Collision faced some steep competition, that being SummerSlam 2023. Despite that, I chose to watch it live, and it was worth it.
The show opened with a tag title match between FTR and the newfound tag team that recently won a battle royal for this title shot, Big Bill and Brian Cage. The match was hard hitting, and it was fun to see Brian Cage get to work as the smaller member of a tag team. It was competitive, but it felt as though we all knew the result, and it happened with a shatter machine and a 1, 2, 3.
After the match, FTR got on the mic, spoke about Wembley coming up, and officially challenged the Young Bucks to finish their trilogy there. A true main event tag match, and I’ll be pulling to have new champs by the end of it.
Up next, we had Mercedes Martinez challenging Kris Statlander for the TBS Championship. I already had high expectations for the match, but they blew them out of the water. Martinez is back in top form, and Statlander continues to be a great fighting champion, much like her Best Friends stablemate, Orange Cassidy. Much like him, she just managed to eek out a victory with a roll up,
After the fact, Martinez was angry, and started to beat her down. Diamante ran down to the ring, but quickly joined in on the attack, seemingly aligning with the Boricua Badass, before Willow Nightingale ran down to save the champ. This feud seems to be building, and I look forward to what happens next.
Tony was then talking to Toni, as she seems to be suffering from a freak out, having lost her AEW Women’s championship. It feels as though we are moving away from the Outcasts angle, and I am happy to see that, but, more than that, the promo felt like a new, interesting direction for her character. I look forward to seeing what happens next!
Samoa Joe comes out and quickly sets a record, beating Serpentico in the fastest Collision match yet. He cut a great promo after, calling out Punk after he took his first loss to him in their lifetime record. He wants Punk at Wembley. Will this be the match we get? Time will tell.
After this, we got a House Rules match, with the House of Black defending against the team of Darius Martin, Action Andretti, and the returning “Big Shotty” Lee Johnson. The match didn’t go too long, but it did a good job showcasing the underdog faces despite their inevitable loss. I loved the funny nod to real life, with Lee Johnson opting to ban his fiancé, Julia Hart, from the match!
After the match, we had a Powerhouse Hobbs interview, where he made clear that, despite QTV still trying to get on his good side, he did not want their help. We also got a shock match announcement for next week: House of Black vs CMFTR!
Christian Cage made himself known, while also making it known that his evil knows no bounds. While targeting Darby Allin and Nick Wayne, he refused to let his daughter hold the belt, instead getting security to kick her out. The man knows no depths!
Next up was Jay White vs Metalik. The match was very fun, showcasing both Jay White’s ability to work with luchadores, the talent level of Metalik, and the insanity of the other members of Bullet Club Gold. I’d love to see Metalik get some sort of AEW or ROH contract.
Next, we saw Anna Jay parlay her win into a title shot against Hikaru Shida, and we got the card rundown so far for Dynamite. It’s looking like a great show!
Now onto the main event, we saw Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat enter to his WCW theme, a moment that excited many classic fans. The entrance of Ricky Starks was flamboyant as ever, and Punk’s entrance had far less boos than before. Maybe he’s found his crowd, or possibly Starks simply got enough heat to overpower the mixed reaction.
The match itself was a couple notches above their previous. There were no notable errors, with the match running hot throughout, working well. Ricky looked great here, and Punk managed to keep up better than he did in the Owen finals. The finish, however, was the only major low point of the show for me.
The ref gets bumped, and, for some odd reason, this meant that Ricky Starks felt he should go for a pinfall… with his feet on the ropes… and no one to count it. Did this make sense? No, but it lead into Steamboat shoving his feet off the ropes, Punk rolling him up, and The Dragon slowly getting into the ring to count the pin. I hope they run it back a final time, because the finish partially soured things for me.
Still, the show was great overall, with no truly bad match, top to bottom. Collision continues to be a great addition to the AEW schedule, even if Dynamite hasn’t been surpassed, for my tastes. AEW is finally firing on all cylinders, and I look forward to seeing what they have in the lead up to Wembley and United.