8 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW Collision (May 18 - Results & Review)

Downs...

4. Too Short To Justify Title Stakes

AEW Collision Bryan Keith Beefcake Boulder
AEW

Your writer has been clamouring for Bryan Keith to start picking up wins, with the Bounty Hunter lowkey one of AEW's smartest signings of the year. Likewise, I'm a huge fan of the Iron Savages and will forever push to see more of them on TV.

That said, Bryan Keith vs. Beefcake Boulder fell flat for several reasons.

Yes, Keith got the win, and yes, the Iron Savages got some TV time, but this was way too short at barely 90 seconds. Considering the stakes attached to this match - the winner going on to a #1 contender triple-threat for a shot at the FTW Title - going less than two minutes here just undermined those supposed stakes and made this feel like your run-of-the-mill squash match, rather than a bout with potential championship implications.

Sure, the FTW Title isn't the most prestigious of belts, but it's still presented as a notable championship that's currently held by the company's inaugural World Champion; an inaugural World Champion who takes up plentiful TV time and who is forever spotlighted.

This isn't to say that Keith vs. Boulder should've been given 15 minutes, but it could've easily gone five or six minutes - time which would've made no difference if it were cut from the 12-minute Orange Cassidy vs. Isiah Kassidy match later in the show, or even by dropping the Nick Wayne vs. Jack Carthweel contest entirely.

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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 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.