It was originally reported by Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast in March that AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery were closing in on a deal to add a third AEW show, similar to Rampage, indicating a one-hour series, and teased it could air on Saturday nights.
All Elite Wrestling recently filed to trademark “AEW Collision” for entertainment services with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the rumored name of the new show.
It was later reported the show might be premiering by July. AEW recently nixed a Rampage event from Friday, July 14, and added a “TV event” on Saturday, July 8, from Regina, Saskatchewan.
Reports came out this week that CM Punk is returning to the promotion, with the tentative plan for it to happen on the June 21 edition of AEW Dynamite in Chicago.
As previously reported, AEW might have an idea to ease the tension among those who don’t like Punk and vice versa by putting him on the Saturday show and separating the roster by rating the roster between the two shows.
Andrew Zarian reported on today’s Mat Men Podcast that he’d been told the Saturday show will be premiering in June as a two-hour program from 8-10 pm EST. The announcement is expected to be made in mid-May. The news about the 2-hour 8-10 timeslot for Collision was first reported by Matt Black of WrestleZone on Friday and later confirmed on Wrestling Observer Radio by Dave Meltzer.
Zarian said the following today:
“Here is what I understand. This show looks to be starting on June 17 in Chicago…A Saturday night show. I’m hearing it’s a two-hour show from 8-10 [pm EST] on Saturdays.”
Zarian added, “They may be preempted somedays I don’t know. That’s me interjecting based on how these things work. I also believe this is going to be on TNT. Multiple people I spoke to said probably on TNT. So that makes it even harder.”
Zarian noted the show is supposed to be called Collison. It was pointed out that there is not currently an AEW show announced for June 17th. That will likely change once the show is officially announced.
“Maybe I’m wrong on that date, then. Don’t hold me to. I believe I heard it was June. What are you going to do a Saturday show in the same building and then go back on Dynamite? Maybe I’m wrong here. Now, I’m very confused by this because I had something different in my notes. I’ll check on it. Either way, I heard it’s June. I heard the announcement is coming in mid-May.”
The TV upfronts, where all the networks announce their new programming, takes place in a month just before the Collision debut show.
On CM Punk, Zarian said, “I think Punk is being very humble. I know that he really wants to make this work. From what I have been told, I think he realizes what an absurd moment this was for them…At the end of the day, he knows the importance of the wrestling business and the success of AEW and how important this is for the entire industry.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Mat Men Podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
