Tag: aew collision grand slam

AEW will air the Collision portion of their Grand Slam event this Saturday.

Kazchika Okada will face Sammy Guevara in an AEW Continental title eliminator match. Guevara last week on Collision said he hopes to win the match so he could challenge Okada for the title at AEW Dynamite’s fifth anniversary, which takes place this coming Wednesday.

Two title matches will also take place. Jack Perry will defend the TNT title in an open challenge match. Meanwhile, the Trios titles will be defended as Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Wheeler Yuta will defend against Komander & Private Party.

Other highlights will have Chris Jericho, Big Bill, and Bryan Keith square off against Orange Kassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, and Mark Briscoe in a trios tornado match. Hologram, The Beast Mortos, and Dralistico will meet in a three-way, and Action Andretti will take on Brody King. Jamie Hayter will also face Saraya in a Saraya’s rules match.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 pm ET.

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AEW Collision is coming to us live – to tape – from Arthur Ashe Stadium as part of the week-long Grand Slam event. Tony Schiavone, Matt Menard, & Ian Riccaboni were on the call.

Saraya’s Rules Match – Jamie Hayter defeated Saraya (w/ Harley Cameron)

A strong win for Hayter to get her back in the mix after her lengthy injury layoff. Saraya and Harley did well in their role here as stooges to be pinballed around.

Unsurprisingly, Saraya’s Rules stand to benefit Saraya. Essentially, she can use weapons and have ringside help from Cameron, while Hayter cannot. Before the bell rang, Cameron announced the addition of one more rule: the match only starts when Saraya slaps Hayter in the face.

Saraya got her shot in, but Hayter brought her to the corner and laid the boots in to her and Cameron. Cameron grabbed Hayter’s boot, allowing Saraya to drill Hayter with a VCR. Yes folks, a Video Cassette Recorder. Someone had to have brought that from home. Saraya choked Hayter out with the cord from a keyboard, then sent her to the floor where Cameron laid in her shots. Cameron held Hayter up for several cookie sheet shots straight to the head, but Hayter ducked one and took Saraya down with a German suplex.

Hayter ran Cameron into the barricade, but Saraya popped her in the back with a baseball bat. Saraya dumped a bunch of toy cars onto tables set up at ringside before Hayter made her comeback. Cameron tried for another distraction, but Hayter caught a diving Saraya off the apron with a powerslam. Hayter lifted Saraya to the top rope, but Cameron cut Hayter off. Saraya sent both of them off the top rope through the tables with a chair shot.

Hayter kicked out of a cover on the floor, then beat the ten count back into the ring before kicking out of a cradle DDT. It used to be the Rampaige, but she’s not Paige anymore. Saraya went for a piledriver, but Hayter picked her up and sent her through a table with a DVD. Saraya tried to send Hayter into a chair, but Hayter threw her into the chair and hit a Tombstone. Hayter hit the Hayterade lariat for the win.

We got footage of a Renee Paquette-led sit-down interview with Ricochet & Will Ospreay ahead of their International Championship match on Dynamite. Ricochet said that he felt no pressure ahead of their match and was annoyed that he had challengers lined up to take him on before he could even get a look at the landscape of AEW. Ospreay said that Ricochet had forgotten who he was and that the pressure was on him to prove that his “lil’ bro” hadn’t surpassed him.

(The full interview is on AEW’s YouTube, and I highly recommend watching it. This got a good bit of the point across, but the full interview built great tension between the two of them. Every time I see Will Ospreay build a big match like this one, I think that AEW made a mistake in not having him win the World Championship at All In: Wembley. Then I see Bryan Danielson, and I think they made the right decision. This company really has an embarrassment of riches when you think about it.)

Tornado Trios Match – The Learning Tree (Big Bill, Bryan Keith & Chris Jericho) defeated The Conglomeration (Kyle O’Reilly, Mark Briscoe & Orange Cassidy)

As always, a fun trios match with the Conglomeration. Big Bill has gotten some spotlight in these matches since the big reaction he got in Cardiff, and he was the pivotal part of this match for his team. Jericho signaling for an ROH World Title match afterward is a point of interest, especially with the conversation surrounding the AEW/WBD television negotiations.

This entire match is going to be a Pier Six brawl. Cassidy blocked a loaded punch with his backpack, then knocked Jericho down with it for a nearfall. The backpack contained a brick, as Cassidy helpfully revealed. Keith cut off Cassidy before taking a Stundog Millionaire and an Ax & Smash combination for his troubles. The Conglomeration cleared the ring and hit a dive train before Jericho cut off Briscoe with an Attitude Adjustment on a chair.

After a commercial, Big Bill ran wild with a big boot to Cassidy and a Bossman Slam to O’Reilly. Briscoe fought at a disadvantage but evaded the offense of the Learning Tree to stay ahead. O’Reilly passed Briscoe a chair for his steel-assisted dive, but Jericho hit a Codebreaker to cut him off. O’Reilly and Cassidy sat Jericho & Keith down in a chair before laying in heavy kicks. Cassidy and O’Reilly teamed up to send Big Bill off the apron into Keith on the floor.

The Conglomeration triple-teamed Jericho, leading to Briscoe finally hitting his steel-assisted dive onto Jericho on the floor. Briscoe pulled out a table and hit a Jay Driller on Jericho. Briscoe laid Jericho on the table and went to the top rope, but Big Bill took Briscoe by the throat and chokeslammed him through the table. Jericho crawled on top of Briscoe for the pin and the win. Former ROH World Champion Jericho made the international sign for “I want a title match” after pinning the current ROH World Champion before Rocky Romero came out to make sure there were no post-match shenanigans.

Brody King defeated Action Andretti

I’m digging this little undercard story of Andretti not being content with his lot in life. Fine fare for the weekend shows.

This match came about after last night’s Rampage when Andretti threw a water bottle at King out of frustration after a loss to the House of Black. Andretti charged King to start and hit a pair of chop blocks to cut King down. Andretti hit the standing shooting star press, but only got a one count. King cut him down, but Andretti squirmed away and kept moving until a forearm knocked him out of the air. King hit a splash and a cannonball for the win.

After the match, Lance Archer & The Righteous attacked Top Flight & Lio Rush, who came out to help their friend Andretti. Andretti hit a dive onto Vincent to help even the score, and officials broke the teams up.

Jack Perry drove his Scapegoat bus through the city of New York ahead of his TNT Title Open Challenge tonight. Perry got to Arthur Ashe Stadium and made his way to the ring for his title defense.

AEW TNT Title Match – Jack Perry (c) defeated Minoru Suzuki by countout to retain

This was as strong of a countout finish as you’ll see. Perry essentially hit his finishing sequence before sliding back into the ring for the win. The match was nothing special, as Suzuki is what he is at age 56.

It’s a Suzuki match in America, I could probably call these at this point. Suzuki no-sold some forearms before he laid Perry out with one, then stretched him with some arm holds as we went to a commercial. After the commercial, Perry hit a neckbreaker for a nearfall after taking advantage during the break.

Suzuki caught a knee before hitting the ropes and snatching on a sleeper hold. Perry fought out of the Gotch-Style Piledriver, but Suzuki caught him with an armbar over the ropes. Suzuki fought with the referee over a chair and snuck a shot in, but Perry knocked Suzuki off the apron with a knee. As the referee counted, Perry hit a DDT off the apron and the Glass Jaw knee into the steel stairs before rolling into the ring and scoring the win via count out.

Perry went to do more damage before Katsuyori Shibata ran him off. Shibata and Suzuki shook hands to end the segment.

AEW World Trios Title Match – Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, & Wheeler Yuta (c) defeated Komander & Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) (w/Alex Abrahantes)

Wheeler Yuta’s interest in being a part of this revamped Blackpool Combat Club was the focus here, and it feels like it will be leading to an elevation down the line. I liked the story over the past few weeks with Private Party & Komander having some guts and stepping to these guys. Didn’t work out for them, but I like their gumption.

Quen clubbered on PAC to start before Castagnoli knocked him down from the apron. Yuta refused to tag as PAC and Castagnoli stomped on Quen. Quen eventually fought his way to the corner and tagged in Kassidy, who ran wild and caught PAC with a pop-up DDT. Castagnoli broke the pin by stomping on Kassidy’s hand. Castagnoli tagged Yuta and put on the Giant Swing, but Yuta refused to hit the dropkick.

Komander came in and ran past Yuta to hit a double jump dive to Castagnoli. Kassidy caught Yuta with a roll-up, but Yuta kicked out and hit a Right Angle Slam. Yuta wrenched at Kassidy’s bad hand before laying in the hammer & anvil shots. Yuta locked on the Cattle Mutilation to win and retain the titles. PAC held the referee back as Yuta held onto the hold after the bell before refusing to allow his partners to raise his hands.

The Outrunners were on Coney Island, cheating to win a carnival game and riding bumper cars.

Three Way Lucha Libre – Hologram defeated The Beast Mortos & Dralistico

This was a fine, if sloppier than usual, lucha showcase. Rush getting together with Mortos and his brother Dralistico can make a good heel unit to challenge the still-undefeated Hologram.

We got a fast-paced start, with several moves getting countered with kip-ups and armdrags before we got a dive train to send us to the break. After the commercial, Dralistico ran wild with a throw into the corner on Hologram before hitting a rana to Mortos, who was stood on the ropes. Hologram took Mortos down with an armdrag and a headscissors before Dralistico took Mortos down with a headscissors from the top rope to the floor. Hologram followed with a rope-walk dive onto Mortos.

Dralistico hit a springboard codebreaker onto Mortos. Mortos hit a pop-up Samoan Drop, with the pin broken up by a Hologram double stomp. Hologram hit a poisonrana on Mortos, with Dralistico following with a springboard crucifix bomb. Mortos came back with a discus lariat, but Dralistico tried to steal the pin, causing problems between them. Mortos hit a powerbomb into the knee on Hologram, with Dralistico following with a springboard move.

There’s a ton happening, but Dralistico caught a lariat meant for Hologram. Hologram dumped Mortos to the floor, then caught Dralistico in a crucifix for the win. After the match, Dralistico and Mortos were shoving each other when Rush came out to cool things out between them. They teamed up to beat on Hologram, then put their fists together to signal the return of La Faccion Ingobernable.

Kris Statlander was backstage with Lexy Nair. She’s frustrated that everyone is talking about the loser of the street fight at All Out. Statlander said that she wouldn’t feel sorry for herself and would call her shot when she saw it.

MxM Collection’s Fashion Show

This is a total WWE/NXT segment that used to make fans wish for an alternative. MxM was a cute act, but this was them jumping the shark for ten minutes. This was taped on Wednesday, so someone had to come up with this awful idea, do it on the show, and watch it again for the edit before considering it fit to air. A failure on multiple fronts, one of the dirt-worst segments in the history of this company, and a genuinely fireable offense. I’ll take a dozen Dark Order beatdowns or Tooth and Nail matches before seeing another one of these.

MxM Collection came out. They mocked Max Caster for calling himself the Best Wrestler Alive – a fair criticism – before kicking off the Grand Slam Fashion Walk. They had several extras come out with wacky clothes and masks with their own faces over them. This is death.

They eventually had someone named Hans under a curtain model Caster’s jacket, which they cut a heart into and re-wrote to say Best Dressed Alive. They had Hans take off the jacket and show off his muscular physique. Hans unmasked to reveal himself to be Billy Gunn, who laid out MxM. The extras helped to lay him out before The Acclaimed made the save and ran them off.

Lumberjack Strap Match – Hangman Page defeated Jeff Jarrett

I was in a sour mood after that MxM garbage, but this match got me back. It took a while to get going, but everyone getting tired of Hangman and relentlessly whipping him was a great peak to the match.

Back to the wrestling. This is a regular match between Page & Jarrett, with lumberjacks armed with leather straps. The lumberjacks are The Dark Order, The Bang Bang Gang, Jay Lethal, & Satnam Singh. They teased going to the floor a couple of times before fighting out of each other’s finishers. Page sent Jarrett to the floor, but it was on the side of his friends Lethal and Singh. Page sent Jarrett to the other side, where the Dark Order and the Bang Bang Gang laid into him with the straps.

Jarrett went for the ten punches, but Page dumped him to the floor where the Gunns whipped him. Page hit a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall. We had a technical difficulty where a commercial wasn’t inserted until they were supposed to come back from the break. Jarrett sent Page to the floor, where he got whipped by the Gunns. Page laid out the lumberjacks then went for the Buckshot on Jarrett before Juice Robinson whipped him.

Page and the lumberjacks got into it until Jarrett hit a dive onto the pile. Page swiped a strap from one of the lumberjacks and whipped Jarrett with it to escape a Stroke attempt. Karen Jarrett had seen enough and went in the ring to save her husband before Page almost whipped her in a rage. The other lumberjacks had seen enough and went to stop Page before he whipped all of them.

Jarrett got his hands on a strap and whipped Page before sending him to the floor to get whipped by everyone, including Satnam Singh and his extra-large whip. It looked like he was hitting Page with a bungee cord. Jarrett held Page in place for Karen to get her shots in, and in the melee, Page snuck in a low blow. Page hit the Deadeye to score the win. After the match, Page singled out Robinson and choked him with the strap before the Gunns ran him off.

AEW Continental Title Eliminator Match – Kazuchika Okada defeated Sammy Guevara

I was very interested in seeing how this match would play out on paper, and it worked out nicely. AEW fans are tired of Guevara, and this particular crowd was tired in general, but Guevara’s work was never the issue with him. A fine main event for this show.

Okada took control early, laying out Guevara with a running dropkick to a seated Guevara. Hangman Page vs. Juice Robinson was announced for Wednesday’s Anniversary edition of Dynamite. Guevara sent Okada to the floor, and after a fake out, hit a Fosbury Flop to Okada on the floor. Okada rolled away from another springboard, leading to Guevara launching himself off of the stairs into a cutter on the floor.

Okada dodged a moonsault before catching Guevara with a DDT on the floor. After a commercial, Guevara countered a Tombstone attempt with a headscissor driver. Okada sat Guevara down with an uppercut, but Guevara came back with a flying forearm. Guevara hit a suicide dive to Okada before following with a moonsault from the top rope to the floor.

Okada came back and laid Guevara out with a back body drop on the ring steps. Okada brought Guevara back in the ring and went on the offensive with the dropkick and the elbow drop. Okada hit the middle finger pose before going for the Rainmaker, but Guevara caught him with a Spanish Fly for a nearfall. Okada tried to throw the referee into Guevara’s way, but Guevara hit a superkick and a Go To Hell. Okada stumbled into the corner, so Guevara hit a kick in the corner. He went for another springboard cutter, but Okada caught him with the Rainmaker to score the win and turn back Guevara’s challenge.