How Did CM Punk Fight Footage Impact AEW Dynamite Ratings?

Did AEW Dynamite get the ratings boost the company was hoping for?

On the April 10th episode of AEW Dynamite, footage of the backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry at All In was shown for the first time.

In storyline, The Young Bucks said the incident had left them unprepared for their match at Wembley against FTR — who are friends with Punk. The pair said Perry had been made a scapegoat, and that the incident almost derailed the biggest show in AEW history.

In the clip, Punk can be seen going over to Perry backstage and after what looks like an exchange of words, Punk attempts to punch his rival and grab him in a chokehold. Within seconds the confrontation is broken up by Samoa Joe, Jerry Lynn, and others, and Punk is seen turning to someone off camera believed to be Tony Khan. There’s no audio with the video.

The company had been hoping that airing the footage would increase ratings and fan interest heading into Dynasty on April 21st. While the latter remains to be seen, the TV ratings did see an increase.

As reported by the Wrestling Observer, Dynamite pulled in 819,000 viewers which is an increase of 8.9% on the previous week. The episode drew a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 year old demographic — an increase of 30.4%

Meanwhile, Wrestlenomics reports that the segment involving CM Punk hit a high of 880,000 viewers, with a 0.34 rating in the demo outlined above.

AEW Discussed Taking Another Shot At CM Punk

It’s also been reported that AEW discussed Will Ospreay taking a shot at CM Punk.

While doing media over WrestleMania weekend, Punk made a reference to the British star getting a tattoo to commemorate the attendance for All In.

This led to a response from Ospreay being considered, but the company ultimately decided against