WWE and AEW Going Head-to-Head Again Next Week

WWE and AEW will face off once again next week, with Collision going head-to-head against SmackDown

By Matthew Aguilar

The wrestling world is set for another collision between WWE and AEW, but this time it doesn't involve Dynamite or NXT. This time it involves WWE SmackDown and AEW Collision, as AEW reminded fans that Collision will be airing on Friday next week instead of Saturday. Collision will not just be airing the same night as SmackDown though, as it is also set to go head to head with WWE's blue brand, and then right after Collision, Rampage will air as normal (via WrestlePurists). That's a full night of wrestling, and if the NXT vs Dynamite showdown was anything to go by, both companies are going to be loading up their cards.

WWE is heading into Survivor Series War Games, while AEW will be a day away from Full Gear, so both shows will have a variety of bigger storylines to work with and top talent to choose from for those shows. There might also be some Title gold on the line, which was the case the last time WWE and AEW faced off.

When NXT and Dynamite went head to head, WWE loaded up quite a bit for the confrontation. Cody Rhodes, LA Knight, John Cena, The Bloodline, Asuka, and The Undertaker all made appearances throughout that NXT, while Dynamite featured Bryan Danielson, Swerve Strickland, Orange Cassidy, Saraya, and Hikaru Shida among others.

It would be NXT that ended up winning the numbers battle, as Wrestlenomics reported that NXT won in both viewership and the P18-49 demo with 921,000 viewers and a 0.30 rating. AEW came in with 609,000 viewers and a 0.26 rating, which was a drop from the previous week's 800,000 viewers. Dynamite also saw a slight drop in the demo from 0.28. Meanwhile, NXT received an increase from the previous week's number of 857,000 viewers and gained a sizable jump in the demo as well, moving up from 0.22.

AEW and WWE do run across each other on Saturdays too at times, but typically not head-to-head. WWE premium live events have frequently been on Saturdays this year, especially NXT events, and earlier this year both AEW's Double or Nothing and NXT's Battleground events ran on the same day as well. In a media conference call, Tony Khan reacted to that competition.

"It's been that feeling from day one, since we launched a TV show. It actually, probably changed a little bit on April 14, 2021, and now with this, it feels like the old days in some ways. I'm always very eager to compete in whatever arena I'm in," Khan said (h/t Fightful). "I really love the competition in pro wrestling as long as it's done with some ethical standards. People running events at some similar times, I don't know if that's necessarily unethical. I don't have a big problem with it.

"I wish everybody the best, and I expect we will do the best show on Sunday," Khan continued. "I think there will be a big audience for AEW Double or Nothing. Certainly, the spirit of competition is something we've dealt with since the launch of AEW, and I have never really had any problem with it as long as it's an ethical competition, and I don't think it has always been coming from the other side."

What do you think of WWE and AEW going head-to-head once again? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!

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