Over the weekend, reports of AEW Collision's viewership hitting the 100,000 mark were released but it turns out the figures provided were of the midnight airing of Collision and not its usual time slot of 8 p.m. ET. Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer was quick to hop online to defend his numbers, which put AEW more in the 300,000 range. Meltzer accused WWE of the petty practices, intentionally misleading people with information.
"Sorry, but the ratings I listed were accurate. The others were not. They were supplied by WWE to the reporter," Meltzer said in response to wrestling fan."Sorry for people mad because everything I stated was correct, and this is not a new story. It's a story that dates back many years and has been talked about and written about the entire time. In other words, people mad at the accurate story are the ones who complained without checking something easily verifiable.
AEW President Tony Khan followed up with a quote post on X, calling WWE's business practices"predatory" but in the same breath assuring fans that AEW isn't going anywhere."These are the same predatory business practices that Jim Crockett Promotions + many former wrestling territories faced in the 1980s," Khan wrote."I'm very grateful to all of you wrestling fans who watch AEW, and @AEW is here to stay.
WBD's rights deal with the NBA is hanging in the balance after this season which has been a factor into whether or not AEW will have leverage going into negotiations for their new deal. Should they lose, that means WBD will likely be looking to fill the basketball void which could be a positive for Khan and AEW.