TNT praises AEW ratings following CM Punk's Dynamite debut

TNT has heaped praise on AEW Dynamite following the show's impressive performance this week.

AEW Dynamite, headlined by CM Punk's first-ever appearance on the show, posted a healthy 1.17 million average viewership with a 0.48 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. TNT shortly released a press statement praising AEW's flagship program's ratings this week.

TNT, in their press release, cited the ratings and then did a recap of the show before giving an overview of AEW and its roster. The entire press release is as follows:

TNT’s “AEW: DYNAMITE” Draws Largest Audience Since Premiere As Wednesday’s #1 Cable Program

Last night’s episode of “AEW: Dynamite” on TNT drew in its largest audience in P18-49 since the 2019 premiere, making it Wednesday’s #1 cable program.

“AEW: Dynamite”

620K P18-49 / 165K P18-34 / 1.2M P2+

Week 98 of “AEW: Dynamite” was up 39% vs. last week

* Largest P18-49 delivery for “AEW: Dynamite” since the series premiere in 2019

* Ranked #1 on cable for Wednesday in P18-49

* Up +39% vs. prior week in P18-49 and +20% in total viewers

On top of CM Punk’s first appearance on “AEW: Dynamite,” the episode featured Darby Allin, Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston defeating The Wingmen in a Trios Tag Team Match, Orange Cassidy defeating Matt Hardy, the Lucha Bros. defeating the Varsity Blonds in the AEW World Tag Team Championship Eliminator Tournament Semi-Final, Jamie Hayter defeating Red Velvet, and Malakai Black destroying Brock Anderson. Chris Jericho announced he will put his in-ring career on the line in a match with MJF at ALL OUT with the stipulation Jericho will never wrestle in AEW again if he loses. (h/t: WrestlingInc)

AEW Dynamite and Rampage see huge ratings bump after CM Punk debut

AEW Dynamite last night on TNT was watched by 1,172,000 viewers on average, the most since April 14. 620,000 viewers were aged 18 to 49 (0.48 rating), the 2nd highest ever, only short of the debut on Oct 2, 2019 (which was a 0.68).📊 Read more: https://t.co/DA5iytim8y pic.twitter.com/UNCqhcNAGV

— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) August 26, 2021

AEW Rampage: The First Dance was watched by 1.129 million viewers on average, purely on speculation that it would be CM Punk's debut. Such was the Straight Edge Superstar's power that the peak during his promo exceeded 1.4 million viewers. Rampage did 0.53 in the key 18-49 demo, which was more than any Dynamite episode, barring the debut show.

A few minutes of CM Punk's promo exceeded 1.4 million viewers total.Peak minutes for ages 18-49 were >900,000 viewers (equivalent to a 0.70 rating).Updated post with a minute-by-minute estimate of total viewership and P18-49 for AEW Rampage Friday:https://t.co/mEg7iaIxu1 pic.twitter.com/K3fMqUAYOQ

— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) August 25, 2021

While the jump wasn't as big, AEW Dynamite still recorded its third-highest demo rating this week, with quarterly hour data showing CM Punk's segment crossed 1.2 million viewers.

Much has been made of Punk's introduction moving the proverbial needle for AEW. It's too early to jump to any conclusion, but the start has been promising.