AEW Facing “Really Bad” Collision Ticket Sales
AEW Collision looked set to be a landmark announcement for Tony Khan’s company but the controversy surrounding CM Punk continues to overshadow things.
Punk had long been expected to be the centerpiece of AEW’s new Saturday night offering but alarm bells started ringing when it emerged that the former AEW World Champion had been pulled from the announcement. Further reports noted that Punk was once again “at odds” with the company over the employment status of his friend Ace Steel – the only man fired for his part in the backstage fight at All Out.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer began by discussing the situation surrounding the debut edition of Collision and the backup plan put in place should CM Punk not appear on the show:
“They were told that it would be something that they would know one way or the other within a week. So obviously Daily’s Place is being looked at as a backup, I would presume if the CM Punk thing doesn’t happen. No one has said specifically that if Punk doesn’t happen they’re going to Daily’s Place. But the fact that they contacted people at Daily’s Place pretty much tells you that’s probably the case. Without Punk, United Center is probably too big.”
Although the first edition of Collision is up in the air, Tony Khan has announced that the following episodes of the new show will take place in Toronto, Hamilton, Regina, Calgary, and Newark but ticket sales for some shows are on the soft side:
“They don’t have a big buzz for Collision because they put three shows on sale, they put Toronto on sale, they put Hamilton on sale, and they put Newark on sale, and Newark has about 3500 tickets out, which is…you would want more. I wouldn’t call it a disaster or anything, but for the New York market, it would be the weakest first day since they’ve been going there.
“Toronto was like 1600 and that’s the day before the pay-per-view that sold out instantly. And Toronto is a great market, and I heard from some people in Toronto about the publicity of it, the fact that, like, nobody really knew till Wednesday, and then they sprung up on him as far as the thing and everything but all that.”
“It’s like that’s not good in Hamilton, where they’re going on a Thursday. That’s sold in the under 600 range. Really bad advances, which is not a good sign for the excitement, and people aren’t talking about it, and for that reason, I mean the names that were announced and everything like that it’s not enough. And you know you need…if you launched this thing…it’s a really, really tough situation.”
AEW fans will be put out of their misery on the 24th of May edition of Dynamite when the location for the first Collision show will be announced and if it’s not in Chicago then CM Punk’s future in the company looks to be in serious doubt.