AEW’s television footprint is getting even more robust.
Tony Khan’s wrestling company and Warner Bros. Discovery announced at their upfronts on Wednesday that they are adding a live, two-hour Saturday night show called “AEW: Collision,” at 8 p.m. on TNT beginning June 17.
The show will feature headliners Miro, Samoa Joe, Thunder Rosa, Powerhouse Hobbs and Andrade El Idolo.
This now brings AEW to five total hours of wrestling per week on Turner networks, joining the two-hour “Dynamite” on TBS on Wednesdays and one-hour “Rampage” on TNT on Fridays.
“We are doubling down on wrestling with “AEW: Collision,” which gives fans two more hours every week,” said Jason Sarlanis, president of Turner Networks. “AEW’s roster of talent has expanded so quickly that we felt it needed another night to bring our audience the epic rivalries, unforgettable matches and stars they love to watch.
“Adding ‘Collision’ to our programming mix on TNT will allow us to satisfy the massive demand we’ve felt from our hardcore fan base and be the ultimate complement to ‘AEW: Dynamite’ on TBS.”
The inaugural show has been rumored to be at the United Center in Chicago, potentially for the AEW return of CM Punk from injury and the fallout of his infamous press conference and backstage brawl with The Elite following last year’s All Out in September.
The location for the first show has yet to be announced.
There is precedent for wrestling on Saturday nights with WWE’s “Saturday Night’s Main Event,” which was a fill-in for “Saturday Night Live” on NBC from 1985-90 and was revived a few times after that.
WCW also ran “WCW Saturday Night,” starting with Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1971-82 and then picking up again regularly with WCW from 1992-2000.
“With the addition of ‘AEW: Collision’ on TNT, I’m extremely proud that a Turner network will be the home of Saturday night wrestling for the first time in more than two decades,” said Khan, AEW’s CEO, GM and head of creative. “The debut of ‘Collision’ is significant across numerous sectors including television, wrestling, entertainment and sports, and reinforces AEW as the bold property we envisioned when we launched in 2019. ‘Collision’ will deliver live every Saturday night more of what fans and viewers tell us they want – athleticism, big personalities, exciting storylines and hard-hitting wrestling action, all of which have become synonymous with AEW.”
Adding a third show, certainly poses an oversaturation risk for AEW, which has seen its ratings for Dynamite and Rampage take a dip in 2022.
But the announcement of “headliners” for Collison suggests that their could be some form of a roster split across the shows to keep things fresh, but that remains to be seen.
While potentially making Punk a regular attraction on the show would help, trying to attract the coveted 18-49 demo on Saturday night watching live could also present a challenge.
What wasn’t initially announced Wednesday was a new television deal for AEW.
There was a belief a deal would be revealed after reports said the two sides had agreed to deal in the five-year, $1 billion range that would give Warner Bros. Discover exclusive rights to AEW content in the U.S. – including airing their “All In” show at Wembley Stadium on the Max streaming services.
Such a deal would have been a huge boon for AEW, which is currently working under an agreement that reportedly pays it just $40 million per year and expires at end of 2023. Even if a new deal hasn’t been officially reached, the addition of Collision should raise that number.
With Warner Bros. Discovery adding more AEW content, there is little reason to believe a deal of some sort isn’t in the works.
One thing that is obvious, however, is Warner Bros. Discovery has a thirst for AEW content, recently airing six episodes of the one-hour “AEW All Access,” which gave fans a look at the happenings behind the scenes, after Dynamite following the failure of Dana White’s “Power Slap” in the time slot.