AEW: AEW International Title Added to Battle of the Belts IX, CJ Perry Finger Infection Update, WBD Touts AEW’s 2023 Ratings Success

Jan 13, 2024

AEW International Title Match Added to Battle of the Belts IX

AEW recently announced one new official match for the card of their Battle of the Belts IX special, which takes place later tonight in Norfolk, Virginia.

This new match announced was an AEW International Championship match of Preston Vance vs. Orange Cassidy (c).

TOMORROW
Norfolk, VA#AEWBOTB9 @AEW International Title@orangecassidy vs @Pres10Vance

After he kicked off 2024 scoring the winning pin for their team Wednesday, Preston Vance will challenge Orange Cassidy for the International Title TOMORROW, Live on TNT After #AEWCollision! pic.twitter.com/npgU3SZMAZ
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) January 12, 2024

Current card for AEW Battle of the Belts IX:

AEW World Tag Team Championship Street Fight match – Le Sex Gods (Sammy Guevara & Chris Jericho) vs. Big Bil & Ricky Starks (c)
AEW International Championship – Preston Vance vs. Orange Cassidy (c)
TBS Championship – Anna Jay vs. Julia Hart (c)

CJ Perry Finger Infection Status Update – Perry to Undergo Second Surgery if Her Finger Blood Circulation Doesn’t Improve

As noted before, CJ Perry hospitalized for a second time this past Wednesday over complications from surgery she underwent this past December for an infection on her finger that spread to her arm.

Perry provided an update on Friday stating that her surgeon informed her that she will need to undergo a second surgery if her surgeon does not see more blood flow in her infected finger.

Today the surgeon told me she needs to see more blood or I’ll need second surgery. Thank you for your 🙏🏼💛 pic.twitter.com/mArfIcWoJb
— CJ Perry (@TheCJPerry) January 13, 2024

Warner Bros Discovery Touts AEW’s Viewership & Ratings Success for 2023

Warner Brothers Discovery recently touted the viewership and ratings success that AEW programming generated for TNT and TBS for 2023.

Official press release:

TBS & TNT All Elite Wrestling Programming Delivered Banner Year
AEW Franchises across Warner Bros. Discovery’s Networks Continue to Deliver Consistent & Top-Ranked Programs
TNT and TBS have wrapped up another stellar year of AEW wrestling across its networks, including consistently delivering top-ranked programs each week while expanding AEW programming in mid-2023 through TNT’s AEW: Collision on Saturdays and continuing to broadcast memorable wrestling moments and storylines through TBS’ AEW: Dynamite on Wednesday nights and TNT’s AEW: Rampage on Friday nights.
AEW programs across TBS and TNT in 2023 ranked in the top 10 of all cable programs among adults under-50 72 times, including 50 times with a top-5 program in that coveted demo.
Viewership of AEW programming on the networks saw increasing momentum as the year culminated, reaching 15.6 million total viewers in Q4 2023, up 3% vs. Q4 2022.
Overall, AEW programming reached nearly four million viewers each week across TNT and TBS.
TBS continued its success into the new year, with this week’s AEW: Dynamite telecast delivering cable’s most-watched live sports program on the night among P25-54, and second-most watched live sports program on the night among P18-49. The program was also up double-digits in both demos vs. last week’s AEW: Dynamite telecast.
WBD’s action-packed AEW programming continues tonight with AEW: Rampage Homecoming at 10 p.m. ET on TNT and tomorrow with AEW: Collision at 8 p.m. ET on TNT. Next Wednesday’s AEW: Dynamite on TBS will feature AEW World Champion Samoa Joe taking on Hook for the title presented by WB Games’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

In regards to the four million weekly viewers number given by WBD, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Friday’s Daily Update that this included everyone who watched at least one minute of AEW programming via live and DVR viewing. Meltzer reported that WWE’s RAW weekly viewership would be around three million and SmackDown’s weekly viewership would be around five million using the same measurements.