Big Swole says there's not enough diversity in AEW...
So Tony Khan let Big Swole's contract run out, and she took to the internet to discuss what the major problems were behind the scenes, saying...
"It's fine to be loose, but I like to have a little bit more structure. I felt like the women shouldn't have gone through everything they went through just to get on time," Swole said, saying the company added a lot to the roster but they don't have enough TV time for all the people. Swole also said that AEW's biggest issue outside of structure is their diversity, saying there's not enough representation. "There is no representation...truly, and when there is, it does not come across in the black community as genuine. At all," Swole said. "I don't know why everybody is so afraid to accept it or say it, but it's not a good look. What happens is, you have this wonderful company that treats people like family, but there is nobody that looks like me that is represented at the top and in the room with them." She noted how her daughter, who watches AEW and rarely watched WWE unless her father Cedric Alexander is on, also asked her why there's no one like them in AEW. "Then she started watching WWE because she saw Bianca and Big E. She saw herself represented. It's 2021. Why are people saying, 'it will take three years for AEW to have a black champ?' This is a scripted sport. It should not take that long if you have been watching WWE for 50+ years and you know what not to do,
Talk about delusional.
Someone should key her in to what's going on over on Raw, where they've had black champs for the entirety of 2021, and guess what? Ratings tanked... BIG TIME.
Don't take my word for it, the Nielsen ratings say it all and the numbers don't lie.
Colin Vassallo did a breakdown of the numbers while black champs ruled the airwaves on Raw, writing...
In 2021, Monday Night Raw averaged a total of 1,756,000 viewers over 52 weeks, down 122,000 viewers from the 2020 average. In the 18-49 demo, Raw averaged a 0.50. The show hit rock-bottom this year a couple of times, breaking the record of the least viewership in the show's history. The July 5 show averaged just 1,472,000 viewers for the least-watched episode ever and the December 6 episode drew the worst 18-49 demo with just an average of 0.35. Raw only surpassed the 2 million viewer mark three times this year, with the January 4, April 12, and August 23 shows. Last year, Raw went over 2 million a total of 13 times. The most-watched Raw of 2021 was the January 4 Legends night which pulled in 2,127,000 viewers and a 0.68 rating in 18-49. The post-Mania Raw did 2,206,000 viewers and an identical 0.68 rating while the post-SummerSlam show drew 2,067,000 viewers with a 0.64 rating.
So moving from a white champion in Drew McIntyre, to black champions in Bobby Lashley and Big E, saw an overall decline in viewership by an average of over 122,000 viewers.
Meanwhile, AEW is up overall nearly 100,000 viewers in year-over-year Nielsen ratings.
By comparison...
Dynamite in 2021 drew an average of 895,000 viewers across 52 weeks of programming, up from the 812,000 average it did in 2020. It was all around a good year for AEW when it comes to viewers, and getting rid of NXT in head-to-head programming meant an increase as well. In the first three months until NXT moved in the beginning of April, Dynamite averaged 774,000 viewers but then shot up to a 937,000 average from April to December when it had no NXT head-to-head. Dynamite averaged a 0.34 rating in the 18-49 demo throughout the year. While last year Dynamite passed the 1 million viewership only once, this year it did it 15 times. The September 8 episode of Dynamite, with the fallout from All Out, was the most-watched episode with 1,319,000 viewers and a 0.52 rating in the 18-49 demo. The September 22 show from the Arthur Ashe Stadium was the second most-watched with 1,273,000 viewers and a 0.48 rating. The June 4 episode was the least-watched Dynamite ever with just 462,000 viewers but that aired on a late Friday night. It registered a 0.19 rating in the 18-49 demo.
TL;DR: Basically, AEW is growing, WWE is shrinking.
And WWE had its lowest rated year in television history on the USA network while black champions headlined the show. So unless Tony wants to see his flag ship show start sinking like WWE, it's best he ignore all those calls for more "diversity", because it's doing nothing but further sinking the WWE ship, as evident by the year-over-year ratings decline.
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