AEW Saturday Collision

[JLM]

Collision 05/10/24

With Darby's current form it's quite difficult to find a match for him that doesn't appeal to me on paper, but they managed it here with Johnny TV. Darby did his best to try and make it seem like the fight of his life of course, but this was a pretty ordinary match. Brody and Darby has been a fun side-rivalry but was certainly not the open challenge match up of my (Wrestle)dreams. 

GYV/Outrunners was fine. Turbo Floyd has the best hot tag in the business. I will never stop complaining that Gibson doesn't cut promos on the way to the ring in AEW. I cannot fathom why not. 

Briscoe promo a highlight of the episode as it is every time. 

Willow and Trish Adora was OK-ish but very cold, which isn't great when Willow is about to go for the world title. They worked hard but Adora never gets any reaction whatsoever. Great that Willow has a world title shot but would be absolutely stunned if she wins at Wrestledream. Mariah sounded good again. She's doing much better with promos directly aimed at her challengers/potential opponents than she was talking about herself/doing generic heel schtick. Once again she had some good material and sounded suitably pissed off. 

Yuta/Claudio face to face was good stuff, better than usual speaking performances from both guys. Claudio still claiming to be doing right by Yuta was an interesting response, not what I expected. I liked that we got angry Yuta instead of sad Yuta right from the start of this match because Claudio's little speech had him all conflicted. 

Hook not addressing Christian in his promo was weird. Did he not get the "hook, line and sinker" comment Christian made? It was not subtle. 

Conglomeration tag was also fine. Very pedestrian episode of TV this. The Conglomeration is being wasted horribly. I love the concept of it so much and I'm a fan of the people involved, but Jericho Vortexing and doing repeated pure filler TV matches is not good enough.

As much as I agree that the Callis Family is a mess, I will take any hint at a direction for Lance Archer at this point. Let's hope it's not his 200th false start eh. 

 The four way match breathed some much needed life into both the show and the crowd. Another solid showcase for Hologram, but Komander  was comfortably the star of this one for me. I thought I'd seen his entire box of tricks at this point but he was on fire for this match and hit a bunch of stuff I hadn't seen before. 

Lexy asking Mortos a very long question and expecting anything other than a roar in return was funny. Mortos selling the internal conflict he's feeling was very powerful stuff. He contains multitudes. 

The post All Out handling of Statlander continues to bewilder and disappoint. If they're not fast tracking her vs Mone or Kamille for Wrestledream then I cannot understand why her return, breakup with Stokeley and her babyface turn were complete non-events. Why even book her to win at Wrestledream if there are no follow up plans.
 

As@LaGoosh  says, Willow loses the big grudge match and walks into a world title shot, but even worse, Statlander WON the grudge match and she gets nothing. But we're to believe winning the All Out match removed the chip from her shoulder. She should be on her Hangman Page arc after this treatment. She also looked a fool here, giving Kamille a knee to the gut before walking into her finisher for no reason. Hate this.

Main event would have been an above average one for Rampage. For Collision it was, once again, just "OK". I really do hope Andretti's gimmick continues to be throwing his water bottle at people who then beat the piss out of him. 

Took a few sittings to get through this one. 

 

Edited October 11, 2024 by JLM

[CDM]

I don't always watch collision but I've watched the last few episodes.  Hologram is fantastic. Really enjoy watching him. 

The good thing about collision is you see more up an comers. I actually liked that beef guy. He can move for a big guy. 

Are the grizzled young veterans any good? I've never seen before and don't watch wwe. They didn't have a great run in wwe from what I have read but there can be other reasons for that. Doesn't mean they aren't good. 

[Jesse]

Never certain how well they would transition to big arenas/TV. I think they're a great live show experience, one of my favourites to see in-person. Zack especially is a hoot on the microphone and can generate fantastic heat from a crowd - but for TV wrestling where you have to do more of it with your in-ring I'm not sure if it translates (similar to how I feel about Pete Dunne). 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Don't forget 'Battle of the Belts' is on after Collision tonight....

 

Nope I don't care either!

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

8 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

Don't forget 'Battle of the Belts' is on after Collision tonight....

 

Nope I don't care either!

Only one title match, making that S on the end of Belts redundant. Eliminator matches do not count as belt battles either. Eliminator matches are stupid at the best of times. 

[I Bent My Wookie]

6 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Only one title match, making that S on the end of Belts redundant. Eliminator matches do not count as belt battles either. Eliminator matches are stupid at the best of times. 

I get them for the sense of "why do you deserve a title shot?"

"Well I just beat the champ"

But also, hardly anyone ever wins them anyhow.

[Supremo]

I saw the massive lineup in a graphic. That’s a lot of matches I can’t be arsed to watch. I don’t think I’m a sicko anymore. I think I’m cured.

[Infinity Land]

BOTB Only memorable because it should be the last one.

24 minutes ago, I Bent My Wookie said:

I get them for the sense of "why do you deserve a title shot?"

"Well I just beat the champ"

But also, hardly anyone ever wins them anyhow.

It made some sense when the rankings as it was for those outside the Top 5. There was the very brief explainer that never seemed to last, where if you lose an Eliminator you can't challenge the champion again during their reign. Which I quite liked but they've never really did anything with.

[HarmonicGenerator]

It is impressive that a company with that many belts can’t manage more than one title match on their show with “belts” in the title. 

[tiger_rick]

I flicked through Collision for the first time in a year or so. The "John Silver: Fastest man alive" sign was absolutely brilliant. Highlight of the year.

Lots of advertising of upcoming shows, live shows and the matches on them. As Supes said elsewhere, promising. Hopefully getting their shit together.

Mox's opening promo was great again. Best wrestler in the business for the last 5 years straight by a country mile. They really should have had the announcers talking about it, selling it, questioning it though. Instead, it was straight to Ricochet's entrance. Maybe not getting their shit together.

I really like hearing from people straight after their matches. Would quite like a Mean Gene type conducting the interviews though, would help with the feel and help those who aren't great promos.

The ring announcer has a great voice. Says everything you need about the difference between the way they and WWE promote that there are people who mark for Samantha and I doubt many people know the AEW lady's name. 

[MachoLibre]

3 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Mox. Best wrestler in the business for the last 5 years straight by a country mile.

Not a chance! He's had moments, but for much of the last half decade he's been horribly inconsistent. I don't think he'd even be top 5. Was thinking about this myself recently and if it's not Roman Reigns, I reckon it might be Hangers.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I’m with you @tiger_rick, Arkady has been a good signing. I think she’s got a great presence.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

3 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Best wrestler in the business for the last 5 years straight by a country mile.

You and I see eye to eye on so many things Rick and I respect your opinion on many, many subjects. On Mox we could not be diametrically opposed. This is the Collision thread so I will leave it there. 

[Supremo]

On 10/19/2024 at 6:35 PM, Supremo said:

I saw the massive lineup in a graphic. That’s a lot of matches I can’t be arsed to watch. I don’t think I’m a sicko anymore. I think I’m cured.

Health deteriorated. I Collided.

It was a good show. Better than most Collisions I’ve watched recently. Loads of promising stuff bleeding over from Wednesday.  

Another excellent promo from Moxley. He’s undeniable when he’s motivated. A real case of a high tide rising all ships. Put your belt on this man, give him something to sink his teeth into and the whole company is elevated. Nice touch that after murdering Bryan Danielson the Combat Club appear to have raided his wardrobe, all wearing the same basic white Primark T-shirt. Apart from Pac, of course, who remains allergic to clothes. Brilliant.

Super fun match between Ricochet and AR Fox. This is the best use of Ricochet. Random, fun spot tests.

Daniel Garcia and Private Party looked good. This is the best thing Private Party have done in forever. Finally feels like genuine momentum behind them. You can almost forget the years they wasted slumming it with Matt Hardy.

By contrast, Statlander couldn’t have less momentum if she tried. I hate that they randomly turned her babyface without any type of arc. Completely cut her legs off and left her floundering after what was one of the best Women’s matches of all time. I’m sure she’ll get it back because she’s bloody brilliant, but couldn’t we have come up with some proper reasons for her turning beyond, “Jimmy Jacobs left, so I’m shaking up my action figures a bit.”

The Outrunners losing?? Tony Khan…you SON OF A BITCH!

I saw Meltzer complaining about Sammy Guevara being fed to Shelton Benjamin, likening it to Val Venus beating Christopher Daniels in TNA. Fuck knows what Dave’s smoking. Couldn’t be further from the truth. This is exactly what Sammy should be doing. He’s mostly worthless despite being given chance after chance, whereas Shelton looked amazing last week. Hoping Sammy tries to hit a Shoot Star Press and Shelton Superkicks his head off.

Best thing on the show was everything involving Orange Cassidy. All the character stuff with him being a reluctant hero was great and seeing him win a squash was absolutely exhilarating. Have they finally realised what a gem they have with this man? It’s years late, but still. I’m all in on him finally being pushed as a top guy. Save us, Orange! He’s gonna try!

Edited October 23, 2024 by Supremo

[Lorne Malvo]

8 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Best thing on the show was everything involving Orange Cassidy. All the character stuff with him being a reluctant hero was great and seeing him win a squash was absolutely exhilarating. Have they finally realised what a gem they have with this man? It’s years late, but still. I’m all in on him finally being pushed as a top guy. Save us, Orange! He’s gonna try!

It seems the long-term direction of this Moxley Combat Crew storyline is to establish Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin as genuine main-eventers, which I'm all in on.

Orange Cassidy involved in his own 'I need the OLD Stone Cold' storyline is very exciting. I love that man.