Lance Archer Talks Chris Jericho Sharing AEW Ratings With Talent

Due to the NBA Playoffs being broadcast on TNT, last week's AEW Dynamite took place on Saturday, Aug. 22 instead of Wednesday, Aug. 19. Even though the overall viewership was lower than the previous week's episode, WarnerMedia, the parent company of TNT/Turner, was extremely happy with the ratings.

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Dynamite was the fifth-ranked broadcast of the night in terms of the 18-34 demographic which gave TNT three of the top five shows as NBA games ranked first and second. AEW's Lance Archer discussed the nice Saturday ratings when he joined Busted Open podcast.

"I think it was a test to the crew, the talent, and everybody that helped just push and promote it because we never let down our fans who are absolutely dedicated to watching the product. It was awesome. We never let them know or not let them know that it was coming up," Archer said of the Dynamite start being delayed due to the preceding NBA game running long.

"Even though the time that the game was going on and we weren't going on right at six o'clock, everybody kept pushing it and promoting it and working together to let our fans know, 'Hold on, it's coming. Hold on its coming.' So, as soon as it came on, and everybody was saying alright it's on. Turn it in and watch now, our fans were right there with us. It was awesome."

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During the last four head-to-head Wednesday airings of Dynamite and NXT, AEW has won by a slim margin in viewership each time but a large margin in ratings of the 18-49 demo. However, they aren't making a big, public deal of these victories and Archer discussed AEW being cautious about it's dominance in ratings.

"I think you have to be in this era of professional wrestling, being that we're on TV and that's what kind of drives the business right now, especially right now, because there is no live audience. That's something you have to pay attention to and luckily, the Demo God [Chris Jericho] himself keeps us all addressed to what's going on and where we're at, what we're doing, and how well we're actually doing," said Archer.

"Yeah, I think it's absolutely one of those things that's discussed, that's understood, and everybody's looking at ways to even improve those ratings by giving the fans new and cool things every single week. That's what keeps driving those ratings and I think that's what helped those Saturday ratings stay so strong was because you never know exactly what you're going to tune in and see.

"You know the AEW roster, the main people are going to be there. You know the storylines, but there's always something that's happening and you're going, 'I had no idea that's going to happen' and that's what makes AEW so damn cool."

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Jericho is the one person in AEW who constantly brings up Dynamite's ratings compared to NXT's. Archer was asked if Jericho is someone to seek out as a locker room leader if you want the latest scoop on ratings.

"I think if you had your own personal conversation with him, yeah, absolutely. It's not a situation where we're not all coming together and meeting going, 'ra ra ra ra ra' and here we are and whatnot because everybody's very focused on doing the very best that they can on what they got and what they have on the show. If you need to speak to him or anybody that has that information, he'll absolutely let you know and keep you addressed with what's going on and what needs to be done. He absolutely is one of those locker room leaders, when you start talking about it that way," stated Archer.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.

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