A trademark filed quite some time ago finally comes to fruition Saturday in West Palm Beach, Florida, with AEW’s first-ever Fairway to Hell one hour special on TBS.
In the headliner, AEW World Champion Darby Allin will defend against PAC who called for the shot last Wednesday on Dynamite. The two have had a rivalry of sorts over the past few years with Allin last defeating him this past January. The winner will defend against Kazuchika Okada this Wednesday.
AEW National Champion Jack Perry will defend against Mark Davis. It will be Perry’s fourth title defense and a rematch of his first from April’s Dynasty.
AEW Women’s Tag Team Champion Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne & Lena Kross) will appear in a non-title match.
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 pm Eastern.
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Jungle Jack Perry vs. Mark Davis (w/ Don Callis) for the AEW National Championship
Jack Perry countered Davis with a hurricanrana out of a powerbomb right away, and landed on his feet after missing a moonsault into the ring. Davis went to the floor, so Perry hit a moonsault to the floor on him. Perry hit a shotgun dropkick on the floor and went for a Tiger Feint kick around the ring post, but Davis cut him off and hit a clothesline that saw Perry crash to the mat on the ground. Davis took Perry back into the ring and hit a series of hard strikes that kept Perry grounded. Davis hit a shoulder tackle on Perry as he was on the apron, and Perry nearly hit the guardrail.
Davis got the heat on Perry throughout the ad break, and we heard the production count down from 10 to live on MyAEW, which was kind of fun, though obviously a mistake. Perry hit a flying forearm off the ropes and Davis went down to his knees, but not fully down. Davis hit a back elbow as Perry charged the corner, and Davis put Perry on the top rope before going for a superplex. Perry bit Davis and then hit a sunset flip powerbomb of the ropes for a 2-count. Both men ended up on the apron and Perry hit hurricanrana from the middle rope off the apron on Davis before hitting his Tiger Feint Kick (which Schiavone called an Area Code kick, which I liked) around the ring post and a flying elbow off the top rope for a 2-count. Perry charged and Davis turned around and hit a lariat that stopped Perry in his tracks.
Davis hit a lariat and then a piledriver for a 2-count, but Perry kicked out. Davis tried to piledriver Perry off the middle rope but Perry sat up on it and hit a hurricanrana that sent Davis back into the ring. Don Callis ran down to distract the referee, and Ricochet ran out with a golden golf club in full golfing gear and cracked Perry in the back with the club. As the referee turned around, he saw Davis piledriving Perry for the victory!
Result: Mark Davis defeated Jack Perry for the AEW National Championship
This was a good match with an ending that I did not expect. Davis winning is very cool, and it also continues the feud with Perry and Ricochet.
–A great hype video aired for Nick Wayne touring with New Japan Pro Wrestling in the Best of the Super Juniors for the second time, and this time he wants to join the likes of Will Ospreay and Ricochet as a winner of the tournament. Excellent stuff here.
–Jack Perry was backstage talking about how Don Callis and Ricochet took away the title he worked so hard to win, and how he was so proud to win it in front of his family. Perry then said he was going to get revenge, and he was joining Chris Jericho against the Callis Family and Ricochet. Perry also announced that the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega will be joining too, so the Callis Family and Ricochet were in trouble.
–Don Callis was backstage with Mark Davis and Ricochet, and talked about how he just got the greatest gift he ever wanted from Jack Perry because he is being given a chance to have his guys beat up Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega on the same night. So, he is going to join Ricochet and the Gates of Agony in the Stadium Stampede and negotiate with Ricochet about which members will be joining besides Davis.
Divine Dominion (Lena Kross & Megan Bayne) vs. Ruthie Slay & Rachel Lay
This was a 5 minute challenge, and Kross wasted no time beating on Lay and Slay (hey, that rhymes!) and tagging in Bayne, who hit a German suplex on Lay. Slay blind tagged in and went for a crossbody, but Bayne caught her and hit a Samoan drop on Lay and a fallaway slam on Slay before hitting Divine Intervention with Kross for the win.
Result: Divine Dominion defeated Ruthie Slay & Rachel Lay
–A hype video aired about Jamie Hayter beating Skye Blue on Dynamite and it was followed by the announcement of a 4-way match at Double or Nothing featuring Thekla vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter.
–Don Callis was backstage again, and he talked about how no matter who won the the world title match tonight, the Don Callis Family was taking the title on Wednesday. Callis announced that Okada had to go to Japan to handle some family business, so Konosuke Takeshita was going to take his place on Wednesday to fight for the title against the winner of Darby Allin and PAC.
–A hype video aired for Kyle O’Reilly, showing his defeat of Jon Moxley last year, and then his winning the Trios titles with Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy.
Mike Bailey (w/ Kevin Knight) vs. Kiran Grey
Bailey wasted no time, kicking Grey all over the ring and then hitting a triangle moonsault to the floor. Bailey climbed up the ropes again, but Grey cut him off. Bailey shoved him off, but Grey got right up and cut him off. Grey hit several strikes, but Bailey managed to recover, knock him off the ropes, and hit Ultima Weapon for the pinfall.
Result: Mike Bailey defeated Kiran Grey
–Kevin Knight grabbed a mic afterwards and said that Bailey was red hot, and while Knight did not win the world title, he and Bailey can still make it to the top.
–A hype video aired for PAC and Darby Allin. This was excellent.
Darby Allin vs. PAC for the AEW World Championship
Allin and PAC immediately rushed up the golf green in this unique venue. Darby hit a code red on PAC into the sand trap, and the crowd popped for that. Allin then hit a running shotgun dropkick and PAC did a full moonsault into another sand trap to an even bigger reaction. PAC, however, threw sand into Allin’s face and then hit a belly-to-belly suplex into the sand trap before locking on the Brutalizer in the sand. Tony Schiavone noted that while there are no countouts in this match, the match needed to end in the ring. PAC did not seem to care and just wanted to inflict punishment in the hopes of keeping Allin down before finishing him later.
PAC picked up Allin in a Gorilla Press and tossed Allin into the sand trap as they went to an ad break on TNT. PAC took Allin to the ring for a 2-count. PAC started hitting the ropes to go for a lariat, but Allin swept him from his feet and hit a Scorpion Death Lock for a 2-count. PAC cut Allin off and then hit a gigantic falcon arrow from the top rope for a 2-count. PAC setup a table at ringside and went for a shooting star press off the rope, but Allin moved and PAC crashed face first through the table. That had to suck. Allin then took PAC into the ring and locked on the Scorpion Death Lock, and PAC barely made it to the ropes to escape.
PAC then called for the Death Riders to run down, which distracted Allin and let PAC hit Allin from behind. PAC then sent the Death Riders to grab another table, with Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta setting up a table at ringside. PAC then picked up Darby Allin and hit a tombstone piledriver on the steel steps. As PAC put Allin on his shoulders he started walking him backstage as Yuta and Garcia setup four tables on in the entry way. Marina Shafir joined PAC, simply watching as PAC dragged Allin up a flight of stairs and over the announce area.
PAC dragged Allin over the entry way where the tables were setup and looked to launch Allin from the balcony through the tables. Allin started to fight back but Shafir distracted the referee and PAC was able to hit a low blow (I am not sure why, as the referee has allowed the usage of tables, so a low blow shouldn’t be a DQ). PAC then threw Allin off the balcony through the four tables, which was insane. PAC ran down the stairs and picked up Allin and threw him into the ring for a cover, but Allin kicked out at 2! The audience popped huge for that, so that absolutely worked. I am not sure how Allin can take this kind of punishment in real life, let alone in character, but man, what a tough man.
The Death Riders tried to interfere and the referee threw them out. As the referee was getting rid of Yuta and Garcia, Marina Shafir put the world title in PACs hands. PAC was about to hit Allin, but Allin fired up, kicked PAC low in revenge and hit PAC with the title before hitting the Coffin Drop for the pinfall. This match ruled.
Result: Darby Allin defeated PAC to retain the AEW World Championship
This was a fantastic main event, and exactly what you would expect from a no count out match with Darby Allin in it. Absolutely fantastic main event, and now we are going to get Darby Allin vs. Konosuke Takeshita on Dynamite, which should also be awesome. Once Allin loses this title I hope he takes a break for a few weeks because this pace is astonishing, but it has been very fun with him as champion thus far.
Final Thoughts
This was an easy thumbs up show with Darby Allin and PAC being the highlight, but we also got a title change in the opener with Mark Davis defeating Jack Perry and a series of good promos from the Callis Family throughout the show. I am not sure what the real reason is for Okada missing Dynamite, but Takeshita is a worthy replacement, and that match should be excellent. All in all, this was a great episode of Collision, and an easy watch even with the long overrun.
