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The latest episode of AEW Collision took place in Oakland, California. This week, all of the focus was built around Full Gear which is coming up next weekend. Lots of wrestling was on show, with 7 matches on the card and strong vignettes from Hangman Page and the House of Black.
A 1 to 10 point scale will be used each week to score wrestlers who appear in matches on AEW Collision, and occasionally in notable segments. Wrestlers will be scored as follows:
Note: Not all personalities who appear will be scored i.e. wrestlers in backstage promos or interviews, jobbers. Wrestlers who feature in matches but are not part of AEW’s roster will be scored but will not feature in the Form Table.
Will Hobbs vs an unknown jobber was not scored.
Let’s take a look at this week’s ratings:
Andrade (8) vs Daniel Garcia (8):
As typical of a tradition it is becoming, Collision started with a contest that ended up as Match of the Night. It started off as slow, methodical with both men presented as trying to get a feel of each other. It soon turned into an excellent showpiece between two contrasting wrestlers in their frames yet on a technical level they are quite similar. Usually because of this, Garcia is able to go toe to toe with his opponent without the commentary team emphasising on a size disadvantage. Recent weeks have seen Garcia’s resurgence on TV as a ‘wrestler’, which is a comfortable spot for him to be in. Personally, I cannot remember the last time that Andrade had a below average match by anyone’s standards. The momentum train did stop in this episode because it was a fantastic technical match.
Dalton Castle (6) vs Nick Wayne (5):
In some ways, Castle seemed like the perfect match to elevate Wayne on TV in a way that he really hasn’t yet got the chance for. It is worth noting that despite his developing age, you can see Wayne building some lean muscle on his body. Castle really impressed by just being himself in this match. It sometimes amazes how well timed and controlled his suplexes are. They must be some of the best in the business today. Wayne is still getting used to the TV side of matches so this was another one on his resumé, however still feels like he’s missing a pinch of salt to anything he is currently doing.
The Workhorsemen (6) vs Rush and Dralistico (6):
Much like last week, Rush brought his A game with his level of energy. His impressive cardio seems to be making up as a consolation for how he usually attempts to murder opponents whilst being a heel. With LFI being back on TV, it gives the chance for another masked wrestler to showcase himself. Dralistico was impressive in this match as equally. His over-the-top rope torpé was timed and landed to perfection. Their opponents for tonight are always pleasant to watch. JD Drake’s moonsaults, whilst it did not connect, was another crowd-popper in this well-put together match.
Roderick Strong (7) vs Darius Martin (6):
The (short) history of Collision has served the dynamic of young high flyer vs veteran technician matches well generally. This was more of an opportunity for Strong to showcase himself, so it was surprising to see the match go as competitively longer than expected. They don’t call Roddy the Messiah of Backbreaker for no reason; he makes them look flawlessly painful yet in reality safe. His turnbuckle chops went hard and quite frankly, so did Darius’ chops when he was giving it back to him later in the match.
Julia Hart (6) vs Willow Nightingale (7):
The crowd were pumped up for this one for the majority of it. It was a good match in a progressing storyline circling around the TBS Title. There was a spot at the end where Willow hits the powerbomb and it looked like Julia should’ve countered it by landing on her back and possibly roll over. The impact was absorbed solely by her landing straight on her butt, which looked painful. She soldiered through to hit the finishing sequence but the awkwardness was felt by the flat crowd reaction towards the end.
Darby Allin (6), Sting (6) & Adam Copeland (5) vs The Righteous (6) & Lance Archer (6):
This was one of them 6 man tags that often close out the go-home show to a PPV, but felt oddly timed to be booked since Full Gear isn’t until next weekend. It was a fairly predictable and standard match that leaned towards the formula of how these matches go. As a a result, it meant that everyone got a decent amount of ring time except Copeland, who featured for the final hot tag to send the crowd home happy.
Form Table
Click the below images to see this week's updated form tables: