More on AEW & NXT Week 132 Viewership – April 19 & 20, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 36, AEW Battle of the Belts II

Apr 23, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for April 19th

The April 19th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a large decline in overall viewership and a small increase in key demographic rankings.

NXT drew 569,000 viewers and a 0.12 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 44th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for NXT’s declines this week was due to stiff sports competition from the NBA Playoffs and the large declines from their older key demographic viewership and over 50 viewership groups, which were down 13.6% and 10.5% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the gains from their Teenagers and younger key demographic viewership groups, which were up 50% each compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that this week’s show saw a male-female viewership split of 58.4% in favor of males, which caused the large gains in female viewership (up 67.5%) to be offset by the large declines in male viewership (down 15.3%) as another reason for the overall viewership decline this week.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of New Orleans Pelicans vs. Phoenix Suns drew 2,943,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Atlanta Hawks vs. Miami Heat drew 2,704,000 viewers on TNT, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,727,000 viewers on History Channel, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 1,106,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 161,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was up 26.7%, Females 18-34 was up 88.9%, Males 35-49 was down 30.9%, and Females 35-49 was up 50% compared to last week’s show.

While no numbers were stated, Meltzer reported that NXT’s peak for overall viewership occurred during the Cora Jade video promo segment and the Legado Del Fantasma vs. Gibson & Drake match. NXT’s peak for key demographic viewership reportedly occurred during the Natayla vs. Tatum Paxley match.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 32.3% in overall viewership and down 45.1% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 key demographic viewership was up 7.5% compared to last year’s show.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for April 20th

The April 20th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and a slight decline in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 930,000 viewers and a 0.37 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 4th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to stiff sports competition from the NBA Playoffs and the large declines in their older male key demographic viewership and over 50 viewership groups, which were down 12.2% and 10.5% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the large gains from their younger male key demographic viewership and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were up 19.3% and 16.4% respectively compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Brooklyn Nets vs. Boston Celtics drew 3,956,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks drew 3,230,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 3 of Philadelphia 76ers vs. Toronto Raptors drew 627,000 viewers on NBA TV, and Real Housewives of Orange County drew 873,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 481,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 19.3%, Females 18-34 was down 25%, Males 35-49 was down 12.2%, and Females 35-49 was up 16.4% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, none of AEW’s eight quarters averaged one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak was at 989,000 viewers for their second quarter and their low point was 885,000 viewers for their eighth quarter.

In an interesting note, Meltzer reported that AEW’s show managed to top this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Teenagers viewership. AEW’s had a 0.22 rating for Teenagers compared to RAW’s 0.21 rating. In terms of key demographic viewership groups, AEW came the closest to tying RAW in Males 18-34 at 142,000 viewers compared to RAW’s 144,000 viewers.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 15.8% in overall viewership and down 0.8% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 key demographic viewership was up 73.7% compared to last year’s show.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 977,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest gain of the night was the HOOK vs. Anthony Henry match, the Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky backstage segment, and the Sammy Guevara, Tay Conti, Sky, Ethan Page, & Dan Lambert promo segment which gained 49,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the ending of the Blackpool Combat Club vs. Brock Anderson, Dante Martin, & Lee Moriarty 6-Man Tag Team match and the AEW & NJPW joint event announcement segment which lost 74,000 viewers.

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for April 15th

The April 15th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a very large decline in overall viewership and small declines in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings. That week’s show was notable for airing at an earlier start time of 7PM EST due to TNT’s 2022 NBA Playoffs commitments.

AEW Rampage drew 483,000 viewers and a 0.22 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 9th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to stiff sports competition from the NBA Playoffs and the large declines suffered in their Teenagers, older key demographic viewership, and over 50 viewership groups, which were down 16.7%, 16.5%, and 25% respectively compared to the prior week’s show. This reportedly offset the large gains from their younger males key demographic viewership group, which was up 13.8% compared to the prior week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Play-In Game of Atlanta Hawks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers drew 3,065,000 viewers on ESPN.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 288,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 13.8%, Females 18-34 was down 22.4%, Males 35-49 was down 26.1%, and Females 35-49 was up 8.5% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show was the youngest skewing sports show for the week while that week’s Dynamite show was the sixth youngest, only behind Rampage and four NBA Play-In games.

AEW Rampage started off with around 480,000 viewers and had around 461,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 473,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 515,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the bulk of the AEW World Championship Texas Death match of Adam Cole vs. Hangman Adam Page (c).

AEW Battle of the Belts II – April 16, 2022

AEW’s Battle of the Belts II special on April 16th drew 527,000 viewers, a 0.18 key demographic rating, and a #10 key demographic ranking on TNT.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW’s declines compared to the first Battle of the Belts special this past January was due to very stiff sports competition that night. Another reason was due to the large declines from their overall key demographic viewership and younger key demographic viewership groups, which were down 32.4% and 23.6% respectively compared to the first Battle of the Belts special.

In terms of head-to-head competition, UFC Fight Night Live: Luque vs. Muhammad 2 drew 914,000 viewers on ESPN, NASCAR Trucks Racing drew 1,167,000 viewers on FS1, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors drew 4,520,000 viewers on ABC, and the simulcast USFL football game drew 1,310,000 viewers on NBC and 1,757,000 viewers on FOX.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 240,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 7.5%, Females 18-34 was down 53.8%, Males 35-49 was down 35.3%, and Females 35-49 was down 41.7% compared to this past January’s Battle of the Belts I special.

AEW Battle of the Belts II started off with around 598,000 viewers for the TNT Championship match of Sammy Guevara vs. Scoprio Sky (c). AEW’s second quarter had around 488,000 viewers for the ending of the TNT Championship match and the bulk of the ROH World Championship match of Dalton Castle vs. Jonathan Gresham (c). AEW’s third quarter had around 514,000 viewers for the ending of the ROH World Championship match and the post-match brawl with Samoa Joe, Satnam Singh, Jay Lethal, Lee Moriarty, and Sonjay Dutt. AEW’s main event quarter had 505,000 viewers for the AEW Women’s World Championship match of Nyla Rose vs. Thunder Rosa (c).