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

Ups...

8. A Hot Opener

AEW Collision Will Ospreay Shane Taylor
AEW

Truthfully, there's no hotter way to open a wrestling show these days than with Will Ospreay. And that's exactly what this week's Collision did, with the Aerial Assassin coming out to a great reaction mere seconds into the broadcast.

Not just is Ospreay viewed as the best wrestler in the world right now by many, but he's clearly one of the most popular and over talents on the planet. That popularity was shown by the white-hot response given to the Brit by Protland's Moda Center as Elevated hit and he made his way to the ring, and this was an extremely smart way to start Collision.

Here, Ospreay went one-on-one with the always great but criminally underutilised Shane Taylor. Taylor has become a more regular presence on Collision throughout 2024, and he always impresses, but the hard-hitting powerhouse forever finds himself on the losing side of things. The head of Shane Taylor Promotions really does need to start winning matches sooner rather than later, but here his role was to serve as a meaty, oversized opponent for Ospreay to get a win over on his way to Double or Nothing.

Shane Taylor did Shane Taylor things, hitting those deafening chops and generally beating the tar out of Will once shenanigans from the Undisputed Kingdom and Anthony Ogogo allowed Taylor to take advantage. Speaking of which, Roddy Strong was a fantastic guest at the commentary table for Ospreay vs. Taylor, with Strong continuing to show more charisma in recent months than he's ever shown in his lengthy career. In particular, Roddy and Nigel McGuinness bounced off each other brilliantly, with the excellent McGuinness backing up Strong's heel schtick.

Of course, Will Ospreay got the win, taking back control of the match and nailing Taylor with a phenomenal-looking Storm Driver to get the 1-2-3 in just under ten minutes. Post-match, Ospreay got the better of an attempted attack by the Undisputed Kingdom before making his escape to the stage ahead of his match at Double or Nothing for Roddy's International Title.

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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.