6 Ups & 3 Downs For AEW Collision (March 9 - Results & Review)

by Andrew Pollard

1. A Smart Use Of Angelico

While the AEW announce team's attempts to establish some history between Chris Jericho and Titán fell flat, they at least did a more believable job of hyping up Místico - explaining how the CMLL star is one of the biggest-drawing wrestlers in the history of lucha libre.

Of course, it's always nice to see Angelico get a far-too-rare TV outing, and he was the perfect foil for Místico here; Angelio's vast experience of working in Mexico making him an ideal fit for Místico's style. While Jericho likewise has plenty of experience in that style, he's sadly at a point where he's naturally slowed down due to the simple fact of Father Time. In Angelico, though, here's someone who was a fantastic choice for such a spot.

Angelico was never going to get the win, but this match was a nice nine-minute bout designed for Místico to shine. This may have been a little too much of a spot fest for some, and, much like so much of the CMLL-centred action, there was no reason given for why this match was taking place, but the action itself was smooth enough for this one to land on the Ups.

There were some proper lovely transitions between holds and pinning combinations - something which Angelico is exceptional at - before Místico got the tap-out win after locking in his La Mística armbar. Again though, there needs to be more to the CMLL stars being involved in AEW than simply them being there for the sake of being there; even more so when every use of such talent dilutes so much of the wow factor of Forbidden Door. Why is it special to see different promotions come together, when those promotions have already been overlapping on such a regular basis?

AEW did later release a backstage promo from Místico where he looked forward to facing the Blackpool Combat Culb in Arena México, and while this will hopefully be replayed on AEW Dynamite next week, it would've been far more suited to feature something similar on Collision last night.

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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.