AEW Collision has officially been announced, and the first ever brand split is now expected to take place.
The first episode of Collision will be on Saturday June 17th, and will be broadcast live on TNT at 8pm ET/7pm CT. This is expected to be the return of CM Punk, with the show titled “The Second Coming”.
AEW released an official press release for the show, which you can read in full here. One key part of the release included a poster, and word of which AEW Superstars will be appearing on Collision.
While rumours of a brand split have all-but confirmed CM Punk will be the main star on Collision, the new poster and press release look to have confirmed more details about the AEW brand split.
The new show has been announced to feature some returning AEW stars on it’s roster, as well as one who has been featured heavily on the show.
Miro, Thunder Rosa and Andrade El Idolo will return for the first time in nearly a year for AEW Collision, as three main event stars on the show. ROH Television Champion Samoa Joe will also feature, being announced as part of the roster.
“AEW: Collision” will feature headliners including Miro, Samoa Joe, Thunder Rosa, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Andrade El Idolo.”
With CM Punk heavily rumoured to be a part of the show, other stars were implied to be part of the show by the officially released poster.
AEW Champion MJF was heavily featured on the poster, as was International Champion Orange Cassidy. This could imply them being regulars on the show, and defending their belts on Saturday nights on TNT.
The other stars on the poster include the aforementioned four stars, as well as AEW Tag Team Champions FTR, AEW Trios Champions House of Black, as well as their accompanying manager Julia Hart.
However, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful has reported that the champions amy be floating across both rosters, although nothing has been confirmed by AEW just yet.
CM Punk’s involvement with the show has also yet to be confirmed, although it is heavily likely he will return for the debut episode of AEW Collision on Saturday June 17th, in his hometown of Chicago,Illanois.
“As of last week, it was believed that there would be a soft roster split for AEW Dynamite and Collision. This would allow talent that didn’t get along to work shows when necessary without the likelihood of conflict that we saw a lot of backstage in AEW in 2022.
However, instead, we’re told that talent are expecting a hard brand split, with the exception of many AEW Champions. We’ve been told that there will be additional exceptions here and there. We have not learned how exactly the split will be determined, if there will be a draft, or how that will work out. However, the working plan as of this week is a firm brand split, with some rare exceptions.”
Sean Ross Sapp on the AEW Brand Split