AEW Saturday Collision

[Tsurutagun]

The complaint that people kick out at 2 is pretty stupid.

Maybe Kris has an ability to kick out at 2 that you just can't teach in wrestling school 

 

[WyattSheepMask]

4 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I feel like this sort of shite is fairly common nowadays across all wrestling and the Canadian Destroyer has been a transition move for a depressingly long time however if you want to give something like this logic you could always think of it as a) Statlander is so TOUGH that she can take all those moves and still kick out or b) Britt Baker is such a crap wrestler that she does all those killer moves so badly that they don't have the effect they would on an opponent if someone good did them.

 

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

I'm quick to mock stupid segments that undermine wrestling. Orange Cassidy, however much I like him, did one recently with dualling destroyers that looked absolute garbage. That said, in this instance, after the destroyer Statlander was obviously selling knocked out - the momentum sent her to her feet, sure, but she was out on her feet and Britt quickly grabbed her. There was no real air between the moves where you could argue they were no-selling, which seems to have become the dominant conversation.

In terms of kicking out, Statlander's gimmick is tough and she's bigger than Britt. I've got no beef with it really, considering the vast amount of finisher kickouts there are now across all the feds.

I get what you’re both saying, but to @d-d-d-dAz’s point about there being no air between the moves - all three of those moves have been [admittedly someone else’s] finisher at one time or another. Being portrayed as tougher than someone is one thing, but being hit with 3 separate finishers, all of which involve impact to the head, and all in quick succession is complete bullshit. It’s probably me being “old man shouts at cloud”.

Edited September 18, 2023 by WyattSheepMask

[LaGoosh]

I've only just caught up on the show (keeping up with AEW on time is really hard these days). I thought the opening match was great TV wrestling, especially the Big Bill/Claudio segments which really made me want to see a singles match between the two, Danielson unleashing his inner killer after a weak slap from Starks and going absolute beast mode on him and Starks throwing really good intense punches throughout. Really enjoyed all of this. Also despite the TV generally being a bit rough we did manage to get two Big Bill matches - both absolutely excellent - so I consider it a win for AEW. Him and Starks are perfect together.

The rest of the show was plenty of fun backstage segments or vignettes (although a lot of them didn't really go anywhere no matter how fun they were) and dull or empty matches that were impossible to care about. I'm all for pushing new talents but you should be doing that at the same time as maximising your current stars. So many of these great acts are meandering or doing absolutely nothing, giving TV time to other people is absolutely bonkers. The ROH lot turning up just makes the show feel like Rampage or Dark. And John Silver is so likeable that booking him as a heel just doesn't work - he's exactly the fun undercard singles act that really helps round out a show and keeps the energy up and he's being wasted as a heel and he's being wasted in the Dark Order. 

A classic case of AEW not striking while the iron is hot: Miro and Hobbs have a very well received cracking match and instead of using it as the impetus to put together a meaty man hoss division (which would give a decent number of guys some good stuff to do and also give Collision more of it's own identity) full of big guys smashing eachother every week which the fans would love you've got Miro off doing weird pointless shite with his wife which'll go absolutely nowhere and Hobbs is back banging on about his fucking stupid book again. SO FRUSTRATING.

Edited September 18, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Loki]

I don't know what value The Hardys have in wrestling any more, but I'm fairly certain wrestling Poundland Bossman and Kizarny on AEW's B-show isn't it.  Both their bump clocks are at zero now, so why put them on mid-card tv?  Honestly they're better used like Sting, as a PPV attraction in multi-man matches where they take as few bumps as possible.

[BomberPat]

Yeah, they've not found their spot yet. I was thinking this when they wrestled Aussie Open right before Wembley - there's definitely a place for the Hardys fitting in some of the greatest hits around a lot of holiday camp level crowd work, but that place isn't in a TV main event. 

I know people here are down on the Broken Matt Hardy stuff, for good reason, but I think there's more that can be done with them in that kind of self-contained universe than with trying to keep up with tag teams that are half their age and twice their quickness. I don't know what else they have in them, but they definitely shouldn't be wrestling as often as they are - not just because they're physically not up to it, but because they need to hold enough back that a win over them actually means anything, and they've really only got two or three meaningful matches left. 

[The King Of Swing]

Regardless of kicking out, Destroyers can still absolutely fuck off. 

[RedRooster]

A solid enough edition of Collision, although The Righteous are so similar to the early Wyatt Family, it’s kind of startling they’ve decided to go ahead with it. 

It’s nice to see Christian properly win the TNT belt, I hope they have him feud with MJF in the future as he’s the best heel the company has. His line about Buddy Wayne cheering him on from heaven genuinely made me laugh out loud.

In the grander scheme of things, AEW needs to do a better job of building up their own stars. Starks losing to Danielson again seemed a bit pointless. Either don’t do the match, or give Starks the win. Even Darby is lacking that ‘big’ victory over a top level star. Heck, you go down the card and it’s almost WCW-esque, how infrequently wrestlers with potential are given victories over main eventers; and the opportunity to become main event wrestlers themselves. The company needs to do better at this, otherwise they’ll find themselves in a world of trouble down the line.

[d-d-d-dAz]

“OH MY GOD! WE’RE WINNING!”

Good grief, Juice Robinson is the best. Well, actually, I think Jay White might *actually* be the best but Juice and the Gunn’s aren’t half putting in a lot of work to make Bullet Club Gold the best act in wrestling at the minute. Charisma out the wazoo, energy firing from every pore and the wrestling to go with it.

Yes please.

Good show, I think. My favourite in the Post-Phil era. 
 

I thought the opening triple threat was very cleverly put together, and thought both Christian and Darby played their roles perfectly. You know what you’re getting with Dino Dickhead, but he didn’t detract from this. I hope they don’t immediately hotshot the belt to Darby. Let Christian get a run… the TNT belt could become THE title on Collision.

Tag match was fun, even if you do have to watch RVD from between your fingers as it feels like the wheels could come off at any minute. I don’t know that it makes a huge amount of sense for Hook to be wrestling tags with a partner other than OC so soon after making that tag team official, but whatever, the crowd loved it.

I don’t buy Julia Hart as a spooky girl and she needs to stop singing her entrance song on her ring walk, but fine match and the Brody King partnership is good.

Jay White/Andrade was brilliant, mostly because Jay White and the Bangers are brilliant. White doesn’t have bad matches. They should find a route for White and the Bangers to the top of the card and get there quickly. Incredible. White’s selling of the knee was as good as I’ve seen in ages. Locking the finisher in, but then having to clamber up the ropes to hit it was such a good detail. Loved it. Eighty stars.

Juice Robinson v Andrade next week? Yes please. I hope Juice steals Andrade’s mask, as it looks like an MJF replica that he bought from the concourse.

FTR should be facing and feuding with stars. Unless they’re trying to maximise Wheeler’s ring time before he goes to prison, it makes no sense to just have them wrestle meaningless matches against people no one’s either heard of or cares about. The big lad looked terrible, and I like big lad wrestlers. Worst, the only time he could pop the crowd was when he was working in a non-big lad fashion, which is always annoying. I want my big lads to be big lads. 
 

Also, workhorsemen is a rubbish name. Together they looked like they both love the Joe Rogan podcast, but one liked the ones about MMA and the other the ones about hunting and UFO’s. I’d happily never see them again. 
 

Aussie Open look like a comedy double act that you’ve never heard of but turn up in dictionary corner of 8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown. There’s no earthly reason why they’ve got a Tag Title match after their recent booking.

Rocky Starks in the white striped street gear for a no holds barred match? Cutting a promo mid match? Ooh, you little tease…

Main event was fun, but my main issue is really that Bryan/Starks has become one of my favourite things in AEW yet it’s getting parked for the PPV so Bryan can have a ‘dream match’ with Zack Sabre Jr. Meh. That’s not the sort of thing I dream about. I dream about well booked, intense feuds peaking at PPV’s with my emotional investment forcing me to part with my cash.

Words can’t express how bad Aubrey was in this match. It’s a Texas Death Match, you can do a lot less. You have no reason to be in shot when they’re fighting outside, telling them to get in the ring. Get out of Ricky’s fucking way when he’s cutting a promo, too. Just, generally, go away a bit. I know she has a lot of defenders now, after Cornette’s band of dickheads were so mean about her… but she is rubbish.

I love spots like the dive into the crowd when the ‘unsuspecting punters’ are all 6’3” and built like Brock Lesnar. Chinny reckon, Khan.

But, yeah, fun match. I like both guys. I didn’t need to see Starks lose here and I didn’t need to see them use this to promote Bryan’s PPV main event against someone else, though. In a world where Tony Khan’s fanwank WrestleDream doesn’t exist, Stark wins with a bit of help, and then we build to the rubber match at a PPV.
 

Starks having a tough star making performance in the strap match was brilliant. This was just benching Starks to move Danielson on to his PPV match with a man who doesn’t work for AEW. That’s a shame.

The proliferation of PPV’s is a big AEW problem for me moving forward as Tony doesn’t seem to always see PPV’s as being the natural endpoint for his biggest feuds, or even a way to continue what we see week to week on TV, and prefers to just try and make dream (or sometimes just downright random) matches half the time.

Orange Cassidy was on an incredible main event-bound run that just seemed to have been parked, and they’ve hit the factory reset on the OC character. The AEW World Champion is cocking about with a twenty-third rate Wyatt Family on the PPV. Ricky Starks isn’t continuing his run with Danielson on the show. Jay White isn’t on it at all, is he?

But, Kingston (who I love) vs Shibata is so Shibata can try and become a triple crown champion? Meh.

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz

[SaitoRyo]

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

Tag match was fun, even if you do have to watch RVD from between your fingers as it feels like the wheels could come off at any minute.

Disagree with this.

I think he looks great, especially considering his age (he'll be 53 in December). He's not the RVD of fifteen, twenty years ago, but he gets to play his greatest hits and get out without being exposed. He still manages to hit all of his trademark stuff crisply and the fans respond to him. As a nostalgia act who pops in every now and again, he's good value. 

The Hardys, on the other hand...

[d-d-d-dAz]

7 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Disagree with this.

I think he looks great, especially considering his age (he'll be 53 in December). He's not the RVD of fifteen, twenty years ago, but he gets to play his greatest hits and get out without being exposed. He still manages to hit all of his trademark stuff crisply and the fans respond to him. As a nostalgia act who pops in every now and again, he's good value. 

The Hardys, on the other hand...

The Hardys wheels are off, have rolled down the road, caught fire and homeless people are warming their hands on them.

RVD does look great, that’s not quite my point. It’s more he looks like he could stop looking great at any minute. The tangle in the ropes during the rolling senton, the heavy breaths between spots. It’s all absolutely fine, but you just worry it could go bad any second.

[SaitoRyo]

48 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

The Hardys wheels are off, have rolled down the road, caught fire and homeless people are warming their hands on them.

RVD does look great, that’s not quite my point. It’s more he looks like he could stop looking great at any minute. The tangle in the ropes during the rolling senton, the heavy breaths between spots. It’s all absolutely fine, but you just worry it could go bad any second.

Yeah, I appreciate what you are saying. I think doing something short and with smoke and mirrors (like the Jack Perry match), or coming in to shine and then get the hot tag is probably the best way to use him. He will be more knackered cardio-wise these days as he works a very selective schedule and there's no substitute for actually wrestling. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

3 hours ago, RedRooster said:

 

It’s nice to see Christian properly win the TNT belt.

I disagree to a point. Him saying and acting like he is the champion while all the time it is Luchasaurus is just brilliant dickhead heel stuff. 

[RedRooster]

34 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I disagree to a point. Him saying and acting like he is the champion while all the time it is Luchasaurus is just brilliant dickhead heel stuff. 

It was fun, but there wasn’t really any good way to resolve this other than what they did. The eventual outcome of this has to be Christian getting his comeuppance, and not having the cathartic moment of Christian actually getting pinned would have been a bit of a mistake. 

[69MeDon]

Best post-Punk episode of Collision (that I've seen, anyway) so far. 

That WrestleDream video package during the show that TK is narrating: keeps talking about a "new chapter" for AEW via WrestleDream. I'm wondering if that's just the usual TK hype-man stuff, or if something specific is actually going to happen?

Edited September 24, 2023 by 69MeDon

[Infinity Land]

19 minutes ago, 69MeDon said:

 

That WrestleDream video package during the show that TK is narrating: keeps talking about a "new chapter" for AEW via WrestleDream. I'm wondering if that's just the usual TK hype-man stuff, or if something specific is actually going to happen?

 

It's a hype package to buy the PPV. I think in some ways people are overthinking this. It's been written up as below:

"Next Sunday, October 1, it'll be one of the greatest nights in wrestling, with every match capable of stealing the show and a card befitting the legacy of a kingdom that has touched every one of us. AEW and the world of pro wrestling will converge as the greatest champions and rivalries in this sport will take center stage live on pay-per-view. At AEW WrestleDream next Sunday, we will pay tribute to the dreamer that made this all possible, the late great Antonio Inoki, with an event one year in the making. You won't want to miss AEW WrestleDream as we'll end a chapter in wrestling history and begin a new era in AEW live on pay-per-view next Sunday night, October 1,"

"We'll end a chapter in Wrestling history" (not AEW history) = It's intended as a tribute show to Inoki. That's the ending of the chapter.

Begin a new era in AEW live on PPV = It's the very first WrestleDream.