Tony Khan blasts fan over criticism of AEW Collision ratings
AEW President Tony Khan seemed pleased with this week's ratings for Saturday Night Collision, which saw a 35% increase after going up against WWE Royal Rumble the week before. But after seeing a fan joke about the show on social media, the All Elite Chief shared a snarky message.
AEW Collision has been up and down in the ratings. Its timeslot is generally considered to be weak, and the show – which was originally built around CM Punk – seems to have suffered from perception issues since the firing of The Second City Saint.
The Saturday show pulled in 404k viewers this week against an NBA game on network television. While this was a major increase over the previous edition and a small uptrend against the last month, it's still well short of matching AEW's flagship show, Wednesday Night Dynamite.
In a now-deleted tweet, a fan responded to Dave Meltzer's comment about Collision's lead-in, NCIS New Orleans, averaging only 18,000 viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic. The fan joked that Collision should be renamed "AEW Trainwreck," prompting a response from Tony Khan:
"Actually, in the tv business, pulling a number 9 times higher than your lead-in is a good thing, genius," wrote Khan.
The fan then claimed that he was a supporter of AEW and was even subscribed to AEW Plus on FITE/Triller TV. However, Tony Khan defended his reaction with another tweet:
"One bad tweet is all it takes in this business."
This wasn't Tony Khan's first controversial tweet this week
Tony Khan has riled up the online wrestling community countless times with his controversial tweets. The AEW President's peculiar blend of promotion and online trolling has drawn praise from some and ire from many others.
Despite being the son of a billionaire, the All Elite chief was active on wrestling forums from the early days of the internet, which seems to have informed his online persona. A little of that conditioning shone through after the recent announcement that NJPW parent company Bushiroad had severed ties with Stardom co-founder Rossy Ogawa.
Khan, who has allegedly had a cold relationship with Ogawa, took to X late on February 4 to give a snarky farewell to the Japanese promoter:
While Tony Khan's social media antics have angered many, some see them as an effective promotional tactic. An example of this can be seen with the January 17 episode of AEW Dynamite, which recorded the show's best ratings in months after Khan stirred up the controversy surrounding HOOK's challenge for the AEW World Championship in the main event.
Do you think Tony Khan should restrain himself on social media, or are you a fan of his promotional tactics? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below!