AEW Saturday Collision

[The King Of Swing]

I have zero interest in a Pinnacle reunion. 

Though the masked men being his former Pinnacle stable mates, trying to fuck with him could have some legs.

[LaGoosh]

I think the masked man is Swerve. Meddling in the shadows to fuck up MJF's life, create new enemies to wear him down so he can take eventually take the title off him.

[The King Of Swing]

Watch it turn out to be Strong and The Kingdom.

There was three of them, right? 

[Infinity Land]

31 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Watch it turn out to be Strong and The Kingdom.

There was three of them, right? 

In the attack on Jay White there were 5, 4 Goons and the Devil. Which doesn't have to mean anything, could have just been mercs for hire. Dark Order had randoms and the only person that's been seen since is the Devil.

Just reminds me of the Black Scorpion. An idea thought of without being properly fleshed out to even be certain who's behind the mask.

The frontrunner for me is still MJF under the mask with the idea he's doing it to get to 2024 with the title. As TK/MJF have been happy to promote that idea for what seems like years at this point. At Full Gear we find out he's the devil. Those clamouring for this big multi-man match at World's End is to get the title off MJF. Where he still sneaks out with it.

[Loki]

Someone posted a video of Stevie Richards going into detail on Bret Hart's power bomb onto the knee, and how it was done so Hart takes the weight properly across the knee and then his opponent takes a safe flat back bump, and that led me down a rabbit hole of those videos showing how to safely land moves.

Watching MJF and Omega repeatedly drop each other on their heads or take bumps on one shoulder, I did wonder if either these younger wrestlers know something the older ones didn't, or if the fundamental desire to not injure your opponent is just less now in the sport.  MJF did the power bomb onto the knee, failed to have a base and just dropped Omega onto his shoulder.  And there were many pretty sloppy looking bumps in this match.

I mean, a really fun and enjoyable main event but I can't imagine Omega can do this for that much longer, he looks physically wrecked, his back is bowed and his hips look shot and his neck seems quite fucked. And MJF went for a whole load of moves he doesn't normally perform, and messed quite a few up.  Given the number of injuries recently in AEW, perhaps the road agents need to slow these guys down a bit?

[Hannibal Scorch]

Match wise, thought it was a great show. Pacing wise, dunno, something felt off. And Callis interfering in the main made no sense in the end.

[d-d-d-dAz]

I don’t mean to be all Cornette about it, but they lost me from the main event when Omega got the table out. 
 

I was quite enjoying it before then, but there was zero need to get the furniture out and it should have ultimately resulted in a disqualification.

Show was fine too good, but blighted with some of the issues I’ve had with AEW and Collision recently. I don’t think Jay White needs to go life and death with AR Fox, and I think the Starks/FTR universe gets more confusing each week as a few people leave the brawl community, and more join. Roosh looks a double hard bastard, though.

[69MeDon]

I thought the match was amazing.

[HarmonicGenerator]

“Don Callis likes wet socks” is up there with “FOUR NAAN?” as sign of the year.

That obvious highlight aside, what a main event! Fantastic match that really drew me in - with one especially gasp-worthy near fall towards the end.

We’ve got to be heading towards an Armageddon style match at the December PPV haven’t we? So many people gunning for MJF right now.

Shame to hear Danielson is injured again. Not sure how long a broken orbital bone keeps you out, but now we have the ticking clock any time missed is Danielson time we’ll never get back. Stop putting him with Okada, it’s ended badly twice now!

Samoa Joe is still king of the squashes but Claudio gave him a run for his money. Possibly my favourite match he’s had in AEW, uppercuts all over the place, lovely.

Shida and Abadon had a fun Halloween match. I’m not fussed about Abadon but bringing them out for a spooky plunder fest once a year is something I’d be fine with. Half thought Danhausen might turn up, but I guess this big Halloween themed return is being saved for … the day after Halloween.

Couldn't care about AR Fox or FTR but otherwise a good show.

[CavemanLynn]

56 minutes ago, Loki said:

Someone posted a video of Stevie Richards going into detail on Bret Hart's power bomb onto the knee, and how it was done so Hart takes the weight properly across the knee and then his opponent takes a safe flat back bump, and that led me down a rabbit hole of those videos showing how to safely land moves.

Watching MJF and Omega repeatedly drop each other on their heads or take bumps on one shoulder, I did wonder if either these younger wrestlers know something the older ones didn't, or if the fundamental desire to not injure your opponent is just less now in the sport.  MJF did the power bomb onto the knee, failed to have a base and just dropped Omega onto his shoulder.  And there were many pretty sloppy looking bumps in this match.

I mean, a really fun and enjoyable main event but I can't imagine Omega can do this for that much longer, he looks physically wrecked, his back is bowed and his hips look shot and his neck seems quite fucked. And MJF went for a whole load of moves he doesn't normally perform, and messed quite a few up.  Given the number of injuries recently in AEW, perhaps the road agents need to slow these guys down a bit?

As someone who got back into working after several years out, I spend more time trying to STOP my young opponents from taking stuff. It doesn't matter if you "don't mind taking it" - you don't win points with me at least by offering yourself up as a crash test dummy. I think it betrays the actual insecurity in today's wrestlers that so many feel the need to smash their bump card to pieces, as if, without running off or making money being factors in who keeps working, this is the new paying of your dues. Despite being constantly told that it's about making the crowd care and making everything matter, they seem insistent on undercutting that through no-selling and refusing to do anything without counting to three all the time.

It's why I find hotshotting so insulting for the wrestlers. It reads like the booker trusts you to bash yourself up for a star rating, but doesn't trust you to build an angle to draw a gate. Again, it's probably because gates don't seem to matter anymore either. I also don't know if any of the talent get bonuses for taking extra risks or being booked in dangerous stipulation matches.

Omega has never looked better than when he obliterated Sonny Kiss in a minute, and MJF is at his best when he's talking shit and getting the bare bones basics over. This week's match was exciting popcorn, unrealistic bullshit, but worse for both their healths.

Grrr, argh, kids these days, blah blah, etc.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

I don’t mean to be all Cornette about it, but they lost me from the main event when Omega got the table out. 
 

Yeah, felt exactly the same watching it. Just made no sense to me, both as part of the match and as something Kenny would do. Just felt like them jamming in their weekly table spot. MJF is amazing though. Really showing his in-ring versatility this year.

RUSH looked the bees knees. Legit looks like someone not to fuck with. Shame there's no consistency with him.

Enjoyed the opener although that might be down to the Gunn Clubs shenanigans more than anything. The 180 turn around of Juice Robinson is incredible. Can't keep my eyes off him. 

The Toni Storm stuff was fun when it was her and Renee and it was grounded in some kind of wrestling reality. It's just silly now though. 

Rest felt like an episode of Rampage and wasn't for me unfortunately.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Mr Butternut Squash

[Loki]

34 minutes ago, CavemanLynn said:

It's why I find hotshotting so insulting for the wrestlers. It reads like the booker trusts you to bash yourself up for a star rating, but doesn't trust you to build an angle to draw a gate. Again, it's probably because gates don't seem to matter anymore either. I also don't know if any of the talent get bonuses for taking extra risks or being booked in dangerous stipulation matches.

Ah, this is it exactly - you’ve expressed what I’ve been grasping to formulate recently about AEW.  This week we’ve had two hard hitting main events hotshotted for the short term gain of a larger gate and a larger rating.  Neither of them particularly furthers the longer term storylines of the company, one has resulted in one of their top stars being out of action for 6 months and the other saw some heavy markup on both guys’ bump cards.

 Let’s not forget it was Danielson who flipped out when HHH stopped a match in which he’d lost control of his arms due to a horrific stinger.  He honestly seems prepared to die in there, and he’s the guy who has Tony Khan’s ear.

Coming off the back of Moxley’s concussion… imo AEW need to start protecting their wrestlers better even if it means less “bangers” on free tv.

[DavidB6937]

When they hotshot matches it reminds me more of how I used to watch ROH. I'd dip in and out and just watch matches because they were good combinations and they absolutely worked but you also knew why ROH never really grew beyond what it did. Tony definitely regresses every so often into that mentality and it's fine as long as they don't do it too much. But AEW should be able to bring together top talent and give them a more meaningful feud or reason to have these matches on an ongoing basis. Otherwise you do just end up with ROH with a bit more money behind it.

[Infinity Land]

Okada's appearance I wouldn't consider hot-shotting. It was an exhibition tag that came down to availibility of another company's talent. You just work what you've got sometimes. It sucks that Danielson ended up injured again. We're talking about a guy in his early 40s with a long list of injuries. It wouldn't necessarily have mattered who he was in the ring with at the end of the day unfortunately.

MJF v. Omega is more an example of AEW/TK's piss poor booking and promoting than going "hey let's bump the ratings/ticket sales". Something pencilled in on TK's spreadsheet for a month. They all knew where it was going and it made for a lovely video package with talking heads once it was announced.

But this is what people actually experienced on TV and if you happen to watch BTE/exist on social meda.

 

[Keith Houchen]

1 hour ago, CavemanLynn said:

As someone who got back into working after several years out, I spend more time trying to STOP my young opponents from taking stuff. It doesn't matter if you "don't mind taking it" - you don't win points with me at least by offering yourself up as a crash test dummy. I think it betrays the actual insecurity in today's wrestlers that so many feel the need to smash their bump card to pieces, as if, without running off or making money being factors in who keeps working, this is the new paying of your dues. Despite being constantly told that it's about making the crowd care and making everything matter, they seem insistent on undercutting that through no-selling and refusing to do anything without counting to three all the time.

It's why I find hotshotting so insulting for the wrestlers. It reads like the booker trusts you to bash yourself up for a star rating, but doesn't trust you to build an angle to draw a gate. Again, it's probably because gates don't seem to matter anymore either. I also don't know if any of the talent get bonuses for taking extra risks or being booked in dangerous stipulation matches.

Omega has never looked better than when he obliterated Sonny Kiss in a minute, and MJF is at his best when he's talking shit and getting the bare bones basics over. This week's match was exciting popcorn, unrealistic bullshit, but worse for both their healths.

Grrr, argh, kids these days, blah blah, etc.

Just wanted to say thanks for this insight. I thought this was a fantastic and illuminating post without “Exposing the biz” so to speak.