A&E’s WWE programming looks to be a hit

WWE and A&E kicked off their ten week partnership this past Sunday (April 18, 2021) with a two hour Stone Cold Steve Austin episode of Biography, and the premiere of the Triple H & Stephanie McMahon-hosted memorabilia show, WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures.

Reactions around the Cageside offices were mixed/positive. The Austin doc was well done, but recovered ground wrestling fans are well familiar with. Treasures - which this week focused on Mick Foley - was fun, but not anything that’s going to stick with you.

Our nutshell reviews don’t pay the bills, though. Happy advertisers do. And if the numbers from week one of A&E’s pro wrestling sports entertainment experiment are any indication, their advertisers are probably going to be happy.

Biography drew 1.06 million viewers from 8 - 10 p.m. Eastern, and .38 rating among 18 - 49 year olds. That was sixth best among cable originals on the day, trailing an afternoon NBA game & Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, and reality fare like TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé, Bravo’s Real Housewives of Atlanta & Food Network’s Tournament of Champions.

It’s follow-up Treasures held onto 766K of those viewers, and had a 0.29 rating in the demo. That was good for 11th place.

For comparison, A&E’s two rated show the previous Sunday was the 8 p.m. Storage Wars which was watched by 468K and drew a .07 with the under 50 crowd, and finished in 82nd. So even with an expected drop-off for this Sunday’s Roddy Piper Biography and a hunt for Undertaker & Kane Treasures, it seems safe A&E will improve on what they had been doing.

Impressed by these numbers? Thoughts on the shows? Chime in below.

Ratings & viewership data via Showbuzz Daily