Backstage News On WBD's Reported Reaction To Latest AEW Dynamite Ratings

The April 24 edition of "AEW Dynamite" has people talking for a variety of reasons. The show saw Jon Moxley make his first defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship; Swerve Strickland wrestled his first match as the AEW World Champion; and The Elite closed out the show by recruiting Jack Perry to the group and attacking company CEO Tony Khan. Despite all of those major events, the show averaged its lowest total viewership since January 2021 (excluding any episodes that were pre-empted).

However, AEW's parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery, were very pleased with how "AEW Dynamite" performed. PWInsider reached out to a source within WBD, who claimed that higher-ups in the company were very happy with the "AEW Dynamite" rating given its competition. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics noted Thursday that the amount of sporting competition on Wednesday night, combined with the fact that the show aired live on the west coast of the United States — meaning 5pm instead of 8pm — could have factored into the show's poor performance.

PWI's source noted that AEW placed sixth overall for cable shows on April 24, but given that three of the programs that beat it were all NBA-related broadcasts that aired on TNT (another WBD network), the fact that the only network that topped AEW for viewership was ESPN and their coverage of the NHL playoffs, while "AEW Dynamite" beat everyone else, left people within WBD feeling very happy. It was also noted by the WBD source that AEW overcame the obstacle of poor audio issues on April 24, which ended up being a TBS problem instead on an AEW one, and that once DVR numbers start to come in over the next few days, WBD expect the rating for the April 24 show to be even better than what has already been reported.