After a down week, AEW Rampage posted an increase on Friday, while Battle of the Belts ranked outside the top fifty cable programs.
Friday’s live episode of Rampage averaged 551,000 viewers and approximately 196,000 (0.15) in the 18-49 demographic while Battle of the Belts V, which immediately aired after, averaged 409,000 viewers and 0.11 in the key demo. (Data: Showbuzz Daily and Wrestlenomics).
The two-hour block combined to average 480,000 viewers and 0.13 in the demo, which compares to 361,000 and 0.12 in the key demo for last October’s two-hour block.
Compared with the previous week, Rampage grew 17 percent in overall viewers and saw a 27 percent gain among the 18-49 audience as it ranked #30 among cable originals on Friday.
In the main demo, males were up 38 percent from last week, and females improved by 14.5 percent.
The competition for Rampage and Battle of the Belts included the Miami Heat vs. Phoenix Suns game, which averaged 1.11 million viewers and 0.40 in the demo on ESPN along with lots of cable news coverage on the Speaker of the House vote.
This was the second-lowest Battle of the Belts special topping the October 7, 2022 edition but trailing the specials that aired in January, April, and August last year.
Battle of the Belts aired on TSN 5 in Canada, although few people would have been aware, as it only averaged 10,000 people and 7,000 in the 25-54 demographic. The network did not carry Rampage on Friday, which only streams in the country.
After five specials, Battle of the Belts has averaged 479,000 viewers and 0.15 in the demo. The strongest was the first from one year ago which averaged 704,000 viewers and 0.26 in the demo.
Rampage featured Darby Allin defending the TNT Championship against Mike Bennett and Jon Moxley teaming with Bryan Danielson against Top Flight.
Battle of the Belts included Orange Cassidy defending the All-Atlantic Championship against Kip Sabian, a TBS title match between Jade Cargill and Skye Blue, and a No Holds Barred between The Acclaimed and Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal for the AEW tag titles.
