AEW Dynamite ratings break 1 million barrier again as Jon Moxley's All Out opponent and Malakai Black's future addressed

The ratings for the go-home edition of AEW Dynamite before All Out have dropped, once again breaking the one million barrier in average viewership.

Heading into AEW Dynamite there was a lot of speculation surrounding Jon Moxley and who he will face at All Out. There was also significant chatter surrounding the potential release of Malakai Black. Both situations appeared to be addressed during the show.

The night opened with Jon Moxley reflecting on his decimation of CM Punk, unifying the Lineal and Interim world titles to become the Undisputed AEW Champion. He left a signed open contract in the ring as he left, allowing anybody in the locker room to emerge and stake their claim for the title.

Punk signed the contract during the night, setting up a blockbuster rematch for the upcoming Chicago event, and offering the Cult of Personality a chance at redemption. Throughout the night, it was also confirmed that Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews will be at All Out, facing the trio of Miro, Sting and Darby Allin. This seemingly puts to bed any concerns over a Black release.

The speculation appeared to pay-off for the show. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics reported that the flagship retained its 1 million plus average viewership, albeit with a 29k decline from the week prior. The drop in average viewership didn't stop the show from improving by 0.01 in the key 18-49 demo.

AEW Dynamite last night on TBS (8-10pm):
1,020,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.35
#2 cable original in P18-49
📊 patreon.com/wrestlenomics https://t.co/gi5c5OGJlz

Last week's Dynamite featured the unified world title showdown between CM Punk and Jon Moxley. Moxley shocked the world when he defeated the lineal champion in convincing fashion in just over three minutes.

How did fans react to this week's AEW Dynamite ratings?

Often times when the ratings for Dynamite drop there is a considerable divide among reactors. Some praise the total and some criticize it when compared to the competition.

However, as can be told by the handful of tweets below, the primary focus was the fact that Dynamite maintained their 1 million plus average despite direct competition from tennis' US Open featuring retiring legend Serena Williams.

@BrandonThurston That’s a phenomenal number considering Serena Williams was playing. Phenomenal.

@BrandonThurston Well AEW is not clearly not gaining market share from WWE so I don’t see you very much competition here.

@BrandonThurston WWE and AEW both did very well against the US Open.

Really good stuff!

@BrandonThurston This has to be considered a win for them even if they didn't win the night because every news channel was pushing people to the US Open.

@BrandonThurston I didn’t think they’d get 1 Million this week with the huge Tennis match everyone was talking about. Well deserved. Fantastic show.

Time will tell whether or not the momentum can carry over to this weekend's Rampage and All Out shows.

What did you think of this week's Dynamite ratings? Discuss the matter in the comments below!