AEW Collision Review - February 24, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Powerhouse Hobbs def. Sammy Guevara in a No Disqualification Match

Although I find nothing remotely interesting about Guevara's character at the moment, the guy can obviously go and he had a hell of a match with Hobbs here. Yes, AEW does Street Fights/No Disqualification matches way too much, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one and thought both guys excelled in the extreme environment. I'm glad Hobbs went over as well. He needs the aggressive push, so hopefully this isn't leading to Guevara avenging the loss.

FTR def. Shane Taylor Promotions

Shane Taylor Promotions have done nothing but eat losses to FTR and Blackpool Combat Club in singles and tag team matches over the last month, but at least they're not exclusively banished to ROH TV anymore. They're a talented team and that was once again on full display here, even if the outcome was never in doubt. This was good stuff and received some time. FTR addressed Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli afterward and made their rematch official for Revolution.

Thunder Rosa def. Lady Bird Monroe

Rosa's been back for just about two months and has done very little in that time. She's racked up a handful of victories but hasn't done anything meaningful. I read recently that Julia Hart has been out injured, so perhaps that's why and Rosa was going to get the next shot at the AEW TBS Championship if she was around. This was a simple squash for Rosa to keep her momentum going.

Bang Bang Scissor Gang (ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Jay White and Colten Gunn and AEW World Trios Champion Billy Gunn) def. Iron Savages (Boulder, Bronson and Jacked Jameson)

This Bang Bang Scissor Gang crap gets worse by the week and I have no idea what purpose it's supposed to serve. I assume Bullet Club Gold turning on The Acclaimed and Gunn is still the endgame, but it might be a little late for that betrayal to set up a match for Revolution with the pay-per-view next weekend. As for this crap, it was a total waste of time. The Iron Savages' shtick is awful and some of what we got here was embarrassingly bad.

Malakai Black def. "Bounty Hunter" Bryan Keith

Believe it or not, this marked Black's first televised singles match in AEW since June 2022. Obviously, that is absolutely egregious. And it's not as if he's been hurt that entire time, either. He and Keith had a nice little match here, but this was more about reestablishing Black on his own with a win. Post-match, Mark Briscoe attempted to attack him before House of Black laid him out, so Black vs. Briscoe appears to be imminent.

Serena Deeb def. Lady Frost

It was mentioned on commentary that Kiera Hogan was originally scheduled to face Deeb on this show but got sick with the flu and was replaced at the last minute by Frost. Seeing Frost made me realize that she isn't involved in the ROH Women's World Television Championship Tournament going on right now on ROH TV, yet several unsigned wrestlers are. Could Frost not make it when all of the first-round matches were taped? As for this match, it was a well-wrestled showcase for Deeb, who seemed to subtly call out Hart with her post-match promo.

Bryan Danielson def. Jun Akiyama

There's been plenty of online discourse lately among wrestling fans regarding AEW's lack of video packages for new names and unknown talent that a segment of the audience may not be familiar with. Well, a video package aired for Akiyama earlier in the episode, so I appreciated that. Granted, it didn't make me care that much more about this match than I already did, but it was a quality, well-worked main event. Akiyama is a hero of Kingston's, so Danielson disrespecting him adds to their feud. Kingston and FTR will battle Blackpool Combat Club on Wednesday's Dynamite.

Overall Show

Outside of an episode or two, Dynamite hasn't felt super important on the whole so far in 2024, which has made Collision even less must-see. Collision is never bad as you're guaranteed to get above-average action and some storyline progression, but you really don't miss much if you don't tune in. That was once again the case with this episode. The opener was the highlight of the night for me, but while everything else was entertaining and/or served a purpose, it was business as usual for Collision in that it was pretty pedestrian stuff.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews