8 Ups & 2 Downs For AEW Collision (12 August)

6. A Solid Opener

AEW Collision Iron Savages Acclaimed
AEW

While the already-in-the-ring presence of the Iron Savages may have suggested this would be a standard squash match victory for the Acclaimed over Bear Boulder and Bear Bronson, what we got instead was a fairly competitive back-and-forth encounter which clocked in at around the ten-minute mark.

One could make the argument that the Acclaimed could've benefited more from a dominant win, but giving more of the match to the Iron Savages did no particular harm to Max Caster and Anthony Bowens here.

Having been used primarily on the now-cancelled AEW Dark and AEW Dark: Evolution where it pertains to AEW programming, the former Bear Country took their chance to impress here. Both Boulder and Bronson looked fantastic in this outing, nicely utilising their power when on offense, whilst selling brilliantly for the Acclaimed's hot tags. Messrs Boulder and Bronson also showed some great physical charisma and body language, whether that was when they were enjoying getting the better of the Acclaimed, whether they were selling for the one-time AEW Tag Team Champions, or whether they were reacting furiously (and brilliantly) to Platinum Max's pre-match rap.

The Acclaimed carrying Billy Gunn's boots around with them feels a little bit naff, but other than that, this whole segment got Collision off to a solid in-ring start.

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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 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.