Tony Khan celebrates as AEW Rampage takes Smackdown in key demo

Tony Khan shared his delight on Twitter as AEW Rampage defeated WWE SmackDown in the 18-49 demo between 10-10:30 pm EST on Friday night.

The two companies went head-to-head for the first time on television, as WWE SmackDown extended their show an extra 30-minutes on FS1. WWE had loaded up the 30-minutes with SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks and a Roman Reigns-Brock Lesnar Universal Title contract signing at Crown Jewel.

On TNT, AEW Rampage opened with a match featuring former WWE Champion, CM Punk against Matt Sydal. AEW also featured a “Buy-In” on YouTube which was highlighted by Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki.

Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch confirmed on Twitter “We’ve obtained a new key ratings detail on Friday: #AEW #Rampage beat #WWESmackdown in head-to-head 30 minutes in the most coveted 18-49 demo – 328,000 to 285,000. Rampage led with Punk match, Smackdown featured Becky-Sasha and Lesnar.”

AEW President Tony Khan followed up with delight “Here’s a story nobody leaked to you over the weekend but I’ll give you rn, dog: @AEW got a big victory over WWE after WWE aggressively extended their Friday show 30 minutes & loaded it up head-to-head 10-10:30 pm vs #AEWRampage , with AEW Rampage winning 328k to 285k (+15% margin).”

AEW Rampage defeats SmackDown in key18-49 demo

WWE loaded up their SmackDown broadcast and even called it “supersized” but it was Rampage that stole the victory in the key demo. One would wonder what would happen if WWE and AEW clashed permanently during the regular showtimes. Let’s not forget, WWE won overall in terms of viewership, but it is the key demo that both companies seek.

Things are certainly getting interesting in the mainstream wrestling world. Many have already compared it to the Monday Night Wars back in the late 90’s. It’s an exciting time to be a wrestling fan, and who knows what’s on the horizon as AEW and WWE continue to do battle.

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