AEW Collision ratings down despite dream Bryan Danielson match and former WWE star's debut
This past week's edition of AEW Collision saw a significant drop in ratings despite former world champion Bryan Danielson opening the show with a dream match and the debut of a former WWE Cruiserweight champion.
Collision commenced in June 2023 with CM Punk being the face of the show. However, despite a great start with 800k viewers, the ratings for the show have been in a consistent decline. Following Punk's departure, the show has struggled to pull even 500k viewers lately.
The latest offering of AEW's Saturday show saw Bryan Danielson open the night with a dream match against Katsuyori Shibata. Furthermore, former WWE Superstar PAC (FKA Neville) also made his Collision debut with a victory.
However, as per Alfred Konuwa, the March 16th edition of Collision attracted an average of 377,000 viewers, with 153,000 fans hailing from the 18-49 demographic. For context, the previous episode drew an average of 402,000 viewers, with 147,000 coming from the 18-49 demo.
What else happened on AEW Collision aside from Bryan Danielson's dream match?
Apart from an amazing opening match between Bryan Danielson and Katsuyori Shibata and PAC's debut, the recent edition of AEW Collision also featured more important things. Kyle O'Reilly made his in-ring return after nearly two years and defeated Bryan Keith in a hard-fought battle.
Furthermore, Adam Copeland (FKA Edge), who was advertised for the show, cut a promo at the end addressing his upcoming "I Quit" match against Christian Cage this Wednesday.
Considering the consistent decline in viewership, it is perhaps time for Tony Khan and the company to go back to the drawing board and fix the rot. It will be interesting to see the next step from the Jacksonville-based promotion in their bid to address the abysmal ratings of the Saturday event.