What happens when you book an hour-long match of the year contender to open your show? It’s a question AEW has tried to answer a number of times now, and it always brings both pitfalls and triumphs. On the one hand it gives the show a sense of electricity and opens the show on a massive high, which this absolutely did. On the other hand it can kill your crowd and play a trump card too early, dismantling the pace of the rest of the show. It of course helps when you have one of wrestling's biggest and most controversial stars occupying your main event slot, and all the better for it as CM Punk and Ricky Starks were really able to get the crowd back on their side for a fascinatingly told main event story of Punk’s hubris and a rare sign of failure from the Second City Saint. The quality of the opening tag did unfortunately hamper the top of the second hour, with Soho vs Willow struggling to get the crowd going despite the efforts of all involved and the House Of Black squash being left to die in front of a truly burnt out audience, which was the show's biggest drawback. AEW didn’t really help themselves however by not swapping them over giving the audience rest time in the less important squash match to recharge, rather than trying to push too much from them in consecutive matches and sacrificing two matches instead of one. Still though, what an opener and what a main event, and when those two matches take up 2/3rds of your show you have yourself an excellent viewing experience, especially when called by an excellent commentary team and with Collision’s always sleek production and pacing. A really good show with an astonishingly good opening contest.
It’s finals night on AEW Collision, as both the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup final matches take place. On the men’s side, CM Punk takes on ‘Absolute’ Ricky Starks, while Willow Nightingale takes on Ruby Soho in the women’s bracket. Also on the card tonight, following a victory from the challengers last week, Bullet Club Gold get a shot at FTR’s tag team titles in a 2 out of 3 falls encounter. Let’s get at it!
Good opening promos as expected here hyping up the central matches. Did I notice a dig at WWE and Grayson Waller from Punk with a ‘sink or swim’ line?
PERFECT FTR vs Bullet Club Gold (Jay White and Juice Robinson)- AEW Tag Team Championships- ⅔ Falls– Watch Match HERE
Wow! What a tremendous matchup between four of AEW’s best in-ring workers. These guys go 58 minutes and they don’t waste a second. The story contrasts the purely arrogant evil of the BCG against the intelligent yet devious face dynamic of FTR, both different yet also somewhat similar. They do a lovely picture-in-picture fake out just before Jay and Juice take the first fall which is a terrific way of telling the audience anything can happen at any time. FTR then find themself a fall down fighting tooth and nail just to gather their first fall (loved The Briscoes throwback here also), and when they finally do the place becomes unglued. The match’s final stretch sequence focused on the always reliable Canadian dynamic of a good old sharpshooter which was loads of fun, and teasing a time limit draw only to gift the fans a full finish was a very nice touch. I have some very minor complaints, mainly that they could’ve explored Dax’s shoulder issue a little bit more and been ever so slightly more consistent on the count-out calls towards the matches conclusion, but at the end of the day those are minor gripes in a match as excellent as this and it is not enough of a complaint to dock any points from it. What makes this so good is a match of this length is near impossible to have on PPV, so it makes free TV so exciting by giving the fans something so unique. It was a beautiful wrestling match.
Result: Dax Harwood by Submission via Sharpshooter
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 5 Stars
Very nice video package hyping up Blood and Guts, filled with very charismatic and colourful sound-bytes from Jon Moxley
GREAT Willow Nightingale vs Ruby Soho- Owen Hart Cup Women’s Final
These two ladies had a tough spot tonight following a 58 minute tag match, and although the crowd seemed a little burned out, the two women did the best they could with the time they were given and the feel good moment of Willow overcoming a cheating Soho to get the win did get a good reaction from the crowd. The action was clean and well executed and the spray bottle used in a fun way, but this did feel a little throwaway considering what it could’ve been. Very happy for Willow though to get a big moment, being presented the trophy by Cowboy Tony Khan which is a sight that will never not make me laugh
Result: Willow Nightingale by Pinfall via Gutwrench Powerbomb
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.5 Stars
Powerhouse Hobbs tells QT Marshall backstage to be true to his word after he sarcastically says the only way to gain Hobbs respect is to beat up AEW biggest and baddest. Interested to see where this goes.
SQUASH Kings Of The Black Throne (Malakai Black and Brody King) vs Local Competitors
Very quick and very thorough beating here by the HOB. Andrade comes down to the ring looking for his mask back but is stopped by security before a brawl can break out. Functional but filler, and to be honest this probably should’ve been the cool down angle after the tag match rather than using the Women’s final in the death spot.
Result: Malakai Black by Pinfall via Black Mass
AMAZING CM Punk vs Ricky Starks- Owen Hart Cup Men’s Final
It will not surprise you to learn that the reaction for CM Punk is incredibly mixed, with a loud combination of cheers and boos. This starts slow but really hooked both myself and the crowd by its end. Parts were clunky in their execution but Punk and Starks are two genius storytellers in the ring, and this was beautifully orchestrated. Two guys who are friendly in principle but also have a very clear underlying tension, and those strikes get harder and harder until Ricky is on the floor hammering at Punk with every inch of his being. Also I think this builds Punk’s inevitable official heel turn super well here with Starks besting him and Punk looking not angry but entirely baffled. Punk is not used to failing, but he has just failed, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and I cannot wait to see where Punk goes from here.
Result: Ricky Starks by Pinfall via Roll Up
David Sheldon WR Match Rating- 4 Stars
Overall…
What happens when you book an hour-long match of the year contender to open your show? It’s a question AEW has tried to answer a number of times now, and it always brings both pitfalls and triumphs. On the one hand it gives the show a sense of electricity and opens the show on a massive high, which this absolutely did. On the other hand it can kill your crowd and play a trump card too early, dismantling the pace of the rest of the show. It of course helps when you have one of wrestling’s biggest and most controversial stars occupying your main event slot, and all the better for it as CM Punk and Ricky Starks were really able to get the crowd back on their side for a fascinatingly told main event story of Punk’s hubris and a rare sign of failure from the Second City Saint. The quality of the opening tag did unfortunately hamper the top of the second hour, with Soho vs Willow struggling to get the crowd going despite the efforts of all involved and the House Of Black squash being left to die in front of a truly burnt out audience, which was the show’s biggest drawback. AEW didn’t really help themselves however by not swapping them over giving the audience rest time in the less important squash match to recharge, rather than trying to push too much from them in consecutive matches and sacrificing two matches instead of one. Still though, what an opener and what a main event, and when those two matches take up 2/3rds of your show you have yourself an excellent viewing experience, especially when called by an excellent commentary team and with Collision’s always sleek production and pacing. A really good show with an astonishingly good opening contest.
Matches: 0.75/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.75/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.75/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.75/5 Stars
Photo Credit: AEW- July 15th 2023
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
