When news broke that NXT was going to run their Battleground “Premium Live Event” on May 28th, 2023, it turned more than a few heads around the professional wrestling world because it fell on the same day the biggest Pay-Per-View on the AEW calendar, Double or Nothing.
The 2023 running of AEW's first official show as a wrestling brand – All In was pre-AEW – Double or Nothing has been booked in Las Vegas for Memorial Day Weekend every year since 2019, with the lone exception being during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the 2020 and 2021 iterations of the show were booked live from Daily's place in Jacksonville, Florida. While WWE's decision to run a show on Memorial Day Weekend shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, as the two promotions have run the same weekend numerous times, putting NXT on the same day at the same time led some to harken back of the Wednesday Night Wars, which produced some good television but largely served as a fruitless waste of time.
Asked about WWE's decision to run NXT Battleground on the same day at the same time as Double or Nothing on his media call with reporters, Tony Khan explained that he's okay with competition as long as both sides maintain “some ethical standards.”
“It’s been that feeling from day one, since we launched a TV show. It actually, probably changed a little bit on April 14, 2021, and now with this, it feels like the old days in some ways. I’m always very eager to compete in whatever arena I’m in. I really love the competition in pro wrestling as long as it’s done with some ethical standards,” Khan said via Cageside Seats.
“People running events at some similar times, I don’t know if that’s necessarily unethical. I don’t have a big problem with it. I wish everybody the best, and I expect we will do the best show on Sunday. I think there will be a big audience for AEW Double or Nothing. Certainly, the spirit of competition is something we’ve dealt with since the launch of AEW, and I have never really had any problem with it as long as it’s an ethical competition, and I don’t think it has always been coming from the other side.”
Will AEW blow NXT's viewership number out of the water? You bet, and considering the latter show is free on Peacock, instead of $50 on Pay-Per-View, AEW will make far more money off the show than NXT will too. Still, it's interesting to see that Paul “Triple H” Levesque is still throwing minor roadblocks in AEW's way, suggesting that WWE isn't completely overlooking their challenger brand in the way they would like some fans to think.
Tony Khan provides more information on AEW Collision.
Elsewhere in the Double or Nothing media call, Khan was asked about AEW Collision and whether or not his promotion received a new television contract to correspond with the Saturday Night program.
Though Khan didn't get too into the weeds of the contract, he did note that all of the brand's television rights contracts will come up at the same time.
“The scope of the deal, as it is, the length is the same. I don’t want to get too deep into those conversations, but the length of the term is the same, and this is an addition to what we had already put together. Everybody was really excited about the success of AEW on TBS and TNT. They reached out to us and gave us a great opportunity,” Khan said.
“I think it spoke highly of AEW that this show and the idea of more AEW programming goes all the to the top to Mr. Zaslav [WBD CEO David Zaslav], who is one of the most powerful and intelligent in all of media. He likes what we’re doing with AEW on TBS and TNT, and it was literally his idea for there to be more AEW on TNT. I’m very grateful for that. We’re going to do our best to make sure Collision is a great show and also maintaining a great show with Rampage, and also take Dynamite to new heights. That’s a great challenge for us, and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Asked if AEW Collision will have a hard or soft brand split, Khan again didn't want to give too much away but did ensure that fans will find out soon enough.
“I haven’t given a lengthy explanation yet for what I’m planning regarding the future of the roster and how people will be allocated across Dynamite and Collision and our other shows,” Khan said. “It’s a great question, certainly. I can see why wrestling fans all over the world would be interested and curious about that. That’s frankly by design that we want to build that curiosity in and get people wondering exactly what you’re asking, ‘What’s the future of the AEW roster, and what does this all mean going forward after Double or Nothing?’ It’s a really good question and something we’ll be excited to follow up on.”
What will the future hold for AEW Collision? Only time will tell, but fortunately, fans have less than a month before they'll find out definitively one way or another.
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