Paid Members JLM Posted January 29 Paid Members Share Posted January 29 (edited) Crowd was thankfully waaay better than this week's Dynamite. Sooooooo much better. Not even that many people but they were enthusiastic for everything and elevated every match on the show. Was such a relief to hear them in good voice when this show had a main event I was very invested in ahead of time. Felt like they were on board with everything. I'm still mad at the crowd from Wednesday for how cold Hook's segment was. Did you lot even watch Joe vs Hook god damn it? But yeah, cannot praise this Collision audience enough, they were outstanding. BCC vs STP was a quality opener with great intensity. I surely shouldn't be surprised by Claudio's strength any more but that deadlift hanging vertical suplex on Taylor was bonkers. Have enjoyed this mini-feud, both Taylor and Moriarty should be doing more than feuding with The Infantry on ROH and they've proved it in this series. Komander vs OC was great fun too. Komander stopping the pockets spot with a handshake was cute. The double springboard hurricanrana towards the end was a thing of beauty. OC remains one of the most consistent in-ring performers in the world, but Komander held up his end well too. Toni hilarious again. We've barely scratched the surface, this isn't over yet, or perhaps we're somehwere in the middle. She's absolutely right about that. Like that she's gradually wearing down Mariah too. Agreeing to watch her match and then bailing, and also the "we'll do something about... all of this" burn. Also I know mispronouncing words is hardly the height of comedy but I laughed at "collee-seeon". Mariah May vs Lady Frost was decent for the time they had, certainly better than Mariah's debut. First time I've ever seen a Lady Frost match with some heat (pardon the pun), there was even a Lady Frost chant! Aside from some very bad looking strikes right at the start, the action was hard hitting and the crowd was into it. Also credit to Kevin Kelly knowing what Lady Frost's moves are called. Her cartwheel pick up into spinning air raid crash type thing is called the Chiller Driller. There we go. That is more Lady Frost trivia than I have managed to pick up across her previous Collision appearances and weeks of ROH TV. I thought I couldn't love Swerve any more, now he's sending in my boy Toa to face Hangman on Dynamite? A fine choice indeed. Excellent little vignette here. Would not have predicted Swerve vs RVD! Madness. Eddie and Willie Mack was a mini-slobberknocker. Willie Mack always delivers, though I was quite scared by him landing on his head going for either a second standing moonsault or possibly a standing shooting star press. He was also briefly selling a leg injury so wasn't sure if he botched it on purpose or if that was the commentators trying to cover? Either way it was a slightly worrying moment in what was otherwise yet another very good TV match on this show. Absolutely LOVED Danielson interrupting Eddie's celebrations and completely blanking him. What a total dickhead. Continuing to put Eddie's new unflappable demanour to the test. Nobody better than Eddie Kingston in full 90s puroresu tape trader nerd out mode to hype up Nagata on commentary, supplemented by Kevin Kelly to drop the more detailed trivia and history. Fantastic stuff from both of them throughout this match. Nagata/Danielson was a belter and the crowd were bloody brilliant throughout. Was very much worked in Nagata's style with the sound techinical/limb work building up to the fighting spirit/war of attrition closing stretch. Danielson realising that it was either a stalemate or a potential loss if he kept up the leg vs arm war and switching up at the end was excellent. Danielson showing Nagata almost too much respect after the match to spite Eddie was perfect, as was the parting middle finger. He knows he needs to get into Eddie's head again if he's going to avenge that loss and is doing everything he can to achieve it. No matter how much Eddie protests and tries to laugh it off, it is working. Sign me up for Brian Cage vs Hook, why the hell not. Thought Serena Deeb looked excellent. I know it was just a quick squash but she is so silky smooth in the ring, properly took Robyn Rengade to school here. Glad she's back. Again, this what both Deonna Purazzo and Mariah May's debut matches should have been. Main event was glorious. The match this awesome little crowd deserved and they lapped up every second of it, as did I. I smiled early on in the show seeing Danny laid out as it meant he'd be getting the hero's return spot, but the addition of Mark Briscoe made the whole thing so much better. Letting Danny have his big moment *and* a feel good hero moment for Mark Briscoe? Magic. Have they quietly shelved this Mark Briscoe/Hardys idea by the way? I bloody hope so. I echo the complaints about the escape/tag rules being pretty stupid, but they managed to work around it with the double escapes and even worked it into the story with the little tease of Matthews climbing back in. This was overbooked in the best possible way. Great twists and turns, over the top melodrama and a brilliant fist pumping triumph of an ending where all the pieces came together. That's without even mentioning how good the action itself was throughout. It almost goes wtihout saying for an AEW main event with these guys involved, but it was an absolute war from the initial Briscoe beatdown until the end. I said after being a bit deflated by the Dynamite crowd that Collision would be the show to watch this week and it still exceeded my expectations. Great stuff. Edited January 29 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no user name Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 (edited) @JLM I'm half way through collision now. I think lady frost would have a right to be pissed of if she didn't get more matches after that performance. I thought it was a very enjoyable match. Edited February 2 by no user name Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no user name Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 (edited) Wow aew had two womens matches in one show. Anyway what an episode. Admittedly I have missed a lot of collision episodes. But that was the best one I've seen and I can't imagine there were many better. And that cage match was just brilliant. I saved the recording to watch it again which I very rarely do Edited February 2 by no user name Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted February 3 Paid Members Share Posted February 3 An excellent show that was. Nagata Vs Danielson was great and it was all capped off with a corker of a main event. They managed to navigate the weird rules in the best way possible. The show flew by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted February 3 Paid Members Share Posted February 3 Best use of escape the cage rules I’ve ever seen. Still would have been better as a straight scrap, but considering the limitations, they worked miracles in there. Absolute thrill ride by the end. Alongside all the other examples of them trying to harken back to the glory days of early 2021, we can now add the return of accelerated course corrections. They put Mark Briscoe with the Hardy Boys, instantly realised he’s leagues and leagues ahead of those shitarses, so immediately switched things up and pretended it never happened. Again, all positive signs. I’m very optimistic of where things stand and where they look to be going in the future. Especially with Mark Briscoe in my main events, giving me reason to celebrate. What a babyface that man is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachflies Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 I loved this show! A hot crowd, a ridiculously fun main event, the Garcia/Cage stare-down, a good back-n-forth opener, nothing bad really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 20 hours ago, Supremo said: Especially with Mark Briscoe in my main events, giving me reason to celebrate. What a babyface that man is. I really hope they realise what they have in the guy. There’s a brilliant story to be told if they do another Continental Classic, of Briscoe, the plucky underdog, actually being in with a shot of reaching the final. But heck, there’s so much you can do with him - another feud with Joe, a feud with Christian Cage, a feud with a heel Moxley or MJF, Briscoe vs Swerve - he’s so likeable and effective in his role. Please don’t relegate him to nothing matches when you find a new toy to play with, Tony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted February 5 Paid Members Share Posted February 5 Another incredibly easy, relaxed and fun episode of Collision with a hot crowd. They seem to have found a formula for these shows that just works. Though not a fan of the signing of Bryan Keith, the worlds shortest man. I don't think he has any unique value that AEW can benefit from. The exact type of signing they shouldn't be making. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Though not a fan of the signing of Bryan Keith, the worlds shortest man. I don't think he has any unique value that AEW can benefit from. The exact type of signing they shouldn't be making. It reminds me a bit of the Fuego Del Sol signing - it's a nice moment, but ultimately, it's hard to see what he has to offer. I will say this much though, I thought his selling was very good. I suppose there's role for a plucky underdog jobber, who gets the occasional win. I'm not sure that jobber should be a 'bounty hunter', but we'll see, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted February 5 Paid Members Share Posted February 5 2 hours ago, RedRooster said: It reminds me a bit of the Fuego Del Sol signing - it's a nice moment, but ultimately, it's hard to see what he has to offer. I will say this much though, I thought his selling was very good. I suppose there's role for a plucky underdog jobber, who gets the occasional win. I'm not sure that jobber should be a 'bounty hunter', but we'll see, I guess. I liked Fuego Del Sol and thought he was a great sympathetic punching bag for the big stars. Keith though, his gimmick as a badass bounty hunter...it just doesn't work when you're absolutely tiny. If you had a bounty on you and he was hunting you down you probably wouldn't be that worried about it. In ring wise he wrestles that big chops and stiff forearms style which is fine, except you already have a bunch of wrestlers in AEW who do that and they do it way better. I just don't see the point. Especially as he's just going to be forgotten about and end up in ROH purgatory in a few weeks anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted February 5 Awards Moderator Share Posted February 5 I'd be more inclined to care about him if he did any actual bounty hunting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: I liked Fuego Del Sol and thought he was a great sympathetic punching bag for the big stars. I don't entirely disagree, although I thought the mask took away from his potential in that respect. For me, wrestlers are much more effective in a role like that when you can see their facial expressions, and a mask makes that harder - though not impossible, admittedly. I did think he had a few standout moments on the mic though. 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: Keith though, his gimmick as a badass bounty hunter...it just doesn't work when you're absolutely tiny. If you had a bounty on you and he was hunting you down you probably wouldn't be that worried about it. In ring wise he wrestles that big chops and stiff forearms style which is fine, except you already have a bunch of wrestlers in AEW who do that and they do it way better. I just don't see the point. Especially as he's just going to be forgotten about and end up in ROH purgatory in a few weeks anyway. Yeah, the gimmick doesn't work. I'm not sure it would work even if he was bigger, what bounty is he hunting? That said, has anyone tried to rip off Kraven the Hunter in wrestling? To be completely clear, I don't think for a second that Bryan Keith should even attempt this; but it seems like a really obvious character to take inspiration from in the wrestling world; to the point I'm kind of surprised it hasn't happened, unless I'm forgetting someone (Leo Kruger, maybe?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted February 5 Paid Members Share Posted February 5 Best hunter gimmick was Frankie Kazarian as the "Elite Hunter" and he then lost literally every match he had against The Elite before being released from his contract. Gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted February 6 Paid Members Share Posted February 6 (edited) Collision 03/02 Once again the Collision crowd was hotter than the Dynamite one. Not nearly as drastic a difference as last week, but Collision still the clear winner. Good scrap between Kingston and Keith to start, though perhaps a bit longer than it needed to be. I love Kingston not biting on Keith's early attempts to wind him up at all. Avoiding the jawbreaker sleeper escapes from Keith was also a great example of how focused and on top of his game he is at the moment. Also, what a nerrrrrrd. Living his dream right now, bless him. 😍 Danielson interrupting the moment by coming out early and blanking Eddie AGAIN was tremendous. Off the charts passive aggressive shithousery and *exactly* how to piss off Eddie Kingston. Danielson/Hechicero was bloody brilliant. The initial reason I got into Toryumon/Dragongate was their spin-off Toryumon 2000 Project/T2P shows. The T2P guys were trainees who had been through the Ultimo Dragon system to train as all the Toryumon guys did, but had also been sent to train with Skayde to learn llave wrestling and a whole bunch of absurdly convoluted submission holds to set them apart. I was immediately hypnotised by it and was a fan from there, so Hechicero's style is something that really speaks to me. His entrance is pretty awesome too! Danielson is of course the best of the pro wrestlers, so naturally he's the perfect opponent to showcase this stuff and put on a belter at the same time. You know they're getting nutty with the holds and counters when the ref isn't sure if it's a pinning combination or a submission. Gorgeous technical wrestling, crowd massively into it, Danielson having to claw his way back into this over time after initially being thrown by how slick and tricky Hechicero was at the start. Nigel playing a blinder on commentary too. Laughed out loud at "Hechicero is one of the best technical wrestlers in the world, not a defenseless CLAM!" Loved everything about this. Hechicero has made a fan out of me in two appearances and Danielson is just the greatest. For all the criticisms of AEW, I am so grateful he has this platform for this final run he's on, where he can do big feuds and rivalries and tell stories, but also has the opportunity to wrestle a submission wizard from CMLL for 15 minutes and knock that out of the park as well. Hook vs Outrunners was a fine squash. Happy to see Mark Briscoe getting some promo time and some direction. I'll take an ongoing HOB feud over the Hardys team up all day. Enjoying Serena Deeb a lot at the moment. Thought the return vignettes were cool and she's looked strong in both return matches. Another solid effort from Aminata too. Quality promo from Swerve. His whole demeanour is just immaculate at the moment. Carries himself perfectly. Acknowledging the support he has and leaning slightly more babyface but still letting us know he doesn't regret the horrible shit he's done. He is not a babyface or a heel, he is a man with a pathological need to be the AEW World champion and will take any steps necessary to get there. Thought the black history month shout outs were lovely too. When he started listing names I was wondering if he'd give the nod to Athena as well and was very happy to hear it. This match is bonkers if you haven't seen it: Brilliant promo from Toni once again. "If you've seen one women's match you've seen them all". Fantastic. Red Velvet Squash was fine. Vertvixen looks good every time she appears but is unfortunately the wish.com Kris Statlander. Did not get any additional Red Velvet lore from this appearance, but according to the ROH Youtube she has a backstage promo on the show this week! Can't wait. Stupendous main event. I've gushed about the brilliance of FTR at length before, so to mix it up a bit this time, I'll single out that I thought Nick Wayne was very good in this for such an inexperienced lad. He plays the detestable little prick effectively and he looks smooth and confident in the ring at all times. I think it sometimes takes seeing someone like that fucking awful Von Erich, or Brian Pillman Jr or Brock Anderson, to put into perspective how impressive wrestlers like Billie Starkz and Nick Wayne are at this stage of their careers. A lot of the AEW roster is so good in-ring that they make it look easier than it is, but to be so smooth and to hang at this level in your teens is something else. Anyway yeah, another fabulous FTRcia multi-man triumph of a match. I think my favourite spot was where Danny hot tagged in and was fighting solo, then it looked like the numbers were about to turn against him, only for Cash to come in and back him up juuuust in time, culminating in the celebratory synchronised ten punches in the corner. It got such a great pop and is such simple pro wrestling. For me that's two weeks in a row where Dynamite has been OK but Collision has been a blast, and comfortably my favourite AEW show of the week. Edited February 6 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted February 6 Paid Members Share Posted February 6 Garcia for TNT Champ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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