How CM Punk Announcement Affected Ticket Sales For AEW Collision Premiere

This past Wednesday, AEW President Tony Khan announced on "AEW Dynamite" that CM Punk would be making his return to the company, appearing at the debut of "AEW Collision" at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on June 17. Once the company announced the United Center for the "Collision" premiere, it may as well have been a foregone conclusion that Punk would be making an appearance. It seems as though the primary reason to officially announce Punk ahead of time would be to increase ticket sales, so it's worth taking a look at how many tickets have been sold since Wednesday's "Dynamite."

Prior to the Punk announcement on Wednesday, the company had sold just under 7,000 tickets for the "Collision" debut (via WrestleTix on Twitter). By around 4 p.m. ET the day after the announcement, less than 700 additional tickets had been sold. However, AEW appears to be anticipating more, as they opened up additional sections in both the middle and upper deck on Thursday.

In addition to being announced for the very first episode of the new series, Punk is being advertised for additional "Collision" tapings. The former AEW World Champion was promoted heavily along with the announcement of a "Collision" taping on August 12 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Punk suffered a torn triceps at the All Out pay-per-view in September 2022 while successfully challenging Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. He then made a number of controversial remarks at the post-show press conference before a physical altercation reportedly occurred backstage involving Punk, producer Ace Steel, Kenny Omega, and Matt and Nick Jackson. Punk, Omega, and the Jackson brothers were stripped of their championships, and the latter three men were officially suspended. While it was believed by many that Punk was suspended as well, there was never any confirmation of that belief.