AEW filed to trademark the name 'Collision' on February 15, 2023, and filed again on April 28, hinting at an upcoming third weekly television show.

Collision was officially announced on May 17, 2023, as a two-hour live Saturday night show on TNT starting June 17, 2023, becoming AEW's second weekly show to air on TNT alongside Rampage.

The show is the first wrestling program in a Saturday night time slot on a Ted Turner-founded network since WCW Saturday Night ended in 2000, following in the footsteps of WCW Monday Nitro, AEW Dynamite, and AEW Rampage on TNT.

AEW's YouTube shows Dark and Dark: Elevation were cancelled ahead of Collision's launch due to an amended deal with Warner Bros. Discovery requiring all AEW programming to air exclusively on their channels.

Speculation before the launch suggested the debut episode would take place at Chicago's United Center and feature the return of CM Punk, since that venue was where Punk made his AEW debut on Rampage in August 2021; Punk had been inactive since September 2022 due to injury and suspension following a backstage altercation at All Out.

Tony Khan confirmed CM Punk would return for Collision's first episode at the United Center after resolving issues with Warner Bros. Discovery, though Punk was fired that September following another real-life backstage altercation at All In.

Tony Khan revealed that Collision was added onto AEW's existing contract with WBD rather than being part of a new deal, and that WBD CEO David Zaslav was the one who pushed for more AEW content on TNT.

Despite speculation about a WWE-style brand split between Dynamite and Collision, Tony Khan clarified there would be no hard roster split, and that all AEW champions would continue to appear on both shows.

The original commentary team for Collision, confirmed the day before its debut, consisted of Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness, with Jim Ross occasionally joining for main events; Tony Schiavone joined later in October 2023, and Kelly's contract was terminated in March 2024.