5 Ups & 3 Downs For AEW Collision (April 20 - Results & Review)

1. Painfully Familiar Women's Division Problems

AEW Collision Leyla Hirsch Skye Blue
AEW

For full disclosure, your writer is just as tired of writing about the problems of AEW's women's division as you are reading about them. Still, this is an issue that has to be addressed whenever AEW does its female ranks dirty.

Yes, Toni Storm cut a fantastic promo following Dynamite, plus it was great to see a more fired-up Willow Nightingale in a brief backstage promo, but that can't take away from the frustrating fact that the AEW ladies were giving only five minutes of ring time on a two-hour TV broadcast with this week's Collision. Even by Collision's already poor standards, this was a new low for the Saturday show.

Those five minutes were used to give Skye Blue a win over Leyla Hirsch, but that contest itself had certain other problems. Notably, Blue and Hirsch just seemed a little off, with a few rough spots and some timing issues. Added to that, while it's always great to see Legit Leyla being used on AEW programming, this match didn't do anything for Dynasty. So, even though there's a complaint about the AEW women's division only getting five minutes of in-ring action, that spot could've been used far better by at least featuring a talent who had a significant role at Dynasty.

Could Thunder Rosa have been given a warm-up match ahead of facing Toni Storm at Dynasty? Sure. How about Willow Nightingale getting a win before challenging Julia Hart for the TBS Title? And if Julia is indeed cleared to wrestle at Dynasty, Collision - where she accompanied Blue to the ring - would've been a perfect place for her to get a dominant win to again showcase how much of an uphill task Willow has at the PPV.

Basically, AEW only gave its ladies five minutes of ring time, which it wasted on two people not booked for Dynasty.

Seriously, do better, Tony.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.