6 Ups & 1 Down For AEW Collision (Feb 3 - Results & Review)

3. Hot In-Ring Promo Work

While Tony Schiavone was previously in the ring to announce Bryan Keith's AEW signing, Schiavone later returned to the ring on two occasions; one to interview Mark Briscoe, the other to speak to Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana. And both times, those involved delivered some great stuff.

For Briscoe, he talked up how he'd watched Schiavone interview legends like Dusty Rhodes and Ric flair in years gone by, before then noting how he'd spent 20 years as one half of the baddest tag team in the business, but now finds himself flying solo. Before Chicken could finish his thoughts, the House of Black interrupted him on the video screen. Thankfully, none of the usual spooky teleporting HOB BS took place, but Malakai Black and his crew did put Briscoe on notice.

Later in the show, Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana addressed Swerve's upcoming Dynamite match against Adam Page. With back-to-back wins over Hangman, Strickland detailed how he would score one more victory over Page - telling Nana he wants no interference - ahead of facing Samoa Joe for the AEW World Title. As part of this, Strickland name-dropped Ron Simmons, Kofi Kingston, and Athena as inspirations, as he looks to cement his own place in history as a black World Champion.

While Mark Briscoe is always such an utterly engaging presence, Swerve Strickland has stepped things up so much across these past six months or so. His words have menace, his words have believability, and his words have you hanging on every syllable. Then there's the crowd involvement, with Swerve having the Texas crowd here eating out of the palm of his hand, as they cheered him on while any mention of Adam Page was mixed by a mixture of boos and "Cowboy S**t" chants.

Advertisement
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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.