AEW attendance reaches dangerously low levels; comparison draw with WCW in 2000

AEW's attendance levels have been a cause for concern for the Jacksonville-based company. The recent statistics show dismally low numbers.

AEW's growth during the initial years was astronomical. The promotion provided different content from WWE and the product gained a lot of traction as a result. Dynamite even managed to beat NXT in the ratings war which meant the promotion was performing better than expected.

Over the years, Tony Khan's promotion has grown leaps and bounds. Armed with a massive roster, All Elite Wrestling should be selling out shows and drawing in record-breaking viewers. However, that is not the case. Instead, the Jacksonville-based promotion has struggled with ticket sales for its weekly shows and even the viewership has dwindled over the years.

This week, AEW Dynamite moved to Tuesday due to the MLB playoffs. This meant that the promotion went head-to-head with NXT once again and the result was not good this time. The show only managed to draw in 329,000 viewers with a 0.10 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This is very low in comparison to NXT which drew in 874,000 viewers with a 0.24 rating in the key 18-49 demographic.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, All Elite Wrestling is "hemorrhaging" viewers in the 18-34 demographic which would've seemed impossible in the recent past. He even compared the low viewership to that of WCW in 2000.

“I never thought they’d get to WCW 2000 attendance numbers, they are not that far off. Creatively they are far ahead, but the base was never nearly as large to fall from. Both had the disadvantage of being cold when WWE caught fire so there is that similarity.” [H/T Wrestlingnews.co]

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AEW strikes new deal with Fox Sports

Recently, it was announced that AEW had renewed its media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal is said to be for multiple years.

Following this news, rumors started making rounds that Tony Khan's promotion was in talks with Fox about a new show called Shockwave. The company even filed a trademark for the name. Swerve Strickland accidentally confirmed the deal which was caught on video.

Now, it has been confirmed that both All Elite Wrestling and Fox Sports Mexico have agreed terms for a new deal that will enable the network to broadcast Dynamite, Rampage, Collision, and its PPV events in Mexico.

Additionally, Fox Sports Mexico will produce an original show called "All Elite Show" which will contain match analyses and previews of upcoming events.

It will be interesting to see if the viewership will increase with the new deal with Fox.