6 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Collision (15 July)

4. The Ideal Replacement

For your writer, the duos of Nigel McGuinness and Kevin Kelly, and Caprice Coleman and Ian Riccaboni are the two best announce teams in the game right now. So, with Kelly absent from AEW Collision for the next little while due to his commitments to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Climax, it was fantastic to see Riccaboni given the nod as Kevin's temporary replacement.

While it was known ahead of time that Kelly would be missing several Collision shows, many presumed that Excalibur may be brought in to handle lead announce duties alongside McGuinness. Instead, Riccaboni was an extremely smart choice to join Nigel.

So much of the appeal of AEW Collision so far, is that the look, feel, and sound of the broadcast makes it feel vastly different to Dynamite and Rampage. With Excalibur being such a pivotal part of those Wednesday and Friday offerings, having him fill in for Kevin Kelly here would run the risk of taking away some of the burgeoning identity of Collision.

Riccaboni is great. McGuinness is great. Together, they made for a phenomenal duo to oversee what was yet another excellent outing for AEW Collision. And as per Ian's Twitter account, he'll be back at the Collision announce booth for at least next week.