It’s Thursday and you know what that means… ratings for Wednesday night AEW Dynamite are out. Sorry for no wrestling ratings last week, it was a busy time with the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting. We are back to the regular routine. This week’s show was jam-packed with loads of fun matches and segments throughout as we head towards Double or Nothing.
Jeff Hardy vs Darby Allin Highlights AEW Dynamite
The May 11, 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite was live from the UBS Arena on Long Island. The previous two shows saw lower viewership numbers than normal. Last week’s show of 883,000 and .32 in the 18-49 demo, was the lowest total viewership in the normal time slot since May 19, 2021. P18-49 was down only slightly from the previous week but still the lowest since February 16. Though the show finished fourth on cable with a lot of competition in the sports world.
This week’s show was viewed by 840,000 people and did .33 in the 18-49 demo which is about people. The viewership was down again while the demo was up. AEW Dynamite’s run of hitting over 900,000 viewers came to an end last week. Still, the show has been able to average 900,000 viewers or more in 17 of the past 20 weeks. Even with competition from the NHL and NBA, AEW Dynamite was still ranked fifth on cable according to Showbuzzdaily.com.
AEW Dynamite last night on TBS:
840,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.33📊 https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/8CsrefAbtb
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) May 12, 2022
This was a better show than the previous two weeks. And definitely better than last week. Tony Khan kicked things off with an Owen Hart Foundation tournament match between Dax Harwood and Adam Cole. If you want Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart in 2022, you got it with this match. Even the finish paid tribute to this great feud.
Then we got CM Punk trolling Islanders fans as he came out. The love/hate relationship with the fans on Long Island is great. His match with John Silver was excellent, especially the finish of Punk using Hangman Adam Page’s finisher. Speaking of Page he was on commentary. The two had a standoff after the match with Punk cutting a great promo.
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Then we saw Danhausen in action. He lost quick to Tony Neese, but this set up the handshake from Hook. The place went nuts. Probably the best segment of the night was the MJF and Wardlow stuff. MJF is the Bret Hart of 1997. He is hated everywhere else except his home of Long Island. MJF is a true entertainer in this business. He is playing up leaving so much and even got Shawn Spears to go back to his old Tye Dillinger 10 character. The crowd was into this. Wardlow got free and destroyed everyone insight. The build and payoff have been great.
Ricky Starks and Jungle Boy put on a heck of a match for the FTW Title. Though Jungle Boy lost, the seeds for Christian turning on him are being planted and the payoff will be great. Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter had a great match on the women’s side of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. The stuff with the Jericho Appreciation Society and the Blackpool Combat Club was awesome. Eddie Kingston showed up after getting fire in his face. This is an interesting dynamic to see where this leads.
The main event was awesome between Jeff Hardy and Darby Allin. This was an Owen Hart Foundation match as well. These guys had a killer anything goes match. It is as if these two guys wanted to lay waste to each other. Jeff Hardy got the win, but the respect between these two is there.
Here’s a look at the AEW Dynamite viewership and ratings in the 18-49 demo over the past year:
- 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
- June 30: 883,000 / .35
- July 7: 871,000 / .33
- July 14: 1,025,000 / .40
- July 21: 1,148,000 / .44
- July 28: 1,108,000 / .45
- Aug. 4: 1,102,000 / .46
- Aug. 11: 979,000 / .35
- Aug. 18: 975,000/ .35
- Aug. 25: 1,172,000/ .48
- Sept. 1: 1,047,000/ .38
- Sept. 8: 1,319,000/ .53
- Sept. 15 1,175,000/ .44
- Sept. 22 1,273,000/ .48
- Sept. 29 1,152,000/ .45
- Oct. 6 1,053,000/ .37
- Oct. 16 727,000/ .28
- Oct. 23 575,000/ .22
- Oct. 27 941,000/ .40
- Nov. 3 878,000 /.32
- Nov. 10 913,000/ .34
- Nov. 17 984,000/ .37
- Nov. 24 898,000/ .31
- Dec. 1 861,000/ .31
- Dec. 8 872,000/.33
- Dec. 15 948,000/ .33
- Dec. 22 1,020,000/ .37
- Dec. 29 975,000/.37
- Jan. 5 1,010,000/.43
- Jan, 12 969,000/.39
- Jan. 19 1,032,000/.44
- Jan. 26 1,100,00/ .41
- Feb. 2 954,000/.35
- Feb. 9 1,129,000/.41
- Feb. 16 869,000/.31
- Feb. 23 1,010,000/.40
- Mar. 2 966,000/.35
- Mar. 9. 945,000/ .40
- Mar. 16 993,000/ .38
- Mar. 23 1,040,000/ .41
- Mar. 30 979,000/.38
- Apr. 6 989,000/.38
- Apr. 13 977,000/ .37
- Apr. 20 930,000/ .37
- Apr. 27 921,000/ .33
- May 4 883,000/ .32
What are your thoughts on the show?
Just a note there are No Smackdown and AEW Rampage ratings as of right now with Rampage’s timeslot moving because of playoffs. You can still find them on my Twitter account @JimBiringer.
