Will Ospreay responds to recent AEW – TJR Wrestling ratings

Will Ospreay reacted strongly to AEW’s recent ratings decline, sending the company to a new low.

During the AEW-NJPW Forbidden Door PPV on June 30 in Long Island, NY, AEW International Champion Will Ospreay will challenge Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship in the show’s main event.

Since officially joining AEW as a full-time wrestler in early 2024, Ospreay has enjoyed tremendous success as a singles wrestler, having yet to lose a singles match.

Although Ospreay has already risen to main event status after about four months, AEW has struggled in some ways on the business front. Attendance has dropped compared to previous years, while the TV audience is shrinking.

The June 19 episode of AEW Dynamite was widely hailed as one of the best episodes of the year, but the ratings were poor. It drew the smallest audience ever in Dynamite’s five-year history (on a non-holiday) with 502,000 viewers in the U.S. tuning in on TBS. In terms of the coveted 18-49 demographic, it drew a 0.16 rating, down 30.4% from the previous week.

In an interview with CBS Sports, Will Ospreay spoke about the low ratings and at the same time the quality of the show.

“That was really shit to watch when it came out, because for me that was a home run Dynamite. It was a great show. There were no negatives for me.”

Will Ospreay Uses Low AEW Ratings As Motivation

As the discussion continued, Ospreay spoke about how he thinks the low numbers will motivate others in AEW, just as it has for himself.

“It sucks that it was such a low rating, but it motivates me and I’m sure it motivates others to think outside the box and come back with a bang.”

“I’m not one to ignore that kind of stuff. I see it and I take note of it. I put it in the checkbook and make sure that whatever we do next week, we come back swinging. We can’t ignore or shy away from criticism. We’re still a five-year-old company and we’re still working through these things. For me, AEW still has a lot of growing pains to go through.”

Ratings for AEW Dynamite were up for the June 26 edition of the show, but June 2024 was down 23% from June 2023, which will likely further motivate Ospreay and others in the company.