Tag: wrestling ratings

AEW Dynamite draws best ratings in months

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Wednesday night’s AEW Dynamite episode averaged 654,000 viewers on TBS, up slightly from the 653,000 viewers the show did last week. This marks the largest audience for Dynamite since the Grand Slam Mexico special on September 17 of last year.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite drew a 0.15 rating. That’s up 66.7 percent from the prior week and ties the best rating Dynamite has done in that category since August 20. The show finished tied for sixth on the cable charts for the night despite going head-to-head with an NBA game on ESPN that topped the chart with a 0.48 rating in 18-49 and 1.751 million viewers overall.

Beginning on January 26, Nielsen once again revised the way it calculates viewership with the Big Data + Panel rating system. This change has resulted in a noticeable increase for wrestling programs.

As compared to the same week in 2025, Dynamite’s overall viewership was up 8.1 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 11.8 percent.

Listed below are the last 10 available weeks of viewership totals and 18-49 demo ratings for Dynamite, along with the nine-week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 27.2 percent in viewers and 87.5 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

AEW Dynamite ratings —

DateAEW 18-49AEW total viewers
11/26/20250.1512,000
12/3/20250.09496,000
12/10/20250.09516,000
12/17/20250.08511,000
12/24/2025
12/31/20250.07398,000
1/7/20250.08516,000
1/14/20260.08526,000
1/21/20260.08498,000
1/28/20260.09653,000
2/4/20260.15654,000
*10 wk avg0.08514,000
*not including current week

February 9, 2026 Observer Newsletter: WWE Royal Rumble review & notes, AJ Styles retires?, wrestling ratings get a boost

Posted on by F4W Staff

Image: WWE

Dave Meltzer is back with this week’s brand-new Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

He leads off with a full recap and ratings from last weekend’s WWE Royal Rumble from Saudi Arabia that put WrestleMania 42 into motion and also raised questions as to whether AJ Styles is actually retiring from the ring.

Dave also looks at how another Nielsen ratings measurement adjustment has benefited wrestling in a big way.

He also writes the obituaries for The Great Mephisto and Bob Lueck, the latter of which got Superstar Billy Graham into the business.

All that plus the usual news roundup and scoops from WWE, AEW, CMLL, AAA, TNA, NJPW and the UFC/MMA world.

Click here to read (sub needed)

AEW Collision gets big ratings increase

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Saturday night’s AEW Collision episode averaged 492,000 viewers on TNT, up 94.5 percent from the previous week. It’s the largest reported audience total for the show since September 17, which was an episode following Dynamite on a Wednesday. In its regular time slot, this is the best viewership number for Collision since May 29, 2025.

Collision drew a 0.07 rating in the 18-49 demo, which was tied for 22nd on the night on the cable charts. That’s up 250 percent from last week and matches the highest rating the show has done in that category since October 15, which was another Wednesday airing. It’s the largest rating for Collision on a Saturday since August 9.

Nielsen has once again changed the methodology it uses to determine viewership for the Big Data+ Panel rating system. The recent change has resulted in increases across the board in terms of total viewers of wrestling shows since it went into effect on January 26.

As compared to the same week in 2025, Collision’s overall viewership was up 150 percent while the 18-49 rating was up 75 percent.

Listed below are the last nine available weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for Collision, along with the eight-week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 79.8 percent in viewers and 75 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

AEW Collision ratings —

DateCollision 18-49Collision overall
11/19/20250.07322,000
11/27/20250.06285,000
12/6/20250.03267,000
12/13/2025
12/17/20250.05333,000
12/25/20250.04217,000
1/3/20260.03241,000
1/10/20260.03271,000
1/17/2026
1/24/20260.02253,000
1/31/20260.07492,000
*10 wk avg0.04273,625
*not including current week

WWE NXT draws best viewership since October

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Tuesday night’s WWE NXT episode averaged 674,000 viewers on The CW, up 10.8 percent from last week. It’s the best audience total for the show since October 14 and is the second-highest viewership for NXT since Nielsen started using its new Big Data + Panel rating system.

In the 18-49 demo, NXT drew a 0.08 rating. That’s the same rating the show did last week and ties the lowest number for NXT in that category since December 30. It was the lowest ranked show on English-language network television both in total viewers and the key demo on Tuesday, though The CW generally has a lower profile than the other major broadcast networks.

As compared to the same week in 2025 (which used the old panel-only method), NXT’s overall viewership was down 18.5 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 57.9 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for NXT, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 11.3 percent in viewers but down 11.1 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE NXT ratings —

DateNXT 18-49NXT total viewers
11/18/20250.11650,000
11/25/20250.07562,000
12/2/20250.08532,000
12/9/20250.09647,000
12/16/20250.08607,000
12/23/20250.08602,000
12/30/20250.07604,000
1/6/20260.1627,000
1/13/20260.09618,000
1/20/20260.08608,000
1/27/20260.08674,000
*10 wk avg0.09605,700

AEW Collision draws record low 18-49 demo rating

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Saturday’s AEW Collision episode averaged 253,000 viewers on TNT, down 6.6 percent from two weeks ago (the most recent time a viewership number for the show has been reported). This marks the second-highest audience total for Collision since December 17, when the show aired after Dynamite.

Collision drew a 0.02 rating in the 18-49 demo, down 33.3 percent from the January 10 episode. This is the lowest rating Collision has done in that category in show history. It went head-to-head with UFC’s debut on Paramount Plus on Saturday night, as well as facing competition from the NBA on ABC and a college basketball game on Fox.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using its previous panel-only reporting method, Collision’s overall viewership was up 1.2 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 71.4 percent.

Listed below are the last nine weeks of available viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for Collision, along with the eight-week average in both categories. Numbers for the December 13 and January 17 episodes have not yet been reported. This week’s episode was down 6.1 percent in overall viewers and 50 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

AEW Collision ratings —

DateCollision 18-49Collision overall
11/15/20250.03219,000
11/19/20250.07322,000
11/27/20250.06285,000
12/6/20250.03267,000
12/13/2025
12/17/20250.05333,000
12/25/20250.04217,000
1/3/20260.03241,000
1/10/20260.03271,000
1/17/2026
1/24/20260.02253,000
“10 wk avg0.04269,375
*not including current week

AEW Dynamite ratings for January 21 episode

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

The January 21 episode of AEW Dynamite averaged 498,000 viewers on TBS, down 5.3 percent from the previous week. It’s the second-lowest reported audience total for the show since December 3.

Dynamite drew a 0.08 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s the same rating the show did the week before and ties the second-lowest rating Dynamite has ever drawn in that category on a Wednesday night. On the cable charts for the night, Dynamite was tied for 13th while going head-to-head with the NBA on ESPN and the NHL on TNT, which took the first and third spots on the chart.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using its old panel-only reporting method, Dynamite’s overall viewership was down 24 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 57.9 percent.

Listed below are the last 10 weeks of available viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for Dynamite (with numbers still not reported for the Christmas Eve episode), along with the nine-week average in both categories. This week’s episode was down 1.8 percent in viewers and 11.1 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

AEW Dynamite ratings —

DateAEW 18-49AEW total viewers
11/12/20250.15600,000
11/19/20250.1491,000
11/26/20250.1512,000
12/3/20250.09496,000
12/10/20250.09516,000
12/17/20250.08511,000
12/24/2025
12/31/20250.07398,000
1/7/20250.08516,000
1/14/20260.08526,000
1/21/20260.08498,000
*10 wk avg0.09507,333
*not including current week

TNA Impact ratings slightly down from last week

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Thursday night’s episode of TNA Impact averaged 171,000 viewers on AMC, down from the 173,000 the show averaged for it’s debut episode on the channel the week before.

Impact averaged a 0.03 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s down 25% from the first episode the prior week. Both numbers were initially reported by PWTorch.

The most recent widely reported viewership numbers for the station showed an average prime time viewership of 214,000 viewers for the week ending January 4, 2026, meaning that Impact would be 19.2% below that average.

The drops from the debut episode were less than what recent debuts have done. AEW Collision averaged 816,000 and a 0.33 rating for it’s debut episode on June 17, 2023 and dropped to 595,000 and 0.21 for week 2, declines of 27.1% and 36.4% respectively. WWE NXT averaged 1.179 million viewers for it’s debut on the USA Network in 2019 with a 0.43 rating and dropped to 1.006 million and 0.32 for week 2, drops of 14.7% and 25.6%.

Listed below are the total viewership and 18-49 rating for episode of TNA Impact on AMC since their debut.

DateImpact 18-49Impact T.V.
1/15/20260.04173,000
1/22/20260.03171,000

WWE SmackDown below one million viewers for second straight week

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Last Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown averaged 968,000 viewers on the USA Network, down 2.2% from the previous week. It’s the second lowest audience the show has done since moving back to the network in 2024.

SmackDown averaged a 0.21 rating in the 18-49 demo. The show finished second on the cable charts, trailing an NBA game on ESPN that averaged a 0.35 rating. They were also head to head with a college basketball game on FOX that averaged a 0.72 rating.

They were down 19.2% from the prior week and it was the lowest rating for the show in that category since Halloween night last year.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using their previous ratings reporting method, the overall viewership was down 31% while the 18-49 rating was down 50%.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for WWE SmackDown on the USA Network as well as the 10 week average in both categories. This week’ s show was down 14% in overall viewers and 19.2% in 18-49 as compared to recent averages.

Date18-49Total viewers
11/7/20250.261,141,000
11/14/20250.271,158,000
11/21/20250.291,210,000
11/28/20250.281,142,000
12/5/20250.241,063,000
12/12/20250.261,240,000
12/19/20250.21995,000
12/26/20250.271,138,000
1/2/20260.281,175,000
1/9/20260.26990,000
1/16/20260.21968,000
10 week average0.261,125,200

TNA Impact AMC premiere ratings revealed

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

We now have viewership information for TNA Impact’s premiere episode on AMC.

The January 15 edition of Impact averaged 173,000 viewers on AMC, which should be a significant increase over what the show had been doing on AXS TV. The most recent available ratings information from a few years back had Impact hovering around 100,000 viewers.

Despite that, this is below what AMC currently averages in prime time.

Impact’s debut on the channel drew a 0.04 rating in the 18-49 demo. That is in the range of what AMC normally averages in prime time and is up from what TNA was doing on AXS a couple of years ago — when reported numbers were usually between 0.01 and 0.03.

The demo rating is higher than AEW Collision drew for its January 10 episode, though Collision had higher viewership. Collision averaged 271,000 viewers for that show with a 0.03 demo rating.

Impact’s AMC premiere was headlined by a World Championship match between Frankie Kazarian and Mike Santana. There was also an appearance by AJ Styles on the show, along with the surprise TNA debuts of Daria Rae (Sonya Deville) and Elayna Black (Cora Jade).

Impact returns this Thursday with another live episode airing on AMC from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time.

WWE NXT ratings down from New Year’s Evil

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Tuesday night’s WWE NXT episode averaged 618,000 viewers on The CW, down 1.4 percent from last week’s New Year’s Evil special. This marks the second-highest audience total for the show since December 9.

In the 18-49 demo, NXT drew a 0.09 rating. That’s down 10 percent from last week but ties the second-highest rating the show has done in that category since November 18. Among English-language network programming for the night, NXT was the lowest-rated show, though The CW has a smaller profile than the other major networks.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using its panel-only reporting method, NXT’s overall viewership was down 20.7 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 47.1 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 ratings for NXT, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s episode was up 4.5 percent in overall viewers and 12.5 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE NXT ratings —

DateNXT 18-49NXT total viewers
11/4/20250.08528,000
11/11/20250.07554,000
11/18/20250.11650,000
11/25/20250.07562,000
12/2/20250.08532,000
12/9/20250.09647,000
12/16/20250.08607,000
12/23/20250.08602,000
12/30/20250.07604,000
1/6/20260.1627,000
1/13/20260.09618,000
*10 wk avg0.08591,300
*not including current week

AEW Collision viewership up, key demo rating ties record low

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Saturday night’s AEW Collision episode averaged 271,000 viewers on TNT, up 12.5 percent from the previous week. This is the largest Saturday night audience for the show since November 8.

Collision drew a 0.03 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s the same number the show did last week and ties the lowest rating Collision has ever done in that category.

There was heavy sports competition on the night with the NFL playoffs airing head-to-head.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using its former panel-only reporting method, Collision’s overall viewership was down 19.6 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 66.7 percent.

Listed below are the last 10 weeks of available viewership figures and 18-49 demo ratings for Collision, as well as the nine-week average in both categories. Numbers for the December 13 episode have not been released. This week’s show was up 2.1 percent in overall viewers but down 25 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

AEW Collision ratings —

DateCollision 18-49Collision overall
11/1/20250.03217,000
11/8/20250.06289,000
11/15/20250.03219,000
11/19/20250.07322,000
11/27/20250.06285,000
12/6/20250.03267,000
12/13/2025
12/17/20250.05333,000
12/25/20250.04217,000
1/3/20260.03241,000
1/10/20260.03271,000
*10 wk avg0.04265,556
*not including current week

WWE SmackDown drops below one million viewers

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown averaged 990,000 viewers on USA Network, down 15.7 percent from the prior week. This marks the lowest audience total for the show since Halloween night 2025.

The episode took place from Berlin, Germany and aired live on Netflix outside of the United States prior to the USA Network airing. It was headlined by a big title change with Drew McIntyre defeating Cody Rhodes in a Three Stages of Hell match to become the new WWE Champion.

In the 18-49 demo, the USA Network broadcast drew a 0.26 rating. That’s down 7.1 percent from the previous week and is the third-highest number the show has done in that category since November 28.

SmackDown went head-to-head with a College Football Playoff game on ESPN that topped all of television with a 3.86 rating in 18-49 and drew more than 17 million viewers. SmackDown was second on TV in the key demo during a night where the main English-language broadcast networks combined for less than nine million viewers overall.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using its old panel-only measurement system, SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 31.1 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 35 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, along with the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was down 11.6 percent in viewers but steady in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE SmackDown ratings —

Date18-49Total viewers
10/31/20250.20933,000
11/7/20250.261,141,000
11/14/20250.271,158,000
11/21/20250.291,210,000
11/28/20250.281,142,000
12/5/20250.241,063,000
12/12/20250.261,240,000
12/19/20250.21995,000
12/26/20250.271,138,000
1/2/20260.281,175,000
1/9/20260.26990,000
10-week average0.261,119,500

AEW Dynamite ratings up for first episode of 2026

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

The January 7 edition AEW Dynamite averaged 516,000 viewers on TBS, up 29.7 percent from the New Year’s Smash episode the prior week. This ties the best audience total the show has done since November 12.

Dynamite drew a 0.08 rating in the 18-49 demo. That’s up 14.3 percent from last week’s record low but ties the second-lowest rating the show has ever done in that category on a Wednesday night.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using its old panel-only reporting system, Dynamite’s overall viewership was down 16.1 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 52.9 percent.

Listed below are the last 10 weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings that are currently available for Dynamite, as well as the nine-week average in both categories. Numbers for the episode that aired on Christmas Eve have not yet been reported. This week’s show was up 3.6 percent in viewers but down 11.1 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE NXT ratings up for New Year’s Evil 2026

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Tuesday night’s WWE NXT episode — the brand’s annual New Year’s Evil special — averaged 627,000 viewers on The CW, up 3.8 percent from last week. It’s the best audience total for the show since December 9.

In the 18-49 demo, NXT drew a 0.10 rating. That’s up 42.9 percent from last week and is the highest rating the show has done in that category since November 18.

As compared to the same week in 2025, when Nielsen was still using its old panel-only ratings reporting method, NXT’s overall viewership was down 21.4 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 52.4 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for NXT, as well as the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s show was up 7.9 percent in viewers and 25 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE NXT ratings —

DateNXT 18-49NXT total viewers
10/21/20250.07525,000
10/28/20250.07527,000
11/4/20250.08528,000
11/11/20250.07554,000
11/18/20250.11650,000
11/25/20250.07562,000
12/2/20250.08532,000
12/9/20250.09647,000
12/16/20250.08607,000
12/23/20250.08602,000
12/30/20250.07604,000
*10 wk avg0.08573,400
not including current week

WWE SmackDown ratings up for move to three hours

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Friday night’s WWE SmackDown episode averaged 1.175 million viewers on USA Network, up 3.3 percent from the previous week. It’s the second-largest audience total for the show since November 21.

This was the first SmackDown episode of 2026 and marked the return to a three-hour format. The show drew a 0.28 rating in the 18-49 demo, which is up 3.7 percent from the prior week and ties the best rating SmackDown has done in that category since the November 21 edition.

As compared to the same week in 2025, (which used Nielsen’s old panel-only reporting method), SmackDown’s overall viewership was down 23.1 percent while the 18-49 rating was down 37.8 percent.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of viewership numbers and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, along with the 10-week average in both categories. This week’s episode was up 5.2 percent in viewers and 7.7 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE SmackDown ratings —

Date18-49Total viewers
10/24/20250.291,147,000
10/31/20250.20933,000
11/7/20250.261,141,000
11/14/20250.271,158,000
11/21/20250.291,210,000
11/28/20250.281,142,000
12/5/20250.241,063,000
12/12/20250.261,240,000
12/19/20250.21995,000
12/26/20250.271,138,000
12/2/20260.281,175,000
10-week average0.261,116,700