AEW NEWS - OCTOBER 2025

[username]

I don't know what to tell people, when AEW started airing on HBO Max and the reported Nielson ratings didn't move at all was a massive red flag that they maybe weren't doing a great job monitoring the audience. That's not a knock on AEW, but the notion that literally no one stopped watching Dynamite/Collision on TV at that point in favor of streaming was absurd.

Seriously though, both AEW and WWE should be thanking their lucky stars that they locked into their contracts the year before this happened and TNA... well I guess TNA is always TNA.

[Casey]

22 minutes ago, username said:

I don't know what to tell people, when AEW started airing on HBO Max and the reported Nielson ratings didn't move at all was a massive red flag that they maybe weren't doing a great job monitoring the audience. That's not a knock on AEW, but the notion that literally no one stopped watching Dynamite/Collision on TV at that point in favor of streaming was absurd.

Am I just stupid and still don't understand Nielsen? How do they know if I, someone who has never been one of these homes, is watching on TV or through a streaming service? The way I always understood it is that one household accounts for X amount of people in the country or something, not a one to one conversion.

[AxB]

That's how surveys work. You can't survey the entire population, so you survey a small number of people who you consider a representative sample, and extrapolate that outwards.

[Casey]

So it's fair to say that maybe SOME Nielsen homes switched from TBS/TNT to HBO Max, but there's no actual way of knowing about non-Nielsen homes that did the same thing. Right?

4 hours ago, username said:

I don't know what to tell people, when AEW started airing on HBO Max and the reported Nielson ratings didn't move at all was a massive red flag that they maybe weren't doing a great job monitoring the audience. That's not a knock on AEW, but the notion that literally no one stopped watching Dynamite/Collision on TV at that point in favor of streaming was absurd.

Seriously though, both AEW and WWE should be thanking their lucky stars that they locked into their contracts the year before this happened and TNA... well I guess TNA is always TNA.

Which is why I don't understand this post. Nielsen doesn't cover the entire population, so how is it a red flag when nobody actually knows how many non-surveyed homes made the jump? This seems like reactionary bait.

[The Natural]

13 hours ago, AxB said:

Shawn Michaels is the booker of NXT. He's always been a ladies man.

(Even though he's now so facially aged, he resembles a shaved basset hound)

Can't unsee now. That is such an apt description. Cheers.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

7 hours ago, username said:

I don't know what to tell people, when AEW started airing on HBO Max and the reported Nielson ratings didn't move at all was a massive red flag that they maybe weren't doing a great job monitoring the audience. That's not a knock on AEW, but the notion that literally no one stopped watching Dynamite/Collision on TV at that point in favor of streaming was absurd.

Seriously though, both AEW and WWE should be thanking their lucky stars that they locked into their contracts the year before this happened and TNA... well I guess TNA is always TNA.

So two things:

First, Nielsen data has always been unreliable. Everyone in the TV business is aware, which is why there is so much analytical work outside of just relying on Nielsen and their ~100k sample size for a ~340m population.

EDIT TO ADD: Even with the new data formulation adding something like 30 million devices to the mix, that still shouldn't be your only data point.

Second, Nielsen does nothing but tell you what your demographic mix is. The amount of people deemed to be watching on a 0.03% sample size of a population is almost useless (in the former configuration; even the new configuration still only captures less than 10%), but if that analysis tells you that your demographic mix shows 60% men watching as compared to 40% women, then you do some more research (like social media research, for example) to drill down further where your audience is coming from and how to investigate further. Same with age breakdowns; Nielsen gives you a starting point on whether or not your show is popular with teenagers or middle age folks, but you need to do more research to find out how valid that breakdown is.

No TV company is going to take Nielsen data as gospel unless they want to lose money. You need far more data points to work with than just who watches live. Who posts about it on social media? Who watches 2-3 days after the fact and just needs to be reeled in more? Who's likely to buy a ticket if you come to their town? Nielsen's not going to tell you that because they're not designed to.

Edited October 7, 2025 by Stefanie Sparkleface

[HarryArchieGus]

How do ppl feel about Santos Escobar/Fantasma joining the ranks? I wasn't too fond of what I saw of him on the main roster (last year), but I sense working the lugs and that yawning style wasn't to his strengths. I say that in part because I watched a match against Kushida this morning from NXT2019 that was pretty outstanding. I also saw a neat highlight package against machine J(ordan) D(evlin) McDonaugh. Anybody that has any links to Santos' passed glories, I'm interested. I never saw King Cuerno or El Hijo del Fantasma. 

[tbarrie]

I sort of recall thinking King Cuerno was pretty cool.

Sorry, that's all I have to contribute.

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

3 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

How do ppl feel about Santos Escobar/Fantasma joining the ranks? I wasn't too fond of what I saw of him on the main roster (last year), but I sense working the lugs and that yawning style wasn't to his strengths. I say that in part because I watched a match against Kushida this morning from NXT2019 that was pretty outstanding. I also saw a neat highlight package against machine J(ordan) D(evlin) McDonaugh. Anybody that has any links to Santos' passed glories, I'm interested. I never saw King Cuerno or El Hijo del Fantasma. 

I liked him before he signed with WWE and in NXT way back when I was still watching it I thought he was going to be a huge star for them.  Can't comment on how he's looked the last 5 years or so.

My instinct is to say yes, bring him in and hope he has a chip on his shoulder.  He can talk and I feel like talent wise he at least was special at one point.  But AEW already has too much talent, more than they can fairly give TV time to, and I heard Dave say he's in his early 40's which surprised me.......so I dunno

Edited October 7, 2025 by ExcellenceofAirPollution

[tbarrie]

34 minutes ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

I liked him before he signed with WWE and in NXT way back when I was still watching it I thought he was going to be a huge star for them.

The makers of WWE 2K23 and 2K24 also seemed to think he was or was going to be a huge star. I play those games in Universe Mode (basically fantasy booking), and put the women on Raw which I book myself and let the computer handle the men's division over on Smackdown. And Santos Escobar always seems to be in the men's world title picture.

[SovietShooter]

Fantasma was pushed hard in CMLL, but never to that top tier star that was going to headline a major show or anything like that. His jump to AAA worked out pretty well for him, as he was a body guy that could work a AAA style main event match. 

I don't pay attention to WWE at all really, so not sure why they dropped the ball with him, but he is a guy with limited options right now; CMLL doesn't need him and would probably not pay him top dollar anyway. I don't see him standing out in AEW with the stacked roster they have. Maybe he would be content to work ROH and Lucha indies? A lot of independent promoters in Mexico that relied on AAA talent in the past are going to need stars that can draw...

[Curt McGirt]

I always low-key liked King Cuerno as the sleeper "best guy" in LU but fuckin' Ricochet was always there.

[Casey]

Santos will be fine when it comes to Mexico, I’m sure there’s no shortage of promoters and talent willing to kiss his ass since his dad is the head of the Boxing & Wrestling commission.

[username]

19 hours ago, Casey said:

Which is why I don't understand this post. Nielsen doesn't cover the entire population, so how is it a red flag when nobody actually knows how many non-surveyed homes made the jump? This seems like reactionary bait.

Stefanie and AxB covered the nuts and bolts of it (basically this is how every survey in existence works), my red flag comment was related to that when AEW programming became available on HBO Max some people were going to use that instead, I think that's about a safe an assumption as one can be. I don't think anyone believes that literally no one watching on TV started watching via streaming instead, I'm pretty sure several people here mentioned watching via Max instead etc. Nielsen could not detect this, was basically blind to it, reported that the numbers did not move and hence this did not happen. That is literally unbelievable in that I don't think anyone believes that to be the case. It was a red flag that the system Nielsen was using was likely doing a poorer job than even expected at surveying AEW's audience in specific and likely wrestling and god knows how many other show at large.

So when they updated their system with a ton of data from various cable companies and streamers (not HBO Max) this past week and it turns out that the estimated ratings/viewers for wrestling at large has been dramatically misreported for seemingly ages now there was a lot of shocked responses and gnashing of teeth from the Meltz-likes out there... I am merely pointing out that we had a red flag at the start of the year that Nielsen ratings were seemingly not likely to be accurate based on missing what seems like a rather obvious shift in viewing behavior with the advent of new viewing options, so I am unsure why people (particularly those who have tracked said ratings) are so shocked, something was clearly up.

Since I read that "reactionary bait" bit at the end as vaguely accusatory, let me say that I am rather sure more people started watching AEW once it became available on HBO Max, am not trying to frame any sort of argument against AEW. I'm just baffled that there are people out there who were paying attention to the ratings reported who could be caught so off guard by this.

[The Natural]

Get well soon, Taz.

[Casey]

It’s so over (Collision spoilers)

Spoiler

Might be a work, might not, but Ibushi took a bump on the outside and injured his right leg. He’s being stretchered out right now

 

[RazorbladeKiss87]

This has got to be it for him. 

[username]

I've always been a bit up and down on Ibushi as a wrestler, but I don't like to see him in this broken down state seemingly always on the verge of another bad injury.

I would be relieved to see him slot into one of those "paid to not wrestle" slots.

[ChesterCopperpot]

PWInsider saying that the injury is 

Spoiler

A broken femur 

 

[Casey]

I saw someone on Twitter say Josh Alexander had him on the top rope for a death valley driver spot and Ibushi slipped off and fell to the outside. Sounds like just a freak injury, not a "Ibushi trying to do too much and he's washed" type of thing.

[The Natural]

Never watch Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji from NOAH The New Year 2024. It's one of the worst matches I've ever seen and one of the saddest as well. It's that bad. Ibushi is so shot.

Edited October 9, 2025 by The Natural

[HarryArchieGus]

Ugh, Fucking bummer! He really battled back from that unfortunate injury plauged first round with AEW. He put forth some excellent work vs. Okada and in the Casino and Cage matches. Damn, was really looking forward to this bout vs. Alexander. And a Golden Lovers reunion. All the best to the man on his road to recovery.

[The Natural]

Man, Kota Ibushi has been snakebit since dislocating his shoulder vs.  Kazuchika Okada in the G1 Climax 2021 Final. Dislocated shoulder, broken ankle, another ankle injury and now this. Get well soon.

Edited October 9, 2025 by The Natural

[HarryArchieGus]

9 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Never watch Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji from NOAH The New Year 2024. It's one of the worst matches I've ever seen and one of the saddest as well. It's that bad. Ibushi is so shot.

C'mon, that's a bit harsh as the guy lays in his hospital bed. Not of course disputing the quality of that match, but he was also working thru injuries. Sounds like he worked his ass off to get back this last time, and I'm sure he'll do the same again. 

[Casey]

Ibushi/Trent was really fucking good, I thought.