The July 8th edition of AEW Collision offered CM Punk versus Samoa Joe, Ricky Starks versus Powerhouse Hobbs, Action Andretti versus Scorpion Sky, and FTR taking on Bullet Club Gold.
Highlights:
- After the pre-taped interviews for the competitors of both Owen Hart Tournament semi-finals, the show got started with CM Punk strolling to the ring and grabbing a microphone hyping up his match later tonight with Samoa Joe and hyping up the crowd with kind words for Owen Hart. This was immediately followed by a video package of history of Punk and Joe. The main event played into the history of the two men with Punk never beating Joe, until tonight. This and the tag team match earlier in the night were the loudest the crowd was all night. Joe attacked Punk after the match, suggesting their renewed feud isn’t over just yet, but first Punk will need to deal with Ricky Starks in the tournament final.
- It was the other semi-final match which was the first match of the night with Powerhouse Hobbs taking on his former friend Ricky Starks. During the entrances we got picture-in-picture recaps of both men’s road to the semi-finals as well as references to their past as part of Team Taz. The QTV crew came down with Hobbs, and did offer a little interference but turned out to be more detrimental to Hobbs by distracting Aubrey Edwards when Hobbs had the opportunity to pin Starks before eventually falling to the spear. After the match, Hobbs was in no mood to listen to QT Marshall‘s apologies suggesting a welcomed split with the faction could be imminent.
- In a terrific match the up-and-down crowd really got behind, FTR were defeated by Bullet Club Gold who earned themselves a future title opportunity. Several near falls here with Juice Robinson finally picking up the pin. Following the commercial break, we got a backstage interview with Bullet Club Gold making a challenge, and FTR accepting, for a 2-out-of-3 falls match next week for the AEW Tag Team Championship.
- Athena interrupted Willow Nightingale‘s backstage interview with Tony Schiavone announcing she couldn’t compete in the match following an injury which will keep her out of action until next week.
- In what commentators referred to as his return match, Scorpio Sky defeated Action Andretti in an even match that earned some mutual respect between the two men after the match (suggesting Sky will be a face, at least for now).
- Julia Hart, with Brody King in her corner, made short work of local talent in the replacement match for Athena vs. Willow on the card. The crowd was quieter for this match, but there were some “Julia” chants towards the end and it was another strong showing for Hart.
- We got a Battle of the Belts promo for Luchasaurus defending the TNT Championship against Shawn Spears.
Lows:
- Julia Hart’s match was followed by Malakai Black‘s pre-taped response to Andrade El Idolo and Andrade’s live backstage response in his interview with Lexy Nair about the importance of a mask. Once again, I understand the idea here but this entire storyline continues to fall flat. Nothing in these segments is getting me excited for the feud that once it gets in the ring should be quite good (despite this bumbling building towards it).
Less Notable:
- Pre-taped backstage promo from Miro.
- Promo for the July 19th Blood & Guts match between the Blackpool Combat Club and the Elite.
