9 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Collision (July 1)

A couple of bangers, some nice developments, and Samoa Joe at his most brilliant Samoa Joe.

by Andrew Pollard
AEW Collision Samoa Joe Roderick Strong
AEW

The third episode of AEW Collision is now in the bag, and it was yet again another solid outing for All Elite Wrestling's new Saturday night venture.

Here, we had three more matches in the men's Owen Hart Cup Tournament, with Dustin Rhodes taking on Powerhouse Hobbs, rivals Ricky Starks and Juice Robinson doing battle, and Roderick Strong facing the formidable task of toppling Samoa Joe. Elsewhere, Kris Statlander put her TBS Title on the line against Lady Frost, AEW World Champion MJF was in action not once, but twice, and Miro looked to continue his momentum with a bout against Anthony Henry.

In other news, this week's Collision saw the Gunns officially welcomed into Bullet Club Gold, and there was of course plenty of CM Punk dripped across the show's two hours, including the Second City Saint being on commentary for Strong vs. Joe; a match-up who Punk will face the winner of next week.

As alluded to, Collision continues to impress, but that's not to say this latest outing was a flawless one. So, with that in mind, let's get to those Ups and those Downs.

Saturday night's alright for fighting, indeed...

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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 day job, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.