AEW Collision Review - July 13, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Konosuke Takeshita def. "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington

Billington made his AEW debut back in May on Collision against Dax Harwood and was very impressive. He had another standout showing here in what was an even better bout with Takeshita. This was very well wrestled and Billington was made to look credible in defeat. FTR made their return afterward by saving Billington from The Don Callis Family, so it's nice that they're already back after such a short hiatus.

Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson and Unified World Trios Champions The Gunns) def. Michael Allen Richard Clark, Shaun Moore and London Lightning

This was a straightforward showcase for Bang Bang Gang and it thankfully didn't last longer than it needed to. It's been revealed that Jay White was recently injured, which is a bummer because he was about to begin building momentum on his own again, so hopefully he's not out for an extended period of time. We found out soon after this that Bang Bang Gang have been stripped of the Unified World Trios Championship because of White's status but that they'll have a chance to get the belts back against The Patriarchy next week on Collision. Why overcomplicate matters? Wasn't Adam Cole injured as ROH World Tag Team Champion for at least three months last year?

Roderick Strong def. Dalton Castle in an ROH World Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Ring of Honor has its own weekly television show that virtually no one watches. I know that pretty much answers this question, but why not put this match on ROH TV to make that show more meaningful? It was a quality contest, but it felt out of place on Collision because a majority of the AEW audience probably doesn't care about the ROH World Championship at this point. Strong will challenge Mark Briscoe at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on July 26th.

Nyla Rose def. Ava Lawless

I've enjoyed Rose's babyface turn over on ROH TV, but she's been directionless since failing to beat Athena for the ROH Women's World Championship earlier this year. Rose's last televised match in AEW was last month and it was a loss to Kris Statlander. This was a standard squash that you had to know happened for a reason because it was so random. Sure enough, Rose accepted Mercedes Mone's AEW TBS Championship open challenge later on for Wednesday's Dynamite.

Top Flight def. Shane Taylor Promotions (Lee Moriarty and Anthony Ogogo)

Moriarty, Ogogo and Shane Taylor beat Top Flight and Action Andretti in last night's Rampage main event. This was essentially an extension of the feud and allowed the babyfaces to get their win back. That's fine I guess, but what's accomplished by doing 50/50 booking? Who benefits? Plus, both teams are talented, but does anyone actually care about this feud? It's better than nothing, but it feels like they're just being kept busy.

Skye Blue def. Harley Cameron

Despite getting a makeover, Blue was still wrestling like a heel on Thursday's ROH TV. However, she was in babyface mode for this match, so maybe her heel run is over for the time being with Julia Hart out injured for the foreseeable future. Cameron exceeded my expectations in her recent matches with Toni Storm and Mariah May, but this was only decent. In a backstage segment afterward, Blue challenged Hikaru Shida to a match on next week's Collision, so that's why this existed.

ROH World Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) def. The Conglomeration (Kyle O'Reilly and Orange Cassidy)

The rivalry between Undisputed Kingdom and The Conglomeration continues and I can't say it's done much for me in recent weeks. They're still telling the story that Undisptuted Kingdom want O'Reilly to join their ranks, but it's been going on for months and haven't made much movement. This was a solid main event but nothing overly exciting. Undisputed Kingdom winning was a genuine surprise, though. Post-match, Trent Beretta attempted to attack the babyfaces post-match but was thwarted by Cassidy. Reportedly, he's injured and that was his write-off for now.

Overall Show

This was your run-of-the-mill edition of Collision in that not a whole lot happened, but the two hours weren't terrible to sit through. It honestly felt like a chore more than anything else, but there was some good stuff sprinkled throughout. As I've said several times in the past, all of the important angles are playing out on Dynamite while Rampage and Collision are used as the setup shows, rendering the latter programs largely inconsequential. This episode was an example of that.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews