WWE’s Mentality On AEW May Have Shifted Following The Reveal Of Last Dynamite’s Ratings

AEW Dynamite had Wednesday night all to themselves for the first time that wasn’t caused by a programming bump this past Wednesday, and their numbers soared. AEW drew over a million viewers and shot up in the coveted 18-49 demographic, a good sign for their future now that they run unopposed.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talked about those numbers and implied that it shifted WWE’s mentality about the company. He added that the releases of those 10 talents the same day the ratings came out were made before the ratings came out, and how that changes a lot of things in the eyes of the company.

“They cut [Samoa Joe] on Thursday morning, not Thursday afternoon or Thursday night. Things changed greatly in that couple of hours. The mentality was very different Thursday morning over Thursday night, very different. So, you know if he can get cleared, there’s a lot of stuff he can do right now. It’s a good period for him and there are a lot of places that would want him.”

While it’s unknown if WWE would have made some of those releases had they known AEW would draw numbers that big, it’s a telling sign that WWE seems concerned now that they’ve seen the numbers. It probably didn’t hurt that they gave AEW free publicity with Chris Jericho on the Broken Skull sessions. Apparently “things changed greatly” and “the mentality was very different” from before the numbers came out to after. It should be interesting to see how the WWE responds now.

Thanks to Ringside News for the quote

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