AEW Collision is live tonight from the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Two title matches are scheduled for the show.
Konosuke Takeshita will defend his AEW International Championship against Daniel Garcia of the Death Riders.
Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Orange Cassidy of The Conglomeration will defend the AEW World Trios titles against Trent, Rocky Romero, and Lance Archer of the Don Callis Family.
In a five-minute tag team championship eliminator match, Lena Kross and Megan Bayne, Divine Dominion, will wrestle Anna Jay and Tay Melo. If TayJay can last the five-minute time limit, they will earn a future title shot.
The Infantry will wrestle Jon Moxley and Pac of the Death Riders.
Hazuki will wrestle Maya World, with Persephone on commentary for the bout.
Austin and Colton Gunn will wrestle David Finlay and Clark Connors.
ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty of Shane Taylor Promotions will also be in action on the show.
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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– We got right into things as Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness welcomed us to tonight’s live edition of Collision. Tommaso Ciampa made his way down to the ring, here to join Nigel and Tony on commentary. As Ciampa walked down, we went backstage to the Conglomeration with Konosuke Takeshita.
– Takeshita thanked the Conglomeration for having his back as he promised that things between him and the Don Callis Family were far from done. Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly headed out for our opening match, but not before O.C. handed Takeshita his own JanSport bag for his AEW International Championship.
AEW World Trios Championship: The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong) vs. The Don Callis Family (Rocky Romero, Lance Archer, Trent Beretta)
Strong kicked it off as he hit consecutive backbreakers on Beretta as Cassidy tagged in and faced off with Romero. O’Reilly stepped in as he and Strong showed some undisputed teamwork against Romero. Cassidy then leapt off the top rope for a “dangerous” elbow on a prone Romero. Cassidy tried to stick his hands in his pockets, but Romero stopped him and then took down Cassidy with a hurricanrana. Romero then took time to do his Azucar taunt to the camera as Cassidy finally put the hands in the pocket. No-hands armdrag by Cassidy, followed by the dropkick on Romero. O.C. then mocked Romero’s taunt as Beretta tagged in and punched away at Cassidy.
With Cassidy isolated in the D.C.F. corner, Romero tagged in and hit the running lariat on a stunned O.C. Archer tried to get a hold of Cassidy, but Romero hit his partner by accident thanks to a well-timed dodge. Cassidy ran around the ring and avoided Archer as O’Reilly got the tag. O’Reilly used his fast strikes to ground Archer as he sent him over the top rope. The goozle by Archer, but O’Reilly swept his legs to get away from the grip of the Murderhawk Monster. O’Reilly hit Archer with a knee from the apron, but a shoulder tackle by the massive Archer took him down. Chokeslam on the apron to Cassidy by Archer, followed a grab of Strong as he tossed him into the barricade. This was our cue to step aside for the break.
We returned from commercial as O’Reilly took down Romero and Beretta, which allowed for Strong to get the tag. The Messiah of the Backbreaker was on fire as he took it to Romero and Beretta with backbreakers. He then grabbed Cassidy and used him as a battering ram on Romero, as well as helping hit a very unique assisted DDT on Archer for the near-fall. Running crossbody by a recovered Archer allowed the tag to Romero. Beretta used himself as a distraction to allow Romero to flatten Cassidy with a DDT. Beretta then got Cassidy with a running dropkick. He then picked up Cassidy for the Gotch-styled piledriver. One, two…. O’Reilly made the save to break the count. Beretta picked up Cassidy and gave him a mocking hug, but a back bodydrop was the Freshly Squeezed One’s response. This led to Strong tagging in as he had Beretta on his shoulders. With Archer locked in a rope submission by O’Reilly, Cassidy stepped on Beretta to hit a diving elbow on a downed Romero for the three.
The Conglomeration def. The Don Callis Family via pinfall to retain the AEW World Trios Titles
This was a terrific opener. Every time I get to see the Cassidy/O’Reilly/Strong trio in action, I’m never disappointed with them in action. Tonight was no exception to that rule.
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AEW Women’s World Tag Title Eliminator: Divine Dominion (Lena Kross & Megan Bayne) vs. TayJay (Tay Melo & Anna Jay)
This match had a five minute time limit, as was the case with the Divine Dominion’s recent matches. If TayJay was able to last the whole five minutes, they’d get a future AEW Women’s World Tag Title shot.
We got underway with TayJay going right after both Kross and Bayne, using their speed to cause a bit of friendly fire. Their attempt at stereo running attacks were foiled by the Divine Dominion, who dropped Tay and Jay with double fallaway slams. Kross kept Anna Jay isolated in the corner with shoulder thrusts to the ribs, as Bayne followed suit. The double underhook suplex by Bayne was followed by the basement clothesline by Kross on Jay. Bayne tagged in but, Jay battled her way out of the Divine Dominion’s corner. Bayne sent Tay crashing to the outside to prevent a tag as Jay nearly got the win with a rollup at 2:25.
The match still continued as Jay sent Bayne out of the ring and kicked Kross, which allowed Tay Melo to tag in. Tay sent Bayne out again as she teed off on Kross with running pump kicks as the clocked reach under 1:30 to go. Kross was hit with a superkick from Jay, followed by the blockbuster and a double DDT from TayJay. One, two… Bayne broke up the count with under a minute to go.
Jay kept fight as she got fellwed with a suplex from Kross, but she got the left shoulder up with about 35 seconds to go. As time winded down, the Divine Intervention was broken up by Tay, as Jay applied the Queenslayer on Bayne. The time ran down with Kross being held in place by Tay Melo.
TayJay survive the 5:00 Time Limit to earn a shot at the AEW Women’s World Tag Titles
This was a nice sprint and the stakes were quite suitable here. Nice to see TayJay back in the AEW fold.
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– We got a ‘Wednesday Recap” of this past Wednesday’s Dynamite as we saw the situation with Kevin Knight, Speedball Mike Bailey, new AEW Champion MJF, The Dogs attacking Cope & Cage, the Owen Hart Tournament first round matches, and Tommaso Ciampa’s attack on Chris Jericho.
Tommaso Ciampa hates Chris Jericho
Ciampa spoke in the ring as he was told that Jericho was not in the building tonight. He talked about why exactly he hated Jericho. He said that he didn’t have only one reason why he hated Chris Jericho… he had 1,004 reasons:
- Fozzy Sucks
- Those “stupid lightup sparkly jackets”
- Those crappy Jericho Cruises
- Jericho’s armbars
- That “stupid” full head of hair on Jericho’s head
Ciampa dropped the List as he addressed Jericho stating that he’s walked the same halls that Jericho’s walked. He knows that Jericho’s not fooling anyone. “A snake is always a snake… Jericho, I’ll see you when I see you,” said Ciampa as he kicked the List aside and left the ring.
Jericho vs. Ciampa should be an interesting feud, but it’s kinda funny that Jericho is again fighting another bald man, who seem to grow on trees in “Bald” Elite Wrestling.
Hazuki vs. Maya World
Persephone, Hazuki’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament opponent, joined Tony and Nigel for the call on this match.
Hazuki and Maya locked horns in the middle of the ring to start the match. Maya had Hazuki in an arm wrench, but the STARDOM standout got out of it and went for a pinning combination early. Maya kicked out at two as she turned it into a backslide pin for a near-fall of her own. Symmetrical dropkicks and kip-ups by Hazuki and Maya showcased the two evenly-matched.
Maya took down Hazuki with a shoulder block as grabbed her by the head and ran her head-first in the middle turnbuckle. The cover, but Hazuki kicked out. Scoop slam attempt by Maya was reversed by Hazuki, who hit her foe with a hurricanrana and a dropkick. With Maya prone on the bottom rope, Hazuki hit her with the Shinjiro Ohtani-style grazing running facewashj to the face. Hazuki stared down Persephone as we took a break in the action.
Back from the break as Hazuki hit the German suplex on Maya, which left both women recovering. Once they were back on their feet, Maya hit an amazing springboard powerbomb from the corner while Hazuki was stunned. One, two…. somehow Hazuki kicked out of that impressive move! Rolling elbow by Maya, but she got flattened by the big pump kick by Hazuki. On the apron, Maya got taken for a ride with the rope-hung DDT from Hazuki, which got a near-fall. Hazuki headed to the top rope and missed with the dive, which opened her up from a running roaring elbow from Maya. Suicide dive to the outside by Maya to keep Hazuki grounded at ringside. Maya took a bit too much time trashtalking Persephone, which allowed Hazuki to hit Maya with a suicide dive of her own.
Back inside the ring, Hazuki headed to the middle rope but was caught by Maya. The running attack from Hazuki was turned into a bridging suplex by Maya for the close two-count. Maya with the thrust kick as she headed up top. Moonsault was a swing and a miss from Maya, as Hazuki hit her with the lungblower on the opposite corner. Hazuki then called game as she headed up top and hit the senton for the three.
Post-match, Persephone faced off with Hazuki, with the two facing off in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament next Saturday on Collision.
Hazuki def. Maya World via pinfall
Fantastic, fantastic match. I’ve enjoyed seeing Maya World in action, and this being my first exposure to Hazuki, I was impressed with what I saw here. All in all, a great first impression here from Hazuki. This was really fun to watch.
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– Tony Schiavone took time to pay tribute to the late, great Dennis Condry, a Huntsville hero. He recounted about Condry’s tag team excellence alongside the Midnight Express. Most notably, we got old ROH footage which showed Condry with “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton, as well as Jim Cornette. This was a lovely tribute.
– We got a primer on the ROH Pure Champion, Lee Moriarty, who was in action coming up next.
Lee Moriarty (w/ Shane Taylor Promotions) vs. Tim Bosby
Shane Taylor joined commentary for this one.
Moriarty showed his technical prowess as he avoided Bosby’s clothesline between the ropes. Moriarty then took down Bosby with a head stretch, which forced Moriarty’s foe to opt for the rope break. Bosby’s straps were down as he got some strikes in on Moriarty, but that was for naught as Moriarty took him down and finished this off with the Motor City Stretch submission.
Post-match, The Infantry got into the ring and congratulated the longest-reigning ROH Pure Champion in history. Captain Shawn Dean asked the Alabama crowd to respect Moriarty, as he and Carlie Bravo called the crowd stupid. Cue the Death Riders entering to get our next match underway.
Lee Moriarty def. Tim Bosby via submission
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Jon Moxley & PAC (w/ Marina Shafir) vs. The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Capt. Shawn Dean) (w/ Christyan XO)
Shane Taylor remained on commentary for this match.
Moxley faced off with Bravo to start this tag match. Moxley took down Bravo with an arm takedown, as he then hit a running shoulder block on his foe. PAC tagged in and looked to continue the Death Rider advantage as he backed Bravo into the corner. PAC flipped over a running Bravo as he threw him down. Series of kicks to Bravo, but Christyan XO grabbed at PAC’s legs as he ran. This prompted Marina Shafir to stare down Christyan to get her to back off. Back in the ring, Dean tripped up PAC as he and Bravo double teamed PAC. Moxley grabbed a chair to ward off The Infantry, but Shane Tayler waylaid him with a vicious knockout punch with the referee’s back turned. The action turned chaotic as Bravo nailed PAC with the DDT leap through the bottom turnbuckle rung, as we took a break.
Back from commercial as the Infantry kept PAC isolated with a nice tandem suplex while Moxley was out cold at ringside. Capt. Dean hit PAC with the Bronco Buster as he and Bravo taunted the crowd, to the delight of Shane Taylor on commentary. Inside the ring, PAC was locked in a resthold by Capt. Dean, but he broke free. PAC sent Dean out of the ring as he tried to reach for Moxley. Bravo got ahead of that and threw PAC out. Dean tried to leap at PAC from the steps, but he got caught for the German suplex. PAC leapt over Bravo in the ring and got the hot tag on Moxley.
Moxley battered Dean in the corner with bunches of punches, followed by more punches on the top rope, punctuated by a bite to the forehead. Kick to the gut as Bravo also got hit with the double DDT. Moxley missed with the lariat on Dean as the Infantry got a tandem back suplex on PAC. With Moxley out, Dean headed up top, but the double knees stopped the high-risk move. Moxley hit a cutter on Bravo. Dean was left at the mercy of the Death Riders’ trademark barrage of running attacks in the corner. In the end, Moxley put Dean away with the Death Rider DDT.
Jon Moxley & PAC def. The Infantry via pinfall
The Death Riders’ dynamic is kinda interesting given their status as antiheroes moreso than overt heels. There’s a lot of shades of grey here with Moxley and company, and it leads to scenarios where they’re up against heels like STP. That said, this was a fun match.
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– Renee Paquette was backstage with the Triangle of Madness: Thekla, Skye Blue, and Julia Hart. Thekla talked about Forbidden Door, as she had a warning for STARDOM President Taro Okada. Thekla said the one champion she was afraid of was Skye Blue. Thekla apparently had some harsh words for Skye, mocking her injury history, as Skye said she was gunning for that title. There was an “argument”, but Skye and Thekla made up as the AEW Women’s Champion boasted about nobody coming between her, not when she had her Triangle of Madness allies backing her up.
– As The Conglomeration vowed to have Konosuke Takeshita’s back, they were interrupted by an umbrella-wielding Lio Rush, who spoke about “the rain” as he spun his multicolor umbrella. O’Reilly, Strong, and Cassidy quickly left as soon as scurried.
The Dogs (David Finlay & Clark Connors) vs. The Gunns (Austin & Colten Gunn)
Finlay and Connors handed out disposable cameras as a way to mock Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, whom they laid out this past Wednesday. The two were set to offer their own five-second pose, entitled “Gunns Down”, but the Gunns interrupted with their entrance.
Jon Moxley, AEW’s 201-win man, remained on commentary for this match.
Finlay and Colten got things going for this match. Colten took down Finlay with repeated running shoulder blocks as he tagged in brother Austin. The Gunns blasted Finlay with consecutive elbows. Finlay took over and sent him to his corner as Connors tagged in. Austin avoided a running attack from Connors as he tripped him up with a running attack. The bop, bang, and Gunns Up punch sent Connors out. Finlay tried to get involved by the Gunns sent him out of the ring with a double clothesline. With The Dogs left licking their wounds outside, the Gunns offered stereo crotch chops to their foes, as we took a break.
We returned from break as Finlay kept Austin stuck in the middle rope, as they stuck a polaroid of The Dogs on Austin’s forehead. That bit of showboating cost them as it allowed Austin to escape and get the tag to Colten. Connors and Finlay were taken down by Colten’s high-flying offense. Connors recovered and hit a running pounce to save his partner from Colten’s attack. The Dogs showed some good teamwork with the double suplex toss on Colten followed by the unified shoulder charge on their hapless foe. One, two… kickout from Colten. Connors and Finlay stood on opposite corners and had Colten in their sights, but a huge swing and a miss caused a malfunction at the junction as Colten tagged in Austin. Double crossbody from Austin, followed by the Famouser on Connors. Pin broken up by Finlay as both teams got back up and began to exchange strikes in this slugfest.
Connors was left alone by the Gunns, but Finlay hit Colten in his injured leg. Austin was hammered by a strike from Connors as the roll up was broken up by Connors. That sent Austin into a shillelagh strike from Finlay as Connors got the pinfall win.
After the Match, The Dogs looked to continue the punishment on the Gunns, but Ace Austin and Juice Robinson backed them off.
The Dogs def. The Gunns via pinfall
Solid match here. The Dogs are finally finding their ground as a team and we’re seeing Connors and Finlay excel without the third man in the injured Gabe Kidd. This feud between The Dogs and Cope & Christian should be a good one.
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– We got a preview of Kevin Knight defending his TNT Championship against “Speedball” Mike Bailey this Wednesday on Dynamite. Bailey said that he promised that he would not let everyone down and that he would win the TNT Title.
This Wednesday on Dynamite
- AEW Men’s World Championship: Maxwell Jacob Friedman (c) vs. RUSH
- TNT Championship: Kevin Knight (c) vs. “Speedball Mike Bailey
- Owen Hart Foundation Tournament – Women’s Bracket: Alex Windsor vs. Wildcard
- Owen Hart Foundation Tournament – Men’s Bracket: Will Ospreay vs. Mark Davis
Next Saturday on Collision
- Owen Hart Foundation Tournament – Women’s Bracket: Hazuki vs. Persephone
- AEW World Women’s Tag Titles: Divine Dominion (Lena Kross & Megan Bayne) (c) vs. TayJay (Tay Melo & Anna Jay)
– We learned that we’ll have a series of six matches, with the winners of those six matches qualifying for the Survival of the Fittest Match, with the winner becoming the new TBS Champion following Willow Nightingale having to vacate it due to injury. This Survival of the Fittest Match will take place on the July 1st episode of Dynamite from San Diego, CA.
Brian Cage & Jake Doyle vs. Tommy Mars & Jimmy Wild
This was announced as a standby match due to Lee Moriarty’s match being over in such quick fashion.
Doyle didn’t waste any time in taking Mars down with a running boulder attack. Doyle lifted Mars and threw him with a deadlift fallaway slam. Cage tagged in and continued the punishment on Mars in the corner. Suplex from Cage as Wild tagged in. The chops to the chest had little effect as Cage destroyed him with a clothesline. Doyle tagged in as Mars found himself hit with a suplex from the top rope. With both foes in their ring, Doyle and Cage hit them with their respective finishers to win this in short order.
Brian Cage & Jake Doyle def. Tommy Mars & Jimmy Wild
I like the idea of standby matches being established due to previously-scheduled bouts ending earlier than expected, it allows for squashes like this to happen.
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– As Konosuke Takeshita made his way down for the main event, Doyle and Cage had to be held back by referees to prevent the two from going after the AEW International Champion.
AEW International Championship: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Daniel Garcia
This main event got underway as Garcia and Takeshita sized each other up. Methodical, technical start as Garcia had Takeshita trapped in the head-scissors. The champion broke out of the hold and stared down Garcia as we got a reset here. Collar and elbow tie-up between the two until Garcia backed his championship foe in the corner and taunted him. Garcia continued to get a bit cocky as he had a side headlock on Takeshita. The champion took him down with a shoulder block as Takeshita got the first big move of this match with the leaping clothesline. Garcia’s roll-through was blocked by Takeshita, which forced the challenger to take a breather outside the ring.
Garcia didn’t get any time to breathe as Takeshita struck him outside before he threw him in the ring. Garcia took advantage by trapping Takeshita between the ring apron. Dragon Screw by Garcia kept Takeshita on the backfoot as we took a commercial break.
Collision’s main event returned from commercial as Takeshita fought out of the hold. Meanwhile, Marina Shafir joined on commentary while Jon Moxley was Garcia’s cornerman. Back in the ring, Takeshita had Garcia for the tombstone piledriver, but the challenger reversed it into a leglock. Takeshita used his strength to break that hold with a wheelbarrow suplex. Shafir left commentary and yelled motivation at Garcia, who almost fell victim to the Blue Thunder Bomb. Garcia countered it into the STF submission hold as Takeshita was forced to struggle out of it to break free. Takeshita missed with the forearm, as Garcia stomped his hand and then hit the piledriver.
Takeshita rose to his feet and absolutely kayoed Garcia with the knee to the face. Both Takeshita and Garcia were left trying to get themselves back to their feet as the crowd partook in justified “AEW’ chants. Takeshita’s bicycle knee was blocked by Garcia, who took him down with a right hand. Garcia sized up Takeshita, who got himself hyped. The two traded strikes and the match quickened, right as Takeshita nailed the Blue Thunder Bomb flush. One, two…. 2.9999999999!!!!!!
With justified “this is awesome” chants filling the air, Takeshita had Garcia in sight for the knee, but his hurt knee was too much to bear. Curbstomp by Garcia, who put Takeshita on the top rope, looking for some sort of high-risk maneuver. He set up Takeshita for the superplex, but the International Champion hit headbutts to stun Garcia momentariy. The challenger with the avalanche armdrag as he followed it with the Dragon Tamer submission hold in the centre of the ring. Takeshita escaped and almost got the Raging Fire, but a reversal from Garcia. Damaged left knee targeted by Garcia, but he got taken for a ride with the deadlift German suplex from Takeshita. Roaring forearm by Takeshita, followed by Raging Fire, and that’s it, over. Konosuke Takeshita is still your AEW International Champion.
After the match, the Don Callis Family ran in and launched an assault on Takeshita as Moxley was attacked by Shane Taylor Promotions at ringside. Death Riders reinforcements attempted to join the fray, as the Conglomeration and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bayley ran in to make the save. Lee Moriarty stared down Nigel McGuinness as Carlie Bravo got in his face. Bravo got blasted by McGuiness as Moriarty mixed it up with him.
Pure chaos unfolding in the ring as the Don Callis Family were forced to a retreat. Takeshita stood with his Conglomeration allies and Speedball as they and the Death Riders shared a tense standoff. We ended Collision with the babyface Conglomeration standing victorious in the ring.
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A very good main event International Title bout between Takeshita and Garcia to wrap up a heck of a night for in-ring action on Collision. The WCW-styled finish with a full-scale brawl breaking out was a nice touch too and made for a fun cap to the evening’s festivities. This Takeshita babyface run has been a long time coming and he’ll be a great good guy to root for not only in his current International Title run, but perhaps, in a true main event run in the near future.
As for the rest of the night’s action, I enjoyed the Divine Dominion vs. TayJay match as well as Hazuki vs. Maya World. Both were great women’s bouts that did their job well in setting the stage for their respective matches on next week’s Collision (Kross/Bayne vs. TayJay for the titles, Hazuki vs. Persephone). It highlights the strengths of AEW’s women’s rosters, as well as those from their partners like CMLL or STARDOM, and it’d serve AEW well to maximize this focus on such a talented roster of women in whatever ways then can moving forward.
Another nice touch was the use of rotating color commentators throughout the night joining Tony and Nigel, which really helped keep things fresh on the commentary tables, and I wouldn’t mind this being a recurring element for Collision from now on.
I’ve been on the record mentioning how much I enjoy Collision for being a no-frills wrestling show, and tonight’s episode delivered on that bout. It’s a show you can sit down every Saturday and just put on to enjoy some wrestling, which is perfect for a show born in the tradition of those old WCW Saturday Night shows on “The Mothership”.
