Cody responds to criticism.
AEW Dynamite is only three weeks old and despite critical acclaim, ratings for the show have slipped every week. Ratings have declined across the board for every wrestling show since the start of October and declining ratings lead to criticisms of the product. According to Twitter user Chris Lonas, Vince Russo stated on his podcast that three months from now, AEW will be looking at the ratings and will be forced to adjust their product to something that appeals to the masses and not the marks.
AEW Co-Executive Vice President and wrestler Cody Rhodes, who was tagged in the tweet, responded to the criticism and claim that AEW will need to change its product.
We are happy and our partner is happy. We overshot projections and set a record for a WM debut. This is the era of cord cutting, simulcast and dvr bumps. We are proud of how incredible the numbers have been and know we need to work hard now more than ever.
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) October 21, 2019
Y’all can untag me friend. VR had great success in the 90s. None of this is really applicable to our brand today and this product. As fun as it is to keep moving the goal post, we keep scoring. Fans demanded this alternative and we were the lucky ones able to deliver it.
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) October 22, 2019
Cody also touted the success of AEW Dark, saying the two episodes have nearly two million viewers (combined) on YouTube.
AEW Dynamite is averaging 1.147 million viewers through three weeks on TNT (second-week TruTV simulcast numbers not included), winning every week of the Wednesday Night Wars against NXT. You can keep up with the ratings war with Fightful's TV viewership page.
