Vince Russo has been around the wrestling business for decades. On a recent episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing With Russo, the former WWE writer chimed in on the ongoing battle for ratings between AEW and WWE.
While people may have varied opinions on his work, nobody can deny that Vince Russo has immense knowledge of the wrestling business. Recently, a lot has been made of AEW supposedly beating WWE in the ratings on the basis of 18-49 demo numbers.
The former WCW World Heavyweight Champion claimed to be in contact with top network executives and explained what they are looking for when it comes to television ratings:
"I can't say who because some things I do are sworn to secrecy. I can tell you this, I still, to this day, keep in contact with top network executives. Every conversation I've had in the last two years, here's the words they always use, viewership, viewership, viewership, never one time to me have they talked about an 18-49 age demo. The 18-49 demo, that's all about sales and sales numbers because let's think about this logically - how many 18 year olds do you think have more of a disposable income than a 50-year old? How many 19 year olds do you think have more of a disposable income than a 51-year old? When you look at it that way, it's ridiculous. There's no 18 year old that has the money a 50 year old is making. That's the way it's broken down for advertising. And I speak to these executives, it's viewership, viewership, viewership," Vince Russo said.
Check out the recent episode of Writing with Russo in the video below:
Vince Russo believes former WWE Divas Champion Paige would not move the needle for AEW
Former WWE Divas Champion Paige has been in retirement since 2018 due to neck injuries. Vince Russo believes the former WWE NXT Women's Champion would be a solid addition to AEW's roster but won't help them in gaining ground over WWE in terms of overall viewership.
"[Paige] will add to the women's division, she will make the women's division better but that is not going to mean any numbers for [AEW]. That's not going to mean numbers," Vince Russo said.
Paige set many records in WWE but injuries curtailed her promising career. Hopefully she can make a return like Edge's return to WWE and we get to see the youngest ever Divas Champion in action again.