AEW Saturday Collision

[Devon Malcolm]

3 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

I don’t think so. I’ll have said “Ricochet” but don’t think I used his username/handle, which probably means that he vanity searches himself

I never would have guessed that about him!

[WyattSheepMask]

I know right.

Batista blocked me too, I think because I was critical of that film did where some terrorist tries to blow up West Ham’s ground. He was probably justified in doing so in all fairness

[Supremo]

Two for two this week. The difference in these smaller buildings is incredible. Completely changes the vibe. Puts me in such a better mood. Even the objectively shit stuff (Jericho, MJF/Cole) doesn’t annoy me anywhere near as much in these settings.

Hammerstein looked amazing. Even with the horrible 80s grey paint job. This is exactly the type of venue they need to be booking going forward. Small, intimate, interesting to look at, packed with loud fans. I could almost feel  a tangible sense of relief in the way the camera crew could shoot however they wanted. All these wide, high and low, swooping shots. My shoulders felt loose. I was relaxed. Honestly, when they have to strictly shoot in precise angles to hide the tens of thousands of empty seats, I get a phantom stiff neck from watching it.

Costco guys BOOMIN’ and DOOMIN’ to start the show made me laugh. Almost charming in how rubbish they are. No wonder they gravitated to pro-wrestling. They’re the embodiment of it. Stumble across something that accidentally gets over. Repeat endlessly. Never, ever deviate or evolve. Absolutely nothing behind the eyes. I bet Vince McMahon fucking loves this act.

Great opener. Everyone needs to start  investing now because this new Ricochet character is going to work. Best thing he’s ever done. An excellent little dickhead. Loved the toilet roll being thrown at him. That used to be Jimmy Rave’s thing, didn’t it? Regardless of whether it was organic or not here, they should make it a thing from now on. Tony Khan should be buying Sainsbury’s multipacks in bulk, like a Boomer at the start of Covid. Hand them out every week before Ricochet’s entrance, like when Heyman would hand out those Styrofoam heads to pretend Al Snow was good and over in ECW.

Ospreay doing another job, safe in the knowledge he’s too fucking good for it to really have an effect. Chad stuff. The Rock, Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay. The Holy Trinity of selfless greats. I would pay a lot of money to see that episode of Table for Three.

Cole and MJF got the deathly silence they deserved. Already one of the worst storylines of all time, it does the impossible and still continues to get worse with each passing week. As if the dynamics and history weren’t a big enough mess already. They’re now trying to justify it and make it work by attempting to fucking Minority Report it. I betrayed you, ruining the only true friendship you ever had, building up a gang of baddies to cost you the World Title, terrorising the whole company in the process, but I’m the babyface because you might have done it if I hadn’t, perhaps, maybe. Even funnier that MJF then admits to the Pre-Crime, as if that makes it work. Fuck off. Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off. What a tangled web of shit. 

Even if we accepted all this as anything other than an absolute fucking mess that they keep trying (read: failing) to write themselves out of, it’s still never been clear as to why Adam Cole is even so angry. He turned on MJF, cost him the belt, ruined his life, then came back and gave him a Brainbuster. That’s it, isn’t it? Why is he so mad? Why’s he so desperate for this match? What has Max actually done? Whole thing is fucking torture. And worse still, I’m convinced Roddy, Kyle, Taven and Bennett are turning on Cole at the pay per view, joining MJF, meaning this will continue.

Mercedes vs. Statlander 2 at the Pay Per View! Yes! Now we’re talking! Mercedes finally using her sway for good. They’d have never rematched women like that if it wasn’t someone with power specifically demanding it. Not Tony’s style at all. With any luck, Statlander wins and Stat, Mercedes and Willow spend the next few months trading the belt in bi-weekly rippers.

Great to see Swerve get the Superstar reaction. If the Death Riders angle must continue, similar to Copeland, Swerve’s another one I would like to see move into their orbit to freshen everything up. Have Mox and Swerve ever done a Death Match? Bet those two could create beautiful, magical, ridiculous violence together.

A great night for C2 action overall. I’ve finally felt some of last year’s magic as its reached its conclusion. Some real top babyfaces breaking out of the pack. Danny Garcia getting helped to his feet by kids at ringside. Mark Briscoe getting the crowd clapping by opening and shutting the chair he’s about to launch himself off. And Darby Allin being an absolute nutcase, willing to die for our sins. I think that’s my main takeaway right now. Things have definitely turned a corner the last few weeks, and they’re ending the year on a high, but I’ve seen enough heel beatdowns to last me a lifetime in this company. We’ve had enough heat. I’m roasting hot, if anything. As we move into Spring I want to see a return of the happy promotion, with loads of feel good endings and babyfaces standing tall. Confetti. Fireworks. Zero crimes committed for at least twelve months.

Edited December 24, 2024 by Supremo

[LaGoosh]

21 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Everyone needs to start  investing now because this new Ricochet character is going to work. Best thing he’s ever done.

I don't know if his slip on the ropes was intentional or not but he needs to throw occasional fuck ups in his matches. Crowds react huge to it and he can then play off that for heat. There's no money in him hitting his fancy high spots clean as a whistle. It'd be a great addiction to his act.

[DavidB6937]

Playing into how smarmy and unlikeable and snivelling he is is absolutely the right move. Whoever's call it was - smartest thing they could've done with him. Let those who hate him hate him but it becomes an entertaining part of the act. 

[JGPuk84]

I have been a lurker on here for a while, but I was in New York for my birthday and so attend Collision in person. I'm not someone who attends shows regularly, since my hardcore phase 15 years ago, I've only attended the last two All In shows, but the chance to see AEW in New York felt like something I couldn't miss. 

We were in the top tier pretty near the back, but the view was pretty good. 

AEW use Ticketmaster, so surge pricing was enforced for the event. When I first looked they we selling for around $100 per ticket, which I couldn't justify, but by waiting until the week before I managed to get two tickets for $44 each ($92 with fees), which was pretty reasonable to me. There was a whole chunk around me market for resell at $34.

For people who don't know, the Hammerstein Ballroom is over the road from MSG, so it's pretty easy to get to. It's pretty dated inside, but none of the queues were to long and everything worked pretty well.

The crowd was more casual then I thought it was going to be, there were a lot of kids in Ospreay shirts, and generally it was not as hardcore/sweaty as I worried it would be. 

The ROH pre-show tapping was fine, we got an Athena/Billy/Lexi segment which seemed to go down well, but there wasn't anything there which made me think ROH was worth watching in the future.

Our section seemed to be into the Costco guys, so it was pretty enjoyable. Before the show started they did a good job getting everyone hyped for the show, so even if it was a bit repetitive, I think it did it's job and got every one hyped.  

The atmosphere for Ospreay vs Ricochet was great. I thought going in that people would be against Ricochet, but not to this extend. I don't know if it came across on the TV, but you could feel that they knew they were onto something. The toilet roll stuff was fun, and generally everyone was into it. I think the ref bump worked well and sold enough of the intent. Like people said getting flipped off after the slip just added more to the match. 

I really hoped everyone was going to crap on the Cole/MJF segment, but people more seemed to be laughing at it. I couldn't really tell you what they said, but there was a kiss chant in our section as they were building this up. 

There were a few Kris Stat fans in our section trying to get things going, but didn't really catch on. Mercedes seemed to be on the stage forever after her promo.

Arkady was plugging event shirts, not in the ring, so we couldn't see them. But I got one for the event - it was $30.

 

The merch stand seemed ok, but I wasn't really looking for anything, so don't really have an opinion.

It was interesting being in the crowd as Garcia managed to win them over. My areas was pretty pro Shelton when the match started, but Dany pulling them in was great to see. People were into the Beast in our section and as with everything the match was great.

As everyone said the pops for Swerve was crazy. Only him and Ospreay got everyone out of there seats. As everyone said it would be great to see him back mixing it up in the future.

The Jericho segment was a thing that happened. I couldn't hear what Bill said over everyone chanting for him. Atleast Bowens might be featured more once escaping the Jericho vortex. 

Darby is great, the dive looked great, and it was a great match, with the place coming alive for the swing. 

Other random comments:

Tony came out to talk to the crowd and got a copy of Timecop from the Santa at ringside

The Santa at ringside was committed to the bit with gifts and a naughty list, which was pretty fun

Tony did a big push about keeping the jobs for ROH and how good it was. 

Rocky Romero caused me and a number of people to leave before a surprise appearance. Life is to short for a tag match with Rocky Romero and QT Marshall in it.

My wife also says she spotted Bryan Danielson while we were randomly walking around New York (I didn't see him), so we were expecting him to turn up all show.

Overall, it was a great night and a lot of fun.

[JLM]

19 minutes ago, JGPuk84 said:

 

Tony came out to talk to the crowd and got a copy of Timecop from the Santa at ringside

 

I love this way too much. 
 

Wonderful post also, I love a live show report. 

[Merzbow]

1 hour ago, JGPuk84 said:

My wife also says she spotted Bryan Danielson while we were randomly walking around New York (I didn't see him), so we were expecting him to turn up all show.

He's pretty much the number two guy in the company backstage IIRC. Class post and I'd say $44 is more than good enough to see any wrestling show in such a historic building, hopefully they also book the grand ballroom in the same building at some point.

[WyattSheepMask]

I’m off to New York in July and staying between the Hammerstein and MSG. I’m hoping something is on at the Hammerstein during our stay, but nothing seems to booked for it as of yet. $44 for anything in New York seems good value though and glad you enjoyed your night

[Devon Malcolm]

11 hours ago, Supremo said:

Great opener. Everyone needs to start  investing now because this new Ricochet character is going to work. Best thing he’s ever done. An excellent little dickhead. Loved the toilet roll being thrown at him. That used to be Jimmy Rave’s thing, didn’t it?

Sure was, extremely funny it was, too. He was superb little shit heel, they could do worse than mining his run for this Ricochet turn.