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

1. So. Much. Filler.

AEW Collision Nick Wayne Darby Allin AR Fox
AEW

While this was a solid if not spectacular AEW Collision, it was the weakest Collision so far, and it was a Collision that felt like such a filler episode.

Obviously with All In taking place later today, a show which airs the night before that isn't going to be able to do anything too major where it pertains to impacting that PPV. Still, this also throws up problems for All Out, which is a PPV taking place next week.

Yes, a couple of extremely brief backstage promos set TBS Champion Kris Statlander vs. Ruby Soho for All Out, but that was the only advancement for that Chicago-held PPV. To be one week out from a PPV and only have three matches announced - Stat vs. Soho, Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, Darby Allin vs. Luchasaurus - is absolutely ridiculous.

Running PPVs on two consecutive weekends was always going to throw up so many problems, and while it's all well and good to champion "the biggest event in pro wrestling history" for All In, this bizarre scheduling makes All Out feel like a total afterthought.

This episode of Collision largely had its hands tied when it comes to All Out, and thus we got a bunch of nothing matches and some - not all - totally needless video packages. For instance, could the time allotted to recapping AR Fox apologising to Nick Wayne had not been spent on something else?

As for the main event, to call this an All-Stars match is quite the stretch. Sure, Sting is an icon of the business. Yes, CM Punk is one of the biggest - if not the biggest - stars in the company and also the Real Worlds Champion. Darby Allin is clearly destined for huge things in AEW over the next several years.

For the rest of the talent involved in the match, labelling them as All-Stars felt a little disingenuous. Large chunks of the audience are still getting introduced to Jay White, Swerve Strickland has huge potential but isn't positioned as a main event player yet, Brian Cage has been treated awfully for the bulk of his AEW tenure, Luchasaurus has largely become a background player to the brilliant Christian Cage, and HOOK is a rookie who's not even had 40 matches.

Not to be harsh on those names, but when you say AEW All-Stars, you think CM Punk, you think MJF, you think Kenny Omega, you think Sting, you think Jon Moxley, you think Chris Jericho, you think Samoa Joe, etc.

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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.