Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff who is the former boss of WCW recently talked about the AEW viewership. He gave his view on AEW not getting enough viewership growth in the recent time.
Of course, AEW is in the pole position to beat WWE in the near future since they have produced some amazing events recently. They are producing better matches and better feuds. But signing so many wrestlers could have been a negative side in the near future.
Eric Bischoff Questions Lack Of Viewership Growth Of AEW
Tony Khan is a business tycoon who is currently the co Owner of the All Elite Wrestling as mentioned above. His father Shahid Khan is also the owner of the famous NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars. Shahid Khan is also the owner of the world famous English football team Fulham.
Without any doubt, AEW is currently the biggest competition of WWE. They have signed some of the biggest names in the world of professional wrestling today. Most awaited return in professional wrestling has to be the return of CM Punk, which WWE failed to offer the fans but AEW made The Impossible dream possible.
This is not the first time a professional wrestling promotion is giving competition to WWE. There were a lot of professional wrestling promotion that were competitions of WWE before. Promotions like WCW, ECW and TNA Wrestling, all were rivals of WWE at a time. But WWE was able to beat them all. But it would not be very easy for them to surpass AEW.
Eric Bischoff who is the former boss of WCW recently spoke on his 83 Weeks podcast where he talked about the AEW viewership. He gave his view on AEW not getting enough viewership growth in the recent time. He said;
“You look at the shows – let’s be honest, and I’m not being critical. I like AEW, and I want AEW to prosper. But let’s be honest about where AEW is. They drew 872,000 viewers this past Wednesday night or whatever the number was. It was under 900,000. That’s what they were doing a year ago.
“The talent roster is stacked with great talent, phenomenal talent. Where’s the audience for it? It’s not working. To the extent they’re stable? I guess if stability is measured by holding onto a relatively low rating, particularly in light of the roster that exists and the potential within that roster. 872,000 viewers on their “A” show? That’s not exciting.
“A little over 400,000 on Friday night on TNT? Friday night sucks, let’s not forget that. I’ll be careful about being too critical because it’s fucking Friday night and you’re appealing to 18 to 49 year old males. Most 18 to 49 year olds I know are either taking their family out to dinner or in a bar looking to hook up, or hanging out with their buddies.
“They’re doing any number of things that don’t include sitting home and watching television on a Friday night. So, I acknowledge that. I’m defining it as an “A” show and “B” show based on the amount of audience it draws consistently. If you’re “A” show is under 900,000 with CM Punk and Bryan Danielson…..the numbers are the numbers. These are numbers AEW was doing a year ago or two years ago. And now you’re gonna stack even more talent on top of them? What are you gonna do with them?”
H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania