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AEW Collision is set to air this week on the same day that WWE is scheduled to present its 37th annual SummerSlam PLE. After a major mishap last year, Tony Khan and his staff are making plans to avoid the same mistakes this year.
SummerSlam 2023, headlined by Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso, aired at 7pm ET, beginning with the Kickoff. A live Collision episode aired on the same day at 8pm ET, and featured CM Punk vs. Ricky Starks as a key stop on the road to All In. Collision on TNT suffered a major drop in ratings while up against SummerSlam on Peacock last year, with additional competition from ESPN's UFC Fight Night. The two-hour episode drew 417,000 viewers, which was down from the previous week's 739,000. The key demo rating also dropped from 0.27 to 0.13.
AEW's two-step plan to save Collision from another SummerSlam beating was recently revealed. The company will tape Collision this Thursday at Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and then air it at 5pm ET on Saturday, which is 1 hour after the Countdown to SummerSlam pre-show begins, and 2 hours before the main card airs. A new report from Wrestling Observer Radio has revealed that AEW officials considered a much more drastic step in keeping Collision above water this week.
Apparently, there was initially talk of airing Collision on Friday night to avoid the SummerSlam competition. The go-home edition of SmackDown is airing in its normal timeslot on Friday. This is the original reason why they chose to tape on Thursday, but plans changed and they went with Saturday at 5pm ET. However, there's still a feeling that Collision will do low numbers as there will be additional competition from the Paris Olympics.
AEW has not announced any matches for Saturday's Collision as of this writing. Last week's show was headlined by PAC defeating Lio Rush in the main event. Hologram defeated The Beast Mortos to take his record to 2-0 while MxM debuted with a loss to FTR.
AEW Dynamite updated lineup for this week
The card is shaping up for Wednesday's live AEW Dynamite episode. The company will return to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina for the post-Blood & Guts show.
Adam Page defeated Darby Allin on the 2020 Chris Jericho Cruise, but their first-ever AEW match will air on Dynamite this week. A trios match was also added. Below is the updated lineup:
- Darby Allin vs. Adam Page
- Mark Briscoe, Tomohiro Ishii, Orange Cassidy vs. Rush, Roderick Strong, The Beast Mortos
- Title Eliminator Match: CMLL World Women's Champion Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander
- Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer
- Mariah May's sit-down interview with Renee Paquette
- Bryan Danielson has some things to get off his chest
Wednesday's event will also feature Rampage tapings, which will air on Friday in its normal timeslot. No matches have been announced as of this writing.
