AEW Collision 7/8/2023

AEW Collision 7/8/2023

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2023/07/aew-collision-712023.html

Starks says Hobbs will find out he deals in absolutes only and will absolutely take him out. Hobbs says people say good friends make better enemies, but he says The Book of Hobbs says it's the end for Starks. Joe says history repeats it tonight and says Punk has never beaten him and tonight will not be different. Punk says he won't make the same mistake twice and says their history needs to be detailed. He says the people need to know about it now and starts walking to the ring.

CM Punk is headed down to the ring. He says history will be made tonight and says time will stand still. He says it's been 18 years since he has been in the ring with Joe. He says Owen Hart is a bigger name than both and asks for the crowd to chant for him. He said he may not be here if it weren't for Owen Hart. He said he is not superstitious and will touch the trophy because he will earn it. He said he won't promise he can beat Joe, but he will believe. He said he will pour his heart out tonight and give all he can give for the fans and Owen.

We get a hype video on Joe vs Punk.

Owen Hart Tournament Semifinal - Powerhouse Hobbs vs Ricky Starks

Hobbs shoves him then takes shots in the corner. Hobbs is lariated over the top. Hobbs gets back in and lariats him. QT gets a shot in on Starks then Hobbs hits a bunch of shots in the corner. Starks gets punches in and Hobbs back elbows him. Hobbs delay suplexes him. Starks is thrown hard into the buckles and goes down.

We go to PiP break and return. Starks is working his way out of a bearhug. Starks hits some punches and lariats him. Hobbs goes up to the 2nd rope with Starks on his shoulders then Starks drops down and powerbombs him. Starks facekicks him and totally slips up on his tornado ddt attempt. QT trips Starks then Hobbs spinebusters Starks. QT is arguing with the ref, costing Hobbs a pinfall attempt. Hobbs yells at QT and gets in his face then Starks pushes Hobbs into him. Starks hits a big spear on Hobbs and wins it.

It wasn't the great match these two could have used and needed. It was okay but nothing special. The finish was odd. I've never really seen a heel manager cost his own guy a match by interrupting the ref like that. Hobbs also lost here which further him.

Hobbs pushes QT after. Solo tries to be the peacemaker and is spinebustered. Harley Cameron tries to save QT and Hobbs ends up walking out. I like Hobbs leaving QTV as it did nothing for him.

Miro does a promo. He says he is ready to fight anyone and hurt them in ways they can't hurt him. He says he can't be tempted from his path by a shiny belt and will go the righteous path. He says he senses a big battle is coming and it's the one he has been waiting for.

Willow Nightingale is interviewed. She won't be able to compete in the Owen Hart Tournament due to being injuries. Willow said this isn't the way she wanted to return to Collision. Athena comes in and says Willow has ruined her Collision debut. She questions whether the injury is legit or not. She said Willow just doesn't want to take another "L" to her. Willow says she will put her smile back on and says she will be back on Rampage. Athena says she can't get cleared tonight. She said she has never beaten her and won't get cleared or beat her on Friday. She said she'd give her an ROH Women's title match if she beats her.

We get a video on Blood and Guts and they say we will find out more on Wednesday.

Julia Hart vs Bambi Hall

Nigel made Bambi's name sound like Bambi Hole. They lock up and Julia kicks her in the butt Hall shoulders her over and is tripped. Julia pounds on her back then hits a back elbow. Hall takes a chop block then Julia does a grounded cobra twist and wins it.

It was real short and not a particularly impressive outing for Hart. Bambi looked decent though. She throws good strikes and I'd be up for seeing her again.

Malakai Black said he was told he can't wear a mask. He said Andrade didn't become who he is until he took off the mask. Black says Andrade let Julia control him by taking his mask and trying to grab it. Black says he doesn't understand that taking off his mask gave him more strength. Black says he can't get how great he can be until he teaches him. He said the world will see how truly great he is. It was a weird promo and didn't really work since Andrade has been gone for so long and the mask has never been real important to his character.

Andrade El Idolo is interviewed. He says he is a business man. He says he doesn't hide behind his mask and says he is not a coward like him. He said he mask is everything to him. He says it's time to fihgt and win when he takes off his mask then says something in Spanish. This didn't work. Don't tell us the mask means something, show us, and they just haven't.

AEW Tag Title Eliminator Match - FTR vs Juice Robinson and Jay White

Dax backs up Jay in the corner and they do some takedowns. Dax shoulders Jay over and hiptosses him. Dax hits a headlock takeover. Cash and Juice go at it and Cash takes him down. Cash does a monkey flip and Juice barely gets over. They end up doing a 4 person stand off. FTR hit stereo german suplexes.

We go to PiP break and return. Dax is thrown into the buckles chest first. Dax back elbows him then drops Cash on him for a legdrop. Cash hits a nice dropkick. Juice hits corner punches then takes an atomic drop, then Cash hits corner punches on him. Cash takes a stun gun and goes over the top rope. Jay gordbusters Cash on the apron.

Juice legdrops Cash and bearhugs him. Jay indian deathlocks Cash. Dax breaks up the hold and Jay irish whips into the rails for it. Juice suplexes Cash then Cash reverses Jay's backdrop. Cash lariats Juice over the top then is back body dropped to the floor.

We go to break and return. Cash beats up on the heels and suplexes Juice onto Jay, then lariats Juice over the top. Dax germans Jay then brainbusters him. Juice takes a backdrop on the apron. FTR hits a powerplex on Jay for 2. Cash takes a cobra clutch suplex from Jay and Dax saves Cash from a blade runner. Jay avoids a big rig then ends up taking a spike piledriver. Cash is thrown into the post.

Juice gorilla press gutbusters Cash then Jay fisherman busters Dax for 2. Cash throws out Juice then takes a uranage. Dax slingshot ligerbombs Jay then does a running euro for 2. Juice takes a powerslam from Cash the Jay blade runners Cash. Juice ddt's Dax and even though it appears Cash broke up the count, he does not.

It was a good back and forth tag match. Not a classic, but they were given a ton of time and did a good job with it. The finish fell flat because it looked like Cash broke up the pin, when the ref said he didn't, making people think something got botched.

We see clips of Christian, Luchasaurus and Shawn Spears' interactions to build up a TNT Title match at Battle of the Belts.

FTR are interviewed then Juice and Jay walk in. Juice says they are the best tag team of the night. Jay says they have the right to call themselves the best team in the world. Jay said they beat them twice already and will beat them twice next week in a 2/3 falls match. Jay makes him do a handshake and Dax says he'll bring a surprise.

Scorpio Sky vs Action Andretti

No entrance for Action Andretti. Sky looks a lot bigger. Sky shoulders him over then AA armdrags him. AA bends over and Sky double stomps him. We go to PiP break and return. AA flying forearms him then neckbreakers him. AA handspring backelbows him. AA topes him then hits a running spanish fly. AA pump kicks him and superkicks him then hits a shotgun dropkick. Sky gets his knees up on a split legged moonsault then Sky hits a TKO. Sky wins it.

Remember when Andretti was beating Jericho? Now he's losing to Scorpio Sky. Needless to say, that's an obvious demotion. This should have been a quick squash as it was Scorpio's big in-ring return after a year. Instead, AEW chose to give AA most of the offense here and then have Sky win. It did little to put Sky over, but he's not going to get any more over than the last time they tried to push him anyway.

Dynamite next week has: Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin vs Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia, MJF and Adam Cole vs Brian Cage and Big Bill, Ruby Soho vs Skye Blue, Swerve Strickland vs Nick Wayne and Komander vs Chris Jericho

That looks like another 800k viewer episode.

Next week's Rampage has Athena vs Willow. Next week's Collision has the Winner of Soho/Blue vs the winner of Willow/Athena, FTR vs Juice/Jay in a 2/3 Falls Match plus the winner of Punk/Joe vs Ricky Starks.

Owen Hart Tournament Semifinal - Samoa Joe vs CM Punk

Punk gets his name chanted. Joe misses a high kick to start and they hit chops. Punk hits punches and chops in the corner then misses a top rope twisting crossbody. Joe hits chops, a kick then a bunch of punches in the corner. Joe back elbows him then chops him while he sits on top, sending him down to the floor.

We go to PiP break and return. Joe misses a knee drop and is chopped. Punk leg lariats him and step up knees him in the corner. Punk backdrops him out of the headlock. Joe hits chops and Punk step up knees him again. Punk hits a top rope elbow for 2. Joe crossfaces him. Joe powerslams him for 2 then Punk neckbreakers him. Punk rolls up Joe and wins it.

This was a major disappointment. They didn't have enough time and the match was cut up by a commercial break. It was far from either guys best work and of what they did give you, it didn't even get you thirsty for more. They just did very basic pro wrestling here. The match was also not really going to live up to the hype no matter what it did. This would have been a lot better on a PPV where they could have gone as long as they wanted and when they could have had more time to put into this. Punk going over Joe was also the wrong call as now it ends the "Punk can't beat Joe" angle. This also hurt the Samoa Joe ROH TV title run as he's been treated as this big unstoppable monster, and Punk beat him in minutes here. But when they started doing ROH as a separate brand, I explained that those kind of issues were inevitable.

Punk and Joe shake hands after and Joe chokes him out. FTR come to help Punk then Ricky Starks comes down on the ramp and watches.

Overall thoughts: The show could have been very good, but it just didn't live up to the hype. FTR/Bullet Club was good and the rest wasn't anything of note. The show is still not doing a good job at hyping you up for next week or feeling like all of this is connected as part of a bigger story. We also had two hosses taking losses, which I'm not a fan of.