AEW Dynamite takes huge ratings hit, posts lowest demo in years
This week's episode of AEW Dynamite featured several key matches and segments in the build to the Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21. Unfortunately, the flagship show saw a big drop in ratings.
Last night's Dynamite pulled in just 747,000 viewers on average, with a 0.23 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This was the second sub-800k episode this month, with the March 6 Revolution fallout episode boasting 779,000 viewers. The last three editions of Dynamite drew 0.27 in the key demo, with this week's episode seeing a major dropoff.
The last time AEW Dynamite scored this low in the demo was October 23, 2021, when the show was bumped to Saturday due to Warner Bros. Discovery's hockey coverage.
While it may be disappointing for fans, it's only a 7% drop against last week and the four previous weeks combined. However, combined with the ongoing attendance slump, which has only recently begun to see positive momentum, it's clear that All Elite Wrestling still has some ground to cover as it heads into Double or Nothing season.
What happened on this week's AEW Dynamite?
This week's episode of Dynamite saw plenty of hard-hitting action as the table gets set for AEW Dynasty. Will Ospreay and Katsuyori Shibata kicked off the action with a highly anticipated rematch of their February 2017 classic. Ospreay defeated Shibata with the Hidden Blade.
The World Tag Team Championship tournament also produced some intriguing developments as The Young Bucks defeated Private Party and Best Friends upset The Undisputed Kingdom. Both teams now advance to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Elsewhere, Willow Nightingale defeated Anna Jay, Skye Blue, and Kris Statlander to secure a shot at Julia Hart's TBS Championship at Dynasty. Hart attacked Willow after the match, then stared down Mercedes Mone, who was on commentary for the bout – perhaps planting the seeds for a future rivalry.
Finally, Swerve Strickland and Konosuke Takeshita faced off in the main event, with the winner getting a shot at Samoa Joe and the AEW World Championship at Dynasty. After a crowd-popping back-and-forth, Strickland came out with the victory, securing his second chance at the gold after his devastating loss at Revolution early this month.