More on AEW vs. NXT Week 158 Viewership – Oct. 18, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 62 – Oct. 14, 2022

Oct 22, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for October 18th

The October 18th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a large decline in overall viewership but gained a small increase in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings. This week’s show was notable for being the first time since April of 2021 that WWE and AEW went head-to-head on the same night due to MLB Playoffs-related preemption issues.

NXT drew 676,000 viewers and a 0.18 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 12th 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 very stiff sports competition that night and the large decline in their Over 50 viewership group, which was down 17.1% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly mostly offset the large gains from their female key demographic viewership and older key demographic viewership groups, which were up 40% and 30% respectively compared to last week’s show.

In terms of non-AEW head-to-head competition, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Diego Padres drew 4,099,000 viewers on FS1, the NBA game of Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics drew 2,984,000 viewers on TNT, the NHL game of Philadelphia Flyers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning drew 494,000 viewers on ESPN, 7 Little Johnstons drew 904,000 viewers on TLC, Below Deck Down Under drew 664,000 viewers on Bravo, and Deadliest Catch Viking drew 710,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 240,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was 38,000 viewers, Females 18-34 was 32,000 viewers, Males 35-49 was 109,000 viewers, and Females 35-49 was 61,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 147,000 male viewers and 93,000 female viewers for a split of 61.3% in favor of males.

In an interesting note, NXT managed to top AEW in Females 35-49 viewership at 61,000 viewers compared to 54,000 viewers for AEW. NXT also managed to tie AEW in Females 18-34 at 32,000 viewers for each show. In terms of quarter-hours, NXT won two out of the eight quarter hours for overall viewership and none for key demographic viewership.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 11.6% in overall viewership and up 27% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 25% compared to the same week last year.

WWE NXT quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 752,000 overall viewers and 289,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne Perez match)
2Q – 769,000 overall viewers and 286,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Ripley vs. Perez match, Cameron Grimes & The O.C. backstage segment, Tony D’Angelo promo, Grayson Waller & Chucky segment, and the start of Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo match)
3Q – 744,000 overall viewers and 268,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Nakamura vs. Stacks match, the Axiom, Nathan Frazer, & Von Wagner backstage segment, and the Alba Fyre vs. Sonya Deville match and post-match with Toxic Attraction)
4Q – 619,000 overall viewers and 221,000 key demo viewers (Oro Mensah, Wes Lee, Carmelo Hayes, & Trick Williams backstage segment and match, the Schism promo segment, and Bron Breakker promo segment)
5Q – 680,000 overall viewers and 221,000 key demo viewers (Grimes & The O.C. vs. Schism match and the Veer Mahan & Sanga backstage segment)
6Q – 613,000 overall viewers and 213,000 key demo viewers (Katana Chance, Kayden Carter, Zoey Stark, & Nikkita Lyons backstage segment, Julius Creed & Damon Kemp backstage promo segment, and the Shotzi, Quincy Elliott, & Xyon Quinn segment)
7Q – 595,000 overall viewers and 210,000 key demo viewers (Quinn vs. Elliott match, Chase U & Chucky backstage segment, and the Pretty Deadly, Malik Blade, & Edris Enofe backstage segment)
8Q – 619,000 overall viewers and 208,000 key demo viewers (Raquel Rodriguez vs. Cora Jade and post-match with Perez and the start of the Kevin Owens, Breakker, JD McDonagh, & Ilja Dragunov promo segment)
Overrun – 703,000 viewers and 219,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Owens, Breakker, McDonagh, & Dragunov promo segment)

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for October 18th

The October 18th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and key demographic ratings and small decline in key demographic rankings. This week’s show was notable for being the first time since April of 2021 that WWE and AEW went head-to-head on the same night due to MLB Playoffs-related preemption issues.

AEW drew 752,000 viewers and a 0.26 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 8th place.

Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to very stiff sports competition that night and typical audience loss issues with the show being on a different night. Another reason reportedly was due to the large declines from all of AEW’s demographic groups, which were down 25% in Teenagers, down 11.3% in younger key demographic viewership, down 22.2% in older key demographic viewership, and down 25% in Over 50 viewership compared to last week’s show on a Wednesday.

In terms of non-NXT head-to-head competition, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Diego Padres drew 4,099,000 viewers on FS1, the NBA game of Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics drew 2,984,000 viewers on TNT, the NHL game of Philadelphia Flyers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning drew 494,000 viewers on ESPN, 7 Little Johnstons drew 904,000 viewers on TLC, Below Deck Down Under drew 664,000 viewers on Bravo, and Deadliest Catch Viking drew 710,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 339,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was 111,000 viewers (up 24.7%), Females 18-34 was 32,000 viewers (down 54.9%), Males 35-49 was 142,000 viewers (down 23.2%), and Females 35-49 was 54,000 viewers (down 19.4%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 253,000 male viewers and 86,000 female viewers for a split of 74.6% in favor of males.

In an interesting note, AEW managed to top NXT in overall key demographic viewership, Males 18-34, and Males 35-49. In terms of quarter-hours, AEW won six out of the eight quarter hours for overall viewership and all of the quarters for key demographic viewership.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, one of AEW’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 1,062,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 581,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 30.8% in overall viewership and up 17.7% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was up 9.2% compared to the same week last year. Meltzer reported that the reason for the large increases was due to last year’s show took place on a Saturday.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 1,069,000 overall viewers and 427,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW World Trios Championship match of Orange Cassidy & Best Friends vs. Death Triangle (c))
2Q – 824,000 overall viewers and 344,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the AEW World Trios Championship match, Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Adam Page video package, the Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, & Rebel backstage segment, and the start of the AEW Interim Women’s World Championship match of Hikaru Shida vs. Toni Storm (c))
3Q – 797,000 overall viewers and 354,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW Interim Women’s World Championship match and post-match brawl with Baker, Hayter, Rebel, Saraya, & Riho, the WarJoe promo video, and the FTR & Swerve In Our Glory backstage segment)
4Q – 827,000 overall viewers and 405,000 key demo viewers (MJF & William Regal promo segment)
5Q – 645,000 overall viewers and 313,000 key demo viewers (The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn backstage segment, the Bryan Danielson & Wheeler Yuta backstage segment, and the start of the ROH World Championship match of Dalton Castle vs. Chris Jericho (c))
6Q – 618,000 overall viewers and 293,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the ROH World Championship match and post-match angle with Jerry Lynn and the Christian Cage & Luchasaurus backstage segment)
7Q – 581,000 overall viewers and 275,000 key demo viewers (Jade Cargill & The Baddies backstage segment and the start of the AEW World Championship match of Page vs. Moxley (c))
8Q – 658,000 overall viewers and 300,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW World Championship match and post-match angle with MJF)

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for October 14th

The October 14th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW gain a large increase in overall viewership and key demographic rankings and a small increase in key demographic ratings.

AEW Rampage drew 458,000 viewers and a 0.17 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 9th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reasons for AEW’s increases that week was due to the very large increase from their younger key demographic viewership and older key demographic viewership groups, which were up 42.9% and 26.3% respectively compared to the prior week’s show. This reportedly offset the decline from their Over 50 viewership group, which was down 5.3% compared to the prior week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 3 of Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres drew 4,074,000 viewers on FS1, the College football game of Navy vs. SMU drew 959,000 viewers on ESPN, the NBA Preseason game of Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors drew 540,000 viewers on ESPN2, Gold Rush: The Dirt drew 740,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, On Patrol Live drew 740,000 viewers on REELZ Channel, and 90 Day Fiance First Look drew 711,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 220,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 152,000 male viewers and 68,000 female viewers for a split of 69.1% in favor of males. Meltzer also reported that week’s Rampage show was the third youngest skewing sports show for the week while that week’s Dynamite was the fifth youngest skewing sports show, behind one NHL game, two English Premiere League soccer games, and Rampage.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 20.8% in overall viewership and down 29.7% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 41.2% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 454,000 overall viewers and 203,000 key demo viewers (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs. The Butcher & The Blade match and post-match promo and the Swerve In Our Glory backstage segment)
2Q – 494,000 overall viewers and 239,000 key demo viewers (Dark Order, Jose The Assistant, & Stu Grayson backstage segment, the JAS & Dalton Castle promo segment, the Toni Storm vs. Hikaru Shida match video package, and the bulk of the Nyla Rose vs. Anna Jay A.S. match)
3Q – 437,000 overall viewers and 213,000 key demo viewers (The ending of the Rose vs. Jay A.S. match and post-match angle with The Baddies, the Ari Daivari backstage segment, the Ethan Page vs. Isiah Kassidy match, and the Best Friends backstage segment)
4Q – 443,000 overall viewers and 225,000 key demo viewers (The Pinnacle vs. The Embassy 6-Man Tag Team match)