AEW Saturday Collision

[Infinity Land]

AR Fox out of the supposed doghouse. Was a solid opener between him and Jay White. MJF sneaking in to get his belt back was a nice touch. He really doesn't want to rely on anyone else, but looks like he'll have to now. It's a shame they'd already made the 8 man tag for Dynamite official before this. Could have made it a last resort after trying by himself. Still not sure who MJF's 3 partners will be. I was all for it being The Acclaimed until they started making it all about Caster's horrendous stalker/crush act.

When Dalton Castle made "his" entrance I was excited and then it turned out it was just for The Boys v. Gunns.

Ryan Nemeth screentime. When he first popped up with promo time I thought they were laying the groundwork for his brother. Based on how the segment went it should just be about Miro and nothing more.

Shida v. Abadon was what it was. Shida was absolutely game but it was still a horrible gimmick match. Then Toni Storm overshadows everything. Shida's reign is looking like another transitional one. I'd rather they had switched the women's title feuds. Storm v. Statlander and Willow / Skye Blue sorting out their issues overall targeting Shida.

LFI's back! House of Black are still trying to save a little on TK's leccy bill, and some how all involving the tag titles? I dunno what's going on there. Malakai Black v. RUSH is a gimme.

Main event was pretty much what I was hoping for when it was announced. No doubt sloppy in parts as you can tell Omega's pushing it. I didn't know how much time was left when Callis made his appearance. I was fearing the worst, especially once he was being backed off. Expecting a sneak attack from the opposing side from Hobbs or Takeshita. Instead it ended clean. There's more there if they ever face off again. We know MJF's against Jay White at Full Gear. They really need to get something for Omega lined up sharpish.

 

 

[gmoney]

What's happened to Scorpio Sky? Is he injured or just been forgotten about? Can't wait for the next reboot. 

[Infinity Land]

17 minutes ago, gmoney said:

What's happened to Scorpio Sky? Is he injured or just been forgotten about? Can't wait for the next reboot. 

After that initial Collision push ended up in an unexpected absence, he returned to face Andrade not that long ago. Seems to have been given up on and working ROH for now.

[RedRooster]

56 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

After that initial Collision push ended up in an unexpected absence, he returned to face Andrade not that long ago. Seems to have been given up on and working ROH for now.

Given that Ethan Page is also nowhere to be seen, I don’t know why Tony Khan doesn’t do the obvious and reunite Men of the Year. They felt like such a big deal when they were together, and they seemed to be tag champs in waiting. I’d go as far as to say they are my favourite heel tag team throughout the history of AEW. 

As for Collision, it was very much a one match show. If you’re at the point where ditching your lead announcer for Jim Ross feels like a refreshing change, you probably have the wrong lead announcer. Kevin Kelly is abysmal on a good day, and I hope he gets relegated to ROH oblivion sooner, rather than later.

MJF/Omega was a very good match, but it’s a shame that this was the platform for a match of that quality. I’m sure it’ll give Collision a ratings bump, but I don’t know…given all the injuries routinely suffered in AEW, and given the risks taken in this match, I have mixed feelings about it. Moxley, Adam Cole and Danielson all ruled out within weeks of one another; and it’s not the first time something like this has happened. Maybe they do need to tone it down a bit.

[Infinity Land]

18 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Given that Ethan Page is also nowhere to be seen, I don’t know why Tony Khan doesn’t do the obvious and reunite Men of the Year. They felt like such a big deal when they were together, and they seemed to be tag champs in waiting. I’d go as far as to say they are my favourite heel tag team throughout the history of AEW. 

As for Collision, it was very much a one match show. If you’re at the point where ditching your lead announcer for Jim Ross feels like a refreshing change, you probably have the wrong lead announcer. Kevin Kelly is abysmal on a good day, and I hope he gets relegated to ROH oblivion sooner, rather than later.

Ethan Page is more active on social media, so I do know he's in ROH trying to string something together. Just like he did with Matt Hardy on Elevation. Having something week to week is probably more enjoyable than the stop/start not always booked nature of a mid-card AEW act. As seen last night with Starks & Big Bill, FTR, HoB, LFI, Gunns, Young Bucks having a title shot at their choosing (if that's not completely dropped). the tag scene's quite busy. MOTY would just blur into it.

Tony Schiavone's become the lead announcer it seems. It's a shame they never defaulted to that when Ian Riccaboni turned the job down and they went outside the company. The Kevin Kelly signing has been a bust.

[JLM]

After briefly threatening to become interesting by association with Swerve, AR Fox has settled back into being bland guy who does the moves. Jay White tried his best to make a match out of it. I like how his closing stretches even in throw away TV matches still have a little detail like countering one of the opponent's signature moves. In this case it was AR Fox's matrix dodge back bump thing he does, with Jay getting caught by it the first time and baiting it the second. 

Joe/Claudio/Gunns is probably too many squashes. Got my hopes up a bit when Dalton Castle came out, but then realised he was only managing the jobbers. 

Abadon/Shida was silly fun. Abadon always has a spectacular look and it's never quite the same twice; this one looked like it was inspired by Spawn. I love the gimmick but they're still pretty bad in ring. The signature spots and the character-based weirdness is OK, but there are still awkward pauses and moments of looking lost wandering about the ring. Shida looked fantastic in the Ada Wong outfit and did a fine job holding this thing together. Started off a bit awkward and slow but the closing sequences landed and they had the crowd by the end.  

Agreed that the Toni Storm short films aren't hitting like the in-ring appearances or the increasingly unhinged backstage interviews with Renee. They're also over-exposing the gimmick massively. I still like the character and think she does a great job with it, but they may quickly run it into the ground. 

Speaking of which, it saddens me that The Acclaimed segments are starting to feel like The New Day when I was at my most sick of them. I want to like them but man they've fallen a long way since their matches with Swerve and Keith Lee. 

So happy to hear RUSH's theme after a fairly uneventful first hour. He's signed up, he's out of ROH purgatory, please push him to the moon now. 

Kenny/MJF was tremendous. The near fall off the failed Panama Sunrise was fantastic. I hate that move with a burning passion, but Max nearly losing because he tried to use his injured best bro's move was such a perfect tease to put in there. With the MJF/Jay White angle making the result more predictable than MJF vs Kenny normally would be, they still had everyone in the building on that one. Glad there was only minimal outside nonsense. Still gives Kenny a partial out and protects the One Winged Angel, but not enough shenanigans to completely tarnish the win for MJF. 

The one match on the one-match-show delivered and RUSH is here to tear up Collision at last. That'll do. 

Edited October 30, 2023 by JLM

[LaGoosh]

The Acclaimed are the modern day New Age Outlaws. Unfortunately they've gone through the great 98-early 99 stage of the Outlaws and are now in the late 99-early 2000s stage where they were boring and lame as fuck.

All hail RUSH! Very excited he's back to bring the violence. Let's hope Preston Vance has improved and developed some personality.

Claudio bringing the best squash match since Mox vs Ten. The match with OC is going to be absolutely incredible. 

Also incredible - MJF vs Omega. What a match! It ranks up their with the other great AEW title TV defences: Hangman vs Danielson 1&2, Hangman vs Archer, Mox vs Jericho, MJF vs Cole.

The match told a really great story. Omega initially being unable to keep up with MJF so setting into what he does best - dropping bombs and withstanding punishment. From that point on Omega had mostly control of the match with MJF doing his best to try and get to Kenny's level (but mostly failing). Omega had the OWA set up for the win but Callis interefered and that gave MJF the opening he needed to get back in it amd channel his best friend to do what he needed to win. Absolutely lovely stuff.

I thought the intercutting of all the people who want MJF's head watching backstage was really cool. They're building to something and I'm excited. 

Bit confused about some of the hand wringing about the spots in the main event considering that it's Kenny Omega and he always wrestles like that and has done so for years without injuring his opponents. Almost like he's incredibly talented and knows what he's doing. Him deadlifting MJF into a powerbomb position on the apron then perfectly controlling him in the air to put him through the table as slow and safely as possible while still making the spot look devastating was seriously impressive. 

Basically a one match show this week with everything else ranging from fine to forgettable. My guess is The Elite will be MJF's partners on Wednesday after earning Kenny's respect. 

Edited October 30, 2023 by LaGoosh

[d-d-d-dAz]

What are the rules around the use of weapons/tables in title matches now? As very few other people seem to have been put off by the table, and I’m wondering whether I need to recalibrate my understanding of the use of weapons in title matches?

I’m not being shitty, I’m just trying to understand, because if I can get past the point where I switch off at those moments it seems like I’d get more out of the product. 
 

So, are tables good? And what’s the reason? It’s legal in a title match, or the referee uses more discretion in a title match?

[69MeDon]

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

What are the rules around the use of weapons/tables in title matches now? As very few other people seem to have been put off by the table, and I’m wondering whether I need to recalibrate my understanding of the use of weapons in title matches?

I’m not being shitty, I’m just trying to understand, because if I can get past the point where I switch off at those moments it seems like I’d get more out of the product. 
 

So, are tables good? And what’s the reason? It’s legal in a title match, or the referee uses more discretion in a title match?

I feel like this has come up before, many times over the years in various companies, and the deal is that if you put someone through a table - usually after setting it up and then leaving it there for a bit while you do other spots - it doesn't count as a weapon shot because you're not hitting the person with the table, you're hitting the table with the person, and thus no DQ. Not saying it makes a huge amount of sense, but that is how I've always understood it. Plus, at least in AEW, they've said a load of times during matches that DQ is at the referee's discretion, and the commentators often say "(referee) doesn't want to end a (whatever title) match like that".

Edited October 30, 2023 by 69MeDon

[LaGoosh]

If you're putting someone through a table it's the equivalent of slamming someone into the steel steps = fine.

If you picked up a table and hit them with that's a dq.

Wrestling logic, baby.

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Bit confused about some of the hand wringing about the spots in the main event considering that it's Kenny Omega and he always wrestles like that and has done so for years without injuring his opponents. Almost like he's incredibly talented and knows what he's doing.

Isn't 'wrestlers know best' exactly how AEW has got itself into the situation is has with injuries? Ultimately, wrestlers are always at risk of hurting themselves, but when injuries to top stars routinely derail what you're doing, it's maybe time to reassess elements of what you're doing.

That said, I think more people are concerned about Omega's broken down body than they are MJF at this point. In all honesty, I'm probably feeling a bit more down on AEW style after seeing some of my favourites ruled out in quick succession. I think I viewed the match a bit differently than I otherwise would have because of that, and couldn't help but cringe at some of the more punishing spots. I think @Loki and @CavemanLynn articulated it much better than I could, but I found this match harder to enjoy than I might have expected I would - and it wasn't because of the match quality. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

7 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

If you're putting someone through a table it's the equivalent of slamming someone into the steel steps = fine.

If you picked up a table and hit them with that's a dq.

Wrestling logic, baby.

See, I can just about get there with the announce table or steps as they’re set up and part of the environment. Getting out a new table feels a stretch. Like, what if he pulled out a table wrapped in barbed wire?

Probably over thinking it.

C’est La vie.

I also hated when Cody hit Brock with the steps in the middle of their rubber match, so I’m an equal opportunity curmudgeon.

[Infinity Land]

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

See, I can just about get there with the announce table or steps as they’re set up and part of the environment. Getting out a new table feels a stretch. Like, what if he pulled out a table wrapped in barbed wire?

 

In the taking out the new table what you tend to see if the opponent reverse the attacker or the action moves on without it being used, only to come back into play later when it would be consider part of the environment like the announce table/timekeepers table.

Really just boils down to ref's discretion.

[d-d-d-dAz]

2 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

In the taking out the new table what you tend to see if the opponent reverse the attacker or the action moves on without it being used, only to come back into play later when it would be consider part of the environment like the announce table/timekeepers table.

Really just boils down to ref's discretion.

Yeah, again that’d make sense. And I guess that’s what threw me is that Kenny got the table, set it up and used it. It felt like a deliberate use of a foreign object as opposed to making the most of the environment,

[Infinity Land]

7 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Isn't 'wrestlers know best' exactly how AEW has got itself into the situation is has with injuries? Ultimately, wrestlers are always at risk of hurting themselves, but when injuries to top stars routinely derail what you're doing, it's maybe time to reassess elements of what you're doing.

Can't think of many injuries that happened from elaborate moves.