Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
I found myself on a flight Saturday morning to the debut edition of AEW Collision, mostly to see what I felt was an important historic milestone, CM Punk and Samoa Joe in the ring together for the first time since 2005, when their trilogy rescued Ring of Honor from destruction and put the promotion, ironically, on a path to one day be owned by Tony Khan - where an ROH match was the thing held on the Collision taping.
AEW has grown into this polarizing thing over the last several years. For many fans, it's what ECW was for me when I was a teenager, it's a rallying cry of what professional wrestling should be and a chance for "their" wrestling to be seen. For others, it's a reason to complain about what AEW does that is wrong, even though there is no wrong when it comes to professional wrestling in my opinion - there's good and bad in all of the different styles and flavors. Some celebrate it, some dismiss it and they are all within their rights to do so. That's the beauty of professional wrestling, it's a malleable thing that you find yourself attracted to and you shape it into what you need to get out of it.
Sitting ringside at the United Center this past Saturday, put me in the same position (and the same row) I was in a few weeks ago at Monday Night Raw in Hartford, CT. So again, I did a lot of people watching, especially in between matches. While these are different markets and promotions, there was also some cross-over. There were some families with young children in attendance, but the AEW makeup was, for the most part, similar to WWE in Hartford in that there were a lot of 20-30 something fans in terms of age, but the AEW fans were much greater in concentration to the most die-hard fans there could be.
If this was a movie screening, there would have been a lot of Mystery Science Theater 3000-like riffing going on around me, as everyone was yelling “insider” terms and inside jokes and comments about New Japan, WWE and even WWE. It made for a more raucous atmosphere and if you were someone who paid for a website like ours or even clicked on social media 100,000 times a day for the latest twists and turns, these were your people. WWE felt more like the casual fans who had grown up watching WWE now paying to come. AEW felt more like the fans who would moonsault off their roof for the love of their wrestling, more diligent, more militant and ready to take up arms for their AEW.
This Saturday would have given them a great reason to take up arms. I’ve been to a lot of AEW PPVs and TV tapings and I would be hard-pressed to think of a more enjoyable two hours than I witnessed at Collision. Dynamite’s worst trait is often that so much is happening, you never, as a viewer, get a chance to take it all in and that the moments resonate before you are onto the next segment, interview or match. It’s a Michael Bay movie at times, lots of cool, fiery, flashy, high-flying stuff being thrown at you, sometimes faster than you can think about it. ECW was like that at times, so I can appreciate it, but Collision felt like a different breed of animal.
There were far less big highspots for the sake of popping the audience and more that felt like stories were being told, in a more old school presentation, then we have become accustomed to watching AEW. The six man tag team main event, highlighted by Samoa Joe and CM Punk beating the crap out of each other as only old frenemies can, was as close to an All Japan Pro Wrestling or Pro Wrestling NOAH style six man presentation as one can hope for in 2023. These were six men fighting to prove their supremacy for 25+ minutes, leaving it all out there for the world to see. I loved every second of it.
It was great to see CM Punk exorcize the demons of the last few matches that left him injured, but it was even greater to see full-blown “I don’t give a F***, I will break you” Samoa Joe re-emerge before my eyes. This was the Joe I saw define the ROH title and make it a legitimate World title. Plus, add in FTR at their best, Jay White’s best AEW performance to date and Juice Robinson right there along with him, and man, that’s the type of stuff I love about professional wrestling.
AEW Collision was the best of everything one can hope for from the dirty, dingy smaller venues that we’ve all been in and loved to see pro wrestling in, but elevated to taking place in the United Center. Six men came to fight and fight they did - that’s no different than what fans of Mid-South and Memphis Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions flocked to experience. Men fighting to prove their dominance and supremacy. I loved the hell out of it.
There’s no denying I’ve always been someone who’s enjoyed CM Punk’s work - we were even on a live PPV together for two hours discussing that - but even I had a lot of questions about what his return promo would be. It’s obvious that some want to move from the entire All Out thing and probably didn’t want it covered, but something had to be said, especially after the mocking of the fight when The Elite returned to the ring. I think Punk nailed his receipt but didn’t do so at the expense of his return. He made it clear he felt he was still the rightful AEW Champion with shots at MJF and that he was here until someone ran him off.
With echoes of Bret Hart as the Canadian hero/American villain right down to the pink and black attire, Punk set the stage for a future episode where he isn’t as lovingly embraced as he was in Chicago. As long as it sells tickets and makes money for AEW, tha’s a good thing, even if Punk and The Young Bucks never stand across from each other in a ring. AEW has enough room for everyone to go make money for the company, especially if the new competition is whether Wednesday or Saturday has the better show that week. It’s Raw vs. Nitro, except Tony Khan reaps the potential benefits.
There’s been a lot of emails asking me what I think the audience will be. I don’t know. I don’t feel there was a massive marketing campaign for the show and I don’t know how many people will want to give up their Saturdays to watch more professional wrestling, but I truly believe that whatever the audience will turn out to be, AEW earned and was deserving of a bigger one than will be recorded by Nielsen.
With the exception of Wardlow vs. Luchasaurus, which never seemed to click, there was a lot to like on the show. Skye Blue’s reception and underdog win in Chicago, with her mother cheering her own, was a nice moment and a solid tag match. Andrade El Idolo’s return to the ring absolutely rocked with him and Buddy Murphy having a GREAT match with lots of dramatic moments, including the doctors nearly stopping it and then a Figure-8 shoutout to Andrade’s wife.
The Acclaimed promo was fun, and there’s (in my mind) no denying Anthony Bowens and Max Caster should be AEW’s modernized version of what The Public Enemy were in ECW from 1994-1996, that one act so fun and so good that no matter how good or bad the rest of the show is, they leave you happy walking out the door. That sort of act is rare and special and I hope AEW realizes what true lightning in a bottle they have in those two and Billy Gunn.
Miro’s return against a hard-fighting and adept Tony Nese felt like a moment and you could feel the mood change in the building when Miro arrived. It felt like something important and it’s up to AEW to keep that going with competitive matches, good promos and something worthwhile for Miro to bite into beyond quick, hard-hitting wins.
AEW Collision felt different from Dynamite. It felt like something that Jim Crockett Promotions would have grandfathered and that’s certainly my jam when it comes to professional wrestling. I am extremely interested in not just how Collision evolves but how the high marks and most well received aspects of the show begin to influence Dynamite, if at all. But, night one was one of the best two hour AEW TV tapings I've ever attended and I hope that this burst of energy I felt live as Collision unfolded before my eyes in Chicago leads to lots of positive synergy and overall momentum for AEW going forward. Pro Wrestling should be fun and Collision sure as hell was.
Let's see where this week in Chicago and Toronto leads us, shall we?
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
