Unfortunate news for AEW and Tony Khan ahead of Double or Nothing 2025

AEW is set to host this year's edition of its iconic Double or Nothing pay-per-view later this week. Unfortunately, one of the Tony Khan-led promotion's weekly programs registered a major drop in ratings prior to the upcoming event.

The May 21 episode of AEW Dynamite emanated from the Rio Rancho Events Center in Albuquerque, NM. This show served as the go-home edition of the program before Double or Nothing 2025 this coming Sunday.

To that end, it featured many of the promotion's top stars who are also set to appear on the upcoming PPV, including The Death Riders, The Elite, The Opps, Swerve Strickland, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, Will Ospreay, Mercedes Mone, Jamie Hayter, Mina Shirakawa, and Toni Storm, to name a few.

Despite presenting a star-studded card, this week's episode of Dynamite witnessed a sharp drop in viewership figures compared to last week's Beach Break edition of the program. The show pulled in an overall number of 575,000 viewers, with an 18-49 demographic rating of 0.15.

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Dynamite this week reportedly ranked sixth on cable in the aforementioned demographic, according to Programming Insider. These figures do not include numbers from MAX, where the show was simulcast.

Match results for this week's AEW Dynamite

All Elite Wrestling featured just three matches this week on AEW Dynamite. The first was a trios match pitting Jon Moxley and The Young Bucks against Swerve Strickland, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Samoa Joe. The Realest secured the victory for his team with a pinfall over Matthew Jackson.

Afterwards, Anthony Bowens took on Ricochet in singles action, with The Excellence of Elevation picking up the win using underhanded tactics once again. Although the high-flyer was ambushed by Mark Briscoe afterwards, he somehow managed to escape the latter's clutches.

Finally, Mina Shirakawa defeated Julia Hart in the main event of Dynamite. She even took out her Double or Nothing 2025 opponent, AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm, despite The Timeless One helping her fend off a post-match assault from Hart and Skye Blue.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee