9 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Collision (July 8)

2. The Main Event Felt Massive

AEW Collision CM Punk Samoa Joe
AEW

AEW absolutely could've done more on last week's Dynamite to hype Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk here, but the way this match was handled on Collision was masterfully done.

From the pre-titles promos, to Punk's show-opening verbiage, to the commentary team, to the video packages detailing their battles in Ring of Honor, Collision made Joe vs. Punk feel huge. If you were a fan from the classic ROH days, all of this fantastically whet your appetite for these two rivals locking horns once again. Should you have no knowledge of their ROH wars, Collision nicely set the table for what you should expect.

At times, many wrestling shows have a main event that's just, well, there; a main event solely because it's in the main event spot. With Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk, AEW made you realise that this was in the main event spot due to it being a massive deal, featuring two old gunslingers drawing their weapons one more time, in a tournament that carried a boatload of prestige and was vitally important to both men.

In terms of hyping up a match, this week's AEW Collision did a magnificent job.

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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.