Wrestler Ratings | This Week’s AEW Collision: 28/10/2023

The latest episode of AEW Collision took place in Montville, Connecticut. It featured a blockbuster main event for the AEW World Heavywieght Championship between MJF and Kenny Omega, as we head into Halloween season and eyes shifting to Full Gear in November.

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.

Let’s take a look at this week’s ratings:

Jay White (7) vs AR Fox (7):

The Collision opener went over well and gave the crowd the correct ingredients for a good show. Two wrestlers who are reliable workers delivered, yet a certain AR Fox was showcased despite not being on TV for a while since his storyline with Darby Allin faded out. Fox’s hang time when he is in the air suspends your belief that gravity does in fact not exist. His Shooting Star Press was executed well, and the use of the corner rope to leverage the flip makes the delivery even smoother somewhat. White’s selling was on point as usual, and as predictable as the victory was, it was a nice showing by both men in the time that they had.

The Boys (5) vs The Gunns (5):

To build on last week’s short victory, The Gunns were given another one at the expense of Dalton Castle’s Boys. It ensured that Bullet Club Gold are the backbone of Collision and give Austin and Colton some added credibility as they look towards challenging MJF for tag team gold.

Hikaru Shida (7) vs Abadon (7):

It’s that time of year that we get a goofy gimmick match during seasonal holidays. Yet, this was surprisingly pleasant with the way that the match was structured. The pumpkin pops and weapons got the crowd hot into it, giving Abadon a good showing in the process. Abadon’s no-selling coupled well with Shida’s shock at Abadon’s resistance to pain. Teasing the candy drop as intensely as thumbtacks was as goofy as this got and ended with a cool visual of Shida’s Kitana Kick to the pumpkin head in her Resident Evil cosplay.

Samoa Joe (6) vs Rhett Titus (5):

Joe’s walkaway spot is becoming synonymous with his standard match. It makes for great entertainment as the champion ages like a fine wine. To follow on from The Gunns earlier in the night, this was the second of three squash matches.

Ricky Starks (7) vs Dax Harwood (7):

With the cameras so heavily focused on House of Black watching this match, it felt like a Halloween version of Gogglebox for the first 5 minutes of this match. As the match went on, the cameras focused more on the thrilling action between two talented individuals going all out. Doing the little things so well goes a long way, so Dax selling a closed fist and giving echoing chops is some of his best attributes. It makes for fun singles matches… and the rest of his moveset too, of course. Starks built offensive momentum in the middle phase, and it is quite dazzling at how much small taunting adds so much swagger to his heel work. 

There were some brutal bumps, mainly for Dax to take on the stage and then later the outside ring canvas. He even almost fell face first after a missed top rope splash earlier in the match. Overall, the action was well paced at a highly intense level throughout and made for a cruelly second best match of the night where on most Collision episodes, it would have ranked an undisputed first.

Claudio Castagnoli (5) vs Tracy Williams (4):

In addition to the vignette of vengeance aimed towards Orange Cassidy and Kazuchika Okada earlier, Claudio brought his no nonsense approach to a brief match here, capping an overly saturated night (once again) of squash matches.

MJF (10) vs Kenny Omega (10):

Collision may only have a short history, but it is matches like these that wrestling TV episodes are significantly remembered by. It was a valiant effort by both men who went all out to create a spectacle of brutal entertainment and suspense.

One of the earlier highlights of the match was MJF’s running moonsault. It’s a mark of a wrestler where he/she gets to a point where using a high flying move gets a thundering gasp. The use of the Heatseeker as part of three offences to finish off Omega was a good way to end the match, confirming the passing of the torch with regards to the longest title reign.

As far as Omega’s performance went, it was a vintage performance from The Cleaner who was working in sixth gear. It almost made up for the criminal lack of Omega singles matches over the last year. The rough landing on the knee after hitting MJF with the high angle powerbomb onto the table looked legitimately sore. Much of the gruelling moves focused on destroying the necks of each other i.e. Snapdragon, Heatseeker.

MJF is in the middle of a bucket list run as champion, but this one went close to his Iron Man match with Danielson, which elevated this reign twicefold. Did this match go threefold?

Form Table

Click the below images to see this week's updated form tables: