AEW Dynamite not only lost to WWE NXT in the ratings, it hit record lows

After this week’s NXT did its best rating of the year, one point of interest was whether WWE’s developmental show would outperform the AEW flagship program it once lost a “war” with.

Well, the ratings and viewership data are in for this week’s (June 19) episode of AEW Dynamite, and the answer to that question is “easily”. Per both Programming Insider and Wrestlenomics, Dynamite netted 502,000 viewers and a 0.16 rating in the 18-49 year old demographic. Those aren’t only well behind NXT’s 724,000 and .26, they’re new record lows for AEW’s longest running show in its regular timeslot.

So what happened? There was no one huge television event like an NBA Finals game, but there were lots of options on the dial. That includes the U.S. Olympic Trials (which won the night on broadcast for NBC with nearly 3.5 million viewers and a .44 in the demo) and the College World Series (which topped cable — where Dynamite finished third — with 1.79 million viewers and a .42 rating on ESPN). It was also Juneteenth, a national holiday that brought events like Kendrick Lamar’s streaming The Pop Out concert on Amazon. We don’t have numbers for that, and who knows how many hip-hop loving sickos picked watching K-Dot & friends dance on Drake’s grave over Dynamite, but it could be a factor.

Likely it was a bunch of things, including that it’s Forbidden Door season which has — rightly or wrongly — been criticized as relying on dream matches with partners like New Japan and CMLL over long-term storytelling. But one thing that has to be acknowledged is that general interest in AEW feels like it’s at an all-time low. A lot of people certainly picked doing something else over watching Dynamite on Wednesday night.

Whatever caused this week’s ratings crash, explanations don’t change the numbers. Share your reaction to them in the comments below.

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

• June 21, 2023: 902,000 / .33
• June 28: 809,000 / .24
• July 5: 855,000 / .29
• July 12: 825,000 / .29
• July 19: 953,000 / .34
• July 26: 898,000 / .29
• Aug. 2: 894,000 / .31
• Aug. 9: 846,000 / .29
• Aug. 16: 874,000 / .32
• Aug. 23: 870,000 / .32
• Aug. 30: 871,000 / .30
• Sept. 6: 887,000 / .31
• Sept. 13: 888,000 / .31
• Sept. 20: 984,000 / .36
• Sept. 27: 855,000 / .28
• Oct. 4: 800,000 / .28
• Oct. 10: 609,000 / .26
• Oct. 18: 901,000 / .31
• Oct. 25: 774,000 / .24
• Nov. 1: 832,000 / .28
• Nov. 8: 804,000 / .27
• Nov. 15: 823,000 / .28
• Nov. 22: 845,000 / .26
• Nov. 29: 858,000 / .29
• Dec. 6: 823,000 / .25
• Dec. 13: 845,000 / .30
• Dec. 20: 782,000 / .26
• Dec. 27: 843,000 / .31
• Jan. 3, 2024: 801,000 / .26
• Jan. 10: 797,000 / .29
• Jan. 17: 891,000 / .33
• Jan. 24: 837,000 / .27
• Jan. 31: 818,000 / .26
• Feb. 7: 805,000 / .28
• Feb. 14: 811,000 / .30
• Feb. 21: 828,000 / .29
• Feb. 28: 822,000 / .29
• Mar. 6: 779,000 / .27
• Mar. 13: 801,000 / .27
• Mar. 20: 800,000 / .27
• Mar. 27: 747,000 / .23
• Apr. 3: 752,000 / .23
• Apr. 10: 819,000 / .30
• Apr. 17: 762,000 / .26
• Apr. 24: 683,000 / .23
• May 1: 703,000 / .24
• May 8: 711,000 / .24
• May 15: 672,000 / .23
• May 22: 713,000 / .24
• May 29: 787,000 / .25
• June 5: 790,000 / .28
• June 12: 681,000 / .23
• June 19: 502,000 / .16

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