A: A three-hour combo of AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision this week turned into a 3.5-hour broadcast full of a number of changes. However, AEW President Tony Khan attests that he’s put it all into action, and more than that, something he’s proud of.
During the AEW Full Gear media call, Khan explained how flight issues with talent leaving the 2026 Jericho Cruise affected his creative plans for the Utah recordings of Dynamite and Collision, which were 30 minutes longer than fans expected.
“I thought it was a great wrestling show,” Khan said. “If you’re sitting in my shoes and you have a lot of flying issues and you’re trying to put on a great wrestling match, imagine how I feel at the end of the show when I think it was a great show and everything came together perfectly. It was a great relief and thrill to be in Full Gear. I had announced some great things for the show. Contingency plans I like to do this. So in this case, the network was great for pushing some things back.
Khan pointed to Hyan and Nick Wayne as two notable names who have had travel issues on Wednesday night’s AEW program. In her case, Hyan arrived at the Maverick Center in Utah just as the show started, which meant her three-way TBS Championship match, which also featured Queen Aminata and Skye Blue, had to be moved to the main event site of Collision. Nick Wayne, who also entered the hall later than planned, also appeared near the end of “Collision”.
Both Hyan and Wayne wrestled at the Chris Jericho Rock N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea, which arrived in Miami on November 11th, the same day as AEW’s double taping.
Khan was also pleased with last week’s beach collision
Days before his syndicated TV special, All Elite Wrestling hosted by Collision from Jericho CruiseAEW National Championship match between Andrade El Idolo and Tommaso Ciampa to headline the show. This wasn’t the first time AEW had created a television production on a cruise ship; However, it was the company’s first attempt at live broadcasting.
“This time we did it live,” Khan said. “In fact, we did it as a taped show on Tuesday (2020) for the last time. This was great. I love doing it as a live show. I much prefer it. I always love watching live wrestling. With the championship change too, it was very exciting and felt like a great fight. So it was great to be able to do the show for Collision this year.
As Khan hinted, fans saw the AEW National Championship change hands at Beach Collision as Ciampa pinned Andrade to become the new title holder. Elsewhere on the show, former TBS champion Persephone defeated Mina Shirakawa in singles competition; Nick Wayne did the same against Marcus Mathers. Chris Jericho himself also defeated Blake Christian at the Walls of Jericho.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit AEW with ah/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
