All eyes are on AEW Collision. All Elite Wrestling’s third weekly broadcast premiered this past weekend, hosting a handful of matches alongside the highly-anticipated returns of CM Punk, Andrade El Ídolo and Miro. Punk opened the show by seemingly turning heel, emphasizing that he is “tired of being nice” and labelling the AEW locker room as “soft.” Regardless of his words, Punk was showered in cheers by his hometown Chicago crowd, which continued into the main event. Punk and AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR reunited to defeat Ring of Honor Television Champion Samoa Joe and Bullet Club Gold’s Jay White and Juice Robinson.
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According to Wrestlenomics, the debut episode of AEW Collision generated 816,000 viewers alongside a 0.33 rating in the 18-49 demographic. AEW Collision was the #3 cable original in that demographic as well. By comparison, the premiere episodes of AEW Dynamite (October 2nd, 2019) and AEW Rampage (August 13th, 2021) drew 1.4 million and 740,000 viewers, respectively.
This is on par with last Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite which brought in 832,000 viewers. AEW Dynamite has regularly floated around 800,000 this year, with the show last hitting seven figures back in February.
AEW Collision occupies the 8-10 PM ET timeslot on Saturdays. While a primetime position, this is a relatively untested spot for weekly professional wrestling, as most major promotions have run their broadcasts on weekdays. That said, Saturdays used to be a home for squared circle content, as WWF Saturday Night Main Event ran for 36 episodes in the 1980s and 1990s.
Tonight kicks off a busy week for AEW. Tony Khan’s company opens with the final episode of AEW Dynamite before this Sunday’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door but will reportedly run without the likes of Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks on the broadcast. CM Punk is reportedly set to appear, making this his first AEW Dynamite since August 2022. From there, AEW heads to Toronto for AEW Collision, a crucial episode in the show’s short history as second week viewership is a key signal of what the long term audience will look like. The next day, AEW and New Japan come together for the aforementioned AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, a crossover super show that will feature dream matches like Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay.
AEW Collision returns this Saturday at 8 PM ET on TNT.
