AEW Collision Review - August 24, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Conglomeration (Kyle O'Reilly, Orange Cassidy and ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe) def. The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven, Mike Bennett and Roderick Strong)

I've seen enough Conglomeration matches this summer to last me a lifetime. I really, really hope that whatever interaction the group has with Undisputed Kingdom at All In (whether it be in the Casino Gauntlet or the newly-announced 10-man tag team match on the pre-show) marks the end of this lengthy, pointless rivalry. With all of that said, this was a well-wrestled, nicely-paced opener. I don't know what this victory means for the babyfaces other than a possible momentum boost.

CMLL World Women's Champion Willow Nightingale def. Harley Cameron (Non-Title)

Cameron's matches have exceeded my expectations in recent months, but this was less about giving her an impressive performance than it was showcasing Nightingale before she and Tomohiro Ishii take on Kris Statlander and Stokley Hathaway in the mixed tag team match on the All In pre-show. Thus, it made sense to give her a straightforward win in a matter of minutes, so this was what it needed to be.

Katsuyori Shibata def. Jay Lethal

Yes, this was a completely random match that had no significance to All In whatsoever, but the crowd didn't seem to mind as they loved Shibata. It's well documented that Lethal is a good hand that hasn't won whenever it has mattered most in many years, so the outcome was never in doubt. Despite that, they had a quality contest. Shibata will be taking part in the aforementioned 10-man tag team match on the All In pre-show.

Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway def. Kid Lykos II and Nina Samuels

Hathaway has been a comedy character for a majority of his time in AEW, so you'd think they'd be taking more of a comedic approach to the mixed tag team match at All In. Instead, he and Statlander played it straight here. I'm sorry to say but I think it's a little late to make Hathaway feel like a threat. The best thing I can say about this is that it was kept short and sweet.

Hook def. Big Bill

If this took place in WWE a decade ago, Jerry Lawler called it "Bizarro World". I couldn't begin to tell you why the Cardiff crowd was so behind Big Bill, but I'm not going to complain about it. Rather, it was quite cool to see/hear the guy get such a warm welcome from a crowd for a change. He had an awesome run in TNA/IMPACT and has largely been underutilized in AEW, so I'd love for this to be a turning point for him. Oh, and the match was decent for what it was.

Jeff Jarrett def. Ariya Daivari

Much like Big Bill, Jarrett was super over in front of this crowd. Unlike Big Bill, I don't need to see him get a renewed push on AEW TV coming out of this, but I'm sure it was a heartwarming moment for him at this stage of his career. There wasn't much to the match otherwise, and I don't know why this went almost 10 minutes, but the crowd was into the action. Maybe Jarrett makes an appearance in the Casino Gauntlet to interact with Adam Page?

Pac and Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) def. Lio Rush and Top Flight to Qualify for the AEW World Trios Championship London Ladder Match at All In

It was hilarious seeing Pac team with Blackpool Combat Club considering he walked out on them in Blood and Guts last year. There is no reason why they teamed other than Pac needing partners because The Lucha Brothers are reportedly WWE bound. Hey, at least Pac is still on the All In card after missing last year's installment. This was an enjoyable main event with the correct outcome. There was some more hype for the London Ladder match afterward with the rest of the participating trios showing up.

Overall Show

By Collision standards, this was an above-average show, solely for the Cardiff crowd. They were hot for most of the matches, even if half of them were meaningless. The main event stood out because it had stakes, but the massive reaction for Big Bill was the top takeaway for me. The two hours were fun and the last-minute hype for All In was well done, so this was an easy thumbs-up episode.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews