AEW Dynamite Ratings Drop Ahead Of WrestleDream
Despite having an interesting line-up and plenty of promotion, AEW wasn’t able to draw in a larger audience ahead of this Sunday’s WrestleDream event.
Last week’s episode, which was the Grand Slam episode and featured multiple title matches, drew 984,000 viewers, the third-highest number all year.
However, the company wasn’t able to achieve similar numbers again. According to Dave Scherer of PWInsider, the September 27th edition of Dynamite only managed to draw 855,000 viewers.
This is the lowest viewership for Dynamite since the August 9th episode, which was main-evented by a Women’s World Title match between Hikaru Shida and Anna Jay.
AEW preparing for important show at WrestleDream
The September 27th edition of Dynamite was built around both the fallout from last week’s Grand Slam episode and the build towards WrestleDream on October 1st.
WrestleDream is being promoted as a tribute show to Antonio Inoki, the late founder of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, who passed away one year ago on October 1, 2022.
NJPW has been one of AEW’s strongest and most prominent business partners since its inception and its wrestlers have worked closely with AEW for years now.
Ten matches have been announced for WrestleDream, with the most prominent being a “dream match” between AEW’s Bryan Danielson and NJPW’s Zack Sabre Jr., two men known the world over for their technical mat wrestling skills.
The most important changes to WrestleDream’s card following this week’s Dynamite has to do with MJF, who was originally scheduled to team with Adam Cole against the ROH duo of Vincent and Dutch.
However, following Cole injuring his ankle, that match is now a handicap match as MJF will take on both Vincent and Dutch alone.
Another one concerns the AEW International title, which changed hands suddenly and unexpectedly at Grand Slam last week due to an improvised finish following a botch involving Fenix, Jon Moxley, and referee Rick Knox.
Following that surprise title change, the originally-planned match between Moxley and a non-AEW wrestler was taken off the show.
It is also heavily rumored that Adam “Edge” Copeland might appear on the show as he is no longer under WWE contract with his current deal expiring on Saturday September 30th.