NBA lead-in helps Collision to its best numbers since last July

The numbers are in for the April 27 episode of AEW Collision — and Rampage — on TNT.

According to Wrestlenomics, Collision drew 621,000 viewers and scored a .21 rating among 18-49 year olds. Those numbers are well above the show’s normal Saturday night numbers. In fact, they’re the best Collision’s done in either metric since July 29 of last year.

There were special circumstances for the broadcast which contributed to this performance. Collision started at 8:23pm following the conclusion of the Boston Celtics win over the Miami Heat in the NBA Playoffs. That game was watched by 3,043,000 viewers and did a 1.00 rating in the demo. Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer posted on X that the first ten minutes of Collision had a .49 rating in 18-49.

Collision was followed by a live episode of Rampage, which had been pre-empted out of its usual Friday at 10pm ET timeslot for the second straight week due to TNT’s coverage of the NBA and NHL post-season tournaments. Not as much of Collision’s audience stuck around for Rampage this week at the later start time; Rampage delivered 293,000 viewers and .09 rating on April 27. Those numbers are on the lower end of what the show’s done all year — regardless of when it aired.

AEW did face competition on Saturday night. The Los Angeles Lakers/Denver Nuggets game that aired in primetime on ABC had the largest audience of the NBA season, per SportsMediaWatch, with 5.67 million viewers and a 3.0 rating. The Toronto/Boston hockey game that started at 8:09pm on TBS had an audience of 1.14 million and did a 0.41 in 18-49, and UFC Fight Night on ESPN was watched by 660,000 and scored a 0.22 demo rating.

No Collision this week, as coverage of hoops & pucks leaves no room for it on TNT’s schedule. Rampage will air after Dynamite on TBS tomorrow (Weds., May 1).

Here’s a look at the viewership and demo rating for every episode of Collision since its launch last summer:

• June 17 – 816K / .33
• June 24 – 595K / .21
• July 1 – 452K / .13
• July 8 – 580K / .21
• July 15 – 579K / .20
• July 22 – 618K / .18
• July 29 – 739K / .27
• Aug. 5 – 417K / .13
• Aug. 12 – 476K / .17
• Aug. 19 – 482K / .17
• Aug. 26 – 552K / .16
• Sept. 2 – 345K / .11
• Sept. 9 – 476K / .15
• Sept. 16 – 467K / .15
• Sept. 23 – 562K / .18
• Sept. 30 – 328K / .08
• Oct. 7 – 353K / .09
• Oct. 14 – 504K / .14
• Oct. 21 – 518K / .16
• Oct. 28 – 472K / .13
• Nov. 4 – 366K / .09
• Nov. 11 – 396K / .11
• Nov. 18* – 270K / .08
• Nov. 25 – 317K / .09
• Dec. 2 – 451K / .14
• Dec. 9 – 455K / .14
• Dec. 16 – 457K / .15
• Dec. 23 – 489K / .16
• Jan. 6 – 402K / .13
• Jan. 13 – 400K / .10
• Jan. 20 – 441K / .12
• Jan. 27 – 300K / .06
• Feb. 3 – 404K / .12
• Feb. 10 – 491K / .15
• Feb. 24 – 385K / .11
• Mar. 2 – 455K / .13
• Mar. 9 – 427K / .13
• Mar. 16 – 393K / .12
• Mar. 30 – 458K / .11
• April 6 – 463K / .15
• April 13 – 467K / .13
• April 20 – 461K / .13
• April 27 – 621K / .21

* Aired on a Friday

For complete results from the latest Collision & Rampage, check out our live blog here. To read a recap & review of Collision click here and for Rampage click here.