Speaking on the latest episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed a variety of topics, including the ratings drop AEW Collision suffered from the premiere episode to their second one. Never one to mince his words when discussing All Elite Wrestling, Bischoff stated that the viewership drop was in standard range and was “no cause for panic.” He said,
“I actually predicted that it was gonna drop somewhere between 25% and 30% and it came in at 27%. See, that’s the thing about the show, people, I don’t always talk about the things after they happen because any moron can do that. I tell you what’s gonna happen before it happens. Remember that and yeah, it came to be expected. I think the good news is that 27% drop in viewers and a 31% drop, or a 37% drop in demo. Fortunately, the show came out of the shoot with a higher-than-expected audience in demo. So yes, they took a hit, we predicted it here, everybody knew it was going to happen. I just have watched the pattern over the last five years and 30% is generally the drop. So I — look, no cause to panic.”
Bischoff suggested that where the numbers start settling in the third week onwards remains the true test for AEW, before highlighting why Saturday night isn’t always alright for fighting. He said,
“I think the third week is gonna be the telltale ’cause that, you know, you’re gonna get a drop the second week. It just is what it is. If you drop significantly, if you drop by another 15% on week three, 15% from week two, week two, now you got a problem. But if they hold it, if it’s flat, I think that’s a good sign because let’s be real. Saturday seems like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a good night.’ And historically and above, you know, there’s a lot of reasons why if you’re a cheerleader, you’re gonna be optimistic. And I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t be, because if the resting is an alternative to a lot of the other things that are on on Saturday nights. But when college football comes along, if we’re seeing a viewing audience of 350,000, I’ll be surprised. It’s gonna be hard. “
While Bischoff added that he hasn’t caught the second episode yet, he said that if AEW can consistently maintain the quality television they produced on the premiere episode, they can build a substantial audience going forward, even if it is on an admittedly tough night as far as pulling in television viewers is concerned. He said,
“But right now they can do a great job of putting on if the second week was anything like the first week, if they can do that consistently, it’ll turn into must, must view television. Must see TV. It will because the quality of what I saw the first time was so good. Now again, I may watch the DVR version of it and go, what the hell? I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet.”
With the latest episode of AEW Collision having been taped on Thursday, historical patterns would indicate that the show will likely suffer another fall in the ratings department once the numbers come out tomorrow.
