CM Punk says AEW Collision is not competing with WWE SummerSlam.
August 5 will mark a buzzworthy night in the wrestling world, as AEW Collision will go head-to-head with WWE SummerSlam. However, Punk recently noted that he doesn’t look at it that way.
In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Punk stated that AEW Collision is not competing with SummerSlam on Saturday. He stated that no matter what the show is up against, Collision is competing with itself.
“We are not competing with SummerSlam,” Punk said. “We are going to go up against college football soon. We have already been up against monster UFC cards every single Saturday. We are not competing with them. We are competing with what we did last Saturday. I am competing with who I was yesterday as a human being and a pro wrestler, and we, as the Collision team, are competing with what we did last Saturday. That’s always going to be what we are striving to do, and I think that’s an important message for the fans to understand.”
CM Punk On AEW Collision
Punk is often featured on AEW Collision, and he is the face of the brand. Given his name value, it’s easy to link him to the success of the show. Punk emphasized that Collision is a team effort, and it’s not about him.
“It’s not about me at all, it’s about us,” Punk said. “It’s not just me on Collision. It’s not one single person. Sure, there is numerical evidence that points to people selling the most merchandise and doing everything else, but all that stuff is garbage if you’re not trying to bring people up into our orbit.”
“It’s a team effort,” says Punk. “FTR is a big part of it. There is a group of people I want highlighted on Collision almost every Saturday. It’s a lot of people and it’s hard to get them in there, but it’s FTR, Samoa Joe, Jay White and Juice, the Gunns, Ricky Starks, all three members of House of Black, Andrade, and we just got Rush–that guy is f—— awesome, I want him on Collision, too–Hobbs, Miro, and I don’t want to forget anyone else.”
Punk went on to admit that Collision is on a “bad night for television.” However, he stated that the team loves the challenge, and he thinks they have outdone themselves so far.
“Collision is on a bad night for television, but the trade off is that I think it’s a lot easier to sell a ticket to a Saturday night show than it is on a Wednesday or Monday or Friday,” Punk said. “I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but we absolutely love the challenge. I think we’ve outdone ourselves so far.”
WrestleZone will have coverage of AEW Collision and WWE SummerSlam as they air on August 5.
