It was only a few weeks ago when, thanks to sports coverage, “AEW Collision” was moved to Thursday night. This put the program directly against “TNA Impact,” for its first hour and despite “Impact” doing normal ratings, and the call to move “Collision” seemingly coming from Warner Brothers Discover and not AEW, it reportedly angered TNA President Carlos Silva enough that it led to TNA talents being pulled from indie matches involving AEW talent, including Leon Slater vs. Ricochet during WrestleMania weekend. 

Two weeks later, “Collision” and “Impact” found themselves head to head from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on April 16, after “Collision” was moved in order to avoid going head to head with WrestleMania. While it remains to be seen how TNA and Silva react, the ratings were largely unchanged. Wrestlenomics and Programming Insider report that “Impact” drew 212K total viewers and 0.05 in the 18-49 demographic. 

The fluctuations in the numbers were minor compared to “Impact’s” April 9 episode, with total viewership down 18% from 257K, while 18-49 was actually up, rising 25% from 0.04. Changes were also minimal against the four week average, with total viewership dropping only 12% from 241K, while 18-49 showed no change. As such, this would suggest “Impact” was hardly affected by “Collision,” despite AEW’s show drawing a strong 473K total viewers and 0.08 in 18-49.

The fallout show from TNA Rebellion just days earlier, “Impact” was built around the in-ring return of EC3, who returned to TNA at Rebellion, his first TNA appearance since Bound for Glory 2020. His first match back was left inconclusive, as he and Eric Young wrestled to a no-contest after EC3 accidentally knocked out the referee while clotheslining Young.