its best viewership of the year, as well as being the show’s third-highest figure since its premiere. AEW Collision featured a considerable increase in the demographic of interest between 18 and 49 years old. This week’s show achieved a record of 0.21 in this sector, eight-tenths more than the number recorded seven days ago. The April 20 episode averaged 461,000 viewers and a 0.13 rating in the demo spanning ages 18 to 49. Here’s a better representation of how well the ratings were for the promotion.

AEW’s Best Collision in 2024

The April 27, 2024 episode featured several highlights leading up to AEW Double or Nothing, including the introduction of Swerve Strickland as the company’s ultimate champion. The Bang Bang Gang had their first defense of the combined AEW and ROH trios titles, Rey Fenix and Rush returned to action, and The Acclaimed defeated debutants Grizzled Young Veterans. In the main event, Swerve had his first title defense against Claudio Castagnoli.

And here are the details of the number of viewers the promotion managed to gather through its Saturday show.

January 6 – 402.000 (0,13)
January 13 – 400.000 (0,10)
January 20 – 441.000 (0,12)
January 27 – 300.000 (0,06)
February 3 – 404.000 (0,12)
February 10 – 491.000 (0,15)
February 17 – (no episode)
February 24 – 381.000 (0,11)
March 2 – 455.000 (0,13)
March 9 – 427.000 (0,13)
March 16 – 393.000 (0,12)
March 23 – (no episode)
March 30 – 458.000 (0,11)
April 6 – 463.000 (0,15)
April 13 – 468.000 (0,13)
April 20 – 461.000 (0,13)
April 27 – 621.000 (0,21)

So it surely looks like AEW is on the right path now when it comes to its bookings. And the fans are surely appreciating it. What do you think? Is AEW actually improving according to you? Let us know in the comments.