Why UFC Might Force AEW Into Thursday Night Switch

Could AEW be making the move permanently to Thursday nights in the near future?

Since AEW began airing weekly television, Dynamite has dominated on Wednesday nights across both TBS and TNT. The company added Rampage on Fridays in 2021 before debuting the Saturday night Collision show in 2023.

Recently, Collision has aired on Thursday nights on a few occasions, leading to an upturn in the ratings for the show despite it airing on an unfamiliar night. But with WWE’s TKO partner UFC’s television rights coming up for grabs in 2026, could they play a part in AEW making the permanent switch to Thursdays?

AEW Moving To Thursdays?

Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained why he thinks AEW could and should make the switch from Saturday to Thursdays a permanent one for Collision:

AEW have been doing as good or better on Thursday as they do on Saturday which is an unfamiliar day, it’s not even their regular day and in this case, it wasn’t even their regular station. So clearly, most likely, I’d want to have more evidence to say that but logically it does appear that for AEW and for TBS/TNT, it’s probably better for the show to be on Thursday. It’s better for the company as far as travel for the guys and everything as well.

I would think almost a lock that this would happen if they do get the UFC in 2026 which will be a bidding war obviously but WBD really wants the UFC on Saturday nights in 2026 when the UFC deal comes through and they want it for TNT. If that were to happen I would think the most sense obviously makes for AEW to move to Thursday. The reason they were never on Thursday to begin with is because that’s NBA night but they’re losing the NBA so they have that night free.

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