AEW Five Fingers of Death 7/31 - 8/6

AEW Collision 8/5/23

CM Punk (c?) vs Ricky Starks

MD: This had a ton of time to breathe and it's probably the best I've ever seen Starks look. Just the right combination of energy, attitude, and a chip on his shoulder; he looked like a star. They built off of the last match with bits like holding the ropes open, and played right into a very split crowd reacting to two tweeners. The entire feeling out process (worked like a title match opening) was buoyed by the loud and consistent dueling chants, highlighted by both guys getting to do each other's taunts. The first commercial break had Punk in control doing the Hogan shtick and playing with the crowd. The second commercial break had Starks in control and Punk working from underneath with hope spots and comebacks and a crowd that was more inclined to just chant for Punk.

Steamboat added tiny bits of specialness without overshadowing what was going on. That included coming out to his WCW theme, reacting to Starks' armdrags, calling Starks out when he held the ropes on a sunset flip, and then playing into the finish, which maybe could have had Steamboat roll in just a little quicker, but ultimately he was moving swiftly and it worked for me. And then the post-match segment, paralleling what happened fifteen years ago, cemented the Starks heel turn in the most memorable way.

At his best, Starks carries himself like an Attitude Era star, like someone who could hold his own in a TV main event in 1999 right in the thick of it. There's no one else on AEW TV that works like that and what he needs to pull it off is to be able to turn the volume up as high as possible and wrestle with endless confidence. If he believes, the crowd believes and it feels like a big deal. He felt like he belonged in there with Punk on this night and because of that, the crowd bought into stakes that are dubious at best.