"You lost 320k viewers" - Former WWE writer slams Tony Khan for boasting about AEW Dynamite's ratings (Exclusive)
Vince Russo recently blasted AEW President Tony Khan for boasting about Dynamite's ratings, despite viewership declining as the show progressed.
All Elite Wrestling was in the news for all the wrong reasons over the last week due to the backstage brawl at All Out 2022. This resulted in The Elite and CM Punk being suspended from the company and stripped of their AEW Trios Titles and AEW World Championship, respectively.
Fans were excited to tune into this week's Dynamite to see if the promotion would address the brawl. Much to their disappointment, except for Tony Khan appearing momentarily to announce plans for the Trios and World Championship, there was no direct mention of backstage turmoil.
Speaking on the latest episode of Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws, Vince Russo didn't hold back while blasting All Elite Wrestling. The former WWE writer stated that although the show registered good viewership, there was a steep decline of close to 320k viewers solely because AEW didn't address the situation.
"The numbers for AEW last night, because of everything that happened on Sunday; 1.2 million people tuned into the show. Hold on, when they didn't address it at all, because they don't how to mix fiction and non-fiction and blur the lines, Chris, they went from 1.2 million because they didn't address it to second hour - 880k," said Russo. (From 0:42 - 1:22)
He further blasted Tony Khan for boasting about the numbers on Twitter. Russo stated that Khan should instead focus on the fact that a sizable number of fans didn't stick around to finish the episode of Dynamite.
"And Tony Khan is online today gloating about the numbers. That's the problem. Bro, you lost 320k viewers from hour 1 to 2. That's what you need to be looking at. You can't be coming online and putting yourself over with the numbers. 1.2 million to 880k viewers, bro; that's 320k people you lost in an hour. That's where the focus needs to be. That's where the focus needs to be. How did we lose 320k people?" (1:22 - 2:00)
Check out the full video below:
EC3 chimes in on AEW's ratings
Apart from Russo, EC3 also shared his thoughts about AEW's ratings. The 39-year-old performer stated that although Tony Khan's promotion has been a massive success so far, they must maintain their "humility."
The former NXT Superstar added that the company needs to move forward instead of bragging about its achievements, which could backfire in the long run.
"Yeah, AEW beats NXT in a sense and they they (NXT) move nights or whatever. Humility and hubris and just pat on the back for the team, they are doing a good job, but eyes on the prize, let's keep moving forward. It's the only to succeed because the second you brag, you throw around numbers, you're dead first off and it's gonna come back and get you," said EC3. (2:09 - 2:31)
Thanks to you,
last night marked the first time since Oct 2021 that Dynamite’s had
3 straight weeks over 1 million viewers!
+ we made it 15 straight Wednesdays Dynamite ranked in cable’s top 2 shows in the 18-49 demo!
See you TOMORROW for a huge
Friday Night #AEWRampage on TNT!
With the backstage situation in the promotion far from resolved, it remains to be seen how it affects the company's on-screen programming and booking.
Do you agree with Vince Russo's take on why Tony Khan shouldn't boast about All Elite Wrestling's ratings? Sound off in the comment section below.
If you take any quotes from this article, please credit and provide a transcription credit to Sportskeeda Wrestling.