More on AEW & NXT Week 131 Viewership – April 12 & 13, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 35

Apr 16, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for April 12th

The April 12th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a small decline in overall viewership and key demographic ratings and a large decline in key demographic rankings

NXT drew 610,000 viewers and a 0.12 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 47th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for NXT’s declines this week was due to stiff sports competition from the NBA Playoffs and the large declines from their Teenagers and younger key demographic viewership groups, which were down 20% each compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that this caused this week’s episode to have a median viewership age of 63 years old and broke the record for oldest audience for a WWE television show in WWE history. Meltzer also reported that this week’s NXT show had a male/female viewership split of 73.5% in favor of male viewers and one of the highest for a WWE show in years.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Play-in game of Los Angeles Clippers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves drew 2,699,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA 2022 Play-in game of Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Brooklyn Nets drew 2,477,000 viewers on TNT, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,640,000 viewers on History Channel, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 978,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 151,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was down 23.1%, Females 18-34 was down 14.3%, Males 35-49 was down 10%, and Females 35-49 was down 21.4% compared to last week’s show.

While no numbers were stated, Meltzer reported that NXT’s peak for overall viewership occurred during the NXT Women’s Championship match of Dakota Kai vs. Mandy Rose (c). NXT’s peak for key demographic viewership reportedly was during the Creed Brothers vs. Pretty Deadly portion of the NXT Tag Team Championship Gauntlet match.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 24.2% in overall viewership and down 46.5% in key demographic viewership.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for April 13th

The April 13th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a small decline in overall viewership and a slight decline in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 977,000 viewers and a 0.37 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 3rd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to stiff sports competition from the NBA Playoffs and the large decline in their older female key demographic viewership group, which was down 28.2% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly was enough to offset the large gains from their Teenagers and younger key demographic groups, which were up 28.6% and 18.7% respectively compared to last week’s show. This week’s episode reportedly generated the lowest overall key demographic viewership for an AEW Dynamite show since the March 2nd episode.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Play-in game of San Antonio Spurs vs. New Orleans Pelicans drew 2,442,000 viewers on ESPN, the NBA 2022 Play-in game of Charlotte Hornets vs. Atlanta Hawks drew 2,114,000 viewers on ESPN, the NHL game of New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers drew 361,000 viewers on TNT, and Real Housewives of Orange County drew 732,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 486,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 17.8%, Females 18-34 was up 20%, Males 35-49 was down 8.3%, and Females 35-49 was down 28.2% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, two out of AEW’s eight quarters averaged one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak was at 1,131,000 viewers for their first quarter and their low point was 907,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 19.9% in overall viewership and down 14.3% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 key demographic viewership was up 12.2% compared to last year’s show.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 1,131,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the MJF vs. Shawn Dean match and the Wardlow post-match angle which gained 24,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the ending of the AEW World Tag Team Championship match of reDRagon vs. Jurassic Express (c), the Blackpool Combat Club backstage interview segment, and the Jamie Hayter & Toni Storm backstage interview segment which lost 96,000 viewers. AEW’s overrun gained an additional 63,000 viewers to end the night.

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for April 8th

The April 8th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW gain a very large increase in overall viewership and a large increase in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings.

AEW Rampage drew 600,000 viewers and a 0.25 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 4th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increases that week was due to the large gains from their overall key demographic viewership group, which was up 69.9% in 18-49 key demographic viewership and up 110% in younger key demographic viewership compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s show generated the highest overall viewership and key demographic viewership for an AEW Rampage show since the January 28th episode.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2022 Masters golf tournament drew 974,000 viewers on ESPN, the NBA game of Phoenix Suns vs. Utah Jazz drew 355,000 viewers on NBA TV, and Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge drew 1,162,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 328,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 41.5%, Females 18-34 was up 314.3%, Males 35-49 was up 75.9%, and Females 35-49 was up 9.3% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show was the youngest skewing sports show for the week while that week’s Dynamite show was the third youngest, only behind Rampage and one English Premier League soccer game.

AEW Rampage started off with around 616,000 viewers and had around 568,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 600,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 615,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta match.