AEW and WWE continue to dominate the airwaves, as they record ratings and market share amid a drop in viewership across the country.
Five of the top twelve shows on cable last week were pro-wrestling programs – an incredible win for the industry.
These shows include two of WWE’s programs, and three shows from AEW (which included a one-off special outside their normal time slot.
These shows did not hit record numbers, but did hold their position in the ratings amid a big drop-off in TV viewers in general.
The five pro-wrestling shows that cracked the top-12 shows on cable in the United States this week were:
- Monday Night Raw (Monday)
- NXT (Tuesday)
- AEW Dynamite (Wednesday)
- AEW Collision (Friday)
- Battle of the Belts (Friday)
This list does not include Smackdown, which is not a cable show.
Instead, it is shown on network television, which is available in more homes, and as such has bigger competition to deal with.
Despite this, the show regularly hits more than 2.5 million viewers, and is seen as a huge success for the Fox Network.
This impressive win for the world of pro-wrestling was reported by noted journalist Dave Meltzer, who has spent the last 40-years covering the industry.
Earlier today, Meltzer Tweeted out “Of the top 12 entertainment shows for the week on cable, five were pro wrestling shows.”
This stat does not include streaming numbers, no does it account for oversees viewers – both AEW and WWE have big-money deals in the UK, and beyond.
With the decline in viewership in all of TV (the advent of streaming has taken millions of viewers from network and cable), it appears live sports like Pro-Wrestling are among the hottest commodities around.
AEW recently announced they made over $100 million last year. By comparison, at their absolute peak during the days when pro-wrestling dominated the airwaves, WCW’s best year saw them earn only $30 million.
Meanwhile, WWE continue to sign billion dollar deals with various sources. They integrated the WWE Network into Peacock for a billion dollars, a deal which saw record views for pay per views like WrestleMania, and the Royal Rumble.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian government also paid them a billion dollars to bring a series of shows to their country.
This has drawn huge controversy, and exposed the blatant human riots violations that the country has engaged in.
Despite this, the company grows more and more popular, and makes more and more money.
The ratings prove just how much the pro-wrestling industry is growing, and how it continues to dominate the cable TV world.
With TV rights negotiations beginning soon for both companies, we could see the biggest deals signed for wrestling in history, and launch both WWE and AEW into a stratosphere never seen before.