Ever since AEW Collision launched last year on Saturday nights, there’s been some fascination about how it would handle some specific competition. For wrestling fans, said competition doesn’t get any bigger than the first night of WrestleMania.
While there are of course many options for watching TV broadcasts after the fact these days, the live audience for the Saturday, April 6 episode of Collision figured to be affected greatly if it was shown at the same time as WrestleMania 40 night 1 from Philadelphia.
But it turns out that won’t be the case. As noted by Wrestling Observer, TNT will be showing the semifinals of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball tournament, a.k.a. the Final Four, starting at 6 p.m. Those games will run through Collision’s 8-10 p.m. time slot and beyond.
TNT has Collision listed for an 11:30 p.m. ET start, but if there’s anything we’ve learned from the tourney over the years, it’s that the games could run long and Collision might start later. That will certainly have a negative impact on live ratings, thought it does mean that wrestling superfans (and intrepid media like those of us here at Wrestling Junkie) will be able to catch Collision after WrestleMania.
It’s also not as big a deal since Collision won’t be live. The show will be taped on Wednesday, April 3 after Dynamite in Worcester, Mass.
There was no Collision at all this past Saturday, March 23, also due to college hoops. The good news is that the show is live this coming Saturday, March 30, in its normal time on TNT, and will be good to go on April 13 and beyond. The question about going head to head with WrestleMania will have to wait at least another year, but considering these events all fall at around the same time annually, this may well be the norm as long as Warner Bros. Discovery retains AEW’s broadcast rights.
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