AEW Saturday Collision

[Supremo]

Main criticism I can throw at this show is that I’ve had enough of the show-closing Nitro brawls for at least six months to a year. It’s the new kick that Tony repeats to the point of parody, like when backstage interviews would get interrupted so often that even the characters themselves were commenting out loud how stupid it was.

I’d like to think it’s all leading to some mental multi-team tag match at the pay per view, but honestly, I just think Tony goes back to it whenever he can’t think of a proper way to end his show. It’s the equivalent of when you’d write stories as a kid, run out of ideas, so just end with, “…and then they woke up because it was all a dream.”

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I have a genuine question about Darby. He is presented as the underdog fighting from underneath in all of his matches, yet he wins most of them. Isn't he the overdog?

Archer murdered him for all that match, yet one sunset flip powerbomb and its over. The Jake Roberts shenanigans looked an awfully contrived way to avoid the count out and the whole thing made Archer look like a weak halfwit. 

Darby needs to be handled better. His look, his connection with the crowd, and his dedication to later life back surgery deserves better. 

Tony also needs to make a decision on Archer. If Archer's focus is Japan, then say sayonara and book his plane ticket to Narita Airport. AEW already has enough people on its roster that they can't get everyone on, why waste valuable time on a part timer who is never going to amount to anything. 

[Infinity Land]

Archer in Japan isn't really a thing. He worked last year's G1 and tag league. Then only done a handful of spots here and there. He's not a regular. 

It's apparent he's only done work there because he's been a spare part in AEW at times in between the odd injury. 

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, Infinity Land said:

I've seen some people say this is a reaction, but it honestly just looks like TK's usual booking and we happen to be getting a good week match wise. MJF v. Garcia was set-up on Wednesday when they filmed Rampage.

Yeah, I feel similarly, it doesn’t strike me as anything outside of what he might normally do. 

Maybe I should have felt this way sooner, and I can’t put my finger on exactly why I’m feeling this way, but I didn’t feel particularly good about watching this show on the back of the Flair signing. I’m on the verge of tapping out, when it comes to AEW. Maybe I’m there.

Knowing that Tony Khan must have seen the Dark Side of the Ring episode featuring that harrowing account of a sexual assault, yet didn’t feel affected enough not to sign that creep…it’s an uncomfortable feeling.

I probably should have been at this point sooner, given that Jay Lethal plays a prominent role in the company, but the thought of seeing the Savile-like Flair on a regular basis makes me feel ill.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

2 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

Archer in Japan isn't really a thing. He worked last year's G1 and tag league. Then only done a handful of spots here and there. He's not a regular. 

It's apparent he's only done work there because he's been a spare part in AEW at times in between the odd injury. 

So he's a big fella who could make a difference but he doesn't get booked anywhere. If you are a big lad that looks like a murderer, your nickname is MURDERHAWK and yet you can't get booked ahead of Paul Wight's deformed hips then perhaps it's time to move on. 

[Keith Houchen]

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

I probably should have been at this point sooner, given that Jay Lethal plays a prominent role in the company, but the thought of seeing the Savile-like Flair on a regular basis makes me feel ill.

Good on you. I think this seems to be the prevailing attitude in a sense, but not in the same way as yourself. You’re right, of course, but for others it seems to be a case of not “Another sex offender, I’m off” but “Another sex offender but this one won’t do anything I like”. 

[69MeDon]

I was wondering if the AR Fox/Swerve opening was also intended to get around the usual pyro and ballyhoo panning around the audience. Sounded like there were 500 people in there.

Even if AEW was hot right now, I'm not sure they could support two first-run live shows per week. So doing it when you're quite cold makes it all the harder.

[Lorne Malvo]

8 hours ago, Supremo said:

Main criticism I can throw at this show is that I’ve had enough of the show-closing Nitro brawls for at least six months to a year. It’s the new kick that Tony repeats to the point of parody, like when backstage interviews would get interrupted so often that even the characters themselves were commenting out loud how stupid it was.

 

The Ricky Starks/Big Bill/FTR/House Of Black/BCC/LFI etc thing is just a mess at this point. There's been so many of these mad multi-man brawls with different factions that a lot of the time I'm genuinely forgetting who is feuding with who. When BCC came down at the end of this show it took me a good while to remember they've got an issue with House of Black (that doesnt seem to have been mentioned for a couple of weeks). AEW are usually quite good at these storylines featuring loads of different people with different threads that can spin off in any direction, but they haven't nailed it at all here. Compare this mess to the red-hot MJF/Bullet Club Gold/Kingdom/Acclaimed/Omega stuff from Dyno the other week and it's night and day.

I thought it was a largely forgettable show this week but that's usually the case with Collision. It's easily the weakest of the AEW TV shows. It sometimes looks like they're still scrambling to fix things and change plans in the wake of CM Punk's departure but that was over 2 months ago now, so surely that can't be the case. 

To end on a good note, Mark Briscoe is fantastic. 

[LaGoosh]

I thought it was an ok enough show with plenty of fun to be had if not taken too seriously. Mark Briscoe and Rush are fucking fantastic and give these shows the extra beefing up they need. Briscoe in particular is exactly the type of guy you want on your wrestling show, wish they had 10 of him.

Still a few too many scrubs and dead weight about though. And ofcourse seriously lacking main event power. But AEW are so shite at maintaing momentum or consistently featuring top stars in top positions that it doesn't really feel like they have any genuine main eventers any more. Just one big lower and upper midcard.

Edited November 5, 2023 by LaGoosh

[d-d-d-dAz]

14 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Still a few too many scrubs and dead weight about though. And ofcourse seriously lacking main event power. But AEW are so shite at maintaing momentum or consistently featuring top stars in top positions that it doesn't really feel like they have any genuine main eventers any more. Just one big lower and upper midcard.

What’s infuriating is, even with Bryan perpetually injured and CM Punk having been sent off to the funny farm, they have plenty of main event stars, or could be main event stars, that they’re deploying terribly.

The usage of Kenny Omega is mad. He should be one of the faces of that company. Whether you like him or not, it’s hard to argue that he’s not a star to that audience and the embodiment of what the company is (was?) about.

I get his body seems to be starting to kick back a little, but they should be working with that. Have him maybe dial it back a bit in the ring, have more promo and backstage appearances, but still be the focal point - or one of the focal points - of the show. Instead he works this crazy intense style still, and then just disappears for ages to recuperate. Or they bury him in tag teams or multi-man matches.

Like, my dad is a stubborn old bastard. 80 next week, long distance cyclist his whole life. Watches the Tour De France on TV, recently invested in a very expensive push bike. But his knees are shot with arthritis. Yet instead of working with his condition, he’ll wake up one day and cycle from Coventry to Sheffield and back, and then not walk for a month.

That’s Kenny Omega. He turns up, cycles to Sheffield and then hides for a month. I wish he’d calm down, do a few more gentle rides around the West Midlands, and be more present as a main singles star in the company.

MJF, too, should be the guy in AEW, but has seemingly lost himself in this mid-card comedy routine - which was fine when it felt the pre-cursor to an imminent main event feud with Adam Cole, but now just feels like he’s there and they don’t know how to get him out. If he intends to do this until Cole’s back, then the World Title will mean literally nothing by the time that happens.

There are other examples too (I wouldn’t have immediately lost Adam Copeland to this multi-man midcard extravaganza), but they’re the ones that really stick in the craw.

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by d-d-d-dAz

[LaGoosh]

I don't think it's any coincidence that AEW is always at its most exciting and hottest when Omega is pushed and positioned as a top singles guy. They seemed to be going that way in the Spring but the usual, muddled and inconsistent booking fucked it up.

Separately, fuck the trios off and get a big singles push for this legend:

 

[Merzbow]

I sometimes wish guys like Omega and Hangman had that old school ego, fighting to be the top guy in the company. They just seem too nice and while that's a great trait to have.. this is pro wrestling.

[Loki]

4 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

The usage of Kenny Omega is mad. He should be one of the faces of that company. Whether you like him or not, it’s hard to argue that he’s not a star to that audience and the embodiment of what the company is (was?) about.

I get his body seems to be starting to kick back a little, but they should be working with that. Have him maybe dial it back a bit in the ring, have more promo and backstage appearances, but still be the focal point - or one of the focal points - of the show. Instead he works this crazy intense style still, and then just disappears for ages to recuperate. Or they bury him in tag teams or multi-man matches.

You are absolutely spot on.  For someone who hadn't seen him pre-AEW, in my mind he's their TOP guy - he certainly was positioned as such when I started watching and he was the Belt Collector.

Nowadays he seems to drift in and out, loosely tagging with the Elite or whatever, and occasionally using up some of his bump allowance on random hotshotted singles matches.  He (and Hangman similarly) seem to be upper midcarders now.

Perhaps this losing-streak thing is leading somewhere, or perhaps he's actually a lot closer to retirement than we realise, but he's being criminally misused.  Look at Roman Reigns - THE top guy in WWE, wrestles maybe a dozen times a year, almost never takes a clean pin.  IMO Omega should be positioned in that sort of role - the lynchpin of a story, with some sort of belt or accolade, and surrounded by people to take bumps/losses for him.  A bit like Moxley in fact!

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

I sometimes wish guys like Omega and Hangman had that old school ego, fighting to be the top guy in the company. They just seem too nice and while that's a great trait to have.. this is pro wrestling.

Yeah I definitely get that feeling - especially with Kenny. He's there to 'help' the next generation and the current talent that hasn't had enough chances etc. Always an admirable thing but I feel like we're missing out on so much with him because he doesn't want to put himself up there ahead of others. And that's a damn shame because we're not getting nearly as much from him as we can before he retires.

[Infinity Land]

Maybe it's just me, but because the hard cam seemed to be further back than normal, Big Bill looked absolutely massive. He towered over Preston Vance during their exchange.