How Did AEW Feel About Collision's Debut Episode?
AEW's backstage reaction to Collision's first show revealed.
Saturday's first episode of AEW Collision drew positive backstage reviews in the promotion, reports PWInsider's Mike Johnson.
Johnson reports that people within the company felt good about the show, believing that they succeeded in making Collision feel sufficiently different to Dynamite.
Collision's Saturday launch was largely built around the return of CM Punk for the first time since brawling with The Elite at All Out 2022 last September. Punk opened the show in Chicago, IL, referencing The Elite, MJF, and others in an incendiary hometown promo, before closing Collision by teaming with FTR to defeat Samoa Joe, Jay White, and Juice Robinson.
PWInsider notes, too, that Collision was a big night for merchandise sales, with the majority of what was available selling out before the end of the night. Unsurprisingly, CM Punk's merch "easily topped most sales."
A holiday weekend in the United States means there'll be a delay in television ratings reporting, so we won't know how Collision drew as a TV product until Tuesday. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer writes that the show's top-10 position in Saturday's Google search rankings is a good indicator in that regard.