It’s official: AEW Collision is setting sail. Chris Jericho confirmed on TMZ’s Inside the Ring that AEW will air a live episode of Collision from Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea: The Seventh Cruise of a Seventh Cruise, something the cruise has never done in its seven-year history.
“There’s something that we’re doing on this cruise that we’ve never done before,” Jericho told TMZ. “Obviously, it’s the seventh version of the Jericho Cruise, and we are for the first time ever doing a live episode of AEW Collision from the boat itself.”
“Saturday, November 7th, Collision will be live from Chris Jericho’s Rock and Wrestling Rager at Sea,” he continued. “Thanks to the Norwegian Pearl. Thanks to Sixthman. Thanks to Tony Khan for facilitating this. But this is monumental. We had a Dynamite that we taped. This is live.”
How They’re Pulling Off a Live Show From the Middle of a Dock
Broadcasting live from a cruise ship is not simple, and Jericho walked through the logistics. “That’s a little harder because of satellites and Wi-Fi and cables,” he said. “We just said, what if we do it just in port, before we actually leave for the ocean. Usually we’ll leave late afternoon, 4 or 5, boat pulls away, the party starts. This time we’ll stay in the dock. Still have the party going on, but at 8:00, Collision will air live from the Jericho cruise.”
Jericho also teased that fans should expect a stacked show. “You’re going to see probably the biggest AEW roster that we’ve ever had,” he said, “because most of the time when we’re at sea for four days, who wants to be on the cruise? Who doesn’t want to be on the cruise? I can’t force people to go on it… but you have a chance to see whoever Tony books that night for Collision will be on the boat.” He added that the cruise will “start off with an actual all-star Collision lineup,” on top of the AEW stars already booked to stay for the full voyage, plus attractions like the Jericho men’s and women’s Oceanic Tournaments for the cruise’s own Oceanic Championship, and the beloved Micromania shows. Asked if he’d be wrestling himself, Jericho said he wasn’t sure, joking that “Tony [Khan] is the booker of our shows.”
Jericho also got emotional about who the cruise is being dedicated to this year. “We’re going to dedicate this cruise to Pac and to Ben Satterley,” he said, referencing the recent passing of AEW’s PAC, who wrestled on the cruise’s second sailing. “You got to pay tribute to the fallen brothers and sisters, especially the ones that came on the cruise.”
The Stunner Is On Board, and So Is Nearly Everybody Else
As The Stunner reported yesterday, our own Josh Bernstein and Robert Pasbani have been named Special Guest Hosts for this year’s sailing, running November 7 to 11 from Miami to Bimini, Bahamas. Now we get to add “watched AEW Collision go live from international waters” to the job description.
The rest of the announced lineup is enormous. Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy and The Great Muta headline as VIPs at Sea, with Austin Creed and Kofi (AEW World Trios Champions New Level) serving as Guest Captains. Harley Cameron is Crackin’ Cruise Director, Elayna Black is Sorceress of Sea, Brad Williams is Master of Mirth, and Luther is Ship Steward. Prime Passengers include Ted DiBiase, Carlito, Shotzi Blackheart, Fred Ottman, Vampiro, Marcus Bagwell, Natalia Markova, Dean Malenko, The Blue Meanie, A.J. Francis, Lady Frost, Myla Grace, Victoria Crawford, “Kid Chocolate” Mo Jabari, Indi Hartwell, Lacey Lane, Ricky Knight Jr., Perry Saturn, Sonny Onoo, Chris Van Vliet and Gabby LaSpisa.
On the music side, Jericho’s own band Fozzy leads the Rock’N’Roll Party, joined by The Iron Maidens, Kuarantine, Guardians of the Jukebox, Downstait, Killer Dwarfs, The Violent Hour, Beasto Blanco, Peroxwhy?gen (fronted by Jeff Hardy, who Jericho confirmed will also throw a Hardy party on the island stop), Little Miss Nasty, Jeremy Would Let Me Drown, David Roy, a Dueling Pianos set and Rybo The Wandering Minstrel. Comedy falls to April Macie, J.B. Ball, Marcus Monroe and RJ City under the Liner Laughs banner, and Talk Is Jericho and The Paranormal 60 with Dave Schrader are both taping live podcasts on board. Rounding things out: Ted Irvine as Assistant Captain, Red Cup Geoff as Mr. Mixologist, MicroMania as Spotlight Guests, and Sarah Lemos (Medium) and Winifred Schrader (Tarot Card Readings) running Paranormal Activities. Jericho noted more names are still being staggered out, including a Hardy Boys-related announcement he said is coming soon.
Jericho also said the boat was sitting at 81 percent capacity as of his TMZ taping, with tickets still on sale. “There are still tickets available,” he said. “Chrisjerichocruise.com, and it really is the vacation of a lifetime.” He pointed out his cruise is one of the only ones that keeps selling cabins basically up until the day before departure, so there’s still time to book a spot alongside The Stunner’s own crew. Tickets and the full lineup are at chrisjerichocruise.com.
