Anna Jay’s man is a draw

The good news for AEW in June, when Dynamite has more often than not been pre-empted out of its usual Wednesday night timeslot on TNT by the NBA playoffs, is that its core audience will find the show. A lot of that has reportedly come via DVR or VOD, but with Dynamite’s move to 8 pm ET on Sat., June 26, the show had its best first run numbers in a month.

Another factor behind the viewership and ratings data provided by Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer was Saturday Night’s main event. The overall audience of 649K and a .21 in the 18-49 year old demographic is great, but the rating also peaked at a .28 for the Kenny Omega vs. Jungle Boy World title match that closed the show. By that point, Dynamite was going head-to-head with the Phoenix Suns/Los Angeles Clippers that tipped off at 9 pm ET, so that number is particularly encouraging.

Plus, AEW is done moving around for a while, and returns to Wednesday with tomorrow nights episode. And their return to traveling for live shows with bigger crowds comes the week after that with July 7’s Road Rager in Miami.

Methinks we’ll see more of Anna Jay’s man in the main event as time goes on. That Omega guy is no slouch, either.

Here’s a breakdown of AEW viewership and rating in the 18-49 demo over the last year:

• June 24, 2020: 633,000 / .22
• July 1: 748,000 / .29
• July 8: 715,000 / .28
• July 15: 788,000 / .29
• July 22: 845,000 / .32
• July 29: 773,000 / .30
• Aug. 5: 901,000 / .36
• Aug. 12: 792,000 / .32
• Aug. 22: 755,000 / .31
• Aug. 27: 813,000 / .29
• Sept. 2: 928,000 / .36
• Sept. 9: 1.02 million / .37
• Sept. 16: 886,000 / .34
• Sept. 23: 835,000 / .32
• Sept. 30: 866,000 / .33
• Oct. 7: 753,000 / .31
• Oct. 14: 826,000 / .30
• Oct. 21: 753,000 / .30
• Oct. 28: 781,000 / .32
• Nov. 4: 717,000 / .30
• Nov. 11: 764,000 /.30
• Nov. 18: 850,000 / .37
• Nov. 25: 710,000 / .26
• Dec. 2: 913,000 / .42
• Dec. 9: 995,000 / .45
• Dec. 16: 806,000 / .32
• Dec. 23: 775,000 / .32
• Dec. 30: 977,000 / .40
• Jan. 6, 2021: 662,000 / .25
• Jan. 13: 762,000 / .30
• Jan. 20: 854,000 / .36
• Jan. 27: 734,000 / .29
• Feb. 3: 844,000 / .32
• Feb. 10: 741,000 / .29
• Feb. 17: 747,000 / .31
• Feb. 24: 831,000 / .35
• Mar. 3: 934,000 / .33
• Mar. 10: 743,000 / .32
• Mar. 17: 768,000 / .28
• Mar. 24: 757,000 / .30
• Mar. 31: 700,000 / .26
• Apr. 7: 688,000 / .28
• Apr. 14: 1,219,000 / .44
• Apr. 21: 1,104,000 / .37
• Apr. 28: 889,000 / .33
• May 5: 1,090,000 / .42
• May 12: 936,000 / .31
• May 19: 821,000 / .28
• May 28: 526,000 / .20
• June 4: 462,000 / .19
• June 11: 487,000 / .19
• June 18: 551,000 / .20
• June 26: 649,000 / .21

For complete results and this week’s Dynamite live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here.