Why AEW Pushed Back Swerve Strickland's First Promo As World Champion To Collision

There was some minor controversy over the booking of the post-Dynasty edition of AEW Dynamite as many fans believed new AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland should have opened the show. The episode instead opened with The Elite arriving at the arena before Trent Beretta attacked Orange Cassidy, with Chuck Taylor making the save to set up the Parking Lot Fight between the former Best Friends. Swerve was in action following the angle, picking up a win over Kyle Fletcher. 

All Elite Wrestling have since announced that Saturday's episode of Collision will open with Swerve's first live interview since he won the AEW World Championship at Dynasty. 

Fightful Select has reported that AEW decided to push back Swerve's first promo as champion to Collision as they want to give Strickland a big lead in for his first interview. The hope is that Swerve will benefit from the best lead-in for an AEW show in 2024, with Collision set to air immediately after the Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat game in the NBA Playoffs.

AEW will air three hours of programming on TNT this Saturday. Following two hours of Collision from 8:30 pm ET, AEW will air a one-hour Rampage from 10:30 pm ET.