Kris Statlander is great. Willow Nightingale is great. Mercedes Martinez is great. Diamante is a welcome addition back to AEW programming whose alliance with Martinez already looks to be a smart move from Tony Khan.
So, why can't these women get more than the tired, head-scratching formula that Khan applies to Collision's ladies' bouts?
On a two-hour broadcast, Statlander & Nightingale vs. Martinez & Diamante got nine minutes, three of which were a picture-in-picture commercial break. With that being Collision's one women's match, this is again a slap in the face to the promotion's female talent.
As for the match itself, it was somewhat of a mixed bag. There were a few moments where the timing was a little off, plus Mercedes essentially Razor's Edge-ing her partner onto their opponents on the outside was a scary spot that could've ended extremely badly, but there were some positives. Martinez and Diamante were fantastic as the mocking heels when they were on top, Willow had a nice babyface comeback, Stat has one of the best hot tags in the game right now, and both pairings served up some great, inventive tandem offense.
Unfortunately, this same issue will likely be written about during next week's Collision Ups & Downs, but hey, maybe Tony Khan will surprise us and feature more than one women's match or at least feature one that doesn't spend a good chunk of its time playing out during an ad break.
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.
