Report: Backstage News On AEW Changing Roster Split Plans

Before and after the official announcement of AEW Collision, rumours swirled about the introduction of a roster split that would see Dynamite and Collision have separate rosters in some capacity. Reports noted at points that AEW planned to have a hard roster split, which later changed to soft before it emerged that AEW's pitches for the split were constantly changing.

Tony Khan has since confirmed that AEW will have a soft roster split of sorts with "certain talents on certain shows." The separation at the moment appears to largely revolve around The Elite and CM Punk, along with select other talents.

Fightful Select has reported that AEW sent out information within the promotion a month ago that suggested there would be two separate rosters for Collision and Dynamite except for some special exceptions like champions. AEW even filed to trademark 'Transfer Portal' in mid-May as part of plans for the roster split.

The plan received a mixed reaction from the locker room and several wrestlers were unhappy about possibly missing out on signings and independent wrestling bookings, although AEW considers those bookings a luxury as they hold first priority on all contracted talents. Others, meanwhile, were happy about a possible hard roster split in the hopes it would reduce the chances of backstage drama.

After initial plans for a hard roster split were put in place, though, some AEW talents were told there would be a softer brand split before they were informed there would be some sharing between Collision and Dynamite. The introduction of the 'Transfer Portal' has been shelved, at least for the time being.

AEW's US TV partner, Warner Bros. Discovery, noted they preferred not to have a brand split in place but they were open to anything under the right circumstances.

AEW Collision debuted on June 17 with the returns of CM Punk, Miro, and Andrade El Idolo. The show reportedly received a positive backstage reaction.