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Women Of Wrestling Draws “Terrible” Debut Ratings

By Alex Podgorski • Published 14th October 2022

Women of Wrestling (WOW) has not gotten off to a great start at all with the debut TV ratings for the promotion reported to be “not good at all.”

(WOW is a California-based women’s wrestling promotion. It was first created in 2000 and has undergone several closures and revivals over the years. The current incarnation follows WWE’s style of having people portray heavily dramatized characters.

In 2017, the WOW show was greenlit for several seasons but only two were completed following MGM Television’s acquisition of Anthem Sports, which owned Impact, which had its own women’s division. However, after a different distribution deal that made the byzantine ownership situation even more complicated, WOW got a TV deal that would allow their shows to be broadcast on 160 syndicated channels.

And yet, that wide market access didn’t translate into wider fan interest. According to the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WOW’s debut episode, which also included the debut of April Mendez/AJ Lee as a color commentator, bombed spectacularly.

“The figures are not good at all. WOW had broadcast clearance in almost every market through CBS Media Ventures, but also that in many if not most markets, it was on in terrible time slots. But it was actually available in more homes than even Smackdown, about 50 percent more homes than USA, TNT and TBS and triple the number of homes as Impact and New Japan.
The 9/18 debut episode had 281,000 viewers and an 0.03 (44,000) in 18-49. The second show on 9/25 did 273,000 viewers and an 0.06 (79,000) in 18-49. The third week on 10/2 did 251,000 viewers and 0.04 (57,000) in 18-49.
These are terrible numbers for full national syndication, but bad numbers were almost a guarantee considering the time slot the shows are in.”

Although TV numbers aren’t as significant as they used to be thanks to streaming services and pirating, many analysts and key stakeholders still consider TV viewership as a major metric in a show’s success or failure.