Dana White's latest venture Power Slap premiered on January 18 following AEW Dynamite. The premiere was delayed by one week after footage was released of Dana White slapping his wife on New Year's Eve. White apologized for the incident, but faced no punishment from the UFC or network executives.
The premiere of Power Slap drew 295,000 viewers and a 0.10 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic. AEW Dynamite drew 967,000 viewers and a 0.31 demographic rating.
Speaking to Deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery Chairman and Chief Content Officer Kathleen Finch was asked if she was concerned about airing Power Slap after footage came out of Dana slapping his wife.
“Of course. Yes,” she said. “This is an experiment. The goal is, we are making shows for our fans, that’s who we work for. Fans of wrestling have a lot of overlap with the fans of this and it’s huge on social media so the idea really is, if we can take something that’s huge on social, bring it to a linear audience giving the fans what they want. This may surprise you to know that I did not know much about wrestling before I took this job. I know, I seem like a wrestling fan, but I’m not. But I did have to learn a lot about the audience. A lot of families that watch [wrestling], I was very surprised to learn this. I have huge respect for this audience. AEW wrestling airs on two of our networks, TNT and TBS — on both nights it kills. Finding something that speaks to that audience, that would be gold."
AEW Dynamite consistently ranks in the top five among 18 to 49 viewers on Wednesday nights.
Fans can find viewership information for AEW Dynamite by clicking here.
