AEW Collision Premiere Date Was Reportedly Chosen For One Specific Reason

After weeks of anticipation, "AEW Collision" finally made its debut on Saturday evening. While the show's premiere location — the United Center in Chicago, Illinois — was specifically chosen to complement the return of former AEW World Champion CM Punk, a new report suggests that the premiere date was also intentional.

According to "Wrestling Observer Radio," AEW hoped to launch their new show on a weekend when there were no other big sporting events taking place. As such, they landed on Saturday, June 17. 

"Saturday's gonna be a very tough night over the long haul because of all the different forms of competition," Dave Meltzer said on the show. "There's gonna be almost every week and real bad in the fall and all that. They picked this week to debut because the key sports events are over and there's nothing for a couple of months, so they can build this audience until they know it's gonna be very, very tough once college football starts. So they wanted this....was a very strategic night to pick for the debut of this show."

The premiere episode of "Collision" followed the conclusion of the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals, which occurred on June 12 and June 13, respectively. A mid-June date also allows "Collision" some time to get its feet off the ground before the NFL pre-season begins in August. 

In addition to Punk, last night's episode also featured the returns of Andrade El Idolo and Miro, who both emerged victorious in their first match back. 

H/T to WrestlingNewsCo for the transcription.