AEW Collision Playoff Palooza April 26, 2025 - Top Flight vs CRU

[Ricky Smarks]

Mox > Swerve > Hangman > Switchblade > Ospreay

That would be the ideal timeline for me.

Switch at Full Gear and Ospreay at Double or Nothing.

 

[O-Blaze]

It seems Tony still hasn’t learned how to pivot.

If the book was up to me, swerve definitely would’ve won at dynasty and then hangman would win at all in. That would be perfect.

Will is one of those people that I was talking about. It’s not like I dislike Will or anything, but I definitely like so many more people ahead of him.

I would have definitely been good with it, as Swerve is great. But Will is my favorite across all of wrestling right now, so I'm also fine with him winning lmao

 

[O-Blaze]

Mox > Swerve > Hangman > Switchblade > Ospreay

That would be the ideal timeline for me.

Switch at Full Gear and Ospreay at Double or Nothing.

All In is my birthday weekend, and I'll actually be getting the ppv, so my favorite becoming World Champion is my idle scenario tbh.

 

[Ricky Smarks]

I would have definitely been good with it, as Swerve is great. But Will is my favorite across all of wrestling right now, so I'm also fine with him winning lmao

Like I said, I get why people like him so I don’t dislike him or anything, but I often think he gets favored so much he gets pushed right into the mix like when my Roderick international title got cut so short because he had to be hot shotted to that belt. I just don’t think Will needs to be the next AEW champion. Swerve and hangman and Jay all should get their runs first in my opinion and then I would be happy even letting Jay himself do the favors for Will next year at double or nothing that would be perfect for me.

 

[Comrade Khan]

Respectfully disagree, I think Will has more than proven himself for years and deserves his flowers

 

[Ricky Smarks]

Respectfully disagree, I think Will has more than proven himself for years and deserves his flowers

Don’t get me wrong. Not saying he doesn’t deserve his flowers. He’s clearly earned what he’s got and developed a following. What I’m saying is I don’t think he needs to be pushed ahead of other people that have been waiting longer when he’s still so young and there’s still plenty of time for him to come in later and I’m not even talking about waiting too long. I’m just talking about instead of winning it in August, he wins it next May, but that’s just my opinion.

 

[Ricky Smarks]

Getting it on Will, though would be better than leaving it on Jon so I would support it, ether way.

Wild to think though that if that does last that long, it’ll be 9-10 months for that Mox reign. Crazy.

 

[Roy Mustang]

I’m gonna be fully honest with you. I’m trying not to overreact to this, but it’s really making me want to not watch AEW anymore because every time I like something Tony seems to kill it.

I feel like something happened backstage cause it does feel weird how the Kingdom has been dropped. I say this as someone who has only liked them in AEW, this isn't like others who were just not performing. They did good work on TV so it is a bit odd.

The funny thing is most of my opinions are probably isolated to me like I was saying before. A lot of these people that are getting the pushes other people seem to like just fine so I know Tony can’t book just for me but like with John Moxley, I don’t think anybody likes his run anymore. Why would you extend this another three months? Swerve is so fucking over. Why would you not pull the trigger on swerve?

Tbf I don't think they extended it, it just was always meant to go this long and apparently it is drawing ratings. That's the reason he hasn't pivoted but yeah I am deffo into the death riders as a mox fan.

I also think it is modern wrestling fan thing where we have become too obsessed with long reigns which when have a main event scene as stacked as AEW's, yeah I don't know if it works. Like I rate Jay White but he's like 7th or 8th on my list of people I want as world champion. Not because he sucks but there is that much depth and great talent.

Don’t get me wrong. Not saying he doesn’t deserve his flowers. He’s clearly earned what he’s got and developed a following. What I’m saying is I don’t think he needs to be pushed ahead of other people that have been waiting longer when he’s still so young and there’s still plenty of time for him to come in later and I’m not even talking about waiting too long. I’m just talking about instead of winning it in August, he wins it next May, but that’s just my opinion.

I agree and disagree. Will is worthy of being champion and has been for the last year. He is super over and I feel like sometimes waiting too long is a problem. I think Kyle Fletcher should be a champion within a year and he is even younger because his work is that good. Same time, I will say this honestly: they teased me the match I wanted the most for the world title which was Swerve vs Hangman and then took it away. I would prefer Hangman or Swerve as World champion but at the same time Will is not a bad 3rd choice and also a worthy world champion

 

[Ricky Smarks]

I agree and disagree. Will is worthy of being champion and has been for the last year. He is super over and I feel like sometimes waiting too long is a problem. I think Kyle Fletcher should be a champion within a year and he is even younger because his work is that good. Same time, I will say this honestly: they teased me the match I wanted the most for the world title which was Swerve vs Hangman and then took it away. I would prefer Hangman or Swerve as World champion but at the same time Will is not a bad 3rd choice and also a worthy world champion

I also agree and disagree. When you say waiting too long can be a problem is precisely my point because take Jay White for example he came in as New Japan’s top gaijin main event champion and now it’s been over two years with him nowhere near where he was when he came in and he’s cooling off fast. I don’t feel Ospreay is in an immediate danger of cooling off yet.

Same thing was Swerve and Hangman. You and I both agreed that was the world title program that should’ve happened last year and there’s only so long you can keep the fans hunger for that match until you lose the magic that it would’ve been.

Even removing that specific match itself, just swerve himself is insanely over right now and not pulling the trigger on Swerve soon could result in losing that. Which would be a real shame, honestly.

Will is most definitely a worthy champion. No denying that whatsoever I just think there’s a strategy that can be had to make sure if you time the main event just right you can make sure you can keep all your top guys over and I think if you skip straight to even the guy who’s probably the most over, you can probably still do damage to the other guys you could’ve also kept over in the meantime. I’m also not entirely sure if Will makes the most sense just as a storyline standpoint as the guy to dethrone the death riders.

 

[Ricky Smarks]

Tbf I don't think they extended it, it just was always meant to go this long and apparently it is drawing ratings. That's the reason he hasn't pivoted but yeah I am deffo into the death riders as a mox fan.

I also think it is modern wrestling fan thing where we have become too obsessed with long reigns which when have a main event scene as stacked as AEW's, yeah I don't know if it works. Like I rate Jay White but he's like 7th or 8th on my list of people I want as world champion. Not because he sucks but there is that much depth and great talent.

Yeah, I meant they should’ve pivoted. I don’t have a problem with long reigns in theory. I also kind of enjoy them, but I don’t think every reign needs to necessarily go a minimum length and you especially don’t need to if it’s his fourth run like it is with Mox. You don’t need to have his fourth run going to the nine month mark. Like you said you have a stacked main event waiting.

 

[Ricky Smarks]

I feel like something happened backstage cause it does feel weird how the Kingdom has been dropped. I say this as someone who has only liked them in AEW, this isn't like others who were just not performing. They did good work on TV so it is a bit odd.

There have been some theories that maybe they got punished by the timing of Maria’s release, but the suddenness of their drop being the exact same time that Kyle joined the group makes me believe that it was calculated. There has been a report that has come out since that suggested Tony never wanted them in the group to begin with and I think I just believe it at this point.

I’ve always felt uneasy with the way that the kingdom has been used going all the way back when they first came in. They really didn’t do much storyline wise push wise for the first year or so of their AEW run mostly just appearing on ring of honor with very little substance until the devil storyline came out in the summer 2023.

As soon as Cole got hurt, though, you could tell things changed. Come that next spring they disappeared for several months, not appearing on AEW or ROH until Cole is ready to come back.

So them just disappearing with no explanation has been an ongoing thing and honestly at this point I just don’t think Tony cares that much for them outside of using them for people he cares about more which is fine if he didn’t get bored of even doing that. There’s no reason why they can’t just be the fourth or fifth ranked members of the paragon. Which I don’t even know why they need to rename the group. I get to distance from the backlash, but it’s more so to the group itself and not the name. You got rid of the awesome theme music that they had in Devil Rising which was one of the better AEW theme songs of all time and got rid of their crown logo that was so cool and now you’re just starting over with no storyline reason whatsoever. Just acting like the fans are gonna forget that the kingdom were ever part of the group just because he changed the name of it? Weak. At least explain it in kayfabe. At this point, I think they should just go to TNA.

 

[Ricky Smarks]

Thanks for letting me rant for a little bit. I needed that. I’m gonna try to catch up again on AEW again soon. I checked out collision last night for the first time using the live Max stream and it was pretty solid…

 

[Ricky Smarks]

One thing I meant to point out last night was I think it’s a pretty smart idea of Warner to actually stream the same feed that’s on TNT/TBS meaning I got the standard commercials that I assume the live TV feed was getting. Considering commercials are the only reason why more companies aren’t simultaneously streaming.

 

[Ricky Smarks]

That being said, I am torn over whether or not I wanna watch on Max or Triller, considering on Triller I don’t get the commercials lol

 

[Chris]

One thing I meant to point out last night was I think it’s a pretty smart idea of Warner to actually stream the same feed that’s on TNT/TBS meaning I got the standard commercials that I assume the live TV feed was getting. Considering commercials are the only reason why more companies aren’t simultaneously streaming.

It's different, it's Max specific commercials without any Picture in Picture that the cable stations get which kinda sucks. It's especially noticeable when it's a Max movie and they're dropping F Bombs lol

After a week or so when the replay is uploaded as a legit episode it's the triller feed allegedly (I've heard this a lot but never tested it bc I'm never a week behind) lol