This episode of Collision was good fun, with some spotlights for stars and feuds for both All In and All Out and some very entertaining matches. Unfortunately, the show fell into the same trap a lot of pre taped go home shows for international events go, which is to be extremely consequence free. There were segments that advanced storylines or set up matches, but for the most part it all felt very lightweight and skippable, with some matches having no relevance to either PPV that we know of, which makes their inclusion rather puzzling. I kept getting the feeling I was watching a very fun house show taped for tv, and for a go home Collision for the biggest event in your company’s history, a lot more could’ve been done. Still, I liked everything on the show and thought it was very well paced and a breeze to watch, and I had a good time, even if honestly nothing here was really a must see. There are far worse ways to spend 2 hours, though if you seek a true go home show for All In, Dynamite would service you far better this week.
Tonight on AEW Collision, its an all star 8 man tag team match as CM Punk, Sting, Darby Allin and a mystery partner team to battle Brian Cage, Swerve Strickland, Luchasaurus and Jay White. Elsewhere on the card, The Dark Order take on Action Andretti and Darius Martin and Jack Perry retires the FTW Title. Lets get at it.
GREAT Jack Perry retires the FTW Title
Good opening promo here from Jack Perry, being quite entertaining as he tries to destroy the FTW Title before being stopped by Hook who makes a challenge for All In. Now if only TK hadnt announced this on a podcast this week it would’ve been a nice little surprise. Nevertheless it was a great start to the show, and it does its job very nicely
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
GREAT Orange Cassidy, Eddie Kingston and Penta vs Kip Sabian, The Butcher and The Blade
An extremely fun opening match giving all 6 guys a chance to sign. I love all these combatants and they worked off each other so nicely. Really energised, some really fun sequences and a fun ending of Kip being annihilated with big moves. Nice momentum for All In showing how these guys can work together. I liked it quite a bit, even if it was quite short and nothing hugely spectacular, just a very good standard tv multi-man opener.
Result: Eddie Kingston by Pinfall via Sliding Elbow
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
AMAZING Best Friends/Eddie Kingston/BCC Promo
Trent and Chuck do pretty well here to hype themselves and the match up, followed by a really good BCC promo. Eddie goes to find them backstage and gets extremely fired up going through the BCC and talking about the things he will do to each man. It’s absolutely magnetic, as Kingston always is, but everyone in this segment was excellent, and my hype levels have certainly increased for All In
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4 Stars
GREAT Action Andretti and Darius Martin vs Dark Order
This match in itself was terrific. 4 guys who should be used a lot more on tv going back and forth in a short but sweet sprint. No story here really which limits the rating but this was so well wrestled and the final sequence for the Dark Order win was spellbinding
Result: John Silver by Pinfall via German Suplex
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
Nick Wayne blanks an AR Fox Handshake, as he damn well should.
The Acclaimed do a very extended rap where they go in on House Of Black. It is a full song here, and while this isnt my thing and I’m not normally a fan of this stuff on tv, I thought it was pretty good for what it was.
Hype package for the womens 4 way, I just wish the build for it had happened on Dynamite and not Rampage
SQUASH Big Bill vs Vary Morales
Big Bill annihalates a poor jobber that looks like a cross between Essa Rios and Damien Priest. Continues the story nicely here
Result: Big Bill by Pinfall via Chokeslam
GOOD Ricky Starks Promo
Short and reasonably superfluous promo so not much to rate but Starks is stupidly entertaining and he just oozes charisma in his body language.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
GOOD Willow Nightingale vs Robyn Renegade
This was a good enough standard face vs heel match to get Willow momentum. A little slow in places but did its job. I’m pretty sure I saw a more fun match between these two on Dark Elevation though last year where a lot more twin magic was used. As I recall it was my first exposure to Willow and I really enjoyed that. Totally fine, but could’ve been more
Result: Willow Nightingale by Pinfall via Gutwrench Powerbomb
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3 Stars
Statlander accepts Soho’s challenge. Good promo but please book Statlander better.
SQUASH Keith Lee vs Zicky Dice
I’m so happy whenever Keith Lee is on my television screen. I know Zicky Dice a little bit as well, he is a very fun presence. Quick and easy squash. Please please please book Keith Lee more on TV.
Result: Keith Lee by Pinfall via Spirit Bomb
LFI get another chapter to their story, which was filmed so horribly poorly it felt like it had been put together by Olivier Megaton.
GOOD Samoa Joe Promo
Joe doesn’t say a lot, and I don’t really know why he’s talking to be honest, but he says it very well and with conviction, so as usual I believe every single word he says. Can’t give this a great rating though as it really feels like a superfluous promo.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
GREAT CM Punk, Darby Allin, Sting and Hook vs Brian Cage, Jay White, Swerve Strickland and Luchasaurus- Watch Match Here
Hook comes out for a main event he wasn’t announced for and NOBODY reacts, be it crowd or commentators. He got a great reaction from the crowd earlier in the show, so I can only assume they were a bit confused. This main event felt like a universe mode main event, where the AI puts all the big stars in various feuds and lets them all fight. I enjoyed this match a great deal, mostly because of the novelty of seeing so many of these combinations. The middle portion of the match once again suffers from length, but the last 5-10 minutes picked up immensely to be a super fun little main event. The post match melee was complete chaos but did sell the PPV pretty nicely, showcasing a lot of key feuds in one go.
Result: CM Punk by Submission via Koquina Clutch
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
Overall…
This episode of Collision was good fun, with some spotlights for stars and feuds for both All In and All Out and some very entertaining matches. Unfortunately, the show fell into the same trap a lot of pre taped go home shows for international events go, which is to be extremely consequence free. There were segments that advanced storylines or set up matches, but for the most part it all felt very lightweight and skippable, with some matches having no relevance to either PPV that we know of, which makes their inclusion rather puzzling. I kept getting the feeling I was watching a very fun house show taped for tv, and for a go home Collision for the biggest event in your company’s history, a lot more could’ve been done. Still, I liked everything on the show and thought it was very well paced and a breeze to watch, and I had a good time, even if honestly nothing here was really a must see. There are far worse ways to spend 2 hours, though if you seek a true go home show for All In, Dynamite would service you far better this week.
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 26th 2023For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
