7 Ups & 3 Downs For AEW Collision (16 September)
Downs...
3. Surprisingly Short
Should the Iron Savages have gone 20 minutes in a back-and-forth against FTR? Absolutely not. Still, this match for the AEW Tag Team Titles was just way too short.
Truth be told, this was a bout that your writer was very much looking forward to. Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have long been the best tag team in the business, and 'Dirty Bulk' Bronson and 'Sauce Hoss' Beefcake Boulder have massively impressed when given the Collision spotlight across the past month or more.
FTR were always going to retain their gold here, but having the match last barely three minutes was a somewhat questionable call. Yes, there may have been time constraints in place due to other matches on the card, yet this three-minute squash served no purpose bar to take away any steam the Iron Savages had amassed in recent weeks.
Still, it was nice to see FTR pick up the win with the classic Power-Plex, at least.
Also, the crowd's post-match chants of "Who Are You?!" towards the WorkHorsemen's JD Drake and Anthony Henry doesn't bode well for their match against FTR on next week's Collision. Again, Drake and Henry often impress when given the opportunity, but it's hard for the audience to care when the WorkHorsemen haven't even been see on AEW programming since May of last year.
The brief nature of FTR vs. Iron Savages did play into the later match and challenge from Aussie Open, but that doesn't detract from how this bout did zero for either team involved.