Tony Khan Discusses Falling Ratings And Future Plans For AEW Rampage

AEW President Tony Khan addressed the decline in ratings for the Friday AEW Rampage broadcasts and talked about his plans to solve the issue and attract more viewers by ramping up the star power in future programming (per Wrestling Inc). Khan was asked about the ratings drop between this January and this August on a media call this Thursday. He countered with data that places Rampage as one of the top two cable TV programs for the past 13 straight weeks, holding the top spot for at least nine of those. He did, however, admit that AEW Dynamite was now the “flagship show” for the company and that Dynamite’s power came at Rampage’s expense recently.

Khan also indicated that the number of wrestlers out with injuries have affected success, including such names as Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, Kenny Omega, and CM Punk. “A lot of the biggest stars in AEW have been out. These are all people that have had some of the highest rated and most important matches in the history of Rampage.”

Given the smaller available roster, Khan added, “I really had to put them on Dynamite every single week. And almost every week — week in, week out — you could count on seeing Moxley and Jericho and the people who were in AEW on a weekly basis.” Danielson, Omega, and Punk have since returned to availability, however, and Khan promised that AEW was now poised to utilize their repopulated roster to return Rampage back to a better-rated position.

“I think this Friday on the live Rampage, hopefully it will be a preview of what’s in store. We’ll have the roster the way I always wanted it to be,” Khan concluded. You can listen to the full media call below.