Eric Bischoff has always been vocal about his criticism of AEW, which is why it comes as no surprise that he has now claimed AEW Dynamite will eventually decline to an average viewership of 300K viewers.
While speaking on the 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff addressed the September 3rd edition of AEW Dynamite dropping to 472,000 viewers. Bischoff used the moment to call out Dave Meltzer.
Bischoff explained that nearly a year earlier, he had studied AEW’s ratings trends and noticed the company was losing roughly 22 to 23 percent of its audience each year. Using what he described as simple math, he averaged the numbers over several months and built a projection for the future.
“It’s becoming evident to everybody. So what was it—about a year ago, eight months ago—I was sitting down and there was this debate about ratings and network deals and what AEW could be doing in the future. And I just sat down with a glass of wine and looked at the last two years of ratings for AEW. It’s simple math. If I can do it, it’s pretty simple math. I had a little $8 calculator and a glass of cheap red wine. I punched in a couple of numbers and saw they were losing an average of about 22 to 23 percent of their audience every year.”
Based on those calculations, Bischoff predicted that unless AEW reversed this yearly decline, their viewership would shrink to around 500,000 by late 2024 and could eventually reach about 300,000 by the end of their current TV contract.
Bischoff stated that this wasn’t complicated research but straightforward maths, something Meltzer should have also recognized. With Dynamite now falling under 500,000 viewers, Bischoff said his forecast had proven accurate.
“Here’s the thing, Dave. For a guy who studies so much, you should just figure this part out—it’s a simple math equation. I took their existing audience, averaged it out over three or four months, and said, ‘Okay, that’s my baseline of what AEW is currently doing.’ Then I went back and looked—they’d been losing about 22 or 23 percent on average. So I just did the simple math, Dave. You don’t have to study, you just have to actually do it.
And I did the math and thought, ‘Oh, this is where they are now. This is where they’ll be a year from now. This is where they’ll be three years from now, unless they reverse the 20 percent average attrition per year.’ I project that by the end of their existing contract, they’d be hovering around 300,000 viewers. Back in November, on November 14, 2024, I said a year from now AEW would be hovering around 500,000 viewers—and I was absolutely right.”
Whether people agree with Eric Bischoff’s math or not, his ongoing criticism of AEW is still fueling discussion among wrestling fans. With Dynamite dropping below half a million viewers, questions about AEW’s long-term future on television are becoming louder than ever.
Do you think Eric Bischoff is right about AEW eventually averaging 300,000 viewers, or is he underestimating the company’s ability to bounce back? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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September 7, 2025 12:52 pm
