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No_Name_Needed on 02 August 2023
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JWeinCom said:
No_Name_Needed said:

The week Collision dropped to just above 450,000 viewers the show was airing just after Money in the Bank if I remember correctly. Not surprising people decided to skip watching more wrestling. The last two weeks they have not had direct wresting competition, so they have done well (and the show has been pretty good, so that helps). This weekend it will do horribly since SummerSlam will go head-to-head with it. Collision will die in the ratings this weekend, even with CM Punk in the main event.

As far as the product not resonating beyond the core fan base, it is what it is. WWE's most hardcore fanbase will never really support it, and they are the biggest wrestling fanbase in the world. Casual fans don't know anything else but WWE. Not AEW, Impact, NJPW, MLW, or anything else. That will always be a problem for any non-WWE promotion. The product (especially Collision) has been very good lately, but if some people are not willing to give it a real chance week after week to see that, then what can you do?

As long as both Dynamite and Collision are consistently in the top 10 in the ratings (and they are), the network will be happy. If they can build from there great, but it will take time. Fortunately they are still a new company and they can pivot and course correct if necessary. Hell they are about to have their biggest PPV ever with 77,000 tickets already distributed. That is amazing for such a young promotion. Now they just need to build on that.

I don't think the network necessarily cares about top ten or top whatever, as it would all depend on how much they're paying AEW vs how much money they're getting from advertisers. 

There doesn't seem to be any reason that ratings shouldn't be able to improve as time goes on, if the product is something potential new viewers would enjoy. They presumably have a marketing department so the casual audiences should be becoming more aware of them as time goes on. If Money in the Bank was responsible for Collision's low ratings, then that indicates that a pretty substantial part of the WWE audience is willing to view AEW programming. 

Collision's ratings are improving, which would indicate that people will respond to quality. It still isn't beyond the Dynamite audience, so it might just be current AEW fans willing to watch more AEW, but we'll see if they can get beyond the 900kish cap that they've had for a while. 

When it comes to ratings, a few weeks ago it was actually reported by Fightful Select that Warner Bros. Discovery wants Collision to be at least in the top 5 (I meant to say top 5 in my previous post), and that they are less concerned by the total viewership number. Warner seems to know the numbers are not going to be incredibly high on a Saturday, but if they are good enough for top 5 they are happy. 

As far as a substantial part of the WWE audience willing to view AEW, I don't think that is what is happening. AEW fans are willing to watch WWE programming but not the other way around. AEW fans watch other wrestling like New Japan, Impact and yes WWE, but for the most part modern WWE fans have been unwilling to watch other promotions. Yes during the Monday Night Wars WWF fans did watch WCW, but today most WWE fans stick to WWE programming exclusively. I don't think I'm exaggerating with this.

AEW fans watching Money in the Bank likely led to lower viewership of Collision that week, as will likely happen this weekend since SummerSlam is airing at the same time as Collision. Hell the site I frequent for wrestling coverage had considerably less people in the chat during Collision the Saturday of Money in the Bank, so it would seem some had enough wrestling for that day.

Last edited by No_Name_Needed - on 02 August 2023