AEW Collision: Fight for the Fallen Review - August 19, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

CM Punk Attacked ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe and Accepted His Challenge for All In

Joe was set for action against a masked luchador covered from head-to-toe named "The Golden Vampire", who attacked Joe before the bell and quickly revealed himself as CM Punk. The GTS to Joe didn't look great, but Joe sold it well, anyway. Punk then got on the mic to accept Joe's All In challenge, so now it's official. Punk's "Real World Championship" will apparently be on the line as well, which makes it obvious Punk is winning. Oh well. Hopefully we get a war of words between them on next week's Collision.

Jay White def. Dalton Castle

I realize he's relegated to Ring of Honor, but it's criminal we don't get more of Castle on the main AEW shows. He's the ultimate fan favorite and can obviously hang with the best AEW has to offer, as seen here. White is more established in AEW at this point, so I was fine with this being a competitive contest, especially since they worked well together. I liked how Bullet Club's promo was hyped for after the commercial break.

Bullet Club Gold Addressed The Golden Elite; Bullet Club Gold (Juice Robinson and The Gunns) def. Iron Savages (Bronson, Boulder, and Jacked Jameson)

The six-man tag team match pitting Kenny Omega, Adam Page and Kota Ibushi against White, Robinson and Konosuke Takeshita was made official for All In on Wednesday, so now everyone has to rush to make the match mean something and build it up. That was the point of Bullet Club Gold's promo here and they did a decent job of trying to connect the dots. The subsequent six-man tag team match exceeded my expectations with Iron Savages having an impressive showing, but Bullet Club Gold went over as they should have before they face Omega and The Young Bucks on Wednesday's Dynamite.

Big Bill def. Derek Neal

We found out backstage beforehand that Ricky Starks' "suspension" is actually up in two weeks as they said it started when he attacked Ricky Steamboat two weeks ago, which makes him eligible to compete at All Out. It'd make sense for him and Punk to have their rubber match on that show. He's managing Bill in the meantime, but hopefully not in the long run. In my opinion, they don't need each other. This was a short and sweet squash for Bill, though.

Willow Nightingale def. Diamante

This might have been the most amount of time Diamante has ever received on a main AEW show ever. No, I'm not exaggerating. She's made appearances on Dynamite and Rampage in the past, but never in lengthy matches to my knowledge. This got time and was a well-wrestled affair. Kris Statlander counteracted Mercedes Martinez at ringside and celebrated with Nightingale afterward. Nightingale vs. Statlander for the AEW TBS Championship coming at All Out?

Powerhouse Hobbs def. Kevin Ku

I'm not overly familiar with work in MLW, but I do remember him from his time there prior to his departure. For whatever reason, the crowd was behind him throughout this bout, but he was in enhancement mode here as Hobbs killed him to send a message to Miro ahead of their encounter at All Out, which Miro confirmed in his post-match promo. On a side note, Hobbs has yet to officially sever ties with QTV, but I hope that's coming soon as well because he definitely does not need them.

Darby Allin def. Christian Cage

I love how Collision has consistently been devoting the last half hour to the main event and this was no exception. I was actually more excited for Allin vs. Cage than I was Allin vs. Luchasaurus, despite the latter happening on pay-per-view at All Out. This was an excellent outing with a hot closing stretch. Cage can clearly still go, which is why I'm always bothered Cage doesn't wrestle more. Cage and Luchasaurus got their heat back by laying out Allin afterward. This is the most focus the AEW TNT Championship has received in a while.

Overall Show

Much like last week, this was a middle-of-the-road show on the whole (by the standards Collision has set so far), but it opened and closed on a high note. The buildup to Punk vs. Joe at All In has been simple but well done, and it's refreshing to see the TNT title get some actual focus for a change. Allin vs. Cage was the highlight of this episode by far, but I'm still digging Collision's pacing compared to Dynamite and am enjoying the two hours weekly. Next week's show will be taped in advance as it will air less than 24 hours before All In on Sunday afternoon.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews