Listening to Cornette made me think that maybe CM Punk is carrying around a dog collar and not his replica AEW World Title.

I’m not sure just how involved CM Punk is involved in creative, but one thing I like about Collision is the potential for little details to matter. I was thinking just before that CM Punk coming to Roderick Strong’s aid could actually become a MAJOR plot detail for their company:

Roderick Strong is friends with Adam Cole, who is currently doing that weird thing with MJF — the current AEW World Champion. They could be in line for an AEW World Tag Team Title shot. MJF has issues with Punk and history with FTR — the current Tag Team Champs. Punk’s friendship with Strong could place tensions on the “friendship” between MJF and Cole, which could place tensions on the friendship between Punk and FTR. Throw in Cole’s history with The Bullet Club, the potential to mix MJF and Wardlow’s history in with Samoa Joe’s involvement and history with CM Punk and Roderick Strong (and MJF if you throw that picture of MJF in his security detail up on someone’s Twitter).

There’s potential for this all to connect and lead to some pretty amazing storytelling. You could get Dax Harwood vs. Roderick Strong on an edition of Collision and it be more than just a match between those two parties. It could be about Dax’s friendship with CM Punk, Strong’s ties to Adam Cole (and MJF…and their quest to become tag champs) and where allegiances lie.

gay

I keep missing Collision, cards look ok. I have great intentions but I just never quite make it. Its actually a surprisingly good time slot for me being a Sunday but yeah... dunno.

I still keep watching Dynamite in a weirder time slot for me personally. Maybe I'm just a one show a week wrestling fan nowadays. I read HOB is going to be on Collision so that might draw me in as I love all three but overall I want Hangman, Omega, Bucks, Darby, Sting.

Punk vs Joe
Stark vs Hobbs
FTR vs Jay and Juice
Willow vs Athena

Fantastic card on paper.

showtime

punk doing reservoir dogs

LOL since when is that idiot claiming Owen Hart was the reason he became a wrestler. I guess 20 years in you can make up whatever story you want to virtue signal.

Anyways, on to the actual reason I wanted to check out the show tonight, Starks vs Hobbs.

yeah the 2 young guns who will get the push tonight.

good let's see what j hart can do in the ring

come on, ricky

Julia Hart in action tonight? Cool

that was a cool win

#RIPQT

So Miro isnt interested in winning titles, just cutting backstage promos, Tiny is such a good booker! Have a good night everybody!

xrod, what are you going on about in that private message wanting to nibble on schiavone's pierced ear lobe?

facing a jobber this should be bad

yeah, save that jobber shit for Rampage

ftr is over

this may end up a draw

wow contender for tag match of the year

pretty dang good

That was fun. Punk versus Ricky gonna be cool

Sweet Tooth gettin the last laugh

I saw the highlights of the main event in typical Noid fashion and I must say that I was thoroughly disappointed and didn’t understand the in-ring storytelling whatsoever. Shit was sloppy as fuck.

spot on, chap

Great show. Collision is now must watch TV.

Two out of three falls next week. Owen Hart finals. Return of Bret Hart. Haven't looked forward to a weekly show in a while.

Oh my.

Collision looked fucking great.

I am legitimately surprised Phil didnt get injured with how stiff Joe works. Tiny Khan might be Snowman, but Phil is Glassman.

Agreed. Punk's promo at the start made me care about the tournament. The short video package made me care mroe about the Punk/ajoe history. Hobbs vs Starks felt high stakes. FtR vs Juice and White was good - on a personal note never understood what a "title eliminator" was (thought it was just AEWs way of saying number on contender), glad the commentators educated me. Punk vs Joe was good as well. Nice close to the show as well.

Looking forward to next week!

All this is nice and makes sense in a "Smackdown Six" kinda way... BUUUUUT the problem is just that: it makes sense.

It doesn't include anything about how this affects the feelings of "the four horsemen" (all lower case letters intentionally). It doesn't feature the huge signees Action Andretti or Kommander. There is nothing worked in about Orange Cassidy.

I've been beaten down from expecting too much from wrestling over the years. And here, I'm not shitting on the Bucks and Co. because it's the popular thing to do. I'm shitting on the Bucks because they have done the same shit for at least over a decade now. It's fine the first few times, but they are beyond "X-Pac heat" levels of the same match ad infinitum. Even worse, because they're in charge, and like when other wrestlers have matches like them. Trapese artists can be fun every once in awhile, but building the entire circus around them gets stale quick.

None of the things Nerf mentioned are set up to "pop the boys", and I personally fear that's the reason why nothing like that is set to happen. I hope I'm wrong, but again, I've had most of the hope beaten out of me.

I get having the hope beaten out of you. I’m going to try and remain open-minded about Collision though.

I've watch 5-whole highlights of the show on YouTube and can't think that anyone with one working brain cell would willingly consume this nonsense. This show really needs Jim Cornette and Mark Magnus. Samoa Joe needs to switch to tights like a real professional wrestler instead of his bermuda shorts.

So you cared whose ass it was and why it was farting and i believe that time can come again!

I watched the Punk highlights, they were great!

The Highlights:

Exactly!

Collision in a couple hours, let's all go buy some human teeth and human teeth accessories.

https://i.ibb.co/T0Thw2x/Picsart-23-...-19-29-548.jpg

Let's do this

after I go get some beer and taco bell

showtime

love this feud

tag match is good

wish they would have saved this for the ppv

Collision is the PPV of wrestling television shows.

is juice under contract

this is one of the best tag matches in aew history

dudes gotta be exhausted

damn ad brake time

5 mins left this may be a draw

hope the women's match doesn't go more than a couple minutes

surprised it didn't go to a draw

great match

God damn what a match. Maybe the best in company history.

Taco Bell poop break time.

good womans match

Cowboy Khan

tony in a cowboy hat

This should be fun

let's go ricky cm punk

Noid, xrod, Trips, etc. gonna need to go back and watch that 58 minute tag match.

where is trips

Good question

Stop with the Burger King commercials. gg

oh wow. expect a Punk heel turn now

yesss starks won

right man won

donut turn starks heel plz

lol.... kinda lame the show the match ended at 10pm on the dot when they "had permission" to go overtime and then their own show was right after LOL.

Hell yeah. Archer and Jake.

Ricky was just checking to make sure the ropes were still tight for the next match, he wasn't cheating

pockets time piss brake

rip his head off lance

lol @ OC piling the security

boooooo

Archer lookin like an honorary member of salt n pepa

LISTENNNN. YO YO

Jonah Hill joke went over the fans' heads

what happened we lost half the womans match

Con Air apparently was more important? I was gaming and had the TV muted

Any title changes?

not that i saw

Collision looks amazing. Fucking love Kevin Kelly and Nigel on commentary.

The time limit call in the tag match was smart. They listen to Jim Cornette. Constant calls throughout the match would be weird today, but announcing the 5 minute end? Smart. It also makes fans believe in a draw. That FTR won was smart diversion. I was toying with the drama of a draw. FTR would retain, but you could always do a “we won the first fall.” With matches going so long these days and 2/3 Falls believable reaching the limit, it might be useful to implement a rule that the first fall is so important because in the event of a draw, first fall wins regardless of champion’s advantage.

Punk and Starks looked good. I like Punk going back to shorts. I didn’t really buy into Starks winning last week. Feels kind of “forced.” But I loved this finish. Punk got screwed, but in a way that it could be like “Kudos, kid. I would have done that when I was your age too. But think deeply about the path you’re on.”

The women’s match seemed fine. A lot more organic spots in these matches. Willow winning is cool. So many Calgary-appropriate spots. Not a bad thing.

I’m not big into House of Black. Kings of the Black Throne was thrown out a lot. I wonder if a trademark lapsed or something? Maybe it’s like a Submission Sorority thing they just figured out. They worked this smart. Best I’ve seen Brody King look. Watching this I realized I want them to explain HOB’s bullshit with Malakai having contractual leverage being at one point a really hot free agent. Would rather they cut out the lights and bullshit, but it could go a step towards explaining how they basically do whatever they want. Andrade coming out builds. I think/hope he costs HOB the belts next week and they move the heels in a new direction with Malakai as a big bad and slowly move away from the trios shit.

Battle of the Belts looked good too! Love the commentary team getting more time. I hate the Orange Cassidy gimmick, but this was the best I’ve seen him look too. Nothing unbelievable, except I don’t get him kicking out of that big slam. But the countout finish was smart. Lance Archer is good.

Luchasaurus isn’t my jam. Shawn Spears is alright. Fine.

Was half-expecting Punk to crash Starks’ ceremony and reveal himself to be more of a dick, but it’s legit charity so it is smart they didn’t. That can come next week. But it would have been an edgy turn of Punk being the disgruntled party.

I didn't like the whole show but for the most part loved it. I just can't figure out every reason Collision hits it out of the park compared to Dynamite.

I like D's commentary team but prefer Collisions

I like cruiserweight wrestling (some of my fondest WCW memories) but it's nice to not see that spot where a bunch of wrestlers are bowling pins for someone jumping into them.

I like goofy backstage interviews but appreciate it's mostly not a thing on this show.

Who again are the writers for Collision? Punk, Schiavone, Kahn, FTR? Anyone else? Because it friggin works (so far).

It's not the best night for a live show that'll interfere with other sports/ppv. It should have probably premiered in the winter in that regard.

Another great show!

Opening tag match, that wasn't going to be beat. Punk/Starr's is interesting and sets up a nice fallout for next week.

No Bret Hart :(

Was Bret Hart advertised? I read he was, but it could have been a Guru Dave.

Nah, just hoped he'd be there as it was in Calgary.

Oh I thought I’d read Bret was going to be there.

Think you might have two hopes with this: slim and none.

FTR no longer has any appeal to me. They have the same "we wrestle good" gimmick that almost everybody else has, but with the added bonus of "we like Bret Hart". Bald specifically is so insufferable that the meme exists of whenever anything bad happens, people ask "but is FTR Bald ok?".

If anything, if the match is that great, it is just another reminder that the best they can do with Jay White is in a tag team that is not even the tag champs. What is the point that?

Willow is clearly Tiny's favorite new toy. Why would the entire Outcasts gimmick of we use the numbers game to win, be ignored completely for a finals match? That is literally their entire gimmick, but Toni and Saraya just skipped this one? Such illogical booking.

Why is House of Black wrestling local jobbers? AEW has like 200 wrestlers signed to their roster, they can't use anybody else?

So the fans are booing the guy coming out in Hart colors, and cheering the guy who has been one of the few characters they have that is pretty much universally liked, and they have that guy win by cheating and then have him disrespect Liger by snatching the trophy from him? Let's turn Ricky Starks heel because everybody wants Phil as a babyface, Tiny Khan logic.

Has any title ever.changed hands on a Battle of the Belts show? I really do not remember.

They bring Lance Archer back as this big monster deserving a title match even with him having been off TV for months, and have him lose by countout? WTF

So Taya could not win the TBS Title, so fuck it that earns her a World Title match... Got it! So Toni is clearly there, why would Ruby go out to help win when Toni was MIA an hour ago for her?

So TNT Champion Christian and his Monster Dinosaur hailing from The Tar Pits are fighting against Shawn Spears, who I did not even know was still around. He deserves a title match why, because he is from the same country 1200+ miles away from where they happen to be? It is clearly not because he is a smart contender since he lost by being a distracted idiot.

Honestly, what is the point? Every show is booked like an exhibition with no meaning or followup, other than booking the same match over and over again.

Where is Miro? Has he even wrestled since the first Collision? Did they really have ZERO followup for Samoa Joe? Do they really have Andrade fueding over "they took my halloween mask"? It is not even the overdone Lucha mask story, it is just a piece of his entrance attire. Would the Bucks fued over somebody stealing their tassels? That would be a multiple weeks storyline?

This is just more of the same illogical shit that they used to do exclusively on Dynamite, just with less flippy nonsense.

lol. not a bad assessment really

They have so much to work with, it is just frustrating. Hell give Jeff Jarrett the book, because early TNA was really innovative at least.

Nah, gotta disagree. You can take the logic sword to Dynamite, but Collision’s booking makes sense. It doesn’t have the same ADHD as most modern wrestling.

I get the FTR complaint, but I’d rather them shutting the fuck up and doing the work in the ring than not. Thought the ending of the match was really clever, especially as I thought we were going to a draw or heel win. Jay White seems to have his fingers in the pie as a heel (he called out Punk last week). The tag titles were just a showcase of how good he and Juice are.

Heel interference isn’t going to happen in the Owen tournament. Ruby had something to prove by making it to the finals and redeeming her loss from last year. The Outcasts shit is horrible, so it makes sense for the wrestling show to move away from it. Ruby might grow away from her stablemates and this could play into that story.

Samoa Joe is a patient motherfucker. He doesn’t need to be on TV this week. He’ll strike when the moment is right.

I liked House of Black beating the jobbers. It’s an establishing win before they drop the belts next week. As I said, I hope they interject the idea that Malakai Black has swing, hence the request against tin cans being granted.

Miro should be on television next week, but it’s not like there is wasted motion on these shows. They’ve been building to what is imminent.

I did have the thought that Lance Archer should have just beat Orange Cassidy. But going with TK’s fetish, this was the best OC has ever looked, and it’s partially because the victory over Archer seemed credible and earned. He gets more out of squeaking a countout than he does knocking someone else out.

AEW as a whole is terrible. They’ve got some massive icebergs coming their way. But the team that puts together Collision — whether it’s Punk, Danielson, FTR, Kevin Kelly, whoever — clearly get wrestling and try to have things make sense. And I get the impression they were behind Battle of the Belts too.

Hopefully they will be behind Dynamite soon, because it’s no good having one show that makes sense if the bulk of the product is still a bunch of shit happening for no reason. Realistically, guys like Jericho, Moxley and The Elite are never going to let anyone else handle their booking — especially Punk — but you can let them handle their own shit and when it’s terrible they might get the idea.

Oh, and I’m not sure Ricky Starks is turning heel, guys. They might indicate that way, but this just feels like drama and a credible way for Starks to move past Punk without beating him flat. Now Punk can be disappointed dad. Or even approving mentor.

Beating Punk needs to mean something, but it’s also got to come from a scrappy place. Starks has this career victory but still has things he needs to prove.

Oh, and when Collision takes over Dynamite, can we please get Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman on the call, pls.

Ian Riccaboni should get to fill in Kevin Kelly when Kevin goes to do the G1. That will be a good segue into him taking a spot on Dynamite. The first move will be to have him replace Tony Schiavone, who will go to interviewing and maybe sitting in on Rampage if he still wants to be at a desk. So we’ll get a few weird weeks of Ian Riccaboni, Excalibur and Taz. But then you do an angle with Taz and hook, move him back into managing and Caprice sneaks on.

Then it’s Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman and Excalibur. By then maybe Excalibur will have learned to lay out, be sick of it, have a deal expiring, be happy to go to Rampage, or whatever, and just get the fuck out of the way.

AEW could use some better referees too. Was Bryce Remsburg the ref in the main event? He was in really bad position for that finish. It’s little details like that.

Mike Chiota is old now, I guess. Brian Hebner retired, but you could probably throw money at him. I’m sure there are trained refs out there in the indies and they can train guys themselves.

AEW’s never really needed to call for their refs to actually be good.

It’s more the thing with Liger and the trophy than the way he beat Punk.