More on AEW & NXT Week 135 Viewership – May 10 & 11, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 39

May 14, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for May 10th

The May 10th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a large decline in overall viewership and key demographic rankings and a small decline in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 533,000 viewers and a 0.10 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 51st place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reasons for NXT’s declines this week was due to stiff sports competition from the NBA and NHL Playoffs and the very large decline from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 46.2% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that NXT’s overall viewership and overall 18-34 key demographic viewership of 28,000 viewers were both the lowest ever for a NXT show on USA Network in NXT history.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 5 of Philadelphia 76ers vs. Miami Heat drew 3,775,000 viewers on TNT, the NHL 2022 Playoffs Game 5 of Boston Bruins vs. Carolina Hurricanes drew 829,000 viewers on ESPN, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 1,132,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 130,000 viewers. Due to this week’s show failing to rank in the Top 50 shows for that day, detailed key demographic viewership breakdowns were not available.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 23.5% in overall viewership and down 39.2% in key demographic viewership.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for May 11th

The May 11th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW gain a slight increase in overall viewership and key demographic ratings but suffered a slight decrease in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 840,000 viewers and a 0.33 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 5th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increases this week was due to the large increase from their older key demographic viewership group, which was up 14.1% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly was enough to offset the large declines from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 14.8% compared to last week’s show, and the stiff sports competition from the NBA and NHL Playoffs.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 5 of Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics drew 4,788,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA 2022 Playoffs Game 5 of Golden State Warriors vs. Memphis Grizzles drew 4,823,000 viewers on TNT, the NHL 2022 Playoffs Game 5 of Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers drew 1,047,000 viewers on ESPN, the NHL 2022 Playoffs Game 5 of Dallas Stars vs. Calgary Flames drew 699,000 viewers on ESPN, and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drew 1,151,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 427,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 18.6%, Females 18-34 was down 9.7%, Males 35-49 was up 16.7%, and Females 35-49 was down 1.5% 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 886,000 viewers for their fourth quarter and their low point was 807,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 10.3% in overall viewership but up 7.3% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 816,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s tournament match of Jeff Hardy vs. Darby Allin and post-match with the Undisputed Elite, Sting, & Matt Hardy which gained 45,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s tournament match of Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter, the Men of the Year & Dan Lambert backstage promo segment, and the Frankie Kazarian, Sammy Guevara, & Tay Conti which lost 67,000 viewers.

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for May 6th

The May 6th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer very large declines in overall viewership and key demographic rankings and a large decline in key demographic ratings. That week’s show was notable at airing at an earlier start time of 5:30PM EST due to TNT’s current NHL Playoffs commitments.

AEW Rampage drew 292,000 viewers and a 0.11 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 49th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to the earlier than usual start time and the very large declines suffered in their female key demographic viewership groups, which was down 63% in 18-34 Female key demographic viewership and down 30% in 35-49 Female key demographic viewership compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that the very large declines from AEW’s female viewership caused that week’s show to have a Male-Female viewership split of 78.3% in favor of males, which was the highest ever for an AEW show in AEW history. AEW’s overall viewership for that week’s show was also the lowest ever for a Rampage show in Rampage history.

In terms of head-to-head competition, Pardon The Interruption drew 622,000 viewers on ESPN.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 138,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 24.3%, Females 18-34 was down 63%, Males 35-49 was down 8.1%, and Females 35-49 was down 30% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show was the seventh youngest skewing sports show for the week, behind five NHL games and that week’s Dynamite show.

AEW Rampage started off with around 324,000 viewers and had around 281,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 278,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 284,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the Jay Lethal vs. Konosuke Takeshita match.