On February 15, 2023, the American
professional wrestling promotion
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) filed to trademark the name "Collision", hinting at a possible new in-ring television series in addition to their other programs,
AEW Dynamite on
TBS and
AEW Rampage on
TNT. Another trademark for the name was filed on April 28, leading to the belief that this would be the name of an upcoming Saturday television show. On May 17, 2023, AEW and broadcast partner
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced a third weekly television show titled
AEW Collision to air
live on TNT as a two-hour show on Saturdays starting June 17, 2023, at 8 p.m.
Eastern Time (ET). This was AEW's second weekly professional wrestling program to concurrently air on TNT after
Rampage (which was cancelled in December 2024) and fourth overall wrestling show in general to air on TNT after
Rampage,
Dynamite (which aired on TNT from October 2019 to December 2021), and the former
World Championship Wrestling's (WCW)
Monday Nitro (which aired on TNT from September 1995 to March 2001) and the first wrestling show in a Saturday night time slot to air on a network founded by Ted Turner since the end of
WCW Saturday Night on August 19, 2000. It was also revealed that AEW's sister promotion,
Ring of Honor (ROH), would move its tapings for
ROH Honor Club TV to coincide with
Collision, with ROH's show being taped after the live broadcast of
Collision. In preparation for the debut of
Collision, AEW's
YouTube programs,
AEW Dark and
AEW Dark: Elevation, were canceled. This was due to an amended deal with WBD, in which all of AEW's programs would air exclusively on their channels. It was also reported that
Rampage would begin showcasing younger AEW wrestlers and unsigned
independent wrestlers, essentially becoming what
Dark and
Elevation were for the company. Prior to the official announcement of
Collision, there had been speculation that the inaugural episode would be held at the
United Center in
Chicago, Illinois. It was also speculated that it would feature the return of
CM Punk, as the United Center is where Punk had made his AEW debut for the
second episode of
Rampage in August 2021. Since September 2022, Punk had been inactive due to both an injury and also a suspension as a result of the legitimate backstage altercation that occurred during the
All Out post-event media scrum. Following the announcement of
Collision, however, it was reported that there were still issues regarding Punk's return to AEW, with WBD denying his involvement with the show, but on May 24, 2023, it was reported that the issues had been settled. AEW president
Tony Khan then confirmed that the first episode would be held at the United Center, and feature the return of Punk to AEW. Although Punk was brought back to be the centerpiece of the show, he would be fired that September after another legitimate backstage altercation that occurred at
All In. In speaking with the media on May 25 in promotion for AEW's
Double or Nothing pay-per-view (PPV) that weekend, Khan clarified that
Collision was not part of a new or extended deal with WBD, and instead, it was added on to their current contract, with AEW receiving a monetary increase from WBD for the show. Khan also confirmed that WBD reached out to AEW with the opportunity for another show, and that it was WBD's
Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav's idea for there to be more AEW content on TNT. It had also been speculated that with the addition of
Collision, AEW would do some form of a roster split, similar to
WWE's
brand extension, in which half of the roster would perform exclusively on
Dynamite while the other half would exclusively appear on
Collision. In an appearance on the
Barstool Sports Rasslin' podcast with Brandon Walker, on June 13, Khan said that there would not be a hard split where wrestlers would exclusively appear on only one program. Instead, he said some wrestlers would be featured exclusively on certain shows for a certain period of time, but there could be opportunities for storylines to cross between
Dynamite and
Collision. He also confirmed that all
AEW champions would continue to appear on all AEW programming. On June 16, a day before
Collisions debut, Khan confirmed that the show's commentary team would consist of
Kevin Kelly and
Nigel McGuinness, with
Jim Ross occasionally sitting in on main events. On October 14,
Tony Schiavone was confirmed to join the commentary team. This remained until March 8, 2024, when Kelly's AEW contract was terminated. Beginning with the August 5, 2023, episode,
Collision airs against WWE's monthly PPV and
livestreaming events, which are typically held on Saturdays at 8 p.m ET, starting with
SummerSlam. Additionally, due to AEW's pay-per-view
Full Gear being held on Saturday, November 18, 2023, that weekend's episode of
Collision was instead held the night before on Friday, November 17 at 8 p.m. ET, which put it head-to-head against WWE's Friday night program,
SmackDown. AEW would later attempt to avoid counterprogramming against WWE's Saturday PPVs by airing
Collision at an earlier time those days.
Collision aired live on Friday, September 6 alongside
Rampage, a day before
All Out and competed again with
SmackDown, which held its series finale on
Fox. With the return of ''
Saturday Night's Main Event on December 14 airing on NBC and Peacock, Collision'' goes head-to-head with WWE's revived program when it airs. To avoid counterprogramming against Night 1 of WWE's
WrestleMania 41 on Saturday, April 19, 2025,
Collision aired live on Thursday, April 17, which was also the second part of the
Spring BreakThru special. On March 31, 2025,
Dave Meltzer of the
Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that going forward, AEW may continue to move
Collision off Saturday nights when WWE is running a Saturday show, noting that AEW and WBD were monitoring the situation. On occasion, AEW has not taped episodes of
Collision due to scheduling conflicts or have moved the shows earlier broadcasts to avoid a conflict with various TNT Sports events. For example, as a result of AEW's PPV event,
Worlds End, being held during
Collision Saturday night time slot on December 30, 2023,
Collision was not held that week. An episode of
Collision was also not held on March 23, 2024, due to the
NCAA March Madness coverage occurring that night. Currently, the conflicts are with March Madness (including the Final Four every other year), the
National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the
NASCAR In-Season Tournament, where the show will air on a different date. On October 2, 2024, AEW announced a new media rights deal with WBD, wherein AEW's television programs
Dynamite and
Collision would be
simulcast on WBD's streaming service
Max and their respective television channels beginning in January 2025. The first broadcast of
Collision to simulcast on TNT and Max was on January 4, 2025. Starting with
All Out in September 2025, WBD began selling AEW pay-per-views on Max. As AEW's PPVs between September and December typically take place on Saturdays to avoid
counterprogramming the
NFL – and specifically, the Khan-owned
Jacksonville Jaguars –
Collision on pay-per-view weeks is now split into two episodes to fulfil contractual obligations: a one-hour presentation immediately following
Dynamite on Wednesday, and
Saturday Tailgate Brawl, which airs immediately before the PPV on TNT and Max and serves as the
pre-show for the pay-per-view. == Special episodes ==