TNT aired NBA Playoff action in Collision’s usual spot on their schedule last Saturday. But unlike that last few times that’s happened, on May 31 AEW aired after basketball on TNT rather than on a different night and/or network.
If you follow wrestling ratings, you know that’s historically a winning strategy. And according to Wrestlenomics, it was again last Saturday. The most recent Collision had 504,000 viewers, and did a .18 rating among 18-49 year olds. That’s 43% better than the previous edition (a Thursday show that aired on TBS) in overall audience, and a 125% episode-to-episode jump in the demo. Both are the best Collision’s done since April 26... when it had an NBA Playoff lead-in.
A full ratings chart isn’t out, but we do have numbers for the game and its post-show, the final edition of Inside The NBA on TNT. Indiana’s Finals-clinching win over New York was watched by 6.91 million and did a 2.12 rating with 18-49 year olds. Chuck, Shaq, Kenny & Ernie’s hour-long farewell to Turner Sports (they’re being licensed to ESPN next season after Warner Bros Discovery was left out of the NBA’s latest media rights deals) did a .95 in the demo from 3.03 million viewers.
How many of those bailed after the first 15 or 30 minutes of pro wrestling? You’ll have to subscribe to Wrestlenomics for that information.
There’s not really an episode of Collision this week or next, as AEW will be running four-hour blocks of programming the next two Wednesdays. Depending on how the good folks at Nielson report those, it may be a while before we update this — but here’s our usual rundown of Collision’s viewership and demo rating over the past year:
* Aired outside its usual Saturday 8-10 p.m. ET primetime slot and/or on a network other than TNT
** Ran directly opposite a WWE show or event
† Ran the same day as a WWE event
Results from the latest Collision can be found here.