AEW Collision Review - September 23, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Christian Cage def. Luchasaurus and Darby Allin in a Three-Way Match to Win the AEW TNT Championship

This was an absolute blast. It was basically a Handicap match but didn't feel like one with the way it was laid out. Allin still had to overcome the odds and it was always interesting. I'm happy he didn't get the belt back here because they can save that for Seattle at WrestleDream, but personally, I'm hoping Christian holds onto it now that he's finally the real TNT champion. This was the first time tension has been teased between Christian and Luchasaurus, so we'll see if he turns on him soon or if they save it for down the road.

Rob Van Dam and FTW Champion Hook def. "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker

If this sounds like a random match on paper, that's because it was. However, this show emanated not far from where RVD has called home (Battle Creak, Michigan) throughout his career, and thus the crowd was extra into him here and it made for a fun affair. RVD teamed with Taz in ECW, so that was the connection with Taz's son Hook. Menard and Parker also played their roles well. As far as I know, RVD is not officially "All Elite".

Julia Hart def. Kiera Hogan

Hart just beat Skye Blue on Friday's Rampage, so this extended her winning streak. This was the basic bout that you'd expect, but at least Hart beat someone on the roster and not some random enhancement talent. She and Brody King announced afterward that she'll challenge Kris Statlander for the AEW TBS Championship at WrestleDream because Hart's last loss came at the hands of Statlander. Apparently all the way back in April 2022. Hart's been undefeated for that long? You'd honestly never know based on how infrequently she wrestles on television. Unsurprisingly, most of those victories came on the Dark shows when they were still a thing.

Jay White def. Andrade El Idolo

Collision has been the perfect platform for White and Andrade, who have been able to showcase their skills and have some excellent matches. This was one of them. The crowd was quieter than I thought they would be, but it's possible they were just appreciating the wrestling. Either guy could have won and it would have been fine, but White winning keeps his momentum going and may force Andrade to call upon La Faccion Ingobernable for backup.

AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR def. The Workhorsemen

There was zero chance Workhorsemen were taking the titles here one week out from WrestleDream, but they still went in there and had an impressive performance and even won the crowd over toward the end. This was a short, sweet and hard-hitting sprint. I really liked the post-match verbal exchange between FTR and Aussie Open that set the stage for their rematch at WrestleDream and provided some background on their history.

Bryan Danielson def. Ricky Starks in a Texas Death Match

This was another brutal battle between these two. There were no disqualifications, so you have to wonder why there wasn't any interference from either side, but I'm actually glad there wasn't. I preferred the Strap match to this because of the two commercial breaks hurting the flow of this, not to mention that AEW does too many Texas Death matches, but this was still a strong main event with Starks again looking credible in defeat. The key now is for AEW to capitalize off his feuds with CM Punk and Danielson and have him rack up some wins in singles competition.

Overall Show

This was easily the best edition of Collision since CM Punk was fired at the beginning of the month. Punk's departure didn't completely kill my enjoyment of Collision, but the program was on the verge of losing its identity if it continued to be booked like your average Dynamite or Rampage. Thankfully, that was not the case this week. The opening and closing matches delivered, Andrade vs. White was entertaining, and RVD's homecoming was cool. The announcement of several more WrestleDream matches also made this an eventful episode.

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