People inside WWE wanted the company to get Worlds Collide out of the way of AEW’s PAC tribute show after Benjamin Satterley’s death. The show had already been locked in for 7 p.m. ET, but once AEW turned Dynamite into a memorial for PAC, there were people within WWE who felt the company should have moved the premiere up and avoided going head-to-head with the tribute.
While speaking on the Fightful YouTube channel, Sean Ross Sapp said he had heard exactly that from people inside WWE. According to Sapp, some within the company wished WWE would simply move Worlds Collide to 4 or 5 p.m. instead of leaving it directly against the PAC tribute.
“Yes, there were some people in WWE that were like, yeah, wish we just wouldn’t do that, just move it up to 4:00 or 5:00 or something.”
Sapp did make it clear that hearing people wanted the show moved is not the same thing as saying they actually went to management and tried to force a change.
“But I don’t know that they went to WWE and pushed for it or anything like that. Um I just haven’t necessarily heard that.”
Sapp also explained why WWE had put Worlds Collide in that slot in the first place. The original idea was to get fans watching WWE before Dynamite started and hopefully keep them from switching over to AEW.
“That’s a way to get people to tune into Worlds Collide before Dynamite and then hopefully not turn to Dynamite. That was their goal.”
That strategy was set before PAC’s death. The controversy came after the circumstances completely changed and WWE still left Worlds Collide right where it was. Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that he had also heard people inside WWE were unhappy with the decision to keep the show in the same slot. Meltzer also questioned why WWE did not just make the change.
“I know a lot of people were unhappy that they ran it when they did. They could have moved it. They didn’t move it.”
“They probably should have moved it. There’s no good reason not to, but they didn’t.”
Bryan Alvarez had already shared a similar account, with Ringside News previously covering the internal pushback over Worlds Collide airing against AEW’s PAC tribute show. Alvarez said he had heard from multiple WWE sources who were unhappy with the move, while the actual decision came from a smaller group within the company.
WWE never changed course. Worlds Collide premiered on YouTube at 7 p.m. ET and overlapped directly with the opening hour of AEW Dynamite’s tribute to PAC. What makes this messier is that the frustration was not just coming from fans watching from the outside. Multiple accounts now point to people inside WWE who wanted Worlds Collide moved to an earlier time after PAC’s death, but the company stuck with the original plan anyway.
Do you think WWE should have moved Worlds Collide to 4 or 5 p.m. once AEW announced the PAC tribute show? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
