AEW Saturday Collision

[The King Of Swing]

FTR have shown at times that they can be a good firey, babyface tag team imo.

[RedRooster]

50 minutes ago, Doog said:

Moving on from that, liked the show but FTR are shit, if they fuckdd off tomorrow and never showed up again it'd be a day too late, I thought they were dull as shit anyway and thrn Dax does his shitty podcast and makes you realise how much of a loser he is. Get the belts off them and fuck them off, especially Dax, mauve Cash can do something else, he seems alright tbf.

Fuck Dax

I’ve never heard the podcast and you may not like them, but I don’t think there’s any doubting their talent. In ring, they’re top notch - but they’re also a brilliant babyface promo. I don’t really understand why some people have turned on FTR as of late, but they’re a high value act for AEW, and merit any push they receive. If you don’t like his podcast, don’t listen to it. No one’s forcing you to.

Edited June 18, 2023 by RedRooster

[Infinity Land]

The Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament just reminded me how weak the Tag Division is, and has been for a while. With the Trios/BCC & Elite and injuries i'm not sure you can think of 8 active teams that make it that appealing. Who knows maybe they do include Bucks, Lucha Bros and Kings of the Black Throne regardless.

A bit like Rampage i'm hoping the 2nd edition of Collision will be the more memorable one. Being the go-home show to Forbidden Door everyone should be available for at least appearances.

[gmoney]

Thought this was a fantastic show. The lowlight was Wardlow v Luchasaurus and that was pretty good. The Andrade v Buddy Matthews match was absolutely superb great example of a cold match turning out great with a bit of hard work and a good story. 

Punk promo was flawless I thought. Got chills. There's no one better at that than him, MJF tries but he can't touch him. I did wonder about the bag though. Made me wonder if he forgot to bring it. He looked a bit rusty in the ring, understandably. Hopefully he'll shake that off before he injures himself again. 

Edited June 18, 2023 by gmoney
Used the word fantastic three times like a simpleton. Fantastic.

[Pinc]

Punk elevated MJF more than anything else Max has ever done. And his title reign fell flat early on precisely because Punk wasn't there to give him the title win he should have had.

Punk's promo has the potential to lead to some very interesting stuff. He should have gone off the air holding the 'Real' World title over his head though.

[Vamp]

I actually thought Punk was worse in the ring than he was in the promo. Sure, the promo was predictable and nothing special but he was clearly out of position several times in the match and completely fucked by the end. That's not necessarily surprising, he's clearly got a lot of ring rust, but considering how the match was designed to protect him I can't see him being in a singles match anytime soon. 

There were a few negatives. There's something that feels a little WWE knock off about the show between the entrance set up, having Andrade and Buddy Matthews, Miro and Tony Nesse face off against each other. The former, while very good, also just made me think "Jesus, these AEW guys are very injury prone" considering both men apparently got fucked in this match, one who'd apparently just come back from injury, and the main event is already about a guy coming back from injury. I guess JR might have just really wanted to be there but there's probably a point where you should say to the old bloke who's collapsed and picked up a nasty shiner and whose voice is fucked that "actually mate, you don't need to fly to Chicago to call one match, maybe just sit this one out." 

I'm still not sure whether this is a B-show or not and I'm not sure if they really know. The fact that they didn't set anything up for future episodes kinda supports the idea that it is, but it did have a title change so who knows. 

Still, the Andrade match was good, Joe looked good, the women's match was fun and good booking and Tony Schiavone can carry off even the most utterly pointless segment. And hey, even if this show is mostly pointless (meaning it should be an hour like all TV wrestling shows should actually be) if its existence results in Dynamite being inspired to be good than everyone wins really. Punk can do what he wants for 2 hours a week, everyone who dislikes Punk can have a laugh at watching him do what he wants in front of a smaller and smaller audience each week, the people on the roster who don't want to put up with Punk's miserable face don't have to, the show that matters is inspired to be better, its win win really. 

Final thought, reimburse every ticket because that crowd did more to make that show than just about anyone. Take it out of whatever they're paying Punk. 

[Lenin]

3 hours ago, RedRooster said:

I don’t really understand why some people have turned on FTR as of late

A large part of it is down to their podcast I think. They've gone from internet darlings to people actively talking about how much they dislike them. Unfortunately with so many platforms through which you can communicate with fans very few wrestlers stop to think about whether or not they should communicate with fans. There's no gimmick to protect so their real personalities shine very brightly. They appear to be entitled, whiny marks (similar to their pal CM Punk) and that perception is hard to shake. The other part of it is once your personality comes out, your political preferences and opinions can easily be deduced and in that respect they are Jericho levels of plonker.

 

In terms of their in-ring ability I'd say there right up there with most entertaining tag teams of recent years. 

 

 

[TheBurningRed]

5 hours ago, Suplex Sinner said:

A large part of it is down to their podcast I think. They've gone from internet darlings to people actively talking about how much they dislike them. Unfortunately with so many platforms through which you can communicate with fans very few wrestlers stop to think about whether or not they should communicate with fans. There's no gimmick to protect so their real personalities shine very brightly. They appear to be entitled, whiny marks (similar to their pal CM Punk) and that perception is hard to shake. The other part of it is once your personality comes out, your political preferences and opinions can easily be deduced and in that respect they are Jericho levels of plonker.

I wouldn’t tar Cash with that brush. The podcast was Dax. And he’s a weird guy on Twitter with vanity searching and arguing with people on there. People have soured on him. Cash seems to be guilty by association.  

[Jonny Vegas]

12 hours ago, Slapnut said:

For all the talk of worked shooty bollocks, you appear to be blurring the lines here as much as Punk is accused of doing. At what point has the TV character of CM Punk threatened to sue anyone or get somebody fired?

Not liking CM Punk the man is absolutely fine, not liking CM Punk the TV character is absolutely fine, but it’s a bit weird using his real life personality to point out how his TV character is a hypocrite, surely? It’s not far off from saying “well Undertaker doesn’t actually sleep in a coffin so he’s a hypocrite”.

Apologies if I'm completely misunderstanding your point but I don’t think Lion of the Midlands is far off with his “well he’s not an actual Rock” point.

No apology needed mate.

My opinion on it is that I don't like either because ever since the original "pipe bomb", everything Punk has ever done was blurred lines shooty bollocks.

He goes on TV and uses his time to repeatedly vent personal backstage issues and grievances that Phil Brooks has in real life.

The entire main point of his "character" since the pipe bomb was this was him being himself which he wants to display as a rebel fighting the system and the hierarchy but in reality he's just a deluded weirdo who doesn't do anything other than moan or run away in a huff if he's not getting his own way.

I don't think he's done a thing in wrestling since the SES that was ever presented as anything other than him being himself whereas the examples being used like The Rock and The Undertaker etc are over the top charicatures.

For me its a ridiculous comparison.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Jonny Vegas

[TobyK]

21 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

I wouldn’t tar Cash with that brush. The podcast was Dax. And he’s a weird guy on Twitter with vanity searching and arguing with people on there. People have soured on him. Cash seems to be guilty by association.  

For me FTRs projected characters in AEW (no idea or interest on their WWE time) came across as “real working American men”, which in my view is a boring and overdone role in the first place. From their debut I’ve never been bothered and have always skipped their segments, aware they have been in some involved in some great matches, but just not very entertaining for me. Maybe I’m more sports entertainery. 
 

Same for CM Punk for me too, wasn’t originally that interested and the fact he’s brought a load of negative baggage into the company makes me dislike him & his role even more. Sooner he and everything by association leaves, the better.
 

[DavidB6937]

FTR are perfect examples of guys that you can jump in, watch their matches and then switch off again. They're very good at putting on wrestling matches which I think is what they aim for. But there's no emotional investment or any character development or anything like that. They've modelled themselves on Bret Hart but they've forgotten what he was capable of as a character too. They're about as deep as he was in the Hart Foundation early in his career.

[Pinc]

Was Punk wearing them Kanye West boots when he came out for his promo?

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, Jonny Vegas said:

in reality he's just a deluded weirdo who doesn't do anything other than moan or run away in a huff if he's not getting his own way.

If you take all the deluded weirdos out of wrestling who do you have left? I'm also guessing you weren't a fan of Shawn Michaels, or Steve Austin who both took their ball and went home, has have countless others who stomped off when they didn't get their way. As for Punk using TV time to vent backstage grievances, again that is hardly unique. 

Having said that I do understand why you don't like him, he has never come across as likeable in any way.  

[JimmyAnderson]

Like him or loathe him, he's got people talking. 

Dynamite has been exceptional for a good while now without him but there's very rarely as much chat on any one episode of Dynamite as there has been about this one of Collision. 

[Daddymagic]

Thought it was a good show, and the 2 hours flew by. With a cracking Dynamite, outstanding Smackdown and this it's been a good week! 
 

About half way through I realised a key reason why I enjoyed it far more - Kevin Kelly is streets ahead of Excalibur as a PBP commentator. Relaxed, made good points and told stories well. And didn't have to hear "swing and a miss" once.