For the eighth time in his professional wrestling career, CM Punk will be wrestling a match of note on SummerSlam weekend.

The biggest difference? When Punk steps into the ring against Ricky Starks with the “true” World Championship on the line, it will be as a member of AEW, not WWE.

Now, as fans most likely already know, this isn't the first time Collision has been scheduled on the same day as a WWE PLE, as the first Saturday of July featured AEW's newest show and Money in the Bank, but WWE's most elaborate show of the summer finished up roughly an hour before Tony Khan's product hit TNT, so it all worked out.

The first weekend of August, however, will now show the same grace to TK and company, as they'll be going head-to-head with their chief rival and getting to see just how much crossover there is between fans of the two brands.

Discussing what's shaping up to be a very busy night for professional wrestling in a special interview with Sports Illustrated, CM Punk told Justin Barrasso that he doesn't feel Collision is competing with anyone, not SummerSlam, not UFC, not even college football when it returns later this month, but instead themselves in order to make the best show possible week-in and week-out.

“We are not competing with SummerSlam,” CM Punk told Sports Illustrated. “We are going to go up against college football soon. We have already been up against monster UFC cards every single Saturday. We are not competing with them. We are competing with what we did last Saturday. I am competing with who I was yesterday as a human being and a pro wrestler, and we, as the Collision team, are competing with what we did last Saturday. That’s always going to be what we are striving to do, and I think that’s an important message for the fans to understand.”

Now granted, will CM Punk and company cheer for joy if Collision still hits in that 700-800k range despite going toe-to-toe with WWE's second-biggest show of the year? Most definitely so, but hey, why force a competition when there doesn't need to be one? Good on Punk for keeping things in perspective.

CM Punk is nothing but proud of his AEW Collision team.

Elsewhere in his interview with Sports Illustrated, CM Punk discussed why he's so proud to be a member of an ultra-deep AEW roster and why he believes Collision has a chance to succeed despite being on a less-than-ideal night for professional wrestling. With such a deep pool of talent for Collision to draw from, Punk purposes, how could the show fail?

“It’s a team effort. FTR is a big part of it. There is a group of people I want highlighted on Collision almost every Saturday. It’s a lot of people and it’s hard to get them in there, but it’s FTR, Samoa Joe, Jay White and Juice, the Gunns, Ricky Starks, all three members of House of Black, Andrade, and we just got Rush–that guy is f**king awesome, I want him on Collision, too – Hobbs, Miro, and I don’t want to forget anyone else,” Punk said.

“Give me a Statlander every week, give me a Toni Storm every week. That’s what is going to drive repeat viewers, knowing they’ll see these people every Saturday. That’s how we’ll hold a rating. It’s 100 percent a team effort.

“We want to bring new people up. That’s the rub. People recognize that. A perfect example is Gunn Club. They’re right there, and they need to associate with people who are perceived to be top guys.”

On paper, it's hard to argue with what Punk is putting on the table, as AEW really has found a way to showcase largely overlooked talents like Miro, Andrade El Idolo, and the Gunn Club and make them feel like certified stars, with performers like Thunder Rosa and Scorpio Sky set to make their Collision debuts in the not-too-distant future. With this new show, Khan can ease off the gas ever so slightly and give performers who got maybe lost in the shuffle earlier in their AEW runs a chance to shine, which, considering how much of a certified babyface Andrade has become even after pushing Julia Hart off of a 15-foot ladder, looks like a very good decision indeed. Factor in CM Punk's newfound commitment to defending his AXW World Championship, and you are left with the potential for Collision to truly become the SmackDown to Dynamite‘s RAW, as opposed to two more hours of Rampage each week.