6 Ups & 3 Downs For AEW Collision (Dec 9 - Results & Review)
Downs...
3. A Solid Effort Hindered By Familiar Problems
Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Martinez was such a mixed bag of a match. On the plus side, both women brought some brilliant physicality to the action, told a solid story, and nicely progressed things in the rivalry pitting Willow and Kris Statlander up against Mercedes and Diamante.
However, there were just sadly a few too many issues at play that means this bout lands on the Downs side of this week's Collision review - and, as is often the case with the AEW women's division, those issues were largely out of the hands of any of the talent involved.
In the stale, stagnant formula of AEW Collision and wider AEW programming, this was the sole women's match on the show, went nine minutes, three of which were part of a picture-in-picture commercial. On top of that, as someone watching Collision through FITE, that P-in-P break cut to the standard Collision logo and music halfway through.
Elsewhere, Nightingale and Martinez fought on the outside for nearly two minutes shortly after the bell had sounded, all while referee Mike Posey didn't even bother to start a standard ten-count until Mercedes eventually made her way back in the ring; making the standard countout rule totally redundant.
As alluded to, it wasn't all bad here, as the actual action itself was good, with the heel Martinez brutalising Willow's back and dropping her with a gnarly draping DDT on the outside. That restricted Nightingale in what she could do, selling the back and struggling to lift her opponent.
Still, Willow Nightingale would pick up the win here, managing to surprise Mercedes after being hit with what was essentially an impressive Razor's Edge turned into a Dominator. While Willow scoring the victory made sense for the wider story, it did feel as if maybe she'd been beaten down a little too much to realistically be able to still get the 1-2-3.
Either way, the inevitable plunder war of Willow & Stat vs. Mercedes & Diamante should be fun. Now, let those ladies get 15 or 20 minutes as and when that contest arrives.