AEW President Tony Khan took to Twitter to comment on the AEW Dynamite viewership numbers, specifically for The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher & The Blade match/segment. The match drew 1.018 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic for the quarter hour between 8:45pm-9:00pm.
Khan also brought up the key 18-49 demographic numbers, in which AEW continued to excel in.
Yes, #AEWDynamite was over a million total viewers for the final 5 minutes of the @youngbucks v. Butcher & Blade Falls Count Anywhere match, from 8:55pm ET to 9pm ET with 1,018,000 viewers total and 502,000 in the key 18-49 year old demographic! Thank you to everyone who watched!
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) July 24, 2020
Also, AEW defeated RAW & SmackDown for the first time ever in a demographic rating. AEW drew 58,000 in the female F18-34 demo. RAW drew 55,000 and SmackDown drew 43,000 in that same demo. AEW was also competing with NXT. Keep in mind AEW has been around for less than two years while RAW and SmackDown have been around for 20+ years.
Spectrum Sports 360’s Jon Alba tweeted that he had spoken to various AEW wrestlers about the COVID-19 pandemic and how the virus has stalled their momentum. All the talent seemed to agree the shutdown that led to cancellations in shows starting in March has hurt the promotion, specifically with the hyped “Blood & Guts” Match that was slated to take place between The Elite and The Inner Circle. The match (and the AEW Dynamite special) was postponed. The wrestlers firmly believe they would have bigger numbers right now had it not been for the pandemic.
Talked to a few in #AEW about this, and they all say the same thing:
If the Rochester and Newark (Blood & Guts) shows went off as planned, #AEWDynamite would be doing big time numbers right now. Felt like a lot of the momentum was stalled. Show was excellent this week.
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) July 24, 2020