AEW’s inception came about at Double Or Nothing 2019 and since then, the company has done all it could to provide a product that true lovers of pro wrestling would enjoy. For the most part, they have succeeded, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
AEW has all the momentum in the world right now thanks to the debuts of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole to their roster, ensuring that the roster is one of the most stacked in all of pro wrestling
Earlier this month, Tony Khan made it clear that he was looking forward to AEW Rampage going head to head with Friday Night Smackdown. In the end, the move proved beneficial for AEW in the long run.
As reported earlier, that particular episode of AEW Rampage managed to beat Friday Night Smackdown in the target 18 to 49 demographic during their half-hour overlap. That wasn’t all as Ruby Soho’s match with The Bunny tied with the Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar segment in the 18-49 demographic.
While speaking on Busted Open Radio, AEW President Tony Khan talked about AEW Rampage defeating WWE SmackDown in the demos when they went head to head. Khan revealed that TNT was over the moon due to their success.
“We put our chips in. A really smart person in wrestling said this to me a few days ago, someone who works in AEW, and what’s cool about AEW is I don’t think it’s just my chips, it’s everyone’s. We’re a team. and if you’re on the AEW team, these are your chips too. Somebody said to me, ‘Tony, you put all of our chips in. You made this bet and we won. And it’s awesome, and we’re all so happy about it. This is a great time for us.’ He was right. We won because of our wrestlers and the great people that work here, and especially the fans.
“I know Friday night isn’t always the easiest time to watch a wrestling show, especially 10 o’clock. But the fans have been turning out in different ways. There’s a lot of ways to watch Rampage, whether you watch it at home on TV, or at a tablet, or at a bar, on their TV, or on your smartphone. Anybody, for the most part, with a phone these days can get the TNT App if you have cable or a streaming platform that subscribes to TNT, you can watch it on your phone on the TNT App. A lot of people tuned in on Friday to watch the show. I’m very gratified by the support.
I haven’t said much about it since we won, other than just thanking people for the support and some very brief celebration (tweets) as the numbers came in. Which is really, in this world, is really at the buzzer. The post buzzer celebration. Since the numbers came in, I really haven’t’ said much because I think those numbers speak for themselves. I’m just really proud that we won that head to head. We didn’t make the choice to go head to head for 30 minutes against the competition, especially when they decided to do 30 minutes commercial free. And they lost. I think it was great for us.”
AEW President Tony Khan already reacted to AEW Rampage’s success. Chris Jericho also used the opportunity to take a shot at Roman Reigns. We will have to wait and see how AEW will capitalize on their momentum in the coming weeks.
h/t to Wrestling Inc for the quotes.
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