The Collision grind is losing its luster
AEW brought the heat to London, Ontario with the April 2 episode of Collision, but the product is starting to feel like a loop. We are sixteen days away from WrestleMania 41, and while WWE is hitting their peak, Tony Khan seems stuck in a holding pattern. The show featured the expected high-flyers, but technical execution cannot mask narrative decay.
The videos released from the broadcast highlight the athleticism that defined the early days of this promotion. However, we have seen this script before. The reliance on exhibition-style matches without the necessary build-up is burning out the audience. It is great wrestling, but it lacks the stakes required to keep the casual viewer tethered to their seats.
Missing the narrative fire
Compare this to the tension building for the Champions League matches, or the genuine animosity brewing in the Raw locker room. Collision feels like a separate island where the consequences of wins and losses are ignored in favor of 'bangers' that lead nowhere. You can only watch the same combination of superkicks and dives for so long before it loses its edge.
The promotion needs to realize that work rate alone is not a booking strategy. When the crowd in Ontario is more focused on chants than the actual story of a match, the booking team has failed. If the goal is to hit an audience that stays beyond the opening bell, they need to sharpen their character work significantly.
The booking disconnect
Talent like the ones featured on the latest Collision clips clearly have the technical chops to hold their own against anyone on the planet. Putting them through the same cycle of tag team matches without a clear destination for the titles is professional negligence. It wastes the physical capital of the workers.
We saw a 15-minute time limit approach on a mid-card match that felt like a chore rather than a thrill. Matches that end in a stalemate because the clock ran out are lazy tropes that deflate energy immediately. It stalls momentum right when the match should be entering the third act.
A plea for actual stakes
Booking a show requires more than just filling time slots with talented names. It requires a clear through-line that rewards the invested fan. Without a major shift in how these programs are structured, the gap between the sports-entertainment juggernaut and the alternative will only widen.
Khan has the roster to compete, but having a Ferrari engine does not matter if you are driving in circles in a parking lot. It is time to drop the exhibition mindset and start building actual rivalries that matter. Otherwise, May's Double or Nothing event is going to feel like just another Tuesday night special.
