AEW Collision 7/8/2023 Match Ratings and Commentary
CM Punk (Credit-AEW)
Here’s how we rated the fourth AEW Collision from Regina, Saskatchewan. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.
AEW Collision - 7/8/2023
Ricky Starks def. Powerhouse Hobbs: ★★
Julia Hart def. Bambi Hall: ★
Bullet Club Gold def. FTR: ★★★★ 3/4
Scorpio Sky def. Action Andretti: ★★
CM Punk def. Samoa Joe: ★★★
Dax and Jay White (Credit-AEW)
Show Highlight—
Bullet Club Gold vs. FTR. Jay White had his breakout moment in AEW. We’ve been waiting for him to get his moment to truly shine as one of the greatest active wrestlers in the world and this was his spotlight, kicking out at 2.999999999 like only he can. False finishes are a hallmark of great wrestling matches, and with wrestlers constructing their matches with that in mind, can make some matches a chore when they’re forced or just not believable. Here, each one was a success and made White seem like one of the toughest, best wrestlers in the company. Even the actual finish itself felt like it would be another kickout and that Cash would get there just in time to save Dax. Made it feel like a legitimate sporting contest. Juice (arguably) got his first big win and he earned his flowers after being the guy wrestling each week on Collision and being something of the glue for its month-long inception so far.
FTR, please. If you’re regularly reading this website or listening to our podcast you know how I feel about them. Their 2022 was on some Ric Flair ’89 shit that’ll never be topped, and wisely of them, they haven’t had matches week after week like a part of them would probably like to, giving them time to heal, refresh, and not have to be burdened with the expectation that every outing needs to be an uncontested 5 star classic.
And speaking of having expectations for an uncontested 5 star classic, this is kinda spurious projection, but watching the match, it’s like they started off a little slow knowing they had the 2/3 falls match booked for next week but just couldn’t fucking help themselves and had an all-time classic just for shits and giggles.
What Worked—
SNME Intro. Funny how things land like it immediately registers. Borrowing from Saturday Night’s Main Event and letting the wrestlers cut 15 second blips about themselves and their match allows the most-lusted-after casuals to dive right in, whilst giving nerds like me the sweet hit of the nostalgic glass dick of SNME. The music is great, the signature features the wrestlers (for the most part) wrestling on that show, it just congeals in savory wrestling jelly.
Opening Punk promo. With so many tournaments going on, this is an easy way to refresh the meaning and necessity of why this tourney matters. The upside of having a brand-ish-split-ish, is you can have people in multiple segments during a show again where you don’t feel like it sacrifices exposure to, say, as an example, Bandido, when otherwise it would have felt like they’d go into AEW WITSEC.
Starks vs. Hobbs. On paper, it looked as if they booked themselves in a corner where neither wrestler could afford a loss and you wondered if they’d overthink it all Goddamn Pal Style and focus so much on making both guys look strong, that they both look weak in execution. Here, it worked perfectly, as Starks got a big win and revenge over an old stablemate, while Hobbs got to reject QTV and hopefully be on his own again. Sometimes a contrast in styles to give a stable a ying to the other yang works but the QTV stuff is just so broad and cringe that Hobbs would be better suited away from these goofs. Oh, and Hobbs in that Owen inspired pink singlet is money.
Punk vs. Joe. Maybe it’s equitable to film buffs who never saw Citizen Kane, but I never watched any of the Punk/Joe series. Whenever I could find it in the late aughts it was on a site that looked like it would give me more digital STDs then downloading mp3s on LimeWire.
Similar to Starks/Hobbs, this could have been overthought and executed poorly, but the simple story of Punk not being able to beat Joe and fearing when Joe would eventually destroy him sucked me in. Punk miscalculating the Owen Tournament and its charitable reach would somehow make Joe a sportsman in defeat is a perfectly acceptable method to sink their teeth into this being the next big Collision angle.
What Didn’t Work—
Battle of the Belts. If this show didn’t air would anyone miss it? You wonder where that line is for WBD of something being too much of a good thing. What they could do to make it interesting, is have the 2/3 falls tag match be the main event of Collision and intentionally run over into BotB.
Punk and Joe (Credit-AEW)
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