Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: dynamite, impact, ratings, Raw, Smackdown, wrestling, wwe

Ratings Wars: AEW Dynamite, WWE Smackdown Win with Return of Fans

WWE Smackdown and AEW Dynamite were the beneficiaries of increased excitement around live wrestling with real crowds last week. Here's how each of the top wrestling shows performed in the Ratings Wars during Week 26 of 2021, brought to you by me, The Chadster, wrestling's last true, unbiased journalist.

The Bottom Line 'Cause Chad Said So – Wrestling Ratings for Week 26 of 2021

WWE Raw, WWE Smackdown, and AEW Dynamite all saw decent boosts in viewership last week, even as Raw was a taped episode from the Thunderdome the week prior. NXT and Impact stayed relatively flat in viewership. In the key demo of 18-49, however, both Smackdown and Dynamite saw a big boost. For Smackdown, the excitement of the first weekly WWE main roster show with real fans in attendance probably drove the increase in viewership. Dynamite also topped a million viewers last week, though Smackdown doubled that number.

For AEW, who have had fans in attendance at some level through most of the pandemic and therefore held a unfair advantage the whole time, didn't see a major boost when they returned to touring last week, but as usual Tony Khan is a cheater so he booked two nights of Fyter Fest to follow Road Rager, and with a coffin match in the main event of Fyter Fest Night 1, Dynamite's demo rating came close to beating Raw's, and Dynamite even won in Men 18-49. Scary!

Thank goodness the fans are back for Raw next week too, so The Chadster can rest easy knowing that Dynamite will never harm his beloved WWE again. Yes, The Chadster has mixed feelings because, in The Chadster's opinion, wrestling was at its very best when there were no fans at all. Give The Chadster the absolute silence of the WWE Performance Center, without any rude fans booing when they're supposed to cheer or cheering when they're supposed to boo, over this live excitement any day of the week!

Wrestling Ratings Wars Scorecard for Week 26 of 2021

Here's the numbers for WWE Raw, WWE NXT, AEW Dynamite, Impact Wrestling, and WWE Smackdown this week:

• WWE Raw: 1,609,000 viewers with a .43 in 18-49
• WWE NXT: 705,000 viewers with a .19 in 18-49
• AEW Dynamite: 1,025,000 viewers with a .40 in 18-49
• Impact Wrestling: 120,000 viewers with a .02 in 18-49
• WWE Smackdown: 2,185,000 viewers with a .60 in 18-49

Credit Where Credit is Due

Since the demise of Showbuzz Daily (RIP), The Chadster has had to scour the internet each week to learn how his beloved WWE performed against its competition. The Chadster gathers ratings and viewership numbers from various sources, including F4WOnline, PWTorch, and perhaps the best one of all for this sort of data, WrestleNomics.

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