Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks was a solid, if not spectacular opening match on this latest episode of AEW Collision.
Clearly, these two former partners have great chemistry together, and this bout did what it needed to do in terms of advancing Starks to the final of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament. A tornado DDT from Ricky may have gone array, but the match quickly recovered from that, largely due to the babyface fire shown from Absolute.
As expected, the story of this match was the stronger, bigger Hobbs using his size to dominate his opponent, whereas Starks was the scrappy hero fighting from underneath. Likewise, the commentary team of Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness did a nice job of putting over the damage done to the Stroke Daddy's left knee in last week's Owen bout against Juice Robinson.
The finishing sequence of Hobbs vs. Starks did seem to go on a smidge too long - QT Marshall distracting referee Aubrey Edwards - but the main thing here was that Ricky got the W, and that Powerhouse Hobbs seems to thankfully be discontinuing his relationship with QT and his QTV faction.
Also, the Owen Hart-inspired attire for Hobbs was a fantastic touch.
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 and Presenter, 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 day job, his role as 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.
