A Trios title match is set for Saturday’s Collision.
The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne) will take on The Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson and The Gunns) in a match that will determine new Trios Champions. After The Bang Bang Gang insisted Juice Robinson take Jay White’s place as champion, Christopher Daniels made the move to strip them of the titles due to White’s injury. The match to determine new champions was made shortly after.
Roderick Strong, who is set to face Mark Briscoe for the ROH World title at Death Before Dishonor, will face off against Tomohiro Ishii, who has joined Mark Briscoe’s new Conglomeration stable. Deonna Purrazzo meanwhile will take on Thunder Rosa in a lumberjack match.
Hologram, who has appeared in vignettes in recent weeks, will make his debut.
Other matches include Darby Allin taking on The Beast Mortos and Hikaru Shida facing Skye Blue. FTR will also speak after making their return on last week’s show.
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 pm ET.
Sir Elton John has taken his final bow, as Collision began with a new theme song. AEW makes its debut in the eSports Arena in Arlington, TX with Collision. The arena is reminiscent of a smaller Arena Mexico. Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness were on the call.
Darby Allin defeated The Beast Mortos
I watched the opening night of the G1 Climax today, and I can say that this match was as good as anything on that show. Allin vs. Perry for All In is a surprisingly protected match, as it’s only happened once in AEW.
After their opening exchanges, Allin sent Mortos to the floor before hitting his torpedo suicida. Allin went for a hurricanrana off the apron, but Mortos caught him and dumped him into the stairs. Back in the ring, Mortos sent Allin into the turnbuckles by vaulting him out of a surfboard stretch. Speaking of vaulting, Mortos sent Allin into the lights with a pop-up Samoan Drop for a nearfall.
Allin came back with a springboard crossbody off the bottom rope for a nearfall but got caught on a Coffin Splash. Allin reversed a sunset flip into a cover of his own for a nearfall. Allin locked on a headlock, but Mortos stood up and cannonballed Allin into the corner. Mortos went for a rising knee, but Allin moved, sending Mortos to the floor. Allin hit a Coffin Splash off the top rope to the floor, but when he threw Mortos into the ring, Mortos came back with a spinning tope.
Back in the ring, Mortos hit a spear for a nearfall. The two traded strikes, with Mortos winning the exchanges until Allin hit a flurry of strikes and a Code Red for a nearfall. Mortos cut off Allin as he rose to the top rope, then hit a massive Gorilla Press off the top for a nearfall that was delayed due to Mortos’ nagging knee. Mortos went for a top rope Samoan Drop, but Allin reversed it into a crucifix bomb. Allin hit the Coffin Drop for the win.
Allin took the mic after the match. He said that people always told him to slow down because he wouldn’t be able to walk when he was 30. Well, he’s 30 now and he feels great. It’s fitting that he will be in Blood and Guts on Wednesday because he spilled his blood and guts during Sting’s retirement match and now has a nasty scar on his torso. Allin said that the Young Bucks never promoted or appeared on Collision like he did and that AEW was his baby now. He told Jack Perry that the TNT Title meant everything to him and challenged Perry to a TNT Title match at All In Wembley.
The Acclaimed were backstage. Max Caster was joking around, leading Billy Gunn to tell them to focus, as Blood and Guts wasn’t a game.
Hikaru Shida defeated Skye Blue by referee stoppage
Best wishes to Skye Blue, who suffered a leg injury in the opening minutes of this match.
Blue rushed Shida with a boot to start. Shida came back and sent Blue to the outside with a low kick. Shida hit a crossbody to Blue on the floor. The referee immediately called for medical attention, and after a commercial break, the match was called off.
We cut to the back, where Lance Archer was committing wanton destruction to random people in the back. He said that everyone had forgotten what he was about and that he was back to remind the world that everybody dies.
We got a recap of Minoru Suzuki challenging Chris Jericho to a match on Dynamite. In a promo, Jericho talked about how he had wanted this match for years. Jericho warned Suzuki that this would be a dream match for everyone except for Suzuki and that the violence in Blood and Guts would pale in comparison to the violence Jericho had in store for him on Wednesday.
Rey Fenix (w/ Alex Abrahantes) defeated Tony Nese (w/ The Varsity Athletes)
Nese is great for his role in the company, as he can have a high-level TV match like this at any time. I’m enjoying the lucha vibe that this Collision is giving, and I hope this feeling continues during this Texas residency.
Nese came out cutting a heel promo on the crowd, calling them fat and dumping on the Texas Rangers. Nese got the first nearfall of the match with a spinning wheel kick. Fenix tried to pick up the pace but slipped on the ropes, allowing Nese to get control right back. Fenix sent Nese to the floor and went for a dive, but Mark Sterling pulled Nese out of the way. Fenix was surrounded by the Varsity Athletes, allowing Nese to catch a kick and lay Fenix out with a superkick. The Athletes laid the boots to Fenix as we went to a break.
Back from the break, Fenix was trying to fight from underneath, but Nese kept control. Nese hung up Fenix on the ropes before hitting a one-armed powerbomb for a nearfall. Nese went for the Running Nese, but Fenix popped up with a hurricanrana. Ari Daivari went to distract Fenix, but Fenix sent Nese into him and hit a dive onto all three Athletes on the floor.
Fenix did a rope walk kick to Mark Sterling who had gotten on the apron, but that allowed Nese a flurry that ended with a 450 splash and a nearfall. Fenix countered a Fireman’s Carry with a superkick, then hit a rope walk kick and a frog splash for the win.
FTR Town Hall
The AEW tag team division is stale right now, and another FTR/Young Bucks match will not change that. This division needs some fresh teams in the mix, whether it’s established teams from around the world or teams of AEW stars put together. Wheeler using this promo time to publicly exonerate himself from his arrest last year was odd.
Tony Schiavone welcomed FTR to the ring. Cash Wheeler spoke on Tommy Billington’s bright future, and how FTR wasn’t going to allow the Don Callis Family to corrupt him. He talked about how the last two years were some of the best of their career, and how he used wrestling to get through some tough times in his personal life.
Dax Harwood reiterated how good their last two years have been, but their recent history hasn’t been great. Harwood got sent home six weeks ago to recover from a back injury, and during that time off, he hoped that the Young Bucks would take the tag team division to new heights. They let him down, as they hadn’t defended the titles once. Harwood said that FTR’s road to All In would start next week, as they would work their way back to the top of AEW.
Hikaru Shida was backstage. She was still looking for a fight and challenged Britt Baker to a match. Shida reminded Baker that she had broken Baker’s nose and spilled her blood once before, and she would do it again at Blood and Guts on Wednesday.
Roderick Strong defeated Tomohiro Ishii
Ishii missed out on the G1 but isn’t taking the summer off as he and Strong whipped the hell out of each other here. An awesome match to heat up Strong for his ROH World Title shot at Death Before Dishonor next week.
The announcers noted that Strong still held a grudge over Ishii beating him for the ROH World Television Title over eight years ago. The two engaged in a chop battle, ending with Ishii running through a chop and hitting a shoulder block. Ishii cornered Strong, and despite Strong fighting out, Ishii never moved and clobbered him with a forearm.
Strong’s strike continued to have little effect as Ishii sent Strong to the floor. Strong baited Ishii to the outside, then hit a baseball slide and a uranage on the apron as we went to a commercial. Ishii hit a powerslam as we came back from the commercial break. Ishii leaned into Strong’s forearm shots before clubbering him in the corner. Ishii sent Strong head-over-heels with a German suplex. Ishii hit a delayed superplex for a nearfall.
After a series of counters, Ishii hit a headbutt. Strong came back with an Olympic Slam and a gutbuster for a nearfall. More counters led to a pair of lariats from Ishii for a nearfall. The Kingdom came out from the crowd to distract Ishii, allowing Strong to hit a low blow and the Knockout Knee for the win.
After the match, the Kingdom menaced Ishii before Mark Briscoe & Kyle O’Reilly came out to run them off.
We got a recap of the International Championship match between Will Ospreay & MJF.
Hologram defeated Gringo Loco
This was a perfect opponent for Hologram’s debut, as Loco was able to base for all of Hologram’s impressive offense.
We got some wild lucha spots here, as the first spot of the match saw Hologram standing on Loco’s shoulders before backflipping onto his feet. Hologram hit some wild lucha armdrags before hitting a tope to the floor. Loco sent Hologram into the buckles to slow him down before hitting a Gorilla Press and a moonsault for a nearfall.
Loco went for a corkscrew splash, but Hologram moved. Hologram evaded Loco in one corner before hitting a moonsault armdrag out of the other. Hologram hit a hurricanrana off the top rope to the floor. Hologram got the win with an Airplane Spin into a Blue Thunder Bomb. If they don’t start calling his finish the Hologram Slam, I’m writing an angry letter.
Dustin Rhodes was backstage with Marshall, Ross, & Kevin Von Erich. Kevin talked about how things have changed in wrestling since he retired, and he wanted Rhodes to help his sons become stars. Dustin talked about how this would be the first time the Von Erichs and the Rhodes’ have teamed up since 1978 and told Ross & Marshall that he would look out for them.
Mark Briscoe was backstage talking about his upcoming schedule. He warned Roderick Strong that he had become wiser since they last wrestled and that he would beat him to retain the ROH World Title next Friday at Death Before Dishonor. But every Friday comes after a Wednesday, and this Wednesday, Briscoe will be in Blood and Guts. He said that pro wrestling parallels society in many ways, and the Elite represents so many of society’s problems today. They have power, and they try to use that power to step on the hard workers of the world. Team AEW represents the hard workers and the grinders, and they would get violent on Wednesday night.
(In thirty seconds, Mark Briscoe brought real emotion to the Elite/Team AEW, the emotion that this feud has been lacking. The Elite weren’t these goofball heels, they were the high and mighty people in power taking advantage of the actual hard-working people underneath them. An excellent promo from Briscoe, hyping two shows in about one minute.)
Lumberjack Match – Deonna Purrazzo defeated Thunder Rosa
This was messy, and it had little heat. I’d be okay if this feud was done now.
The ring was surrounded by ROH regulars and local talent, who forced Purrazzo back into the ring as she repeatedly rolled out. Purrazzo sent Rosa to the apron before hitting a draping DDT. Purrazzo got laid out by Rachel Ellering, whose face she got into earlier. Rosa went to the top rope, but Taya Valkyrie held her down. That led to Purrazzo hitting a superplex from the top rope to all the lumberjacks on the floor.
After a commercial, Purrazzo sent Rosa to the floor where the heel lumberjacks beat up on her. Rosa fought out, then fired up on Purrazzo. Rosa hit a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall. Purrazzo reversed a fireman’s carry into an armbar. Rosa fought out, but Purrazzo hit a throw for a nearfall. Purrazzo locked on an armbar, but Rosa fought out and sent her to the apron. Rosa speared Purrazzo off of the apron into the lumberjacks.
The lumberjacks started brawling amongst each other on the floor. Valkyrie handed Purrazzo a turnbuckle from under the ring, allowing Purrazzo to drill Rosa with it and get the win.
The Patriarchy were walking backstage, with Kip Sabian watching them from the background.
Unified AEW Trios Title Match – The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch & Nick Wayne) (w/ Shayna Wayne) defeated The Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin & Colten Gunn) to win the vacant titles
This was a fun main event, with Cage completing his goal of winning the Trios Titles. The post-match set up their next feud, as the House of Black teased their return after Cage took Buddy Matthews out some weeks ago.
Austin Gunn started with Nick Wayne, as the crowd chanted Guns Up. Cage and Robinson tagged in, with Cage immediately tagging in Killswitch. Killswitch walked through Robinson’s chops and laid him out, but Robinson bit the hand to come back. Cage kicked Robinson in the back as he hit the ropes, allowing Killswitch to lay Robinson out with a headbutt.
After a commercial break, Robinson tagged in Colten Gunn, who ran wild and scored a nearfall with a neckbreaker. Austin tagged in and sent Wayne into the corner, but Wayne evaded a corner splash and sent Austin to the floor. Cage finally got involved once his team had the firm advantage, raking Austin’s back and choking him on the ropes. Austin fought out of the corner and tagged in Robinson, who ran wild on Wayne.
Cage pulled Wayne out of the ring, only for Robinson to dive onto both of them. The match broke down into a Pier Six brawl on the floor. Back in the ring, Robinson hit Wayne with a cannonball and a Jackhammer, but Cage broke the cover. Cage was surrounded by the Bang Bang Gang and got pinballed by all three for his troubles. Robinson hit a falling powerbomb for a nearfall.
Killswitch got back into the ring and chokeslammed Robinson off the top rope, with Cage tagging in and hitting a frog splash for a nearfall. Robinson avoided attacks from both Wayne and Killswitch, then hit Cage with the Juice Box for a nearfall broken up by Wayne. Robinson and Cage traded positions for their versions of the Killswitch, but Cage grabbed the referee, allowing Shayna Wayne to spray Robinson in the eyes with hairspray. Cage hit the Killswitch on Robinson to win the Trios Titles.
After the match, the lights flickered as Cage held all three Trios Titles above his head.
