On July 26th, AEW continued its residency at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago with a live show of “AEW Collision.” During the event, Dustin Rhodes retained the AEW TNT Championship against ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty. The Bang Bang Gang advanced in the AEW Tag Team Championship Eliminator Tournament by defeating Big Bill and Brian Keith. In the main event, Athena successfully defended the ROH Women’s World Championship for the 30th time against Alex Windsor.
This episode was notable as the first live broadcast in that time slot since June 21st, helping to boost television ratings. According to Programming Insider and Wrestlenomics, the show attracted an average of 327,000 viewers, which was a slight 6% decrease from the 348,000 viewers of the recorded July 19th episode, and just 1% below the four-week average of 329,000 viewers. These figures, however, do not account for viewers who streamed the show live on HBO Max.
In the key 18-49 demographic, “Collision” saw a 33% increase from the previous week, achieving a 0.08 rating. The show ranked fourth in its time slot and fifth in the Prime Time Cable Ranking for the night, competing alongside a banana ball baseball event featuring the Texas Tale Gator and Savanna Banana.
Looking forward, “AEW Collision” will air another special Thursday night episode on TNT at 8 pm on July 31st to avoid conflicting with WWE’s SummerSlam event on August 2nd.
Fan Take: This live edition of “AEW Collision” shows AEW’s commitment to elevating its presence on television, especially by strategically scheduling around major WWE events. For AEW fans, these strong ratings and compelling matches signal continued growth and excitement in the wrestling scene, reinforcing AEW as a major player in the sport’s future.
