AEW Planning Debut Show In Iconic Venue
AEW is heading to an iconic venue in New York City for the first time.
Recently, it was reported that ROH will be returning to the Hammerstein Ballroom for Final Battle. The event would be the first time Ring of Honor has returned to the venue since Manhattan Mayhem in July 2019, long before Tony Khan purchased the promotion in 2022.
Now, Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast has reported that AEW will also be getting in on the action, with the promotion being set to broadcast Collision live from the same venue on December 21st. Zarian reports this will be the day after Final Battle, although it should be noted that no date has officially been announced for that event at the time of writing.
AEW Collison will be live from the Manhattan Center (Hammerstein) on 12/21
This is the night after ROH Final Battle pic.twitter.com/elAhAsC8gL
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) November 12, 2024
The Hammerstein Ballroom has long been part of wrestling history, having become synonymous with ECW in the 1990s and then by other promotions including ROH and GCW after the Paul Heyman-helmed promotion closed its doors in 2001.
AEW TV Shows Changing Start Times To Avoid WWE Clash
AEW isn’t the only promotion utilising an ECW-related venue in 2024, as WWE took over the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia for a special edition of NXT on November 6th. Holding the show on a Wednesday meant that NXT went head-to-head with AEW Dynamite, with the developmental brand beating it in the ratings with 619,000 viewers to Dynamite’s 523,000. The key 18-49 demo also saw WWE win the night a 0.17 compared to 0.16 for Dynamite.
Possibly looking to avoid a similar situation on Saturday, November 30th, AEW Collision’s start time has been moved to 4pm ET rather than the usual 8pm ET. It will be followed directly by Rampage at 6pm ET.
Collision will not be live that week, instead being taped after Dynamite in Chicago’s Wintrust Arena on November 27th.