AEW is taking a different approach with Collision next weekend, as the show will not air in its regular Saturday time slot on March 23rd. Instead, AEW is experimenting by splitting the show into two one-hour episodes—one on Saturday night (March 23rd) and another on Sunday night (March 24th) at 11 PM EST each night.
The reason for this unconventional scheduling is due to TNT’s coverage of the NCAA March Madness tournament, which will be airing in Collision’s usual time slot. Instead of canceling the show, AEW is opting to air the two separate episodes following the basketball games, hoping to benefit from a strong lead-in audience.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained AEW’s reasoning behind this experimental programming decision:
“So on the 22nd and 23rd in two weeks here with Collision, they’re doing an experiment for Collision. It’s going to be taped on Wednesday in Omaha. Just like they did last week in Sacramento, and this is the reason why… because TNT has the NCAA basketball tournament on that weekend. And because of that, they’re trying to give them beneficial time slots.”
“I mean, they could just cancel Collision, and that would probably be the normal thing to do. NCAA basketball championships are a much bigger deal than AEW Collision or Dynamite or anything. But instead, they are going to go after the eight o’clock game. So that should be about—maybe it might be a nine o’clock game. The estimated start time is around 11 PM Eastern and 8 PM Pacific.”
“Saturday and Sunday, they’re gonna do a one-hour show each night. They will be two different one-hour shows. They’ll be taping two hours of Collision, but splitting it into one hour on Saturday and one hour on Sunday.”
Meltzer also noted that AEW is hoping for strong ratings, particularly on Saturday night, but acknowledged that Sunday could be a challenge due to the unfamiliar time slot.
“The idea is to give them the benefit of two big ratings rather than a two-hour show with the second hour airing at midnight, where the ratings would fall. In theory, they should get two big ratings, or at least the Saturday rating should be big. The Sunday rating might not be as strong because AEW doesn’t do well with unfamiliar time slots.”
