AEW Collision Ratings Bottom Out For All Out Go-Home Show

Up until this past Saturday, CM Punk had been presented as the "face" of "AEW Collision," but that abruptly changed when AEW boss Tony Khan announced his firing, mere hours before that night's broadcast. Naturally, this left many wondering what might happen to the ratings drawn by "Collision" without "One Bill Phil" front and center. Sadly for AEW, they make things look somewhat bleak for "Collision" in the Nielsens.

Last Saturday's "Collision" episode drew an average of only 345,000 viewers, 144,000 of those being in the advertiser-prized 18-49 demographic, leading to a 0.11 demo rating, per Wrestlenomics. That pretty easily marks it as the least-watched "Collision" to date, diving past the August 5 episode's 417,000 viewer count, although that episode's demo number was slightly higher at 0.13. It's worth noting that "Collision" faced stiff competition, airing opposite both a big college football game and WWE's Payback premium live event. However, that type of competition will be a regular thing going forward for much of 2023, likely leading to even steeper ratings drops.

In a possible telling sign for the Saturday show's future without Punk's star power anchoring it, last Saturday's episode fell off majorly from the previous week's show. That episode featured Punk in the main event, as had most prior episodes. The last Punk-centered "Collision" drew 552,000 viewers, meaning that, while time will tell how much of this was due to people not tuning in after Punk's firing, "Collision" shed over 200,000 viewers after showing the two-time AEW World Champion the door — a 38% decline.