This weekend, AEW is mixing things up with Collision.
Departing from its regular time slot on March 23, AEW plans to split Collision into two separate one-hour episodes.
The first episode will be broadcasted on Saturday at 11 PM EST, while the second one is slated for the following night, at the same time slot.
This scheduling shift is a result of the NCAA March Madness. The plan is to air both episodes post the games, providing a good lead-in stimulus for the viewers.
The recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio featured Dave Meltzer discussing this approach.
Meltzer noted, “So on the 22nd and 23rd in two weeks here with Collision, they’re running a test for Collision. It’ll be recorded on Wednesday in Omaha. It’s a similar strategy to what they adopted last week in Sacramento, and here’s why… because TNT is airing the NCAA basketball tournament over the weekend. They’re attempting to allow them beneficial time slots. They could, just call off Collision if they wanted to, that would normally be a logical approach. You know, given prime time slots being occupied by NCAA basketball championships. That’s obviously bigger than AEW Collision or Dynamite or anything. NCAA Tournaments are a major event.
Nonetheless, they are planning to initiate the approach where on both Saturday and Sunday night, they are going to initiate the broadcast immediately after the eight o’clock game. That could potentially be after a nine o’clock game as well. The anticipated start time, you know, may be a bit later, but certainly not early. It will be 11 pm Eastern and 8 pm Pacific as they will be broadcast on staggered feet. Saturday and Sunday. Followed with a one-hour episode on Saturday night, and a one-hour episode on Sunday night.
These will be two separate one-hour broadcasts. Two hours of Collision will be recorded, with one hour each being aired on Saturday and Sunday. The aim is to provide them the benefit of two different telecast timings. Instead of airing a two-hour show with the second hour being from midnight to one, where the ratings are likely to drop, they have decided to air one-hour episodes each night, directly succeeding the tournament game. The expectation is to achieve substantial ratings, or at least a high rating for the Saturday’s telecast. The Sunday telecast might not do as well since AEW usually struggles with novel timeslots. So, that’s the nature of the game.”