Big backstage update on Tony Khan's reaction after AEW Dynamite registers poor ratings - Reports

Although AEW has generated a lot of momentum for itself over the past couple of months, it has not always translated into increased viewership figures. The numbers drawn by last week's edition of Wednesday Night Dynamite could have stemmed from a major change in how ratings are now going to be measured, with a recent report now claiming that Tony Khan is aware of the implications of this change.

This past Wednesday, All Elite Wrestling hosted the Six Year Anniversary episode of its flagship program, AEW Dynamite. The show presented an exciting card full of high-octane matches, the debut of El Clon and the shocking return of Andrade El Idolo, among various other angles featuring the company's top names. However, the episode witnessed a rather sharp drop in viewership ratings compared to a week prior, raking in an average of 465,000 viewers and an 18-49 demo rating of 0.09.

It has been speculated that the shocking dip in viewership numbers last week, for AEW as well as for WWE's programming, owed itself to a recently-instituted change in Nielsen's TV ratings measurement, which has shifted from a panel-only model to a Big Data + Panel methodology for more accurate and granular analysis. Now, Fightful Select has claimed that as per an All Elite Wrestling source, the promotion's head honcho Tony Khan is "well aware" of the aforementioned changes and their implications. The report also reiterated that figures generated by Dynamite and Collision on MAX are not shared, and are "kept very quiet".

WrestlePurists

@WrestlePurists

One source in AEW said that Tony Khan is well aware of the Nielsen TV ratings measurement changes, how they work and is adept at what they mean specifically.​With AEW numbers, Max streaming is not reported for Collision and Dynamite, and the actual viewership emerging from those is kept very quiet.​- @FightfulSelect

It remains to be seen if the numbers drawn by Dynamite will bounce back for this week's episode.

Announcements for this week's AEW Dynamite

The upcoming October 7 edition of AEW Dynamite will emanate from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida this Tuesday instead of airing on its usual Wednesday-night slot. Several matches and segments have been announced for the program, which have been listed below:

• Mercedes Mone (c) vs TBD [Open Challenge for the TBS Championship]
• Kyle Fletcher (c) vs Kyle O'Reilly [TNT Championship Match]
• Orange Cassidy vs PAC
• Jurassic Express vs TBD
• Brodido vs Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita [Double Jeopardy Eliminator Match]
• Jon Moxley vs Tomohiro Ishii
• The Hurt Syndicate vs The Demand [Street Fight]
• Hangman Adam Page and Samoa Joe meet face-to-face

Card for Dynamite : Title Tuesday [Source : AEW's website (allelitewrestling.com)]

It remains to be seen what Tony Khan and his creative team has planned for viewers as they continue to set the stage for WrestleDream 2025, the promotion's upcoming pay-per-view.