Should Tony Khan be worried even after the success of All In? Interesting stat sheds light
Tony Khan has been amid several headlines since the past week as AEW: All In had a tremendous response. Additional stories throughout the week include the chaos surrounding CM Punk-Jack Perry, the announcement of a new event, WrestleDream, and the usual talk of him signing another big name is always around.
Grabbing headlines is always good for business, but it is also about statistics. Khan has had one of the best stats recently - a whopping number of tickets sold. However, one is not very positive for Khan and AEW.
According to this social media post, there has been virtually no change in the viewership numbers of AEW: Dynamite following AEW: All In, their biggest event to date.
The August 30th edition saw 871,000 viewers and 389,000 in the age range of 18-49; the week before that, AEW saw 872,000 and 422,000 viewers in the 18-49 age range.
What does the 'no-big-change' scenario hold for Tony Khan now?
The 'no-big-change' scenario for a wrestling show right after a humongous pay-per-view is baffling because it points at two scenarios.
Either AEW has peaked, and the only way up is to go into orbit - meaning do something spectacular that changes the game - or AEW has reached the televisions, minds, and souls of every wrestling fan in this world, and there's nobody else left to tune in to the show.
The latter is a ridiculous idea. However, the former would be more taxing on Khan, who recently announced another pay-per-view in October, WrestleWorld.
Sold-out stadiums make for great optics. But the lifeblood of a wrestling show is the TV contract. Contracts exist and thrive only when the numbers are bolstered, and the bosses are happy with the TRPs. Wrestling fans still talk about that wrestling franchise that was at risk of folding up because it didn't have a TV contract.
With their biggest pay-per-view now a footnote in history, Tony Khan and his entourage have an uphill task before them to exponentially increase the viewership numbers.
At this moment, Tony Khan is at a critical juncture of AEW. While workhorses like Bryan Danielson, Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, and so many others are setting up some incredible matches, others like CM Punk are creating feuds that are creating mainstream interest in AEW programming. A masterstroke would be to take both of these aspects and make a strategic change in its programming.
What do you think Tony Khan needs to do next to increase the TV viewership? Tell us about it in the comments section.