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

3. The Correct Winners

AEW Battle of the Belts VII Willow Nightingale Martha Hart Ricky Starks
AEW

Ahead of this year's Owen Hart Cup Tournament getting started, many fans had hoped to see Willow Nightingale and Ricky Starks emerge victorious in their respective tourneys. And whilst it may have felt a smidge predictable to see Willow and Ricky indeed as the victors on Collision, such predictability isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Simply put, Nightingale and Starks were undoubtedly the correct choices to win this year's Owen trophies.

Considering the phenomenal job Athena has done in establishing herself as a vicious, clinical, dominant force as the ROH Women's Champion, it would've felt like a waste should Willow have bested Athena on Friday's Rampage, only to ultimately come up short in the Owen. When someone is on a tear the way Athena is, a win over them should absolutely be part of a bigger picture. In this case, that win was part of Willow's journey to win the Owen, and also to likely lead to Nightingale once again challenging for the ROH Women's Title.

While there would have been positives to a Ruby Soho win on Collision, there were far less positives to a potential CM Punk win in the Owen. Ricky Starks winning was - no pun intended - the absolute right choice. Utilising the second rope for leverage in securing the pin over Punk, Starks now seems to have a heel turn in his future. Regardless of a turn or not, getting a win over CM Punk in any fashion is a major deal and will only further the Stroke Daddy's stock.

As for CM Punk, the loss here is one that offers up plentiful possibilities for the Straight-Edge Superstar and his future path. Could he begin a descent into villainy, irked by defeat and the manner in which he suffered it? Could this be the start of a crisis of confidence for Punker? Could a babyface Second City Saint vow revenge on the underhand antics of Ricky Starks?

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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.