WWE Worlds Collide took place on the same night as AEW All Out, but its place in the history books is yet to be finalized.
Announced in July of this year, AEW All Out would take place at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
In the same month, around ten days later, WWE would announce Worlds Collide, taking place at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, itself a suburb of Chicago.
With both shows taking place on September 26, it was the latest in a run of counterprogramming endeavors by WWE, a situation that Tony Khan has previously addressed.
Worlds Collide, however, was more than just a WWE show going up against its AEW counterpart:
The broadcast confusion
Previous editions of WWE Worlds Collide were streamed on YouTube, live and with commentary, allowing a convenient way to tune into the show as it happened.
In the run up to the September 26 show, it wasn’t clearly how fans would be able to tune in, with suggestions that it would stream on YouTube, Club WWE or another means among those being bandied around. This left many fans unsure as to how they would be able to watch what was happening.
In the end, YouTube would indeed be the show’s home, but not as a live broadcast.
Impacting the live gate
Reports emerged online that the decision to not stream WWE Worlds Collide was to impact the live gate of AEW All Out, with the only way to see the show live being at the venue itself. Fightful would go on to state that “WWE sources admitted AEW sold better than they expected”.
Worlds Collide may not have been a PLE, but it was certainly an event that WWE fans may have wanted to see live, particularly with a smattering of main roster stars among those appearing.
A second attempt at counterprogramming
September 26 has been and gone, but the story of Worlds Collide is yet to be fully told, with a YouTube premiere set for Wednesday.
Wednesday, obviously, is the same night as AEW Dynamite, with this no doubt being a second shot at that counterprogramming.
But, what about NXT?
NXT airs on Tuesday night, but if there were any plans to explicitly reference Worlds Collide, it’s unlikely to happen before the event airs the following night, despite fans likely know just what happened in the Chicago area thanks to either WWE social media channels, fan reports from the venue itself or spoilers, such as those found right here.
It’s marginally easier for WWE Raw, with Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh both being part of Worlds Collide, as the Monday night show could just play appropriate footage to fill in any fans and the roughly two-and-a-half hours of time on Netflix. It’d still be happening before the show airs, but there are few other options when it comes to keeping the television stories moving along.
The right choice?
Speaking to the fans after AEW All Out, Will Ospreay would thank them for their support after his first main event as World Champion in footage shared on Twitter, also saying that those in attendance had “made the right choice”.
When it comes to live wrestling, the choice between an AEW pay-per-view and a WWE special was probably an easy one for fans of both companies, but for those at home, there was only one possible outcome for September 26, thanks to All Out being streamed as it happened.
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