SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
To help you add context, my “Hits” are ordered from best to worst. Each review focuses on why something worked (or didn’t), with historical framing and an eye toward where AEW is heading next. With that said, let’s move into the high points of this week’s episode, starting with the most significant moments.
HITS
TOMMASO CIAMPA’S TNT TITLE DEFENSE
Ciampa’s TNT Championship defense was the clearest articulation yet of what this title is supposed to represent in 2026: urgency, physicality, and a sense that you have to earn oxygen when you’re in the ring with the champion. This wasn’t about flashy spots or shortcut storytelling. It was about Ciampa surviving, adapting, and forcing his challengers to meet him at his pace.
What stood out most was how the match framed Ciampa not as a “new guy with a belt,” but as a champion already shaping the division around him. The TNT Title has historically functioned best when it feels like a proving ground rather than a vanity accessory, and this defense leaned hard into that lineage. If this is the weekly standard, the belt has a chance to regain the week-to-week relevance it’s sometimes lacked.
PARKING LOT FIGHT
AEW has a long history with brawls that feel either wildly memorable or completely disposable, with very little middle ground. This parking lot fight landed firmly on the right side of that divide because it understood its role on the card. It wasn’t trying to be a workrate showcase or an overproduced stunt show. It was there to feel dangerous, personal, and just unhinged enough to reset the show’s energy.
What helped was restraint — an odd thing to say about a parking lot fight, but true. Not every weapon shot needed to escalate. Not every moment needed a camera cut screaming, “THIS IS INSANE.” The match trusted its performers to sell exhaustion and consequence. That trust is something AEW occasionally forgets in these scenarios, and it made a noticeable difference here.
KRIS STATLANDER NAMING THE STIPULATION
The strap angle did the heavy lifting here. It escalated the feud in a tangible way and created a clear cause-and-effect path that earned Kris Statlander the right to name the stipulation for Wednesday’s match against Thekla. Rather than feeling like a creative detour, the announcement felt like a natural consequence of what viewers had just seen.
Where uncertainty still lingers is in the longevity of the “Cosmic Killer” presentation itself. I’m not convinced how much runway the gimmick has beyond its visual identity, or whether the surrounding creative has fully articulated what sustains it once the initial shock wears off.
What did work was how this angle framed Statlander in response. She wasn’t positioned as someone who absorbed chaos or reacted emotionally. Instead, she came across as an undeniable fighting champion, asserting control and imposing structure. If AEW continues leaning into that version of Statlander — competition first, aesthetics second — there’s a path for this rivalry to justify itself through consequence rather than concept.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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COLLISION TREATED THE WOMEN’S DIVISION LIKE A PRIORITY
What stood out most about this episode of Collision wasn’t just that women were featured — it was how deliberately they were woven throughout the show. From Statlander and Thekla anchoring a central storyline, to appearances by Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor, and in-ring action involving Marina Shafir and Zayda Steel, this episode presented the women’s division as an ongoing ecosystem rather than a single isolated segment.
That approach becomes more glaring when contrasted with the most recent episode of Dynamite. The show opened with a 13-minute six-man tag featuring Jon Moxley, PAC, and Daniel Garcia opposite The Don Callis Family, followed later by another 13-minute National Title match between Ricochet and Jack Perry. Neither match was bad — but both were indulgent on a card where the women’s division wasn’t formally represented until the day of the show.
This isn’t about arguing that fewer matches automatically make for better television. It’s about allocation. AEW consistently finds time for extended men’s matches, even on already crowded cards, while women’s segments are treated as optional. That same flexibility could be applied to shorter matches or angles — the same way Collision made room for a video package formally introducing Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor as The Brawling Birds, establishing identity and direction without requiring additional ring time.
Collision showed that this isn’t a resource problem — it’s a priority problem. When women are planned for, woven through the show, and treated as foundational rather than supplemental, the division feels more credible immediately. The challenge for AEW isn’t proving this can happen. It’s explaining why it doesn’t happen consistently across all of its major programming.
THE YOUNG BUCKS STRUCTURAL IMPORTANCE
This was less about the match itself and more about what it represented. The Young Bucks’ opening Collision tag match, focused and purposeful, reminded viewers that AEW’s tag division still functions best when it’s built around a clear hierarchy and execution. There was no nostalgia play here, no meta wink. Just a team operating like they understand they’re supposed to set the tone.
AEW’s tag division has often suffered from overcrowding and a lack of clarity. This match subtly corrected that by reminding the audience who still defines the division’s baseline. That matters, especially as AEW continues stacking teams without always giving them differentiated lanes.
MISSES
THE OPPS
I actually enjoyed hearing Hook speak in the recorded promo. His delivery was measured, confident, and more grounded than we’ve heard from him in the past. On a standalone level, the promo worked. The issue isn’t Hook’s voice — it’s the weight AEW is asking it to carry.
Framing the Opps as a meaningful group moving forward, with Hook positioned as its leader, feels like a creative leap that hasn’t been sufficiently earned. Beyond winning the FTW title — a championship that has always existed in its own isolated lane — Hook hasn’t been asked to demonstrate leadership, manipulation, or sustained influence over others. Presence alone doesn’t make a faction leader, especially not one implied to have real heel gravity.
That doesn’t mean this can’t work.
If AEW commits to showing Hook grow into that role — struggling with it, asserting himself, and proving why others would follow his lead — I’d have no issue revisiting this skepticism and admitting I was wrong. But right now, The Opps feel less like a natural evolution and more like a concept being accelerated before the foundation is fully in place.
FINAL SCORE
- HITS: 5
- MISSES: 1
FINAL THOUGHTS
This episode of Collision felt anchored — something that hasn’t always been true. Ciampa’s TNT title run is giving the show a reliable center of gravity, while the parking lot fight injected controlled chaos without derailing the larger structure. The Statlander angle and consistent women’s presence showed how effective AEW can be when escalation leads directly to consequence, and planning replaces improvisation.
Where the show still falters is in defining intent beyond its top-line acts. Collision doesn’t need to be louder — it needs to be clearer. This episode took a meaningful step in that direction. The challenge now is making that clarity the rule, not the exception.
WRESTLING HISTORY
On this day in 1989, Larry Zbyszko became the new AWA World Heavyweight Championship holder in St. Paul, Minnesota. The title was vacated following the AWA’s split from the CWA, which led to Jerry Lawler being stripped of the championship. A battle royal was held to crown a new champion, with Zbyszko last eliminating Tom Zenk to claim the belt — a moment that underscored how quickly power structures in wrestling can shift when politics and promotion priorities collide.
PODCAST PLUG
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