Matt Hardy Delivers Second Biggest Audience To Impact Wrestling

Matt Hardy officially brought the second biggest audience to Impact Wrestling since the beginning of the AEW era. With this announcement, it seems Impact is reaping the benefits of their recent cooperation with All Elite.

Ratings Increase

Since Kenny Omega won the AEW title and hopped over to Impact Wrestling, the numbers have been interesting. In fact, Kenny provided a whopping 221,000 viewers through his appearance after winning the championship.

Now, Matt Hardy has brought the second highest audience since the beginning of the AEW era. On January 26th, he delivered a good 186,000 viewers.

While the numbers are only 20K higher than the week before, there is an interesting difference. In fact, the interesting part lies in the 18-49 demographic.

Hardy’s appearance saw a rise in the 18-49 demographic, comparable to that of December 1st at .05. However, Kenny Omega still holds the record with .08 on December 8th.

Obviously, there has been some rumors that Tony Khan could buy Impact Wrestling. But at the moment, it is staying with some hilarious paid ads.

Schiavone also joked:

“He’ll possibly use those S&H Green Stamps that were so popular in the 60s. Actually, I think he’s going to invest in a 1957 Chevrolet Coupe, which will bring him more money [than buying Impact].”

So while there are rumors, it seems that cooperation is the only thing really happening at the moment. 

Nevertheless, the cooperation between Impact and AEW does provide some questions that still need to be answered. But instead of endless speculation, let’s just enjoy the two products that are being brought to us right now.

Who Does It Benefit More?

AEW certainly scores higher than Impact Wrestling. One of their highest audience draws was the tribute show to Brodie Lee, which pulled in 977,000 viewers. 

So, you do have to ask the question if the cooperation benefits AEW in any way. The short answer to this question is yes.

Impact Wrestling does have its own following, albeit a lot smaller than AEW. But in this case, it is not that much about the audience.

For AEW, it does bring some access to additional talent. It brings the possibility of crossover matches, something the promotion already did with NWA.

AEW makes it a point to cooperate with other promotions and that is a good thing. One of the areas where it could be very beneficial is the women’s division.

Everyone knows that AEW’s women’s division really needs some work. Naturally, this crossover could help to remedy that problem until the brand has a stronger female wrestling stable.

With so many promotions cooperating, it seems like AEW is taking over the indie market. However, they are not doing this at the expense of other promotions.

Impact Wrestling has benefited from the crossover in terms of viewers. It also allows a younger demographic to get familiar with other indie products in quite a fun manner.

So far, the crossover seems to be beneficial for both brands. We hope that this continues to be the case, as it certainly guarantees a lot of surprises along the way.