AEW Modifies Long-Term Plans For Collision
cultaholic.com
The expectation is All Elite Wrestling will be holding more Thursday night tapings of AEW Collision moving forward, according to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

(Sourcing link is from Cultaholic cause fuck the Observers paywall and I’m tired lol)

The expectation is All Elite Wrestling will be holding more Thursday night tapings of AEW Collision moving forward, according to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Meltzer noted the “main talent” are fans of taping on Thursday nights as it means they don’t have to stay on the road for an extra couple of days or go home and then travel again a couple of days later.

Taping Collision on a Thursday does harm the show’s ratings but Meltzer claimed the damage wasn’t enough where it was worth AEW sacrificing the goodwill they have with talent.

Collision has often aired live on a Saturday night since the series premiered in June 2023, but more episodes have been taped on Thursday in recent months.

Collision will remain on Warner Bros. Discovery networks in the new year when AEW’s new TV deal with WBD takes effect. Collision is planned to remain on the air throughout the deal which will run through December 2027.

I guess this makes sense. Doesn’t bother me if the show is live or not as long as it’s good and if it keeps the wrestlers happy all the better. Means AEW getting all their live/taping for the week done over a 24-28h period…I mean TNA has done that before doing like a months worth of show tapings over 2-3 days so its not impossible by any means.

  • JelloBrainsEnglish
    2•1 month ago

    I want to see some live specials on Thursday just to test if that is an option. I tend to skip taped shows, yeah I already watch on a DVR most of the time, but I skip if I read results ahead of time. I like he wants them home more, I dislike the slow death of live shows.

    • @Lost_My_MindEnglish
      3•1 month ago

      WWE airs on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.

      AEW airs Wednesday and Saturday.

      ROH airs Thursday. It would make sense in my mind to air ROH and AEW live on Thursday. Force TNA to either move to 10pm, or go head to head with AEW.

      Would be interesting to see how that shakes out.

      • JelloBrainsEnglish
        2•1 month ago

        I don’t want to shade TNA, I still enjoy their product, but their viewership is already low due to the channel they are on, so I don’t imagine moving AEW/ROH to Thursday kills them even if it is head-to-head.

        • @Lost_My_MindEnglish
          2•1 month ago

          How low we talking here? Because from what I heard, AEW is averaging about a .6 on the neilson these days, with no indication of growth. In fact, they USED TO be at 1.2. They’ve been losing viewers year over year. And with the future Max streaming, I imagine that will completey change how AEW is viewed conceptually by viewers. We may see an overnight drop to .2, which I assume is where TNA is at now.