6 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW Collision (Feb 10 - Results & Review)

Downs...

4. CMLL Invasion Still Fails To Click

AEW Collision Star Jr. Claudio Castagnoli
AEW

From an in-ring standpoint, the matches involving CMLL talent so far have all been fairly decent; some - Bryan Danielson vs. Hechicero - even excellent. The problem is, why should we particularly care about the wrestlers of CMLL invading AEW just because?

Collision's opening match nicely summed things up. Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Star Jr. & Esfinge was fine in terms of ringwork, with Star Jr. particularly shining. No amount of great in-ring work can solely be relied on to sell a wider story... when there's really been no wider story established.

Basically, Mox cut a promo a few weeks ago to put everyone on notice, and seemingly the stars of CMLL used that as an opportunity to somewhat 'invade' AEW and target the Blackpool Combat Club. That's about all we know right now - and even some of that knowledge is just assumption.

Wrestling fans don't always need things spelled out for them, but this supposed invasion from CMLL is so lukewarm in its current form. There's no real motive for CMLL so far, there's no real heat or animosity to any of this, and it feels like yet another case of Tony Khan using outside talent just because he can.

While it's so often fun and unique to see other promotions' stars appear in another company, it can become a little overdone when this 'unique' occurence stops being unique. And in the case of this current CMLL story, there's still no real juice behind it - regardless of how much Jon Moxley will bleed and offer to take on all-comers.

One also has to question how AEW's "open door policy" - as Kevin Kelly called it - can impact the excitement of shows like Forbidden Door. Is a door particularly Forbidden if it's open on such a regular basis?

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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.