Jim Ross On How Much AEW Pays Attention To TV Ratings, Blood And Guts
AEW commentator Jim Ross spoke on the latest episode of Grilling JR about the recent AEW Blood and Guts event. There were reports that WWE officials "hated" the match, believing it "set the business back 30 years." Ross noted that the first hour of the show was actually taped and spoke about how it went from taped to live throughout the night up-until the Blood and Guts match.
"[It was] a great team effort," Ross said. "Everybody pulled together on that thing. The first hour of that show we recorded the previous Thursday, we didn't voice it over but we recorded the matches. Schiavone and Excalibur and I sat in our announce position for that hour and we didn't move our lips like an idiot, but we just sat there so we were placeholders. If there was a background shot, people would see that the announce table was occupied. Some of the elements of that first hour were live and then we get to the Blood and Guts and it's all live. It's a different pacing.
"You have an edited show, it's got a hard out, you got to adhere to your times and pay attention and know where the traffic is flowing. I did it every week, multiple days a week when I worked for Atlanta. It was a good team effort, I'm really happy for AEW and Tony Khan and all those folks, we're on the same team and this is a unit. It's starting to get better as it should. I just think it was a great accomplishment for all of us."
According to Showbuzz Daily, AEW drew 1.090 million viewers on TNT with Blood and Guts, which topped the night in the 18-49 demo, the first time they accomplished that feat. Ross talked about the ratings of the show and touted both Tony Khan and everyone in the company for their success that night.
"When you do a weekly show, you get measured every week," Ross said. "The countdown starts after your last rating. Then you're wondering about, can you build this audience, can we maintain this audience, what's it going to look like if we don't do north of a million viewers again. Then people start worrying about it and you do the show and a lot of folks don't understand the ratings situation. AEW is a ratings driven show because we're licensed by a T.V. company. I guarantee every minute of every show is measured, every minute!"
AEW reportedly had 1,600 fans in attendance for the show. Although the company was hoping for 2,500 fans, Ross said he appreciated the fans for sitting for an hour and watching the taped show that led into the Blood and Guts match.
"I don't know how many fans we had there," Ross said. "I'm assuming about 1,500, but boy did they help the show. They were cheering watching the big screen and those matches during that first hour. It was amazing to me, I wasn't surprised."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.