AEW Collision is adjusting its schedule due to March Madness. Specifically, on March 23rd and March 24th, instead of its usual two-hour Saturday show, Collision will be split into two one-hour episodes.
The first will air on Saturday, March 23rd, at 11 PM EST, and the second on Sunday, March 24th, at the same time. This change is to accommodate TNT’s NCAA tournament coverage.
Both episodes will be taped in Omaha on the preceding Wednesday, allowing AEW to capitalize on the tournament’s viewership while avoiding a late-night two-hour broadcast.
Here’s what the Wrestling Observer reported:
“So on the 22nd and 23rd in two weeks here with Collision, they’re doing an experiment for Collision. It’s going to be taped on Wednesday in Omaha. Just like they did last week in Sacramento, and this is the reason why… because TNT has the NCAA basketball tournament on that weekend. And because of that, they’re trying to give them beneficial time slots.
They could just cancel Collision and that would probably be the normal thing to do is just say, like, look, you know, in prime time, we got NCAA basketball championships. That’s a lot bigger deal than AEW Collision or Dynamite or anything. NCAA Tournaments a big freaking deal.
But instead, they are going to do the thing where on both Saturday and Sunday night, they are going to go after the 8 o’clock game. So that should be about or maybe it might be a 9 o’clock game. The estimated time to start, you know, could be a little later, probably not earlier. It would be 11 pm Eastern and 8 pm Pacific because they’re going to be on staggered feet. Saturday and Sunday. They’re gonna do a one-hour show on Saturday night, and they’re gonna do a one-hour show on Sunday night.
They will be two different one-hour shows. They’ll be taping two hours of Collision, but one hour on Saturday and one hour on Sunday. And the idea is, is to give them the benefit of two call it, rather than go from, you know, rather than do a two hour show with the second hour being from midnight to one, which where the ratings would fall, they’re going to give them one hour each night, coming right after the tournament game.
So, in theory, they should get two big ratings, or at least the Saturday rating should be big the Sunday because it’s unfamiliar, maybe not, you know, because AEW doesn’t do well with unfamiliar time slots.”
