Wrestling fans hilariously react as AEW Dynamite ratings fall shy of 1 million mark despite The Elite's return teased this week

Fans have been in discussion ever since the ratings for this week's episode of AEW Dynamite were released.

This week saw some official movement on the ongoing situation between The Elite and CM Punk which had come to a head following September's All Out event. Although just a snippet, it was the first time a segment had been dedicated to The Elite after they were suspended by the promotion following All Out.

The night featured a tag match between former ROH Champ Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta against current champ Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia. In addition, Jon Moxley defended his AEW World Title against one-third of the Trios champs, Penta El Zero Miedo.

A night of champions in action, storyline progression and movement on 'Brawl Out' did little in the way of breaking viewership milestones.

The Wednesday flagship show drew an average viewership of 997k, and a key demo rating of 0.32. This was a jump from last week's totals of 752k and 0.26, which can be attributed to last week's special airing on Tuesday night going head-to-head with NXT.

AEW Dynamite last night on TBS (8-10pm):
997,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.32
#5 cable original in P18-49
📊 patreon.com/wrestlenomics https://t.co/xyt5qVvNTe

Fans have had varied reactions to the number, with some like the user below suggesting Triple H's leadership of WWE is adversely affecting AEW Dynamite.

@NewsXero Triple H is killing AEW 😶

There were also those who felt WWE's past leadership has lessons to impart upon TK.

@BrandonThurston That's what happens when you book title matches randomly. TK needs classes of booking from Vince.

@BrandonThurston AEW is done for. This is proof that this is the end times for AEW. I mean LEW cause they are a big time L. TBS is very upset about this one.

@BrandonThurston More viewership than nxt

@BrandonThurston That's it. AEW is finished. Warner/Discovery will never accept that number, romanreignsfan12084141 warned us.

@BrandonThurston Shame that they couldn’t get 3,000 viewers and save the company from folding smh

@BrandonThurston Championship match, teasing The Elite return and STILL didnt get a million

@BrandonThurston Nice bump after being on a different day last week.

Depending on their stance on things, fans on Twitter have been arguing about the detrimental effect of the ratings. While some take the totals as negative indicators, others have learned to balance their expectations when taking other programming into account.

What else went down during this week's AEW Dynamite?

As touched on briefly before, the night kicked off with action between the Blackpool Combat Club and the Jericho Appreciation Society. Castagnoli and Yuta went some way to avenging Bryan Danielson's ROH title loss as the former scored the pinfall on Chris Jericho.

Danielson was also in action against the JAS later in the night, emphatically defeating Sammy Guevara after a high-octane contest.

New challengers were determined for the tag titles as Swerve in Our Glory took on FTR. Thanks to interference from Austin and Colten Gunn, Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee scored a tainted win to earn their trilogy bout against the Acclaimed.

Jamie Hayter would also put herself in good stead for an Interim Women's title clash, defeating former champion Riho in singles action before staring Toni Storm down.

The night closed with Jon Moxley putting Penta away before the Firm beat on him and, shockingly, MJF to end the show.

What did you make of this week's AEW Dynamite? Join the discussion in the comments below.