What can AEW do to reverse the declining viewership for AEW Collision? AEW fans have suggestions

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With Collision ratings sinking lately, including a series-low 366,000 for an episode not directly opp0sed by a WWE PLE on Peacock, I asked for your suggestions on how to reverse the viewership decline. The following are the first batch of your responses.

Keep sending in your suggestions: kellerwade@gmail.com

Azaan writes…

My ideas to improve the ratings of the show would be do gimmick shows each month like an All Championship night, a show where fans get to make the matches for the night, and night of all international matches. Another idea would be get rid of jobbers and do matches with big names which finally established a ranking order without a ranking system. Finally, do outside the box ideas such different locations instead 20,000 seat buildings such as major outdoor events or small night clubs.

Bryan K. writes…

Have a specific rotation of wrestlers you will not see on Dynamite. Stop the useless 30 second squash matches and give the main event minimum of 20 minutes. Be consistent with that format. And less WWE-like skits

Bryan T writes…

Better booking. The owner of the company needs to be more self aware and get out of his own way. He has too much TV to book, even if he actually was a decent booker. Hire the right people who are good at their jobs and let them do it.

Jason V writes…

Move it off of Saturdays. In the fall and winter time people are watching football. Summertime they’re out doing stuff on weekends. Wrestling is a weeknight show.

Dan from Leeds UK writes…

Collision needs a unique selling point, something to entice causal viewers who have already sated their thirst for wrestling with two hours of Dynamite. Why not utilize Tony Khans propensity for a tournament? Deliver on the sports-like presentation promised at AEW’s inception.

For instance, a lengthy league-based series (akin to NJPW’s G1) featured exclusively on Collision. The Collision Classic with two groups of six competitors on either side of the ledger encompassing Collision roster talent only. For example, Group 1 could include Jay White, Miro, Ricky Starks, Rush, Luchasaurus, and Scorpio Sky. Group 2 would then feature Bryan Danielson, Powerhouse Hobbs, Andrade, Juice Robinson, Christian, and Keith Lee. Four league matches each week culminating in the top two from each group reaching PPV semi-finals and a final.

This approach has several plus points. It immediately differentiates Collision from Dynamite, it provides compelling weekly matches between upper tier talent, and it compels viewers to tune in on a weekly basis to follow the progress of their favorites.

Matches could be built through video packages or one-on-one interviews with Jim Ross. This would also give talent a focus and reduce the amount of vague promo segments which repeat on Collision each week (e.g. The Book of Hobbs, Miro, House of Black, Keith Lee and Scorpio Sky to name but a few).

Use the vast experience of backstage agents by featuring them as pundits for the tournament. Imagine a panel of Mark Henry, Paul Wight, and Jeff Jarrett with tournament host Renee Paquette. Open the show with the panel discussing the upcoming matches, build anticipation for what’s to come, and throw to the pundits at the conclusion of each match as they discuss the result and their implications on the tournament. These segments needn’t slow the momentum of the show and could add to the feeling of importance surrounding the tournament.

The ideas above would mean cutting down on the in-ring promo segments for the tournament competitors but provide more bandwidth for the women and tag team rosters. Make Collision the home base for the Women’s World Title and drive interest in the division by building a compelling narrative exclusively on Collision. Similarly for the Trios Division. This way Collision has a healthy mix of tournament competition and women’s and trios wrestling.

The casual viewer will also know which wrestlers to expect to see on a weekly basis driving program loyalty. Live crowds attending shows will also know whom to expect when buying their ticket and anticipate the experience. Feature highlights of the series on Dynamite each week, showcasing what’s happening on a Saturday night to the larger audience.

AEW has been criticized as too heavily reliant on the crutches of the battle royals and predictable tournaments. Define this unique series by the competitors desire to prove who is the best on the roster. The eventual winner can then have a credible shout for an AEW World Title opportunity. Other competitors can point to their winning records in the tournament in regards to future mid-card title shots.

J.B. in Jacksonville writes…

As an AEW fan who has tried the best I can to watch Collision and Rampage for months now, I finally got past my FOMO and got out of the business of watching both a month ago. At the risk of not answering your question, I don’t think it’s a problem solvable by better booking because they are solid shows more often than not. The company just wasted the biggest dream biggest match left in the company as a ratings stunt and it didn’t work.

It’s a problem of promoters taking the attention of their audience for granted to the point they think we have nothing better to do with our lives than giving up both our Friday and Saturday nights to watch even more wrestling. It was arrogant and a mistake to try to add monthly PPVs and a Saturday night weekly show simultaneously, and on PPV weeks AEW is asking fans to hand over most of their evening four nights in a five day period. It’s a ridiculous and unsustainable request at any time, but even more so when WWE is hot, we are in prime sports season, and a lot of us already feel like we’re giving up almost an entire day on Saturday and Sunday for football while trying to keep up with the World Series, the NBA, and the NHL.

The law of diminishing returns is a thing. If I have eaten nine slices of pizza already, I have absolutely no interest in the 10th. Tony seems to think all he has to do is dump enough bonus pepperoni on the slice and people will be dog-piling on each other to get it. That’s not how life works for those of us with jobs and families. I have stopped ordering AEW PPVs after not missing one in four years because Tony himself is making another hour of AEW worthless and stretching the people who supported the company to their breaking point to just to try to get an even bigger contract out of WBD.

People used to make fun of WWE brass for saying the real competition is other things, but for both companies they a have 100 percent arrived at this point. If your entire business model relies on people giving up their entire social life and other hobbies just to keep up, good luck.

More suggestions are welcome. What do you think? Send your suggestions to: kellerwade@gmail.com

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Orange Cassidy vs. Claudio Castagnoli for the AEW International Title, Hikaru Shida vs. Willow Nightingale for the AEW Women’s Title, Tony Khan’s announcement