Days Before CM Punk’s Grand Comeback at AEW Collision, Wrestling Personality Throws Dirt on the “Franchise” With a “History” of Low “Ratings”

Comebacks are always meant to be grand, and CM Punk made sure his return to pro wrestling was certainly huge. In 2021, CM Punk shocked the wrestling world when he made his return to a grand ovation in AEW. However, after a year of wrestling, he had an ugly and public spat with some of his AEW colleagues at All Out pay-per-view last year and hasn’t been seen in the promotion since.

Until recently, when it was confirmed that Punk would make his comeback to AEW at the newly launched show, AEW Collision. However, the launch of the latest show did not sit well with a veteran wrestling personality, Vince Russo during the latest episode of Wrestling Outlaws.

What did Vince Russo claim about AEW’s latest show Collision?

AEW Collision is set to hit TNT in a few days’ time on 17th June 2023. However, former WWE writer Vince Russo was not particularly happy with the announcement and had his opinion known.

Russo claimed that AEW has been going through a rough patch of ratings and had some words for AEW President Tony Khan. Punk’s return at AEW Collision might be an idea to boost the ratings and improve their run. Russo claimed that their low ratings meant no channel would have them produce another show with probable similar ratings.

He would follow it up with a shocking claim. Russo claimed that Tony Khan might be paying TNT out of his own pocket to broadcast the show. He said, “Tony Khan is buying the television time. Period. End of story. This is a billionaire, ‘money is not an object’ [thing] and he is paying TBS and TNT more money than they could make in advertising for those shows.”

He further continued and explained why Tony Khan might have paid TNT. Russo said, “A year ago, I was having conversations with those running USA Network. You’re not going to reward a franchise when you have a history of ratings that continue to go down.”

Russo would further draw a comparison between WCW and AEW and claimed how back in the day, Ted Turner had bought TNT to have full access to WCW programming. He stated how Tony Khan could possibly do a similar thing.

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AEW’s constant low ratings might have resulted in them solving their relationship with Punk, and letting him return at Collision to boost the ratings.

How has AEW fared in ratings with WWE in 2022-23

For a long time, WWE was the sole giant in the pro wrestling business until AEW came into existence. Although AEW gave a good initial scare, it hasn’t been on the same level for quite some time. And similarly, on television itself, AEW’s ratings never really went past WWE.

The latest episode of WWE SmackDown saw a rating of 2.563M, while AEW Rampage managed just 357K. Similarly, the week before it WWE SmackDown secured 2.158M while AEW Rampage could only come up with 436k. Over the past year, both the two shows have followed a similar rating, with WWE SmackDown beating AEW Rampage almost every other week.

These stats do give credibility to Vince Russo’s speculations and compelled him to question Tony Khan’s deal with TNT.

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Do you agree with Vince Russo on Tony Khan possibly paying TNT? Let us know in the comments.