All Elite Wrestling COLLISION Preview
By Jeff Wolfe | August 4, 2023
All Elite Wrestling is coming to Greenville, SC this Saturday for the very first time, and that means COLLISION will be LIVE from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena with 3 huge championship matches! CM Punk defends his “Real” World Championship against 2023 Owen Hart Tournament Winner Ricky Starks, while FTR face Big Bill and Brian Cage with their AEW World Tag Team Championship on the line, plus TBS Champion Kris Statlander faces the challenge of “The OG Badass” Mercedes Martinez! The Acclaimed will also be in the house to talk about their future following Daddy Ass’ apparent retirement from professional wrestling; the night begins at 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for AEW’s international fans, just make sure to drop by the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from this week’s episodes of DYNAMITE and RAMPAGE, as well as the latest edition of CONTROL CENTER, and so much more!
“REAL” WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH…
CM Punk(c) vs. 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Winner “Absolute” Ricky Starks
It’s a fact; CM Punk was never beaten for the AEW World Championship following his ALL OUT 2022 victory over Jon Moxley, but it’s also a fact that in his absence, a new World Champion needed to be crowned, and it was Jon Moxley who defeated Bryan Danielson on September 21st to become that champion. Not in an interim fashion, not as a placeholder until Punk returned, but as the All Elite Wrestling World Champion. Now this was not the only time this situation unfolded, it wasn’t even the first time it was a situation involving Punk, as Moxley became Interim Champion in lieu of an injury to Punk when he defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2022. It was also a situation with the AEW Women’s World Championship when Thunder Rosa was injured while holding the championship, it was an issue with Cody Rhodes as TNT Champion, and of course it was a situation with The Elite following ALL OUT 2022 when they were stripped of the AEW World Trios Championship.
Cody came back, lost to Interim TNT Champion Sammy Guevara, and “The Spanish God” moved forward as champion. The Elite returned to action to face down Death Triangle at FULL GEAR 2022 and lost, leaving PAC, Penta, and Fenix as reigning champions for the time being. Thunder Rosa has not been cleared to return to action since her injury, and has watched both Jamie Hayter and Hikaru Shida lay claim to that championship, as well as Toni Storm twice. If and when Thunder returns to competition, will she immediately pursue that which she never lost? That’s a story still to be told…
As for Punk, he has watched Jon Moxley and MJF become the World Champion of AEW in his absence, knowing he was never beaten for the title, and after being back in the fold for two months, he’s done watching others lay claim to that which was taken from him but for which he was never defeated. Enter: Ricky Starks…
Having become something of an ally to Punk since the inception of COLLISION, Starks did what he felt he had to do in order to beat Punk in the finals of the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. That victory over the “Real” World Champion has reignited the arrogance not seen in Starks since his Team Taz days, and now he wants what Punk has been keeping in that red bag, what he feels he is owed for winning The