AEW Collision Reportedly Might Not Air The Week Of Worlds End PPV
AEW has been adding pay-per-views to its schedule recently, and that might end up conflicting with its fledgling "Collision" program. According to The Wrestling Observer's Andrew Zarian, there are no plans to air an episode of "AEW Collision" the week of AEW Worlds End. The news is particularly interesting given that "Collision" is scheduled to air the Friday before AEW's Full Gear PPV, which will broadcast on Saturday, November 18, but there are apparently no similar plans for Worlds End.
As of today, I'm hearing AEW won't be airing Collision the week of the Worlds End PPV pic.twitter.com/16N0LOfa1Q
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) November 8, 2023
"Collision" debuted this past summer as a second live program on Saturday nights, initially a platform for the divisive CM Punk, but with Punk fired from the company in September, Bryan Danielson has taken over many of the duties that the former AEW World Champion had been overseeing on Saturdays. The show has often come into conflict with WWE PPVs in the past, as WWE has favored Saturday night PPVs in the past couple of years. World's End, meanwhile, is the result of Warner Bros. Discovery's reported request for AEW to expand its PPV schedule, which not only added World's End in 2023 but also All In and WrestleDream. According to rumors from September, WBD is hoping that AEW will at some point reach a monthly PPV schedule, possibly even broadcasting on WBD's Max streaming platform. Initially, AEW held just four PPVs per year, but they added the Forbidden Door PPV, a cross-promotional show with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, in 2022.
With college sports competition in the ratings, as well as Saturday night's general perception as a low night on television, AEW has been working to make "Collision" into appointment television, with the program recently hosting the AEW World Championship match between MJF and Kenny Omega, though the marquee match was not the ratings hit that many expected.