AEW Collision Ratings Collapse Without CM Punk
The AEW Collision audience has seen a drastic drop following the departure of CM Punk just hours before the broadcast.
As reported by Wrestlenomics, the September 2nd show drew an average audience of 345,000 and obtained an 18-49 rating of 0.11. Compared to the previous week’s broadcast, the drop calculates to approximately 37.5%. The key demo rating also dropped 0.05 points from August 26th.
AEW Collision did face strong competition on Saturday night as it went head-to-head with WWE Payback and Saturday Night Football, but most fans will link the nosedive in ratings to the departure of their biggest star.
Prior to the show going live, Tony Khan stepped out in front of the Chicago crowd to address the release of their hometown hero. The news was not well received as Khan was booed heavily on film captured by those in attendance. Tony Khan would open the official broadcast with a statement explaining the reasoning behind his actions and that he “feared for his life” at All In.
Was CM Punk A Ratings Draw For AEW Collision?
Punk was very much presented as the face of the Saturday night show following the announcement that AEW would be expanding their line-up. With Punk’s return, curiosity at the debut and not much competition on TV, the show drew an impressive 816,0000 viewers for their debut show.
The first speedbump would come on July 1st when Collision aired on the same day as Money in the Bank, drawing 452,000 viewers. Despite the WWE PLE being broadcast 5 hours earlier, some fans may have not wanted to watch a Saturday night weekly show after witnessing one of WWE’s big 5 events. Ratings would once again improve until August 5th when Collision went head-to-head with SummerSlam, a WWE event that was broadcast at the same time, which drew 417,000 viewers to Collision. The numbers would remain around half a million until the all-time low on September 2nd.
When Collison returns for its next episode, no Punk and still college football to compete with, it will be interesting to see how ratings go up or down in the next few weeks.