The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Collision could end up being the best thing to happen to AEW creatively.
Ratings aside for now, the addition of the two-hour show in primetime on TNT has allowed the company to start to clean up some of the critiques many had of it and give fans a crisper and more developed product. Not to mention Collison can feel like a whole different promotion at times in the best possible way.
AEW came in as — and mostly has been — a stark contrast to what we see on WWE television. The emphasis is on insanely athletic matches, an extra level or two of violence and the desire to give fans the dream encounters they crave.
With so little TV time and a huge roster, Dynamites over the past two years were often jam-packed with as much talent and matches as possible — leaving little time for proper storytelling and character development outside of the main arcs.
Collision, on the other hand, has felt like a tip of the cap to old-school wrestling and a fan base that may have been turned off by AEW. It starts with short promos from the night’s combatants similar to the WWE’s “Saturday Night Main Event.” The matches themselves have been given the time to feel like mini-stories on their own and less like feats of athletic prowess. It’s brought great continuity to the shows, with more creative voices needed with the added TV time.
FTR and Bullet Club Gold were allowed to be in matches together for four straight weeks, culminating in as good a two-out-of-three-falls match as you will see on free TV because it was given the first full hour of the show to really cook. It allowed FTR the time to work long and hard just to tie up the AEW tag team title match at one fall each before completing the rally to win.
In four weeks, CM Punk now has issues with Samoa Joe, Jay White and Ricky Starks at the top of the card. Starks used the rope to beat him in the Owen Hart Cup final in a possible heel turn. While it’s the show’s B-story and pretty simple, Andrade has a tangible and personal feud with Malakai Black after he stole the luchador’s mask. And Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness have shown you how smooth and cohesive a two-man booth can be after we had gotten three- and four-man booths prior in AEW, where it felt like the roles weren’t always clear.
Maybe it’s all something that brings some of the WWE audience or a fan who had given up on AEW to check it out again — at least on DVR.
The addition of Collision has seemed to have a positive ripple effect on Dynamite, which no longer needs to jam talent onto the card or not pick up a story below the main event two weeks later. Dynamite’s main stories of The Elite vs. The Blackpool Combat Club, MJF and Adam Cole’s friendship and Chris Jericho potentially joining Don Callis are seemingly touched on multiple times throughout Dynamite now.
More time is being given to vignettes — whether it be Nick Wayne’s arrival and the sports entertainment gym and video game sessions with MJF and Cole that are allowing extra layers to be added to the story that AEW might never have done or made time for before.
AEW is starting to tell stories at a higher level than it has, maybe, since its first year-plus as a company. The extra TV time Collison has afforded them, as far as the quality of the product goes, has been a blessing and not a burden. And with a huge summer ahead, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Ronda Rowdy
If only Ronda Rousey had that fire and promo confidence all the time. Maybe it’s the comfort level of working with friend Shayna Baszler or the motivation to elevate her former tag team partner to the next level when their feud is over, but Rousey delivered one of her best and most effective promos during her time in WWE.
She came off arrogant, condescending and dismissive of Baszler – as if he is doing her a favor by wrestling her at SummerSlam. While I didn’t like the Queen of Spades saying she is a “better version of Ronda Rousey” in the ring instead of just saying better than her there, it clearly set up the chance for Baszler to get that monkey off her back in Detriot.
Wayne’s World
Nick Wayne pretty much nailed everything about his AEW debut, and the company hit every right note but the high one. The two video packages hyping his arrival were some of the best AEW has done and laid a great foundation for the 18-year-old prodigy in the company. He looked like he absolutely belonged in the same ring with Swerve Strickland, saving some of the more amazing things he can do for another day.
Wayne didn’t win the match, as AEW is building heat between his mentor Darby Allin and Strickland. If there was ever a time for Wayne to sneak out a win and Strickland to beat him down after the match, this might have been it. Let’s just hope Wayne is actively involved in the feud and not just riding shotgun to Allin. A Sting rub would also be cool.
The 10 Count
Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar are about to have the third match in their trilogy and we still don’t know for certain why The Beast even had an issue with the American Nightmare in the first place.
Slammiversary felt like a big reshuffling of the deck in Impact with five new champions crowned. The only one that didn’t change hands was the world title. But former champ Josh Alexander’s return from injury to confront Alex Shelley left the company with some intrigue and a fresh feel going forward.
For a moment on SmackDown “Main Event” Jey Uso felt very deserving of that name. Maybe it was the rare sight of him standing there without Jimmy. Maybe it was the way he had the audience with him during a passionate promo. It all made you feel a little more confident Jey could carry the main event if WWE actually did have him beat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed Universal championship.
If you ever wondered just how MJF would fare as a babyface, you are getting the closest glimpse. The answer is he could become one of the best babyfaces in the business if he is this over when he is only half trying. He and Cole will have to hit the “double clothesline” to win the tournament, won’t they?
If Bron Breakker is just going to be used to put guys over in NXT – losing to Carmelo Hayes, Seth Rollins and now Ilja Dragunov – then WWE needs to get him up to the main roster after SummerSlam.
Thought this week’s “Dark Side of Ring” on Adrian Adonis and the tragic car accident that killed him and two others was one of their strongest of the season. Just a lot of powerful interviews with family, friends and the accident’s lone survivor.
The whole buying-a-ticket thing doesn’t feel like it makes sense for Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Iyo Sky during Asuka and Bianca Belair’s title match. We just saw them on the show. They don’t need a ticket! It did at least help set up the need to make a triple-threat match for SummerSlam between Asuka, Flair and Belair.
Kenny Omega and El Hijo del Vikingo had one of the best single matches of the weekend at TripleMania XXXI, but it felt like they jammed a lot into a short period of time and did let the finish breathe. Also, at least now when people ask me what my favorite QT Marshal match is I can say his brutal ambulance match with Pentagon.
The fact L.A. Knight got a live promo while the rest of the United States championship hopefuls were taped is an excellent sign WWE might be ready to light the rocket.
Bullet Club’s Alex Coughlin is becoming a can’t-miss promo in New Japan.
Wrestler of the Week
Trinity Fatu, Impact Wrestling
After six years, Fatu has finally been handed the ball again as a world champion after defeating Deonna Perrazzo for the Knockouts World championship at Slammiversary. The match was solid and included some fun tips of the cap to husband Jimmy Uso. Now, it’s up to Fatu to prove she can carry a division and make something special out of her run by talking The Glow to places we haven’t seen before.
Honorable mention: FTR (AEW), El Hijo del Vikingo (Lucha Libre AAA), Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH)
Match To Watch
Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita and PAC vs. Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, “Hangman” Adam Page, Kota Ibushi, Blood and Guts (Dynamite, Wednesday, 8 p.m., TBS)
There may not be a better collection of in-ring talent ever for a War Games-style match, with former world champions abound. This will be the AEW debut for the former IWGP world heavyweight champ Ibushi. He rejoins close friend Kenny Omega to reform the Golden Elite in an attempt to settle the score with the Blackpool Combat Club. Ideally, this match is the perfect combination of violence and grace. The BCC won at Double or Nothing and would dominate the rivalry with a win here.
Around the Ring
Peacock announced its two-hour Cody Rhodes’ documentary “American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes” will air July 31. It is narratored by Stephen Amell.