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WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently shared his honest thoughts about AEW Rampage's low ratings.
The April 15 episode had a special start time of 7 PM ET, three hours early from the usual 10 PM ET. The change was made to accommodate TNT's coverage of the NBA Play-in tournament between the Los Angeles Clippers and New Orleans Pelicans at 9 PM ET. The Rampage main event featured Hangman Page and Adam Cole in a Texas Deathmatch for the AEW World Championship.
Speaking on the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker said that it was alarming that Rampage couldn't draw people. He also admitted that he didn't know what was happening behind the scenes.
"A lot of stuff is going on Friday night to compete with but then again, it does reflect on AEW not drawing 500,000 viewers to watch the show on a Friday night, that says a whole lot. It's hard for me to speak to it as far as numbers go because I really don't know how much they're spending for the shows they're producing every week. I don't know what the advertising dollars are or anything like that," Booker said. [from 3:47 - 4:19]
However, Booker felt that TNT might not be happy with the wrestling show experiencing low ratings. He also expressed some concerns but added that it was part of the learning process as a budding promotion.
"I don't think the network [TNT] is jumping for joy or having parties about less than 500,000 people watching the show. I think there has to be some kind of concern about that but then again we're young company." [from 4:23 - 4:41]
Check out the clips from the episode below:
AEW Rampage garnered disappointing numbers last week
After achieving the highest numbers since January Beach Break last April 8, AEW Rampage registered another rating drop.
Last week's episode drew 482,000 viewers on TNT, while the key demo rating only got 0.22. The viewership now stands as the sixth-lowest year alongside the March 4 and 11 Rampage episodes.
Rampage's recent rating drop was concerning even though the show offered pay-per-view caliber matches. It will be interesting to see if this Friday's show will bounce back and regain momentum.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit the Hall of Fame podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcription.
