WWE Spending THOUSANDS Of Dollars To Receive AEW Fast National Ratings

It emerged all the way back in 2021 that WWE were leaking the fast national ratings for AEW Rampage to news outlets, with the figures being ignored by the vast majority of reporters. They are reported on by a few outlets, however, and WWE have continued to leak the fast nationals every week, even adding Collision to the mix since the Saturday night series debuted in June 2023.

Fast nationals are the initial rating for a TV show that is available before the full rating is revealed, with the fast national number usually being lower than the final rating. For AEW Rampage and Collision, the fast nationals are available on the morning after the show while the final ratings often take three days to be collected due to the weekend. 

The practice of leaking AEW's fast national ratings isn't a cheap one for WWE. Within the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Brandon Thurston noted that fast national ratings for cable shows, like AEW Collision and Rampage on TNT, are very difficult to access and they have to be specifically "requested and purchased for thousands of dollars for each episode." WWE have been ordering AEW fast nationals every week since WWE President Nick Khan joined the company in August 2020.

Such is the price of cable fast nationals that Warner Bros. Discovery don't even order them for their own shows.