AEW Collision 6/17/2023 Match Ratings and Commentary
Joe and Punk (Credit-AEW)
Here’s how we rated the premier episode of AEW Collision from The United Center in Chicago. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.
AEW Collision - 6/17/2023
Luchasaurus def. Wardlow to win the AEW TNT Championship: ★★
Andrade El Idolo def. Buddy Matthews: ★★★★
Miro def. Tony Nese: ★
Skye Blue and Willow Nightingale def. The Outcasts: ★★
CM Punk and FTR def. Samoa Joe, Jay White, and Juice Robinson: ★★★★
Christian is fucking perfect (Credit-AEW)
Show Highlight—
CM Punk. No wrestler ever meant more to their hometown than CM Punk. Having him for the first episode of Collision made this show feel like a huge, special event and a series that has to the potential to not just be another half-assed Rampage. The passion of the crowd and fans made it impossible not to feel like you were experiencing something momentous.
Ignoring The Elite bullshit for a moment, the opening segment worked as Punk has a new outright tweener persona—he does have a new haircut after all—by saying he’s done being nice (in his first run, being presented as a face, his character in kayfabe kept back and bit his tongue while saying frequent niceties to the crowd). Most performers and promotions themselves can’t sustain tweeners but that’s clearly Punk’s speciality, and it’s what ought to be successful.
If you had no idea what was going on with Punk and The Elite backstage this worked as a reintroduction to Punk as it was just vague enough in his “shoot” comments. The counterfeit bucks one-liner was great and deserved the pop it got. Will they actually have a program and match? You’d think so, what with Punk stating repeatedly that wrestling is a business. Perhaps he and FTR aligns with the Don Callis and/or BCC?
Still, work or shoot, or a shoot that’s turned into a work, their issues with each other still seems incredibly petulant, and in hindsight, an incredible derailment and waste of time. Going into this, I hoped Punk wouldn’t even mention The Elite, just so the oxygen left the room for the dirt sheet writers and aggregators, but it is what it is. He also made a point to say that he has the belt still and took shots at MJF, so perhaps that’s where All Out in Chicago can build toward.
What Worked—
The production. With a full crowd and a bigger arena to produce the show in, the camera crew were able to get sweeping shots of the crowd and shoot entrances in a manner that felt different than what we’d typically get on Wednesdays and Fridays. We’ll see how this continues to look once they tour arenas that are only going to seat 4 to 8K.
The show itself seemed more wrestling based and hopefully they can leave the sports entertainment and in-ring segments that are goofier (contract signings, belt-whippings, doomed birthday cakes) on Wednesdays to differentiate the shows a bit more. Because of its timeslot, I’d have to assume this is going to draw more hardcores, especially once football season starts, so they can hopefully stick to having a long main event that takes multiple segments on a regular basis.
Kevin Kelly. He’s been the best announcer in wrestling for years and he’s someone I hoped would have been signed when AEW was launched.
Christian Cage. As much as one texts it, you seldom laugh out loud from shit, but Christian’s victory celebration made me lose it completely. Perfect character work there.
Andrade vs. Matthews. It’s a shame the Cody-verse shit happened because this is the guy that I thought we’d get week-in and week-out when he signed 2 years ago. Who knows what creative, ego, attitude, injury, or whateverthefuck did to derail him so much, but when Andrade is healthy, he could be made into a main event player. That elbow was the sickest move I’ve seen in weeks. And let’s not sleep on Buddy, either. He’s getting more screen time and even though he’s losing, he can be made by having banger matches a la Takeshita. If Kenny ends up leaving for WWE or returning to NJPW because of the Punk nonsense, you could have his (possible) heir apparent there.
Miro. He worked the shit out of the crowd. Because of the shoddy creative he’s been handed throughout his career, he doesn’t get enough credit as a master manipulator of audiences.
Trios Main Event. This was old school wrestling comfort food; the sum of doing all the little things right in front of a rabid crowd. Maybe I’ve overrated it, but I could watch this back time and time again and enjoy myself as much as the performers themselves seemed to. Punk’s selling of FTR’s chops from their corner that got him so excited that he had to take a walk down the steps. Dax’s pure fanboying out when Samoa Joe and Punk got in the ring together. And it’s surreal to think where we live in a time where Punk and Jay White are in the ring together.
What Didn’t Work—
Wardlow and the TNT Title. This sorta landed between working and not working. Wardlow losing on a big stage was bad; his playing the part of a stupid babyface and falling into a trap was bad; a TNT title change works for a new show on TNT; and Luchasauras winning a belt after pretty much never winning a marquee singles match is perfect fodder for Jungle Boy’s heel turn.
Here’s my question: if you’re Wardlow, why the hell would you even want the TNT title anyway? In kayfabe, wouldn’t it be like a jinx or bad luck that was just a symbol of you getting fucked?
Show Cringe—
JR. It wouldn’t make you Skip Bayless to suggest JR shouldn’t have ever been on a live mic even at the start of AEW. His lack of interest, contempt for the modern product, and over-reliance on garbled, hackneyed one-liners was his schtick since his failed New Japan run. And that’s very sad and a shame.
Just last week I watched a classic Attitude Era Raw of the tag team Hell In A Cell match between Austin and Taker vs Kane and Mankind and that’s the JR I always want to remember. The guy that could make the product sound so exhilarating and that you were watching the best live television in wrestling history. It’s speculation—clearly—but he comes off like in his own mind he needs to be on commentary and that he thinks he’s not a hinderance and an embarrassment to his own legacy. I won’t pile on because he Tweeted that he’s going to go away and take time off, and I hope he can get healthy and find peace, but it was malfeasance to his legend to trot him out there knowing the condition he was in and has been in.
JR as he is now, is best used to bring gravity to a pre-taped, sit-down interview where you can make an angle or match seem like a bigger deal while using his legend status more constructively.
Andrade and Buddy (Credit-AEW)
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