8 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW Collision (9 September)

6. The Mad King Ups The Stakes

AEW Collision Claudio Castagnoli Tony Schiavone Eddie Kingston
AEW

Stick Eddie Kingston in front of a camera, and you're guaranteed pro wrestling gold. Stick Eddie Kinston in front of a camera alongside Claudio Castagnoli, and that gold is intensely amplified.

Here, we had a Tony Schiavone-held backstage sit-down where the Mad King challenged Castagnoli for the ROH World Title at the upcoming AEW Dynamite Grand Slam from Queens, New York. As part of that, we also got to see a little bit of the history between the two detailed, with this rivalry one that dates back well over a decade by this point.

To add further fuel to this fire, Kingston upped the stakes by offering to put his own NJPW Strong Openweight Championship on the line at Arthur Ashe Stadium on 20 September. Of course, Eddie also noted how this is an opportunity for Claudio to embarrass Kingston in front of the New Yorker's parents and take a title from him that he holds in such high regard.

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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.