WWE superstar re-signs with the company, AEW All Out not a sell out, Smackdown vs. Collision, more
– Fightful reports that Shayna Baszler has re-signed with WWE.
– AEW All Out has sold 6,513 tickets and is expected to be first PPV in Chicago to not approach a sell out, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
– Happy 44th birthday to former WWE Divas Champion Jillian Hall.
#happybirthday #jillianhall pic.twitter.com/xzpyeZ8LQU
— Steve Gerweck (@SteveGerweck) September 6, 2024
– Both Smackdown and Collision will share the 8PM to 10PM time slot tonight on their respective network, a rare head-to-head between the two shows.
Collision was moved to Friday night since All Out will air on a Saturday due to the return of NFL on television on Sunday night. A live episode of Rampage will follow the conclusion of Collision, making this a three-hour AEW broadcast. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)
So will all the ratings junkies who declared that AEW was better than WWE because Dynamite did better than NXT when they were head-to-head now declare that WWE is better when Smackdown does better than Collision? Or will the excuses just start to flow (“well, it isn’t Collision’s normal night,” “well, it’s the last Smackdown on Fox,” etc.)? Or maybe should we just keep the focus on the quality of the product rather than the number of eyeballs on it since the former will ultimately drive the latter?
Overall, I prefer AEW to WWE (but it is close), I ended up watching more of Collision last night. But I am not surprised that the PPV in Chicago is not a sell out. Chicago might be “played out” for AEW for a while. With less than 12 PPVs a year, returning to the same city year after year is not a good plan. Hopefully this will convince Khan to move the PPV to different cities going forward.
It also seems tough to have 2 PPVs so close together. I get that the dates for All In might have been limited for the arena. Next year should be better since All In is supposed to be in the US in July.