Fan reaction to the September 19 episode of AEW Collision took a sharp turn following the conclusion of the AEW National Championship match. Rather than discussing Andrade El Ídolo retaining his title against Daniel Garcia, viewers were left parsing through a bizarre officiating sequence during the pinfall attempt.
AEW Collision Referee Botched Finish
Late in the contest, Garcia caught the champion in a rollup. The referee proceeded to strike the canvas three times, yet the bell was never rung to end the match, nor was Garcia awarded the victory. Without hesitation, Andrade reversed the leverage into a rollup cover of his own, scoring a second three-count—which the referee officially recognized to award Andrade the win.
Clips of the sequence quickly went viral across social media, with fans voicing heavy frustration over the officiating and the visual execution of the finish:
- “Wait I have so many questions. Why (I think it’s Garcia) look the ref like an idiot? Why is this s look so bad? Like the camera angle, the move, this stupid ref. Like come on try to do this in a better way ffs.”*
- “I do love AEW, but their referee’s suckkkkkkk.”
- “Look like u got dumbf working as refs bc which dumbass counts like this.”*
Beyond the officiating gaffe, other fans took aim at AEW’s creative booking and the frequent reliance on protective pinfalls to close matches:
“Can we stop with these roll up finishes? S*** is so corny and undermines the winner. TK is so afraid that if he makes someone take a definitive loss they’ll look weak so he spams these roll up finishes every show.”
Second Major Officiating Gaffe In 24 Hours
The incident on AEW Collision stood out even further due to a strikingly similar situation occurring just one night prior on WWE SmackDown.
During the September 18 main event between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, CM Punk interfered by striking Owens with the WWE Championship belt. Zayn made the cover, and the referee counted to three, but failed to signal for the bell. The miscommunication forced Zayn and Owens to improvise an immediate secondary finish, concluding with a Helluva Kick to secure the official win. Reports later confirmed Owens was never scheduled to kick out of the initial cover.
With back-to-back broadcasting nights across WWE and AEW featuring referee missteps, officiating became the central talking point for both major promotions heading into the weekend.
For full results, analysis, and post-show coverage, visit WrestlingAttitude.com.
WA on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wrestlingattitude/
WA on Facebook (Women's Wrestling) - https://www.facebook.com/WrestlingDivas/
WA on X/Twitter - https://x.com/wa_wrestling
WA on Instagram (Women's Wrestling) - https://www.instagram.com/wa_wrestlingattitude/
WA on Google News - https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMJf3owsw2oG8Aw
WA on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/wrestlingattitude.bsky.social
