Attending an AEW Live Event!

AEW arrives at the Acrisure Arena. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I'm way behind on blogging due to my recent travels, so, now that I'm back home, I'll do my best to catch up on things.

On Thursday, May 30, I went to the Acrisure Arena near Palm Springs to attend a TV taping of AEW Collision. AEW -- which stands for All Elite Wrestling -- opened its doors in 2019 and has established itself as the main rival to WWE. Collision is, for lack of a better term, AEW's B-show.

The fact that it was the B-show meant that it lacked the promotion's biggest stars, although there were a few names I recognized. Early on in the proceedings, Tony Khan (AEW's president and CEO) gave some opening remarks and compared the evening's festivities to the Jean-Claude Van Damme action vehicle Timecop (1994), which Tony named as his favorite movie. He said we'd get a Timecop-like experience by witnessing tonight's action days before it would air on TNT. They even showed a Timecop poster on the big screen (the Tony Tron?).

OK, as silly as that part of the speech was, I'd still take Tony Khan in a heartbeat over anybody who's been involved in running WWE in the last 25 years.

Tony Schiavone on the mike. Photo by Brett Homenick.

What impressed me most about the evening was seeing Tony Schiavone in person. During the mid-to-late '90s, I was more of a WCW fan, so seeing a veteran of my preferred wrestling company was a real treat. Schiavone even bantered a bit with the audience before interviewing a couple of wrestlers in the ring.

Katsuyori Shibata in the house! Photo by Brett Homenick.

One of the few wrestlers I recognized on the card was Katsuyori Shibata, who is billed as, well, "The Wrestler" in AEW. I only recognized him because I happened to see him in action when I caught Dynamite a few days before the show. It made me a bit homesick to see him in the ring.

Tony Khan on the mike. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Perhaps the biggest star at the event was Will Ospreay, though the section I happened to sit in contained some rather opinionated fans who repeatedly shouted, in various ways, how much they hated him. I actually found that pretty entertaining. I have no opinion about Ospreay either way, but it was amusing to watch their reactions.

There were some bonus Ring of Honor matches at the end, but, given the lateness of the hour, I figured it was time to throw in the towel. I believe this was my first time at a live wrestling event since January 2000 when I was invited to join others at a WWF house show. I had a good time, but I didn't see anything that would make me a die-hard fan.