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

3. Overstaying Its Welcome

AEW Collision Bullet Club Gold
AEW

The middle-of-the-show promo from Bullet Club Gold served to accomplish several things; formally announce Austin and Colten Gunn as BC Gold members, have Jay White stir the pot with CM Punk, and get things warmed up for Juice Robinson vs. Ricky Starks.

While this segment did achieve all of its aims, it did unfortunately drag on just a smidge too long.

Whether it was the verbiage being used, or just simply the amount of time given to it, Bullet Club Gold's time with Tony Schiavone somewhat overstayed its welcome. Yes, the Gunns were announced as full members. Yes, Switchblade made it clear he's after Punk. And yes, Juice got to hype up his impending match against Starks - plus Punk, Starks and FTR got to retort from backstage - but this all felt a little overly-long for what it needed to be.

Another frustrating part of this segment, was Fearless Tony Schiavone.

In an extremely head-scratching habit, Schiavone once again showed zero fear despite being surrounded by four underhand scumbags. Even more so, when Tony revealed that White and the Gunns would be barred from ringside for Robinson vs. Starks, the enraged Bullet Club Gold foursome didn't even make Schiavone flinch.

For whatever reason, Tony Schiavone regularly shows no alarm, no trepidation, and no concern whatsoever when confronted by characters who are supposed to be no-good villains. As such, it undermines the threat of Bullet Club Gold - much like it did last week with Chris Jericho and Minoru Suzuki - when Tony sells no shred of terror when faced by some pissed-off heels.

If a commentator/interviewer is comfortable enough to not be intimidated by these villains, what possible threat could they pose to the babyfaces of the day?

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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.