The final show before All In has arrived with Saturday’s Collision from Cardiff, Wales.
The taped show will feature a Wild Card in Cardiff match to determine the final spot in the London Ladders match for the AEW Trios titles at All In. Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) and PAC will face Top Flight & Lio Rush to determine who makes it to Wembley Stadium.
Other matches will see The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe & Kyle O’Reilly) take on The Undisputed Kingdom (Roderick Strong, Matt Taven & Mike Bennett). Hook will face Big Bill, Willow Nightingale will square off against Harley Cameron, Jeff Jarrett will compete against Ariya Daivari, and Katsuyori Shibata will take on Jay Lethal.
Kris Statlander and Stokley Hathaway will also be in action ahead of their mixed tag match against Nightingale and Tomohiro Ishii on All In’s Zero Hour pre-show.
Additionally, TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz will narrate the story of Toni Storm and Mariah May ahead of their All In title match.
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AEW Collision comes to us this week live – to tape – from Cardiff, Wales, just one day before All In Wembley. Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness were on the call as the Conglomeration made their entrance for the opening match.
The Conglomeration (Kyle O’Reilly, Mark Briscoe & Orange Cassidy) defeated The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven, Mike Bennett & Roderick Strong)
While I don’t need any more of the Conglomeration/Kingdom pairing, this was a fun opener. The cut to a stoic, unmoving Ishii on commentary did make me laugh very hard.
Conglomeration member Tomohiro Ishii joined the booth, and he was a real chatterbox. Briscoe and Bennett started the match with chops. O’Reilly tagged in and brought the fight to all three of the Kingdom, including a train of leg whips to Bennett and Taven. Cassidy tagged in and continued the offense, taking Bennett and Strong down with tornado DDTs. Bennett and Taven caught Cassidy with a spike piledriver, but some confusion on the legal man allowed Cassidy’s partners to break up the cover.
Cassidy fought his way to the corner and tagged in Briscoe, who ran wild until Strong cut off a dive attempt. We got a dive train, ending with Strong dropping Briscoe on a chair as he went for his chair-assisted tope. The Kingdom was working on Briscoe in their corner after a commercial break. Briscoe fought to the corner and got a tag into O’Reilly, who ran wild. The Conglomeration hit a set of dives for a nearfall.
Bennett caught O’Reilly with a DVD, with Taven following with Just The Tip for a nearfall. Strong beat on O’Reilly for multiple nearfalls, but O’Reilly countered a Tiger Bomb into a guillotine. O’Reilly transitioned to an ankle lock, but the hold got broken up. We got a move train ending with Briscoe hitting his chair dive. O’Reilly caught Taven in a guillotine choke and scored the win.
We got a video package recapping the recent history of the Trios Titles, going over Death Triangle’s challenge of the Bang Bang Gang at Double or Nothing, The House of Black earning a Trios Title shot, and The Patriarchy cheating their way to the titles.
Willow Nightingale defeated Harley Cameron
Ishii is still sitting at the commentary desk, where Nightingale gave him a big hug during her entrance. Nightingale handled Cameron until she tried for the Babe With The Powerbomb, when Cameron fought out and hit a Side Russian Leg Sweep for a nearfall. Cameron hit Sole Food and a Shining Wizard for a nearfall.
Nightingale got a glimpse of Ishii on commentary and fired up, dropping Cameron with a forearm and hitting the Babe With The Powerbomb for the win. Ishii came into the ring and raised Nightingale’s hand in victory.
Private Party was backstage with Lexy Nair, where she announced that they were the official emcees for All In. They were excited, then got a call from their assistant and left. Nair welcomed the ROH World Tag Team Champions Sammy Guevara and Dustin Rhodes. There was an open challenge laid out for a ten-man tag match at Wembley, with Guevara and Rhodes teaming with the Von Erichs and Katsuyori Shibata. Shibata entered the frame and, through text-to-speech, said that he would lasso them a win at Wembley.
(I don’t need hosts for wrestling shows. I am excited about a little pre-show action with the ROH crew.)
Katsuyori Shibata (w/Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) defeated Jay Lethal (w/Satnam Singh & Sonjay Dutt)
A professional encounter, if not a very heated one.
Lethal focused on Shibata’s leg, setting up a Figure Four, but Shibata kicked his way free. Shibata hit a pair of bicep stomps before kicking Lethal to the outside. After a commercial, Lethal caught Shibata with a Dragon Screw before locking on the Figure Four. Shibata got to the ropes and cut off a Lethal Injection attempt, but Lethal caught him with the Lethal Combination.
Lethal went for Hail To The King, but Shibata caught him in an armbar. Shibata sent Lethal to the corner and hit his hesitation dropkick. Lethal went for kicks to the knee before Shibata dropped him with an STO. Shibata hit the Rainmaker-style slap, locked on the Von Erich Claw, and then transitioned into an armbar for the submission win. Shibata offered a handshake after the match, and Lethal accepted.
We got a video package of MJF & Will Ospreay’s face-off from Dynamite.
Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway trained for their Wembley match at Create A Pro Wrestling Academy. Statlander said that she had been overlooked for too long and that it was their time now.
Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway defeated Kid Lykos II & Nina Samuels
Hathaway shook hands before Statlander clotheslined both of them. Hathaway tagged in and hit Lykos with a main-event spinebuster. Statlander tagged in and hit Lykos with an F-5 and a Babe With The Powerbomb. Statlander tagged Hathaway in and dumped him onto Lykos, with Hathaway getting the pin.
After the match, Hathaway said that this match was a preview of what would come at Wembley against Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii. Hathaway said that when they were done, Nightingale & Ishii’s careers would be like the food in England: absolutely rubbish. McGuinness made sure to note that they were in Wales.
We got a video package recapping the history between Toni Storm and Mariah May, narrated by Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies.
Hook defeated Big Bill (w/Bryan Keith)
A wild atmosphere, as this rowdy crowd suddenly decided that Big Bill was the top babyface in the territory.
FTW Champion Chris Jericho joined commentary as Hook charged Bill to start. Bill dumped Hook with a fallaway slam. The crowd started cheering for Bill as he clubbered on Hook. After the commercial, we came back to the crowd giving Bill a standing ovation. Jericho said that the crowd was cheering Bill to spite him after he told the crowd to shut up. A decent attempt from Jericho to contextualize this.
Bill mocked Hook then told the crowd to shut up as they continued cheering him. Hook dodged a couple of charges from Bill, then hit a big suplex. Bryan Keith charged Hook, but Hook dumped him with a T-Bone suplex. Bill sent Hook into the corner, but Hook caught him with the Redrum and got the submission. Hook stared down Jericho at the desk.
We got a video package of Jack Perry with his TNT Title. He said that no one was worthy of holding his TNT Title, as no one had made the sacrifices that he had made. Perry told Darby Allin that the only way he would close the coffin on him was if he was dead.
We got a recap of the face-off between Swerve Strickland & Bryan Danielson from Dynamite.
Jeff Jarrett (w/Karen Jarrett) defeated Ariya Daivari
If Jeff Jarrett was this over at any point in the last 20 years, TNA would still be on Spike TV. This Wales crowd was fired up for some Double J.
Daivari came to the ring getting some cheap heat, noting that Wales doesn’t have a Premier League team. After both men hit the corners for cheers, with only Jarrett getting them, Daivari jumped Jarrett and mocked the Fargo Strut. Daivari mocked him again before Jarrett socked him in the face and sent him into the turnbuckles. The crowd chanted for Jarrett as we went to a commercial break.
Jarrett pinballed Daivari around the outside as we came back from the break. Daivari caught Jarrett with a baseball slide as he came back into the ring. Jarrett almost caught Daivari with a sleeper hold, but Daivari reversed into one of his own. Jarrett fought out and fired up, getting a nearfall with a Russian Leg Sweep. Jarrett hit an enzuigiri and the squisher before hitting the Fargo Strut. Jarrett ducked a high cross attempt and hit the Stroke for the win.
We got a Hologram highlight reel.
We got a rundown of the All In card, with a ten-man tag match added to the Zero Hour. It will be Dustin Rhodes, Sammy Guevara, Katsuyori Shibata, & The Von Erichs vs. The Cage of Agony, Mike Bennett, & Matt Taven.
Winning Team Enters London Ladder Match at All In – Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta & PAC defeated Lio Rush & Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin)
An odd way to get PAC his “Wembley Moment,” but he got there. Credit to Claudio Castagnoli, wrestling 20 minutes on Dynamite, working this match on the same taping, then flying to Mexico to wrestle in the CMLL Grand Prix before flying back to Europe to work All In. A fine main event, but the crowd did feel tired by this point.
Yuta and Darius started, with Dante tagging in and double-teaming Yuta with his brother. PAC tagged in to a hero’s response, matching speed with Dante until he got caught with a headscissors and a dropkick. Castagnoli and Rush tagged in, with Rush trying to catch Castagnoli in the Giant Swing and catching an uppercut for his troubles. Top Flight helped Rush triple-team Castagnoli as we went to a commercial.
Yuta dropped a knee on Darius as we came back from the break. Darius came back with a DDT/Death Drop combination on PAC & Yuta and fought through Castagnoli to get the tag to his brother. Dante ran wild, with Rush assisting with a moonsault off of the apron to Yuta. Rush tagged in and hit a pair of topes to PAC that almost destroyed the announce table. PAC and Rush traded strikes until Rush hit a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall.
We got a move train ending with Dante hitting a dive to Castagnoli. Rush hit a stunner to PAC, but PAC came back with a snap German suplex, but the Martins cut him off. Darius hit a second rope Stunner, with Rush and Dante following with frog splashes for nearfalls. Another dive train ended with Castagnoli drilling Rush with an uppercut. Castagnoli snatched Rush into the Giant Swing before Yuta hit the low dropkick to cut him down. PAC hit the Black Arrow to score the win and punch his ticket to Wembley Stadium.
Christian Cage & Mother Wayne made their entrance. Cage heeled on the crowd before calling himself the godfather of ladder matches. He told them to have eyes in the back of their heads, leading to Killswitch and Nick Wayne hitting them all with chairs. Christian went for the Con-Chair-To on PAC before the Bang Bang Gang came out and pulled tabled from under the ring. The House of Black arrived with a ladder on the stage. All the teams brawled as the show went off the air. I’ll note that my TNT feed went silent after the Bang Bang Gang came out, but I think that was just on my end.
