AEW Rampage suffers ratings dip; second lowest viewership in first week since Triple H took over WWE
AEW Rampage ratings have been released, reflecting the second-lowest average viewership and lowest key demo rating in the show's normal timeslot.
The Friday night hour of wrestling presented by AEW featured Anna Jay vs. Ruby Soho, hot off of the former's heel turn at Fyter Fest Week Two. Ethan Page returned to TV to decimate former NXT North American Champion Leon Ruffin. The trio of Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh and Sonjay Dutt battled Orange Cassidy and Best Friends.
Another former WWE star was in action as Matt Sydal took on his former protege Lee Moriarty, who aligned himself with ex-Diamond Mine manager Stokely Hathaway.
However, as reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, AEW Rampage recorded its second-lowest viewership in its standard timeslot and lowest key demo rating to boot. Rampage drew 375k viewers on average versus 428k last week, with a key demo rating of 0.11 against the previous week's 0.17.
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WWE Smackdown, Friday on Fox (8-10pm):
2,193,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.52
AEW Rampage, Friday on TNT (10-11pm):
375,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.11
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Coincidental or not, there has been a considerable buzz surrounding WWE as of late, with Triple H appointed Head of Creative following Vince McMahon's retirement. WWE's Friday night flagship, SmackDown, airs in a two-hour timeslot prior to Rampage and dominated the demo rankings.
How did fans reacts to the AEW Rampage ratings dip?
The ratings discussion will forever divide wrestling fans as a leading metric for WWE and AEW's hardcore audiences to tussle over. When the ratings are down in such a way, it can provoke interesting conversations on the matter.
Some, like the user below, put forward the argument that Rampage needs to step up its game. Their belief is that the show could benefit from a change in timeslot and that it appears to have been deserted:
"they gotta seriously step up Rampage. in april TK said that was gonna happen but nothing has changed. the 10pm death timeslot on a friday is already bad enough. it’s like they gave up"
@BrandonThurston they gotta seriously step up Rampage. in april TK said that was gonna happen but nothing has changed. the 10pm death timeslot on a friday is already bad enough . it’s like they gave up
Others flat-out called for the end of the show altogether, like the user below who dubbed it a failure and proposed that it be changed to "ROH TV":
"Rampage needs to go! It's just been a failure like I think most knew it would be at this time and night. At this rate turn it to ROH TV because this is the numbers they would probably do anyway with it."
@BrandonThurston Rampage needs to go! It’s just been a failure like I think most knew it would be at this time and night. At this rate turn it to ROH TV because this is the numbers they would probably do anyway with it.
"Rampage needs a new time slot, to be live every week and to be 2 hours."
@RyanEvans29 @BrandonThurston Rampage needs a new time slot, to be live every week and to be 2 hours.
There were other suggestions made by fans, such as the one above, who feels that Rampage would be better-served as a live two-hour show akin to Dynamite or perhaps its Friday rival SmackDown.