WWE Going Head-To-Head With AEW Pay-Per-View With New Event In Arena Just 20 Miles Way

Published: Jul 16, 2026 by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: Jul 16, 2026 by Dave Adamson

Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.

WWE Going Head-To-Head With AEW Pay-Per-View With New Event In Arena Just 20 Miles Way

WWE is set to go head-to-head with an upcoming AEW pay-per-view later this year, bringing an event to Chicago.

Not for the first time, WWE and AEW will run shows head-to-head, with September 26 being the date for the next clash.

With AEW All Out taking place at Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, on September 26, it has now been revealed that WWE will run Worlds Collide on that date, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

WWE announced fourteen new dates across the United States in a press release on July 16 that revealed:

WWE today announced 14 new fall dates across the United States, including Raw, SmackDown and Worlds Collide, a Live Event set to include WWE and Lucha Libre AAA Superstars. Tickets for each event will go on sale Friday, July 24, at 10 a.m. local time.

Friday, September 18	Corpus Christi, Texas	Hilliard Center ADVERTISEMENT	SmackDown	Ticketmaster
Monday, September 21 ADVERTISEMENT	San Antonio, Texas	Frost Bank Center	Raw	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Friday, September 25	Indianapolis, Indiana	Gainbridge Fieldhouse	SmackDown	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Saturday, September 26	Chicago, Illinois	Allstate Arena	Worlds Collide	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Monday, September 28	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Fiserv Forum	Raw	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Friday, October 2	Denver, Colorado	Ball Arena	SmackDown	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Monday, October 5	St. Louis, Missouri	Enterprise Center	Raw	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Friday, October 9	Lafayette, Louisiana	CAJUNDOME	SmackDown	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Monday, October 12	Bossier City, Louisiana	Brookshire Grocery Arena	Raw	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Friday, October 16	Sacramento, California	Golden 1 Center	SmackDown	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Monday, October 19	San Diego, California	Pechanga Arena	Raw	AXS ADVERTISEMENT
Monday, October 26	Fresno, California	Save Mart Center	Raw	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Friday, October 30	Charleston, West Virginia	Charleston Coliseum	SmackDown	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT
Monday, November 2	Brooklyn, New York	Barclays Center	Raw	Ticketmaster ADVERTISEMENT

Ironically, despite both AEW and WWE promoting their respective shows as in Chicago, neither technically are, with the NOW Arena based in Hoffman Estates, and the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, which is admittedly slightly closer to downtown Chicago.

For all intents and purposes, the shows will take place 20 minutes away from one another – close enough for both All Out and Worlds Collide to be promoted as Chicago shows, with both being in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Worlds Collide was introduced to WWE audiences in 2019, initially featuring talent from NXT, Raw and SmackDown.

The show has been themed around clashes between WWE and AAA talent since its revival in June 2025, with WWE acquiring the Mexico-based promotion over WrestleMania 41 weekend.

The most recent WWE Worlds Collide took place in September of last year and saw Dominik Mysterio defeat El Hijo del Vikingo to become AAA Mega Champion.

Tony Khan Responds To WWE Clashes

WWE putting shows up against AEW isn’t a new phenomenon, with 2025 seeing situations where programming was moved to prevent a clash in the schedules.

When it comes to Tony Khan’s response to these head-to-heads, the AEW president stated that he understands why WWE would do it, also sharing a belief that this counterprogramming is “done on purpose.”

Khan would go on to reflect upon AEW’s status as a “challenger wrestling promotion” and what goes into building a product worthy of that status against the monolithic WWE, remaining confident in what he is setting out to achieve.

With WrestleMania 43 taking place in Saudi Arabia next year, Khan has suggested that AEW may deliver a “huge event” to run in the spring of 2027.

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