AEW Saturday Collision

[JLM]

Collision 19/10/24

Moxley knocking it out of the park every time with these promos, a highlight of every episode of TV and I love that we still got one on Collision. I don't know if it's how these things are shot or if he's just got better at it or both, but Yuta had the game face of a killer in this one. Maybe Shafir's been giving him icy death stare coaching. 

Ricochet vs AR Fox over-delivered significantly for me as I typically find AR Fox to be very dull. The crowd was hot for Ricochet, surprisingly hot for Fox as well and it was thoroughly entertaining spotfest. 

Loving Garcia on the frontlines holding everyone to account. The bad guys, their enablers, the good guys who haven't stepped up. Awesome role for him. His hot tag in the match where he singlehandedly destroyed the entire Premier Athletes team was a joy to watch too. Get'em Danny. 

Statlander looked great as she always does. I could copy and paste my paragraphs of complaining about her booking from my other posts but I've said it enough times now. Do better AEW. 

Jacked Jameson yelling "Shut up!" to a completely silent crowd is The Iron Savages in a nutshell. God I hate them. "No fucking about" Orange Cassidy was amazing though. Reaching for the shades without looking and then strutting out of there was one of his coolest moves ever. 

One of the many great things about him is that he is still always authentically the same character whether he's doing comedy, fighting for his life for the International Championship or now stepping up to be the hero AEW needs. He doesn't have to shed everything we love about him to "get serious" because he has always cared really, and we've seen more and more evidence of it over the years as his character has developed.

Wrestling is bothersome and takes a toll on his body and he can't really be arsed with the drama of it all, but there has always been the fire inside him that flares up if he's provoked, when he's in trouble, when his friends are threatened or when he admits to himself that deep down he does want to be the best. The apathetic/goofy schtick is also a mask for a lack of self belief and confidence at times, and to protect himself from the pain of all te losses and betrayals. All such relatable stuff. People can hate the hands-in-the-pockets bit as much as they want but I think he's one of the best wrestling characters ever. 

Hayter/Ford is a very transparent "give Jamie Hayter something to do" feud but I did appreciate them giving a little bit of context and motivation to it. Ford's promo was like one of those Claudio ones where he does a good job but then keeps talking for 10 more seconds. Can't imagine how rusty she must be after her insanely long absence though. 

Atlantis Jr/Fletcher did not appeal on paper but was a cracking TV match in the end, way above my expectations. The crowd was very hot for it, Fletcher played into this massively and was a complete prick for the duration. Easily Atlantis Jr's best outing in AEW. 

HOB sure did kill some jobbers there. 

Glad they've brought over Harley's promo hijacking bit from ROH. I love her. 

The RUSH/Mortos double Bull super team up brings me much joy. Truth Magnum is brilliant at doing tag team babyface in peril. LFI vs FTR sounds brilliant to me. 

Very good six man main event. This Mox angle and the refreshed BCC team is so good it made a Top Flight match engaging. Darius Martin in particular showed a lot more fire than usual. Best bit was Claudio catching Dante's suicide dive and diverting him into the post. Post-match was great stuff too, really liked the chaos of this leading into BCC doing two title defenses back to back. Shafir taking out Leyla Grey was brilliant too, again elevating the "nobody is safe" factor.

Quality episode that, backed by a consistently hot crowd. 

Battle of the Belts

BCC/Dark order was superb. An extended squash but what a heroic effort from Dark Order. Nigel with a brilliant call too. "Reynolds has been John Silver's partner for 17 years, if there's an ounce of energy in him he'll make the save". Evil Uno was so good too, the bit post-match where Mox had him sat in a chair ready to beat him up some more and Uno defiantly slapped him across the face was magic. 

Okada/O'Reilly was a quality TV match. Again I'm aware Okada's slow burn style turns some people off but I always enjoy it, particularly how they tie it in with the 20 minute time limit for his continental classic defenses. O'Reilly was excellent here too, destroying Okada's leg/knee/ankle with all manner of holds and strikes. Okada acting like he wasn't taking it seriously but increasingly in danger from O'Reilly's array of holds. Closing sequence was brilliant as well, with O'Reilly busting out three different counters to The Rainmaker, but each time Okada was able to counter and inflict damage by some other means instead. Eventually Kyle took too many hits and wasn't able to avoid a fourth Rainmaker attempt. It's why that move is such a great finisher. It looks devastating when he hits it, but there are so many organic ways to get into it and so many fun ways an opponent can counter/play around it. 

Looking forward to seeing what team Hologram puts together to tackle this constant bullying by LFI. Please let Vikingo be part of it so I can see him and Mortos go at it again. 

Great to see the Archer and Cage team get at it, what a gloriously violent squash. Loved every second of this. They need a team name and matching gear and face paint please. Call them Murdercage or The Something of Something. Have missed Jack Cartwheel, feel like it's been ages. Nigel got me with "his usual partner Frank Forward Roll couldn't be here". 

Lexy Nair's unending quest to complete an interview with Mortos makes me chuckle every time, as did him pretending to eat raw meat for the duration of the skit. 

Main event was Anna Jay's best AEW singles match in forever. The Japan trip has added better running fore arm smashes and chops, but the main thing is she seems to be much more confident. She can carry long spells of offense and can be led through a match by a more experienced opponent without those moments where she looks completely lost and is blatantly waiting for the next spot. It hasn't magically made her a world class in-ring performer, but a 12 minute singles match from her before the trip would have been a LOT worse than this. Against a Harley or other similarly green opponent I think she'll still struggle, but against experienced heads she looks a lot more capable than she was before. 

Also, to I think literally everyone's shock, she WON! Was gobsmacked by this finish, people don't win these eliminator matches and nothing notable ever happens on BOTB. These are the rules. Could not believe it. The pinning combination she used was the most Stardom thing I've ever seen too, like a combination of Mina Shirakawa and Saki Kashima's signature holds. It also made a ton of sense to get a surprise win with it as it's something she's never done before and gives Mariah an instant out to have been surprised by it. 

Not a blow away match but, again, for Anna Jay going 12 minutes in a TV singles main event it was remarkably good, which is testament to Anna's improvement, but a bigger credit to how good Mariah is right now.  

 

Edited October 24, 2024 by JLM

[Supremo]

I didn’t watch Battle of the Belts because it was Battle of the Belts, but then I just saw this. I might need to seek this out. Magnificent.

[Supremo]

On 9/12/2024 at 3:22 AM, Supremo said:

I don't know what you're waiting for, now. MXM vs. The Outrunners is right there. Irresistible Forces meet The Immovable Objects.

I prayed for this and it happened.

[JLM]

On 10/24/2024 at 9:39 AM, Supremo said:

I didn’t watch Battle of the Belts because it was Battle of the Belts, but then I just saw this. I might need to seek this out. Magnificent.

 

I saw Brian Cage has dubbed the team "Murder Machine". This is acceptable. I've almost given up hope on the face paint but I still need the matching gear. Sort it out lads. 

[The King Of Swing]

Thought Collision shit all over Dynamite, this week. 

No Premier Jobbers match?

Outunners Vs. MXM was everything I hoped it would be. Hope we get more down the road.

Fun backstage promo from The FTRunners. 

Goofy Kingdom/Beast stuff is easily the best use of The Kingdom. 

Honestly Viva Van completely outclassed Anna Jay, imo. I'm tempted to say that AEW should sign her, but I don't have much faith that they would actually do much with her. 

Probably Anna's best singles match. 

Good promo from May. Collision getting the title match is a good move. 

Really good sit down with Nigel and Yuta. 

Ricochet Vs. Leo was a fun scrap. 

Ford Vs. Renegade was fine for what it was. 

White Vs. Taylor was a fun opener. 

Solid main event. 

No rambling in ring promos. Some nice backstage stuff and pre tapes. 

8/10. This is what I mostly want from an episode of weekly wrestling. 

Edited October 27, 2024 by The King Of Swing

[LaGoosh]

I could watch Rush and Cash fight all day long. Cash seems like a normal guy with a hidden maniac while Rush is just a straight up maniac. Put these two together and Rush just brings out Cash's inner psycho. A singles feud with these two is all I want.

[HarmonicGenerator]

21 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Outrunners Vs. MXM was everything I hoped it would be. Hope we get more down the road. 

Yes! This was loads of fun and I enjoyed it a lot. Particularly liked Madden’s callout of “you think you’re special! You do. I can see it in your eyes” midway through the match.

Edited October 28, 2024 by HarmonicGenerator
Turbo, you sonofabitch! Touch my tip!

[LaGoosh]

Special mention to the Duck season/Wabbit season posedown at the start.

[Supremo]

Yep. Came here to suggest an MXM vs. Outrunners Best of Seven. Great fun. Feud of the year written all over it.

Yuta and Nigel's segment was the other main highlight. Great stuff. I'd pay good money to see McGuinness knock the shit out of Yuta in Bryan's name.

Wednesday's show is one of their best promoted episodes of Dynamite in at least a year. Loads of stuff worth tuning in for.

Edited October 29, 2024 by Supremo

[Jesse]

43 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I'd pay good money to see McGuinness knock the shit out of Yuta in Bryan's name.

This is the kind of thing that always drags me back in. After the Danielson match I wasn't that bothered about McGuinness wrestling again, just a nice closure to two men from my early wrestling fandom. But now the idea of McGuinness stepping up to get some measure of revenge for Bryan, and Yuta's the right opponent for it too! No chance he knocks Mox off his perch, but going after Yuta and either getting in his head about betraying Bryan/getting brutalised by Yuta and being another step along this path with Claudio makes me want to jump on the sofa and scare my wife.

[LaGoosh]

51 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Yuta and Nigel's segment was the other main highlight. Great stuff. I'd pay good money to see McGuinness knock the shit out of Yuta in Bryan's name.

I hadn't considered a Yuta/Nigel match but now I can't think of anything else. Absolutely genius stuff and I'm now annoyed that it almost definitely won't happen.

[Chili]

What's great about Yuta, is that unlike Sammy Guevera or Kyle Fletcher who have that great face you want to slap vibe. Wheeler Yuta has developed a brilliant little gobshite demeanour about him where you just want to punch him repeatedly. He's not wildly charismatic but has done a great job as an understated little prick.

[King Mal the Glorious]

Yuta also has really good white meat babyface energy (which is what originally got him over) so if/when he eventually turns he can tap back into that.

[Guest]

You've got to imagine Moxley kicking seven kinds of shit out of Yuta in the gym for the comic book reference though, while Claudio hides his 40k figurines.

[organizedkaos]

On 10/29/2024 at 10:17 PM, Chili said:

What's great about Yuta, is that unlike Sammy Guevera or Kyle Fletcher who have that great face you want to slap vibe. Wheeler Yuta has developed a brilliant little gobshite demeanour about him where you just want to punch him repeatedly. He's not wildly charismatic but has done a great job as an understated little prick.

It's a great use of his inexperience with promos/"acting".  He kinda came across very forced when trying to be a real babyface in promos (there was one against MJF in that brief mini feud a while back that was particularly noteable). I think he sells who is well in the ring but yeah the more TV wrestling bits come across a bit amdram. That works perfectly for the little prick wrestler trying to act the hard man to fit in with a bunch of actual hard men...  That little chunk where he hadn't rejoined BCC he really conveyed the story in ring but the I felt it was less convincing in backstage segments.

He'll get there for sure, and needs experience to do it, so currently getting him the experience whilst playing on the fact it's all a little wooden/unnatural is great...