Dana White’s Power Slap League has arrived.
The season debut of the UFC boss’ new slap-fighting side project aired last night (Weds., Jan. 18, 2023) on the TBS network. Numbers from the Nielsen Ratings System came in today (Thurs., Jan. 19, 2023) via MMA Fighting and the average viewership over the one-hour episode at 10 p.m. ET was 295,000. Amongst the 18-49-year-old demographic, the show earned a .10 share and was No. 45 for all Wednesday cable ratings.
Power Slap retained less than a third of the previous audience carried over by All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which clocked in at an average of 969,000 over its two-hour span.
While the numbers still have a lot of growing to do in comparison its pro wrestling counterpart, Power Slap League garnered plenty of attention and reaction from other sports’ stars and celebrities.
Wednesday nights will continue to be the home of Power Slap for the remainder of the eight-episode season. At the end of the season, there will be a live pay-per-view event.
Power Slap was originally set to air one week earlier on Jan. 11, 2023, but was ultimately delayed after White’s New Year’s Eve vacation incident with his wife, Anne White. White was seen striking his wife multiple times with slaps after she slapped him in a nightclub. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President has since revealed that he had an entire media tour planned for the launch of the season, but obviously, had to cancel those plans and push back the product’s launch date.