Written By All Elite Gino (Gino Lewis)
Location United Center, Chicago IL
Here it is! The premier of AEW’s third television show. It’s a monumental achievement for AEW less than 5 years into their existence. I believe AEW Saturday Night Collision is the official name of the show. It is generating a lot of buzz and figures to be a lot more important than Rampage. Most reports have suggested this will be a second “A” show unlike Rampage. It gives AEW a total of 5 hours per week on TV. They also have Ring of Honor. There is no longer Dark or Dark Elevation. It really isn’t an increase in content but Collision makes that content a lot more relevant.
There is a new announce team of Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness and Good ole JR Jim Ross. I’m excited for this announce team. Kevin Kelly is great for New Japan and I’m a fan of McGuinness as well. I’m glad they are splitting up Tony Schiavone and JR. AEW has been on a mini roll the last couple weeks headed into Forbidden Door. I’m fired up for Collison. I expect the momentum to carry on! I’m not going to write a play-by-play style review for Collison like I do for Dynamite. That’s too much writing for me. Maybe I will if I ever start making money doing this haha. This will be more of a recap.
Even with this being the debut episode, by far the most notable item for this show is the return of CM Punk. It seemed like we might never get here. There were certainly multiple reports that suggested his time with the company and the wrestling business altogether were finished. That obviously was not the case. There is probably still a lot of backstage heat and unresolved issues. Never the less Punk is back! AEW is better off for it. It was smart to have him return in his home town. The crowd is chanting for CM Punk to open the show. Naturally Punk’s music hits. He is out first to wild applause.
CM Punk clearly hasn’t missed a beat on the mic. The promo was brilliant as we are used to from him. It wasn’t at the level of his “pipe bomb” promo but he is certainly back in a big way and is still being presented as one of the main players in AEW. The crowd ate up everything he said. We’ll see how he is received outside his home town. Punk took the AEW logo off the microphone before he started speaking. Interesting touch. He took a not-so-subtle shot at the Elite, specifically Young Bucks using the phrase “counterfeit Bucks”. Punk called himself the King. He had his AEW World Title in a bag. He never lost the title and claims it’s still his. He also called out MJF to the camera after his promo.
I don’t mind that Punk took a shot at the Bucks. They did the same to him. Real heat can be a wonderful thing in the wrestling business. That said, I’m surprised he was allowed to mention it legally. I don’t think he took it too far or anything. I have a feeling things might be a little better backstage than they are letting on by the fact that he mentioned them and Hangman Page in his ESPN interview. It’s smart to have the fans think the beef is still on. It could also be that Tony Khan and AEW have no control over Punk and what he says. Either way I’m glad he’s back. It’s smart not to shy away from the real-life issues between Punk and the Elite whether it’s a shoot or work. Wrestling is at its best when the lines between reality and fiction are blurred. It was interesting that he talked to MJF off mic. It looks like we may re-visit that epic rivalry sooner than later!
TNT Championship; Luchasaurus def (C) Wardlow – I get starting a new show on TNT with a TNT title match. I don’t think this is the greatest matchup AEW can give us in the first match on a new show. That turned out to be true. It wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t great either. Other than Wardlow’s impressive strength and athleticism there weren’t many high points. Luchasaurus did have one good spot where he showed some savvy playing possum after the first powerbomb and a distraction from Christian. I thought he was toast. That the Powerbomb Symphony was about to begin. Instead, Christian hit Wardlow in the head twice with a camera while Luchasaurus had the ref distracted. The evil dinosaur won after an average looking shot to the back of the head. The camera shots didn’t look that great either.
I was shocked by the title change. My wife and I popped for it. I give the match an extra half star for the surprise title change. I know other people thought it might happen. I didn’t. After the match Christian celebrated as if he had won. Luchasaurus never held the title. He held Christian on his shoulders as he held the belt over his head. I think it works based on their relationship. Christian has massive heat with the crowd right now so I understand making the most of that and giving Luchasaurus a push. However, my biggest take away from this is how they have botched Wardlow. He’s lost all his momentum and looked weak again here. Hopefully they have something better lined up for him and he moves on from the TNT title scene. Grade 2 ¼ *
Backstage Powerhouse Hobbs is with QT Marshall. He declares for the Owen Hart Tournament. I like that. I wouldn’t mind if they used the Owen Hart Tournament to elevate a mid-card talent similar to King of the Ring.
Andrade El Idolo def Buddy Matthews – This is the match I was looking most forward to when the card was announced. They delivered an excellent match. Buddy is one of my favorite wrestlers in AEW. I’m glad to see Andrade back. He is being well received by the crowd. It felt like a big star returning. The striking was stiff and the action was fast-paced. There were a few really cool looking moves like Buddy Matthews hitting a hanging hammerlock DDT. Andrade hit his amazing spinning back elbow. He does that better than anyone in the business. The back elbow led to the finish which was Andrade slapping on the Figure 4 then bridging into the Figure 8 ala his wife Charlotte. Nice homage to her and her father Ric Flair. WOOOOO! The crowd loved that. Grade 3 ¾ *
After the match Andrade wanted to shake Matthews hand. It looked Buddy might oblige when the lights went out. Malakai Black and Brodie King are in the ring behind Andrade. King took him out with a giant clothesline. This was an interesting development. House of Black has been getting babyface reactions. This was clearly heelish. Andrade was definitely the face in all this according to the crowd. This will probably lead to Andrade getting back up from his friends Rush, Preston Vance and Dralistico. There will likely be a trios championship match. It was already teased shortly before Andrade came back. Welcome back Andrade! This was a great match. A rivalry with House of Black is a good program for his return.
There was a short video package for Scorpio Sky. It looks like he is returning next week but the graphic went off the screen really fast. I’m glad he’ll be back. He’s another quality performer who likely was off TV because there just weren’t enough spots. One of the main things I was hoping for with Collision is that we’d get to see more talent featured regularly. It looks like that is going to happen!
Miro def Tony Nese – Before the match Nese was in the ring saying he is cancelling Collision doing jumping jacks saying it’s time for group training. I knew it wasn’t looking good for him. Nese is great in this role. I like when the annoying heel is fed to the dominant babyface. That’s what happened here. It was a little more than a squash. Nese got some offense but it only made Miro angry. Miro was dominant as he should be in his return. I know a lot of people might rate this low because there wasn’t much to it. I think it was exactly what it needed to be. It deserves a decent rating because of that. Grade 2 ½ *
Ricky Starks is backstage. He also declares for the Owen Hart Tournament. I like that for the same reasons I said about Hobbs. In Starks case I think it’s a bit of a step down from when he beat Jericho at Revolution. Hopefully he has a good showing in the tournament and gets his momentum back.
Sky Blue/Willow Nightingale def Toni Storm/Ruby Soho – Blue is from Chicago. The crowd is firmly behind her. This was a good match. The announcers played it up to be a big upset. It kind of is but I thought the faces would win. I really like Sky Blue’s finisher Code Blue. I really like her ring attire as well. Pushing Blue and Willow makes a lot of sense. They are both very popular with the crowd and are improving at a rapid pace. Having them around the title picture is a good idea. I wouldn’t mind if one of them took the title off Storm. I doubt that will happen though. I enjoyed this match. The crowd was into it. It helped advance what looks like a developing rivalry. All of those are good things! Grade 3 *
Tony Schiavone is in the ring for Scissoring time with the Acclaimed and Daddy Ass. This was a fun segment. Tony scissored with them at the end. Billy Gunn did say they are still going after the trios titles but this was mainly just a fun way to give the crowd a break before the main event.
CM Punk/FTR def Samoa Joe/Jay White/Juice Robinson – The match marks CM Punk’s return to the ring after 10 months. Honestly, I don’t think he looked great. He was rusty. That’s to be expected when anyone has missed as much time as he has. He wasn’t in the match much but did have a good string of offense at the end. He is 44 years old. I know how that feels. I’m not sure if we’ll ever see his best work again at this stage of his career. That said, it was awesome seeing him in there with Joe. He clearly has enough left to be a top-level performer considering his mic skills and overall star power.
This was a long match. The action was terrific by the end. Jay White and Samoa Joe had moments where they really got to shine. Jay White seems to be doing fine in AEW after what many think was a slow start. This was not the chaotic trios match we normally see in AEW. I don’t remember seeing a match this long that never really broke down. Jim Ross was only on commentary for this match. He took a bad fall earlier in the day and had a bad black eye. He didn’t sound good at all. Hopefully he gets better soon. The match ended with FTR hitting the Big Rig and then Punk hitting Go to Sleep on Juice Robinson for the pin. This was an excellent main event and a happy ending for the crowd. Grade 3 ¾ *
Great debut for Collision! I’m not sure if it was intentional but this show had a completely different feel than Dynamite. There is normally a lot of chaos on Dynamite and Rampage. That wasn’t the case for Saturday Night Collision. I think the chaos turns off a lot of fans to AEW. Personally, I like it. I think it’s what wrasslin should be. Perhaps a cleaner presentation will appeal to a new audience. It’s just one week but I know there is a different creative team for Collision and it showed. In a good way. I think it would be cool if the 2 shows had distinct differences. Variety is a good thing. One thing I would have liked to see is more development for Forbidden Door. I’m not sure if Punk will be on that show. I thought we might see something set up for him. It’s no big deal. AEW kept the momentum going Saturday night!
Overall Grade 8.25
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