7 Ups & 5 Downs For AEW Collision (26 August)
4. The Same Problems
Yes, I'm going to have to be that guy.
The exact same issues of the opening six-man match were prevalent in the Dark Order vs. Action Andretti & Darius Martin match later in the show.
In terms of in-ring, the action was great, with Andretti and Martin as ever bringing the high-energy, high-risk offense, and it's nice to see Alex Reynolds and John Silver being presented as a more serious tag team act. Unfortunately, this was another match where rules were totally ignored.
Because some of us are nerds for numbers, the finishing sequence of this bout saw at least three competitors in the ring at the same time for nearly one whole minute. All while referee Aubrey Edwards looked on, didn't try to get the illegal men out of the ring, and also didn't bother to start any sort of count; as in, an illegal man only being allowed in the ring for five seconds once a tag has been made.
This wasn't something reserved solely for the finish, though, for there were large stretches of the match where all four guys were in the ring at the same time, with the referee just standing there looking utterly useless. After all, what's the point of a referee if they're not going to enforce the rules of a contest?
Some people can brush this off and not let such ignoring of the rules dampen their viewing experience, but to others - such as this miserable bastard - stuff like this hugely tarnishes what, in this case, was really solid in-ring work.