With college basketball taking top priority at TNT Sports for March and early April, it was always going to have an impact on All Elite Wrestling. While AEW’s flagship Dynamite show which airs on Wednesdays on TBS has been untouched by the Tournament, their Friday show Rampage was already affected last week by having to air Wednesday after Dynamite instead of its usual Friday spot due to NCAA Tournament first-round games.
Collision, AEW’s newest weekly show which airs on Saturday nights has felt the impact of the NCAA Tournament the most, though. On March 23, the company and TNT decided to not hold a show instead of changing the night or timeslot as the second round rolled along.
Saturday, March 30 will see the show return to its normal night and 8/7 Central timeslot, as the Elite Eight will be airing on CBS and TBS.
According to Figure Four Online, Saturday, April 6 is a bit of a double whammy for AEW. WWE will be holding night one of WrestleMania XL starting at 7/6c on Peacock, while TNT will be airing Final Four postgame coverage, pushing the Collision start time to 11:30 ET. But ultimately it will depend on when the second game of the Final Four comes to an end and how long the postgame coverage takes.
Collision’s ratings usually struggle when airing the same night as a WWE Premium Live Event. And the later-than-normal start time won’t do any favors, either.
But, once the NCAA Tournament ends, Collision won’t have this problem again until next year.
