"CM Punk did it" - Fans bury AEW as Full Gear aftermath fails to offer Dynamite significant ratings boost
Wrestling fans have been keenly reacting to the latest AEW Dynamite ratings for the first week following Full Gear.
The show addressed the fallout from the event, including MJF's shocking world title win and the circumstances surrounding it. William Regal opened the show to address his betrayal of Jon Moxley, explaining that the new champ was absent thanks to his commitment to a movie in development.
Moxley had blood on his mind as he approached the ring fixated on his former manager, but Bryan Danielson came between the pair. Regal departed without another word uttered.
The angle was hot coming out of Full Gear, and while the show felt an improvement in its ratings on a week-on-week basis, average viewership still came up short at 880k. However, the key 18-49 demo rating saw an improvement of 0.04, moving up from last week's 0.28 to this week's 0.32.
As is always the case when AEW doesn't break the one million barrier, and especially when missing the 900k mark, fans reacted with plenty of hyperbole and hilarity.
The user below, for example, boldly proclaimed that CM Punk "killed AEW."
patreon.com/wrestlenomics
CM Punk did it. He killed AEW. twitter.com/BrandonThursto…
Eek
AEW is well and truly dead twitter.com/BrandonThursto…
Bahaha after their "biggest" star was crowned champion their ratings drop? LMAO #AEW twitter.com/BrandonThursto…
I guess bringing back The Elite ain’t help as much twitter.com/brandonthursto…
Do the right thing for the business TK twitter.com/BrandonThursto… https://t.co/BaQvTKHEfU
Numbers don’t lie bring back CM Punk he’s your top draw! CM Punk>The Elite! #TeamPunk twitter.com/brandonthursto…
@BrandonThurston WWE fans who are rating experts apparently will have to give their expert opinion on this.
@BrandonThurston Actually pretty decent all things considered.
@BrandonThurston Multiply that number by 4 and you have the smackdown number!! 🤣🤣
@BrandonThurston So much for that PPV momentum
@BrandonThurston Skyrocket the night before Thanksgiving, AEW is back baby
@BrandonThurston That's good especially on Thanksgiving Eve.
Last year's Thanksgiving Eve episode scored an average viewership of 898k, so there isn't too much of a variance year-on-year. Not everyone that reacted felt so strongly towards the ratings, with some expressing that they expected even worse.
What went down during last week's AEW Dynamite?
Orange Cassidy successfully defended his All-Atlantic title once again, defeating the JAS' Jake Hager. Elsewhere, Ricky Starks defeated Ethan Page in the world title eliminator tournament, meaning he will now challenge MJF for the title at Winter is Coming.
Death Triangle and The Elite kicked off the second bout in their Best-of-Seven series for the trios tag titles. Death Triangle walked out of the heated contest in Chicago as the victors and now lead 2-0 in the series.
New Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter teamed with Britt Baker in a three-way tag match against TayJay, Skye Blue and Willow Nightingale. Baker scored the pinfall to take the win.
In the main event, it was the ROH title on the line between Chris Jericho and Tomohiro Ishii. Despite having his chest literally busted open by palm strikes, Jericho tapped Ishii out with the Liontamer to retain his title.
What did you make of the Thanksgiving Eve show? Join the discussion in the comments below.