AEW Collision Review - October 5, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Darby Allin de.f Johnny TV

This was one of those matches that would've been a lot more interesting a few years ago when Johnny wasn't booked like such a loser. Johnny's obviously talented, but needless to say, the outcome was never in doubt here. It was a nice match while it lasted, though. Post-match, Brody King officially answered Darby Allin's open challenge for WrestleDream and attacked him. That should be good, but didn't they already feud two years ago?

The Outrunners def. Grizzled Young Veterans

As I've said before, The Outrunners have gotten themselves over in the last month and it's been cool to see. AEW doesn't have as much depth in its tag team division as it once did, so I applaud AEW's decision to capitalize on their newfound popularity. However, I hated that they beat Grizzled Young Veterans, who just debuted and should be pushed as well. It was a well-worked match that received an ample amount of time.

Willow Nightingale def. Trish Adora

Nightingale has been in hot pursuit of Mariah May's AEW Women's World Championship for a few weeks now, so this was intended to be a standard showcase for her. That said, I appreciated how it was still fairly competitive with Adora being made to look credible in defeat. We found out later on that Nightingale will face Britt Baker on next week's Dynamite with the winner advancing to WrestleDream to challenge May for the title.

AEW World Trios Champion Wheeler Yuta def. BEEF

Yuta confronted Claudio Castagnoli backstage beforehand, but despite his issues with him and the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club for what they did to Bryan Danielson at All Out, he's still tag champs with them. Okay, then. Yuta is taking out his frustration in these squash matches, so at the very least, I like his character development there. This is what needed to be.

The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy and Kyle O'Reilly) def. Premier Athletes (Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari)

Maybe aside from the match they had against Chris Jericho's crew last week on Collision, every Conglomeration match feels utterly meaningless, especially when they face enhancement talent like Premier Athletes (who are on TV far more than they should be). This was essentially the same match we got on Collision from these teams two weeks ago. It was fine for what it was yet completely inconsequential.

Hologram def. Action Andretti, Komander and Nick Wayne in a Four-Way Match

The last thing Collision and Rampage need more of is random multi-man matches that serve no purpose, yet that's what we got here. Sure, the action was fun, but I've seen enough of this stuff in AEW (especially lately) to last a lifetime, and I will not remember this match a few days from now. The only thing worth noting is that Hologram kept his undefeated streak alive. I'm very much ready for him to have his first feud, and there was no follow-up to him being attacked by the new La Faccion Ingobernable last week on Collision.

Kris Statlander def. Zoey Lynn

In case you missed it, Statlander is indeed a babyface again and has ditched Stokley Hathaway as her manager. That's completely stupid considering her whole feud with Willow Nightingale (the ultimate babyface, by the way) was based around Hathaway turning them against each other, and it's not even as if they made up afterward. Hey, at least it looks like we'll be getting Statlander vs. Mercedes Mone out of it soon and this got us one step closer to that happening.

Private Party def. Top Flight and House of Black (Malakai Black and Buddy Matthews) in an AEW World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Three-Way Tag Team Match

House of Black and Top Flight got into it on last week's Collision, so it felt like they canceled each other out here. Besides, it would've been ridiculous for Private Party to lose after they beat The Elite in that six-man tag team match on Friday's Rampage. I'd love to see them be the ones dethrone The Young Bucks as AEW World Tag Team Champions, but I'm not holding my breath. This was an enjoyable main event and easily the best thing on the show with there being actual stakes.

Overall Show

Collision is certainly a show that exists for two hours every Saturday night. We found out this week from AEW renewing its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that Collision isn't going anywhere, but time will tell as to whether they bother to make the show feel important again (they definitely didn't this week). The fact they announced the entire card on social media in the last day or so should tell you all you need to know. This was another passable yet skippable edition of Collision.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews