7 Ups & 5 Downs For AEW Collision (26 August)

by Andrew Pollard

1. "All-Stars" Deliver A Solid Main Event

AEW Collision Luchasaurus Sting Darby Allin
AEW

As mentioned elsewhere, billing HOOK, Swerve Strickland, Brian Cage, Luchasaurus, and Jay White as All-Stars right now feel a little disingenuous. That's not a shot at the talents themselves, but more just the way that they've been positioned by AEW so far.

If you think All-Stars, you think the biggest AEW names, the talents who have headlined PPVs, the stars who have held World Titles. Still, the match itself delivered for what it was required to do; as in, put on some solid in-ring action to pad out a Collision that was killing time waiting for All In.

CM Punk secured the win for his earn, submitting Brian Cage with the Koquina Clutch after having already nailed the Machine with the GTS. Of course, Punk did all of this while staring directly at Samoa Joe - who's patented submission is the Koquina Clutch and who was on commentary.

On that front, away from the stellar in-ring work, it was great to have Samoa Joe joining the commentary team for this match. The King of Television is forever a welcome presence in such a role, as proved during his stint calling the action for WWE.

Likewise, it continues to be a positive to have Jim Ross join Collision for its main event, even if four voices - Ross, Joe, Kevin Kelly, and Caprice Coleman - could be deemed a little overkill for this eight-man tag.

Post-match, Samoa Joe hit the ring to attack CM Punk, Jack Perry came out to brawl with HOOK, Darby Allin made an immediate beeline for Swerve Strickland, as did Sting, and the scene descended into general chaos as Collision went off the air.

This week's AEW Collision wasn't up the standard of previous episodes, but it still did enough to be a solid outing as All In looms large on the horizon.

Advertisement
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, 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. 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.