Felix Upton on September 13, 2023
The pro wrestling world saw a few big moments in recent memory. AEW and WWE have been going at full-throttle at this rate, catching as many headlines as they can. That could bring some people to draw some natural comparisons.
On the latest episode of My World, Jeff Jarrett discussed WWE’s strategic move to bring John Cena to Friday nights and events like WWE Payback and the supershow in India to boost ticket sales and ratings. AEW also followed a similar strategy by bringing in Dennis Rodman for AEW Collision and All Out during a challenging period in Chicago following CM Punk’s departure.
“[Dave] Meltzer tweeted that ‘Dennis Rodman had zero effect on ticket sales and ratings,’ and I found that a bit puzzling.”
Jeff Jarrett admitted that Dave Meltzer was correct about ticket sales, as Dennis Rodman was a last-minute addition and had limited time to impact sales. However, Jarrett disagreed with Meltzer’s assessment of Rodman as a television draw.
Jeff Jarrett then pointed out that the quarter-hour featuring Dennis Rodman had higher ratings than the previous ones, suggesting that Rodman did indeed influence viewership. This should further prove The Worm’s draw.
Double J emphasized that Dennis Rodman’s appearance generated significant social media engagement, with a late Friday afternoon tweet garnering 2.8 million impressions. According to Jarrett, this social media activity likely contributed to the increased ratings during Collision.
“The ratings, the quarter-hour he was in, was the only one out of the eight that was higher than the prior one. So, I’d say he moved the needle.”
“We’re talking about what’s over and what’s not over. He made a difference in metrics on social media, which I believe translated to the Saturday night ‘Collision’ bumping their quarter-hour.”
“Cena, they purposefully put him on, advertised six-to-eight Friday nights to say, ‘Tune in Friday nights, that’s gonna help us get ratings,’ but the ticket sales is black and white and the India deal, that gets into multiples of re-upping the contract.”
Jeff Jarrett drew parallels between Dennis Rodman’s impact on AEW and how WWE strategically used John Cena, promoting his appearances on multiple Friday nights to boost ratings.
The WWE Hall of Famer acknowledged that the ticket sales aspect is straightforward, but the India deal involves more complex contract negotiations. The big question is how many fans see this same comparison by bringing back John Cena for a two-month run and having Dennis Rodman on for a two-appearance deal.
What’s your take on Dennis Rodman vs John Cena? Who’s the biggest ratings draw? Sound off in the comments to let us know what you think!
September 13, 2023 6:24 pm
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