AEW Dynamite Beats WWE SmackDown In TV Ratings

The TV ratings battle has been brought into sharp focus with AEW going up against WWE, and although not going head-to-head Dynamite has now beaten SmackDown.

TV ratings were the talk of the wrestling industry during the Monday Night Wars between WWE and WCW and the conversation resumed when NXT and AEW Dynamite began going head-to-head in 2019.

AEW won that battle handily on the majority of weeks and the head-to-head battle stopped when NXT retreated to airing on Tuesday nights in the spring of 2021.

Much was made of the 10th of October 2023 editions of Dynamite and NXT as the two shows went head-to-head for one night only as WWE loaded their show with the likes of John Cena, Cody Rhodes, and even The Undertaker, ultimately that meant NXT crushed Dynamite in the ratings on that night.

AEW Picks Up Rare Win Over WWE

AEW put Rampage and Collision together as a block that went head-to-head with WWE Survivor Series and did not fare well as a result. However, what many missed was that Dynamite had a rare victory over SmackDown in the ratings although the shows did not go head-to-head and SmackDown aired on FS1 rather than its usual home of FOX.

Wrestlenomics reported that Dynamite on the 22nd of November had 845,000 viewers with a 0.26 rating in the 18-49 key demo. While SmackDown on the 24th of November only managed to attract 789,000 viewers and a 0.24 rating in the 18-49 key demo.

A 2022 report by the Sports Business Journal noted that TBS was available in 78.8 million homes in the US while FS1 lagged slightly behind and was available in 77.15 million homes.