Chris Jericho Says Ratings Go Up When Swerve Strickland Is On Screen

In an interview for WTF with Marc Maron (via Fightful), Chris Jericho said that Swerve Strickland was a ratings draw for AEW, as the numbers go up whenever he’s on the show. He added that Tony Khan pays attention to the minute-by-minute numbers and pushes people based on that. Here are highlights:

On paying attention to the minute by minute numbers: “If you get put in that top position and you don’t draw and people don’t watch your matches…TV ratings are so important. I read the minute-by-minute TV ratings every week to see, how did I do? How did this guy do? Who is drawing every week? You can kind of see this pattern of whenever he’s on, the ratings go up. Swerve Strickland is one of those guys. He’s not a ratings bonanza, but whenever he’s on, the ratings go up.”

On why people are drawn to Swerve: “Connection. They [Swerve & Jade] are stars and I want to see what this person is doing. That matters.”

On those who don’t draw: “If you don’t draw…my boss, Tony Khan is a numbers fanatic. If you are put in that position and the ratings go down, you won’t be put in that position anymore. That’s part of it. You have to connect and people have to watch you on screen. If not, you won’t be on screen in that position, or maybe you won’t be on the main show, you’ll be on the next show. There are levels to that too.”