Fans Taken by Surprise as Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley Gets an Unexpected ‘Shout Out’ by Top AEW Stars During Collision: “A Tribute to Charlotte”

It is no secret that AEW doesn’t refrain from giving WWE references in its shows to pique the audience’s interest. And it has happened again. On the June 17 edition of AEW Collision, a returning AEW star, Andrade El Idolo, paid tribute to his gorgeous wife, Charlotte Flair, on his first match on AEW following a hiatus.

Similarly, his opponent, Buddy Matthews, also paid tribute to his real-life girlfriend, Rhea Ripley, on the show. Both stars used their respective girlfriends’ signature submission hold during their match on Collison. This segment came as a surprise to many pro wrestling fans.

Andrade uses Figure-8 to defeat Buddy Matthews on his return match

The last time AEW fans saw Andrade inside the ring was at All Out pay-per-view in September 2022. He competed in a Casino Ladder Match to earn a shot at the AEW World Championship, which saw Adam Page emerge as the victor. This week, the former WWE United States Champion returned to the promotion.

During his return, he faced Matthews. The ending segment of the match saw Matthews trying to lock Andrade in an inverted cloverleaf (Ripley’s submission hold). But the returning star countered it and locked his opponent in the Figure-8 hold (Flair’s submission maneuver). This forced Matthews to tap out.

It stunned fans to see the two AEW stars using their partners’, who are also former rivals, submission holds for their match.

Fans react to Andrade and Matthews using their girlfriends’ popular wrestling moves

Seeing the stars do so, pro wrestling fans were quick to react to it. Here are some comments from the fans.

This user was clearly awestruck seeing this segment of the show.

Some fans didn’t like the stars using their partner’s WWE moves.

It looks like the pro wrestling fans enjoyed the segment.

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Well, the stars didn’t get much attention from the fans as they hoped to do. The wrestling universe had somewhat of a bland response to the segment. Nonetheless, the match was really amazing. And Andrade returning after almost nine months and winning his match was a good thing to see.

What was your reaction to Andrade and Matthews using Flair and Ripley’s submission holds on the AEW show this week? Let us know what you think in the comments below. We would love to hear from you.

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