WWE surprisingly comes up short to AEW in key fan interest
WWE and AEW recently held two major events. The wrestling world was active on social media all weekend as various items from both companies went viral as trending topics. A new set of data shows a surprising trend from the Memorial Day Weekend shows.
World Wrestling Entertainment's King and Queen of the Ring Premium Live Event aired Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. All Elite Wrestling's sixth annual Double or Nothing pay-per-view took place in Las Vegas on Sunday. WWE ran 2 hours and 53 minutes with a six-match card, including 1 match on the 1-hour Kickoff pre-show. AEW went 4 hours and 33 minutes with a 10-match line-up, including two matches on the 90-minute Buy-In pre-show.
King and Queen of the Ring marked the first time in history that a WWE PPV/PLE did not crack the top 20 list of Google Trends for the day, according to F4Wonline. The #20 spot for Saturday was only 20,000 searches.
Previously, it was rare for a WWE show to draw under 200,000 searches, and they draw more for a bigger event like this. Backlash France did 100,000, but that was an unusually low number, and now we know AEW topped WWE in interest this weekend.
AEW's recent pay-per-view events have not cracked the top 20 list either, besides Sting's retirement at Revolution, but Sunday's Double or Nothing event ranked #11 on the top 20 most-searched topics on Google Trends for the day.
This mark also represented just 20,000 searches, which is not a big number. However, with WE King and Queen of the Ring drawing under 20,000 searches, Double or Nothing drew more day-of interest this weekend.
WWE announces the next PLE main event
World Wrestling Entertainment will host its next PLE on Saturday, June 15, in Glasgow, Scotland. Clash at the Castle: Scotland will air live from the OVO Hydro Arena. A banned move was used at the last PLE, so it will be interesting to see if the trend continues.
Triple H has announced that Damian Priest will defend the World Heavyweight Championship against hometown star Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle. This will be the second official non-MITB match between the two after McIntyre won on the January 22 episode on RAW.
Priest cashed in Money In the Bank at WrestleMania XL to take the title from McIntyre right after his victory over Seth Rollins. The Archer of Infamy later promised The Scottish Warrior a title shot once he was healthy, and just this weekend, he was medically cleared from an elbow injury.