AEW Collision draws lowest-ever ratings in its history amid competition from WWE SummerSlam and the Olympics
The latest episode of AEW Collision drew the lowest-ever ratings in the show's history. Competition from WWE Summerslam 2024 and the Olympics were reported to be among the possible causes for this drop in viewership figures.
The August 3, 2024 edition of Collision emanated from the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and had a special, early start time, having been moved from its usual TV slot. Despite presenting an action-packed card with much storyline progression, last week's Collision faced stiff competition from the Olympic games and the WWE Summerslam 2024 pre-show, which translated into a major ratings hit.
It was recently revealed that the August 3 episode of the Saturday-night show raked in an average viewership of 189,000 and a 18-49 demo-rating of 0.08, registering a 51% and 33% drop in the respective metrics compared to the previous week. These figures mark the lowest viewership numbers in the history of Collision, dropping well below the ratings pulled in by the November 17, 2023 episode (270,000).
Collision this past week saw several storylines advance, beginning with Christian Cage awarding two of the three AEW World Trios Championship belts to Nick Wayne and Shayna Wayne, blatantly snubbing Killswitch once again. However, The Patriarchy would be confronted by a re-united House of Black following the return of Buddy Matthews. The Bang Bang Gang also made their presence felt in the arena, setting the stage for a three-sided conflict in the trios division.
Besides segments featuring Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs, Sammy Guevara, MJF, MxM, Top Flight and Leila Grey, and Bryan Danielson, Collision also featured matches, such as Hologram and Mistico defeating The Premier Athletes, Kyle Fletcher beating Brian Cage, and Toni Storm defeating Rache Chanel after a brawl with Mariah May. Furthermore, Claudio Castagnoli defeated Lee Moriarty and Tomohiro Ishii to earn a shot at the AEW Continental Title, and Thunder Rosa defeated Taya Valkyrie before challenging Deonna Purrazzo to a Texas Bull Rope match next week. The main event saw The Beast Mortos and The Undisputed Kingdom lose to Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin, and FTR, with the Top Guys nearly throwing hands with The Acclaimed in a post-match confrontation.
AEW CEO Tony Khan sent an interesting message regarding talks with Warner Bros Discovery
Recent reports suggested that the exclusive negotiation window between AEW and its network partner Warner Bros Discovery has expired. Amid conjecture regarding the decline in TV ratings and live audience attendance experienced by AEW's programming and regarding the company's future with WBD, Tony Khan seemingly has sent an interesting message on the subject.
Taking to X/Twitter, the All Elite CEO revealed that he had recently met with WBD CEO David Zaslav in Paris, and claimed that his promotion is looking at a "very bright" future, suggesting the possibility that talks between the two entities could be going well. He also hyped up the upcoming episode of Dynamite.
It remains to be seen how TK continues to book AEW TV en route to All In 2024.