More on AEW & NXT Week 134 Viewership – May 3 & 4, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 38

May 7, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for May 3rd

The May 3rd episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a large increase in overall viewership but also suffered slight declines in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings. This week’s episode was notable for being the Spring Breakin’ themed special.

NXT drew 661,000 viewers and a 0.13 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 33rd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for NXT’s mixed results this week was due to the large gains in their Teenagers and over 50 viewership groups, which were up 20% and 21.2% respectively compared to last week’s show. This was offset by the stiff sports competition and the large decline in their younger male key demographic viewership and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 25% and 12.8% respectively compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that due to the large gains in their over 50 viewership, this week’s show was likely the oldest skewing show in NXT series history on USA Network.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Golden State Warriors vs. Memphis Grizzles drew 5,321,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics drew 4,102,000 viewers on TNT, the NHL 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers drew 1,038,000 viewers on ESPN, the NHL 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of Washington Capitals vs. Florida Panthers drew 348,000 viewers on ESPN 2, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,578,000 viewers on History Channel, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 1,121,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 173,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was down 25%, Females 18-34 was up 47.1%, Males 35-49 was up 1.2%, and Females 35-49 was down 12.8% compared to last week’s show.

Meltzer reported that NXT’s peak for overall viewership was 714,000 viewers which occurred during the Grayson Waller vs. Nathan Frazier match. NXT’s peak for key demographic viewership reportedly was 204,000 viewers which occurred during the NXT North American Championship match of Carmelo Hayes vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Cameron Grimes (c). NXT’s overrun reportedly gained an additional 7,000 viewers for overall viewership to finish at 640,000 viewers and 1,000 viewers for key demographic viewership to finish at 160,000 viewers.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 14.2% in overall viewership and down 24.5% in key demographic viewership.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for May 4th

The May 4th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and a slight decline in key demographic ratings.

AEW drew 833,000 viewers and a 0.32 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 4th 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, lower than usual lead-in programming viewership on TBS, and the large declines from their older key demographic viewership and over 50 viewership groups, which were down 13.7% and 13.2% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the large gains from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was up 29% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that this week’s AEW’s overall viewership was the lowest for an episode aired in its normal time slot since the May 19, 2021 episode.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Philadelphia 76ers vs. Miami Heat drew 3,425,000 viewers on TNT, the NHL 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Boston Bruins vs. Carolina Hurricanes drew 734,000 viewers on ESPN, the NHL 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs drew 496,000 viewers on ESPN 2, and Real Housewives of Atlanta drew 242,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 421,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 38.6%, Females 18-34 was up 18.1%, Males 35-49 was down 14.7%, and Females 35-49 was down 10.7% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, none of AEW’s eight quarters averaged one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak was at 873,000 viewers for their second quarter and their low point was 773,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In an interesting note, Meltzer reported that this week’s AEW show managed to top this past Monday’s WWE RAW show and last week’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown show in Males 18-34 viewership and topped RAW in Females 18-34 viewership. In regards to Males 18-34 viewership, AEW had 169,000 viewers compared to 158,000 viewers for RAW and 153,000 viewers for SmackDown. In regards to Females 18-34 viewership, AEW had 72,000 viewers compared to 71,000 viewers for RAW.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 23.6% in overall viewership and down 23.2% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 key demographic viewership was up 29% compared to last year’s show.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 857,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Blackpool Combat Club vs. AFO Trios Tag Team match, and the Jurassic Express & Christian Cage and Team Taz backstage segment which gained 16,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the latter half of the Fenix vs. Dante Martin match, the Sting & Darby Allin backstage promo segment, and the Thunder Rosa & Serena Deeb promo segment which lost 55,000 viewers.

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for April 29th

The April 29th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer large decreases in overall viewership, key demographic ratings, and key demographic rankings.

AEW Rampage drew 464,000 viewers and a 0.14 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 25th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to stiff sports competition from the NBA Playoffs and the 2022 NFL Draft and the large decline in their young key demographic viewership group, which was down 27.8% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s AEW show’s overall key demographic viewership was the lowest for an episode aired in its normal time slot. Meltzer also reported that week’s show was the oldest skewing show in Rampage series history.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 6 of Memphis Grizzles vs. Minnesota Timberwolves drew 3,474,000 viewers on ESPN, the 2022 NFL Draft drew 1,408,000 viewers on ESPN, and Gold Rush: Freddy Dodge drew 1,021,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 179,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 2.6%, Females 18-34 was down 18.2%, Males 35-49 was down 36.3%, and Females 35-49 was down 28.6% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s Dynamite show was the seventh youngest skewing sports show for the week, behind four NBA games, one NFL 2022 Draft show, and one Mexican Liga MX game.

AEW Rampage started off with around 500,000 viewers and had around 465,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 447,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 453,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the ROH Television Championship match of Trent Beretta vs. Samoa Joe (c).