This episode of AEW Collision was a big improvement from last week in one key area. The show structure was much more defined this week, with greater segment diversity, a better distribution of matches and promos and a good build to an excellent main event match. The pacing was also far better than this week’s Dynamite, with each segment being given a chance to breathe without going so slow as to feel dragged out, another issue I found with last week’s Collision show. The show may have mostly been solid but fairly skippable fare, but I found it much more engaging than last week's episode. The early focus on Bullet Club Gold was well done, with Dalton Castle and The Iron Savages getting some shine also, and from there we saw a solid stream of matches and promos used to keep story plates turning. While this show didn't significantly advance my interest in any storylines, it did give them all spotlight and solid enough builds to keep me just invested enough in the show to remain engaged. The wrestling was all good with a terrific main event, and aside from a very awkward Miro promo, I thought all the microphone work was just as solid. The squash matches just did their job, and while neither were great, they were functional for the bigger picture. You could skip this episode and miss honestly very little beyond the main event, but as a stepping stone to a bigger show I thought this was well done, and I found it to be an easy and reasonably entertaining watch.
Tonight on AEW Collision: Fight For The Fallen we continue on the road to All’s In and Out,, as we hear from many of the major players, including Ricky Starks, Miro and Powerhouse Hobbs. In the ring, Darby Allin finally gets his hands on Christian Cage and Willow Nightingale faces Diomante one on one. Let’s get at it!
Samoa Joe comes out to begin the show against ‘The Golden Vampire’ but is attacked by him immediately, before he gets a slightly wonky GTS and Punk reveals himself to be behind the mask, accepting the match. This booking is a tale as old as time, and we’ve seen it done many times. This wasnt the best or smoothest effort at doing this, but it is always a fun gimmick and it was done pretty well!
Video package for All In which was pretty good! Amazing to hear how good the ticket sales have gone for the company
GOOD Jay White vs Dalton Castle
Dalton Castle is an ROH regular, but should be on Collision more, because he incredibly entertaining. This was a good introduction to new fans on Dalton, as he got some good spots in before falling to the Blade Runner. It wasn’t an outstanding match by any means, and meandered a bit in the middle, but Dalton really got over in defeat and credit to Jay for giving him as much as he did. I suspect Dalton may be seen a bit more on TV after this which is a huge bonus. Also shoutout to Juice Robinson who was incredible fun on commentary.
Result: Jay White by Pinfall via Blade Runner
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
GREAT Bullet Club Gold Promo
This was much needed, because it allowed Jay and Juice to really set the tone and story for the Wembley 6 man. They all cut excellent promos, even if it does feel a bit like Jay White and Kenny Omega in a singles match is the direction we will reach eventually. This set out why Jay attacked Omega and why they wanna fight, and it makes sense. Very well delivered as well by all guys, as were the reactions to Schiavone and the callout promo from The Iron Savages to set up a 6 man tag. Nice show structure to kick us off. Excellent promo
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
GOOD The Iron Savages vs Juice Robinson and The Gunns
Very similar to the first match, this was a very entertaining little tag match which mostly stuck to formula but stuck to it well. The Iron Savages looked good, and The Gunns and Juice got some really entertaining moments to shine. Again nothing fantastic but a solid tag match to gain some momentum for next week’s Dynamite.
Result: Juice Robinson by Pinfall
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
Really good vignette for House Of Black on The Acclaimed. Always love how these are produced.
Dralistico and Vance have been kidnapped in Mexico. I love some silly soap opera nonsense in my wrestling.
Big Bill is aligned to Starks now, so I assume the Brian Cage thing is dead. Either way, very good promo from Starks and a really fun little vignette to boot. Big fan.
SQUASH Big Bill vs Derek Neal
Very quick and easy win for Big Bill. Post match Starks whips Neal. This is a nice little story arc for Starks, though for the ‘war’ he said he was bringing I wanted just a little more.
Result: Big Bill by Pinfall
Very good vignette for Darby and Sting invading an independent show in Atlanta and sending a message to Fox and Swerve.
GREAT Willow Nightingale vs Diomante
This started off just okay but got good by the end. Two really good workers who had very good chemistry, and although the crowd were not entirely with it the whole way through, they really came alive at certain points. I enjoyed this quite a bit for what it was, and it’s good momentum for Willow.
Result: Willow Nightingale by Pinfall via Gutwrench Powerbomb
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
FTR vs The Bucks looks to be going ahead as planned with an excellent vignette
Toni Storm is backstage with a really cool new look. She cuts a very good backstage interview. Storm is by far the best booked of the women in the fatal 4 way right now, I just wish she was given this level of character as champion
SQUASH Powerhouse Hobbs vs Kevin Ku
Kevin is extremely popular and gets a bit of fire but is eaten alive and quickly by Hobbs. Good squash here
Result: Powerhouse Hobbs by Pinfall via Spinebuster
Miro cuts an honestly quite poor and awkward pretaped promo. Hobbs laughs it off and to be honest I would as well.
AMAZING Christian Cage vs Darby Allin– Watch Match Here
A terrific tv main event. Cage and Darby threw everything at each other and some of the spots were gnarly. The ending makes sense but I just wish it didn’t end with a roll-up because I am so sick of them now in AEW. Without the underwhelming end it would’ve exceeded even higher but it’s impossible to ignore the strength of the work these guys put in, and great to see Cage still wrestling at such a high level. Great week to be an E and C fan. The post match angle was also extremely fun and keeps Cage ticking over as a monstrous egotistical heel.
Result: Darby Allin by Pinfall
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4 Stars
Overall…
This episode of AEW Collision was a big improvement from last week in one key area. The show structure was much more defined this week, with greater segment diversity, a better distribution of matches and promos and a good build to an excellent main event match. The pacing was also far better than this week’s Dynamite, with each segment being given a chance to breathe without going so slow as to feel dragged out, another issue I found with last week’s Collision show. The show may have mostly been solid but fairly skippable fare, but I found it much more engaging than last week’s episode. The early focus on Bullet Club Gold was well done, with Dalton Castle and The Iron Savages getting some shine also, and from there we saw a solid stream of matches and promos used to keep story plates turning. While this show didn’t significantly advance my interest in any storylines, it did give them all spotlight and solid enough builds to keep me just invested enough in the show to remain engaged. The wrestling was all good with a terrific main event, and aside from a very awkward Miro promo, I thought all the microphone work was just as solid. The squash matches just did their job, and while neither were great, they were functional for the bigger picture. You could skip this episode and miss honestly very little beyond the main event, but as a stepping stone to a bigger show I thought this was well done, and I found it to be an easy and reasonably entertaining watch.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.5/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.5/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3/5 Stars
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling- August 19th 2023
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
