There is now going to be new wrestling content available to watch every night of the week.
Each of the top USA promotions, WWE, AEW and IMPACT Wrestling now have claimed a night of the week as their own. For the hardcore wrestling fan who watches everything, a week involving a wrestling pay-per-view would look like this:
- Monday – WWE Raw
- Tuesday – WWE NXT
- Wednesday – AEW Dynamite
- Thursday – IMPACT Wrestling
- Friday – WWE SmackDown & AEW Rampage [With possible IMPACT pay-per-view]
- Saturday – AEW Collision [With possible WWE PLE]
- Sunday – Possible AEW or NXT pay-per-view/PLE
On a week without pay-per-views, that calculates to 14 hours of new wrestling each week. With competing wrestling shows, streaming series, sports and other day to day activities, wrestling fans have become more stretched than ever on their choices on which show to watch, meaning that something has to give.
June 17th saw All Elite Wrestling expand the weekly line-up by adding Collison, meaning that every Saturday will now broadcast wrestling, not just the one weekend a month where WWE host their Premium Live Events.
The debut episode was newsworthy, with Chicago native CM Punk making his return to the company in his hometown to speak his mind and compete in a trios match alongside FTR. Now that the dust has settled, what does the future hold for the newest AEW show?
As with anything new, fans will tune in for the debut but need to be hooked to continue. While Punk’s debut was newsworthy and a title change took place on the show, it lacked that killer moment to make fans come back the following week. Returning stars such as Miro and Andrade were announced ahead of time and there was no shock debut to pop the audience.
The lack of an unexpected debut on the show was also prevalent, an aspect that made AEW TV and pay-per-views can’t miss in their golden era. It should be noted that due to WWE not releasing big name talents due to budget cuts anymore, there are few big names on the independent scene that could have become All Elite on June 17th.
If outside stars were not possible, this further exposed the lack of star power on the show. With World Champion MJF used sparingly on Dynamite and never appearing on Rampage, a Collision appearance was never going to be seen. It was very apparent that The Elite were never going to be in attendance, but the added absence of stars such as Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson made Collision seem like it was not AEW’s top priority.
And then there is the matter of CM Punk’s return itself. The actions at the All Out press conference and the reports of the backstage fight afterwards have left AEW fans divided. The crowd reactions in Dynamite arenas have been mixed when Punks’ name is mentioned and the Collision crowd were nowhere near as hot as the Ramage crowd in August 2022.
CM Punk is a draw, and people will pay to see him. But with Saturday night being a hard night to sell, the fans need more to part ways with their hard earned money. Twitter account Wrestle Tix has been documenting the sales for the announced locations, with sales struggling for future locations. At the time of writing, a WWE house show has sold more tickets than the June 24th Collison show.
The biggest test for AEW will be how they react when they go head-to-head with WWE’s Premium Live Events. Money in the Bank will be broadcast in the UK, meaning that the time difference will cause the shows to be separate. The first head-to-head will be SummerSlam on August 5th. With WWE planning to put on one of their biggest shows of the year, how will AEW counter this?
AEW’s flagship show, Dynamite, will naturally be the home for the biggest angles and matches, as the flagship show has seen a decline in ratings in its own right recently, failing to break 1 million viewers in a number of months. Are the company willing to sacrifice a major angle or match on Wednesday to hope for a ratings bump on Saturday?
The in-ring action was good on the debut episode of Collision and the fans went home happy, this felt more like episode 4 or 5 of the show and not a hot debut. Hopefully, Collision picks up momentum and becomes a can’t miss show. Time will tell if this will feel more like Dynamite or Rampage.
Featured image: AEW
