It’s WWE SummerSlam weekend!
On a new Wrestling Weekly, Les Thatcher & Vic Sosa have their predictions for all the matches as well as the rundown on the week that was in AEW.
Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
Tag: dustin rhodes
New TNT Champion crowned on AEW Collision
Image: JJ Williams
Kyle Fletcher has finally won his first AEW title after defeating Dustin Rhodes for the TNT title on Thursday’s AEW Collision.
Held under street fight rules, Fletcher won the bloody affair after kicking out of a small package, hitting a running knee, and then landing his Protoplex brain buster for the win.
That followed a sequence in which Fletcher stabbed Rhodes’ right knee repeatedly with a screwdriver, sticking it in the knee at one point. At Rhodes is wont to do, however, he didn’t give up. After the match, Fletcher further inflicted damage on the knee, wrapping it around the ring post, and then slamming it with a chair.
It’s Fletcher’s first AEW title since debuting with the company in June 2022, then as a tag team wrestler. He and Mark Davis held the ROH Tag Team gold for 37 days in 2023, and then won the ROH TV title in December 2023, holding that title 196 days.
For Rhodes, it ends a brief run that began at July’s All In with his victory in a four-way match for the title vacated due to Adam Cole’s concussion. He had one successful defense, defeating Lee Moriarty last Saturday.
AEW Collision live results: Tag Team title eliminator matches
A pair of AEW Tag Team title eliminator matches headline tonight’s live edition of AEW Collision from Chicago as their residency in the city wraps up.
In a semifinal match, former champions FTR will take on the Bang Bang Gang of Austin Gunn & Juice Robinson. The other is a quarterfinal as Brodido (Brody King & Bandido) face the Gates of Agony with the winners moving on to face the Young Bucks in a future semifinal.
Reigning TNT Champion Dustin Rhodes will take on Kyle Fletcher in a street fight coming out of last week’s challenge.
Former TBS Champion Willow Nightingale will get her wish as her challenge of Thekla has been accepted. Another former TBS Champion and Nightingale ally/enemy Kris Statlander will also be in action against an opponent to be named.
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Here we are all colliding and stuff off the back of Godzilla, no less! AEW Collision is here and starting now!
And it kicked off in style with the Death Riders wrecking shop! Jon Moxley grabbed a mic and stomped into the ring while Wheeler Yuta and Marina Shafir backed him up. Moxley lamented that Darby Allin survived his trip to Mt Everest and is now in Mox’s business.
Mox called him out and like so many Stings before him, Allin appeared on the balcony of the arena. Allin slinked off, apparently not heading to the ring and the Death Riders left through the crowd to go find him.
A recap of last night’s Dynamite played to bring everyone up to speed.
AEW World Tag Team Title Eliminator Tournament Quarter Final Match: Gates Of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) vs. Brodido (Bandido & Brody King)
For those not in the know, ROH Champion Bandido is low-key the best champion in wrestling right now. His ROH Title defenses have been instant classics. Gates of Agony are downright terrifying, so no matter who wins the chance to face the Young Bucks in the semi-finals, that match will be a good one.
Bandido kicked things off against Kaun with the latter having a significant size advantage. Bandido’s agility and resiliency off set that though and they flew around the ring. Kaun landed a big lariat, but Bandido was right back up with an arm drag. Then Liona tagged in.
Bandido was more than happy to face Liona, but the crowd wanted King. Liona threw Bandido into the corner and they got their wish. The absolutely massive King stepped in the ring and the meat began a-slappin’.
King and Liona traded chops until King decided to throw a lariat and knock Liona out. Bandido and Kaun tagged back in, but Bandido sent him out. King and Bandido double teamed Liona, with King using Bandido as a weapon.
Liona dragged King out of the ring and back body dropped him on the entrance ramp. Bandido was body dropped by Kaun on the top rope and then tossed out to join his partner. Everyone went back to their corners after that and the match settled for a moment into Kaun and Bandido exchanging holds.
Liona tagged in and he and Kaun double teamed an isolated Bandido in their corner. Kaun made a run across the ring ro take out King before GoA delivered a double backstabber to Bandido. A miscommunication led to Liona accidentally hitting Kaun with Bandido. Bandido tagged in King and he splashed Kaun and Liona in the corner.
Kaun left, but King was able to hit a cannonball in the corner on Liona. He tagged in Bandido and the did a tandem dive through the ropes onto the Gates of Agony on the outside where all four men brawled. Bandido sent Kaun into the first row and King tossed Liona back into the ring.
Bandido went up top and hit a frog splash, but Kaun returned a broke up the pin. Kaun sent King out, twice, and then set Bandido up with Liona’s help for top rope powerbomb. It only resulted in a two count though. Liona took out King on the outside, but he was back to break up a pin attempt.
King picked up Liona (impressive in it’s own right) and then hit a death valley drover on the ring apron (the agony-est part of the ring!). Then he grabbed Kaun and hit a superplex off the top rope! Bandido leapt on him and got the pin, sending Brodido to the semis!
Match Result: Brodido defeated Gates of Agony
A terrific match as expected. Bandido continues to impress, King is a killer and the Gates looked good in this loss, I don’t think it hurts them at all. I mean, it hurt them. But not in terms of character.
-The Don Callis Family joined Lexy Nair backstage. Callis said that his Family is going to be getting all the titles, power and money AEW has to offer. Shane Taylor appeared, looking for the money STP and the Infantry earned on Dynamite last night. Lance Archer stepped in and Callis said that if STP takes out Sky Flight, then they could talk about the money. Taylor was not happy.
-Back from commercial, Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly joined Lexy Nair. Nair asked of Strong was now in the Conglomeration. O’Reilly made the sell, and Ishii, Hologram and Willow Nightingale arrived. Nightingale tee’d up her match and off she went!
-Before the match could start though, we went backstage where the Death Riders were still looking for Darby Allin. Suddenly, Allin appeared out of a dark corner and appeared to chloroform Moxley! The scene switched back to the ring…
Kris Statlander vs Lina Cross
This match happened so fast, I barely had time to keep up. Stalander pushed Cross around off the top, sending her to the mat with a big shoulder. She put Cross up in a stalling suplex and dropped her with precise fashion. Cross fought back with a pump kick and a german suplex, but Statlander overpowered her. Statlander locked in a new submission hold, and Cross tapped out.
Match Result: Kris Statlander defeated Lina Cross
As that match ended, Willow Nightingale’s music played and the two crossed paths without acknowledging each other on the ramp.
Willow Nightingale vs. Thekla (w/Sky Blue and Julia Hart)
Thekla had a serious power disadvantage, with Nightingale throwing her into the corner off the top. Hart and Blue got up in the ring apron to cause a slow-moving distraction and Thekla got a shot in. Nightingale kept control though as the two reset and stared each other down.
Thekla got a shot in on Nightingale’s throat and sent her reeling. Thekla went up top, but Nightingale dodged it and chopped her in the center of the ring. Nightingale hoisted her up and dropped her in the center of the ring for a cross body, followed but a powerful pounce.
Here, they announced that Sky Flight would face Shane Taylor Promotions later in the show.
Thekla sent Nightingale into the steel steps on the outside and then dragged her back into the ring. She peppered Nightingale with kicks and put on a strong chinlock, wrenching Nightingale’s back. Nightingale wouldn’t give up, so Thekla began complaining to the ref. That gave Nightingale an opening and the two traded chops.
Thekla got Nightingale into the corner and put on a headscissor lock over the top rope. Nightingale responded with a big lariat and then two more for good measure. Nightingale hit a shotgun dropkick from the second rope, but only got a two-count.
Thekla resorted to slapping Nightingale in the face, sending her to the ropes. Thekla set her up for a knee shot, but Nightingale played possum and lured her in for a death valley driver. Dragging Thekla to the top rope, Nightingale found herself in trouble as Thekla set her up for a superplex.
Blue and Hart stalked Nightingale on the outside while Thekla dove from the top rope. She threw Nightingale back in and Nightingale went back to the well for a springboard lariat, followed by a cannonball in the corner.
Nightingale went for a powerbomb but Hart and Blue got up on the ring to cause the distraction. That let Thekla get a stomp in on Nightingale’s head and that was in. 1,2,3 Thekla got the win.
Match Result: Thekla defeated Willow Nightingale
After the match, Blue and Hart joined in on a beatdown of Nightingale. However, Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford appeared to make it a 5-on-1 affair. Queen Aminata’s music hit and she came to the ring with Tay Melo and a whole bunch of chairs and pieces of wood. They chased the heels off as The Conglomeration tended to Nightingale.
This was a good match, especially after the weird Statlander squash. The melee at the end was a little too chaotic for me and I lost track of what was going on. That said, there’s a lot of stories running through that group of women, so I’m interested to see where all of it goes.
-Backstage, Billy Gunn joined Lexy Nair. Anthony Bowens arrived and yelled at him for a bit. Gunn said that he didn’t even know who Bowens was any more and left, Bowens calling “coward!” after him.
-A video was shown of Swerve Strickland outside the arena. He called out the Young Bucks and Okada and he promised to be around to take care of them. He challenged Okada for the Unified Championship at Forbidden Door.
-Don Callis and Okada responded right away, saying that Okada has the edge becuase he has Callis himself to advise him. They accepted the challenge and Okada said “let’s just fight, bitch.”
AEW World Tag Team Title Eliminator Tournament Semi Final Match: FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (w/Stokely) vs. Bang Bang Gang (Austin Gunn & Juice Robinson)(w/ Cardboard Cut out Jay White and Colton Gunn)
So, that’s the longest match heading I think I’ve ever typed. Also, Danny Garcia was on commentary.
The winners of this match move on to the finals for the right to face the Hurt Syndicate LLC, and Robinson and Harwood showed that they both wanted it bad off the top. The battled back and forth until Gunn was tagged in. Harwood sent him to the mat with an arm drag.
Gunn tagged Robinson back in and Harwood drove him into the corner for some chops. Robinson foight back with some chops of his own, sending Harwood face first into the turnbuckle while Bryan Kieth and Big Bill watched backstage at that angle that all wrestlers seem to watch tv.
Wheeler tagged in to face off against Gunn and the two traded chops before Gunn tagged Robinson back in. Things broke down and Gunn and Robinson took out both members of FTR with stereo back body drops and lariats to the outside.
Stokely limped over and gave FTR some words of encouragement while Gunn and Robinson waited in the ring. The match somewhat reset and Harwood and Gunn locked up in the center of the ring. Harwood laid in some big right hands but Gunn fought back until Wheeler kicked him in the back through the ropes.
FTR double teamed Gunn, stomping him by the ropes. Wheeler tagged in a delivered a bunch of suplexes, followed by a sleeper. Gunn fought back, but Harwood tagged in with an abdominal stretch with an assist from Wheeler. The ref caught on though and broke it up. Gunn went for a hot tag but Harwood cut him off.
Gunn finally got the tag, but the ref didn’t see it and sent him back for a double team from FTR. Harwood sent Gunn to the outside where he spiked the camera and dodged as wheeler flew at him from the ring. Wheeler landed on the barricade and Harwood held Gunn until he made the hot tag to Robinson.
Robinson jumped in and cleared the ring. Harwood slipped out of the ring and Robinson followed, sending him back in. Stokely tried to interfere with his crutch, but Robinson kicked it away and set Harwood up on the top rope. Harwood bit Robinson on the head and sent him to Wheeler. Robinson sent Wheeler to the outside.
Gunn hit a suplex from the top rope and Robinson tried a pin. Wheeler jumped from the top rope to break up the pin, but Robinson rolled out of the way and Wheeler hit Harwood instead. Robinson landed a blade runner, but it only resulted in a two-count.
Gunn and Harwood faced off, but neither could get the advantage. Robinson arrived to break up a shatter machine and Gunn hit the fame-ass-er, but again just a two count as Wheeler broke it up. Robinson went after Stokely, but Wheeler sent him into the stairs.
Gunn fought off both Wheeler and Harwood, but the ref was distracted. Harwood and Wheeler double teamed him and Harwood got a rollup to send FTR to the tournament Finals.
Match Result: FTR defeated Bang Bang Gang
There’s a reason FTR matches are some of my favourite of all time. It was super fast, back and forth and the outcome was never obvious for either team. I liked the quick tags, classic heel cheating and of course, the cutouts. The finals of this tournament are going to be hot!
-Backstage, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena cut a promo. She said that it’s going to be really easy to cash in and win the AEW Women’s Championship. Athena said that she is going to use her contract to defeat Toni Storm in London at Forbidden Door.
-In the ring, Max Caster said that he was here to cheer up “Chiraq” by allowing the crowd to chant for him. Which they did. Caster cut them off and said that they couldn’t hang with him, just like Anthony Bowens. He called Bowens a bland, crybaby bitch and issued his Open Challenge. Five minutes went up on the clock and the challenge was answered by…
Rush!
Max Caster vs Rush
So, if you haven’t seen Rush lately he’s very large and has an even larger coat. The bell rang and the challenge was on. Caster immediately dove out of the ring as Rush ran at him. When he tried to get back in, Rush, rushed him again. This went on for a while as the clock ticked down.
Caster jogged around the ring, playing to the crowd while Rush impatiently waited in the ring. Caster got too involved in his showboating though and Rush slipped out a crushed him. As the clock ticked to three minutes, Rush sent Caster into the barricades again and again.
Finally, Rush tossed Caster back into the ring, but Caster leapt to the top rope and hit a cross body from the ring post onto Rush. Two minutes remained as Caster put Rush back into the ring. Caster went for a splash, but Rush dodged it and picked up where he left off pumelling Caster.
Only a minute remained as Rush started some showboating of his own. Caster tried to rush him, but Rush hit a powerslam, unconcerned with the clock as he beat Caster in the corner. With 10 seconds left, Rush lined Caster up, but then the time expired and the bell rang, ending the match,
Rush did not like that and dropkicked Caster in the corner. He demanded that the Ref count the pin, but the ref said the match was over. So the rest of LFI came down to the ring and beat up Caster. Security tried to intervene but they didn’t make much headway until JetSpeed arrived! Everyone battled up the ramp, leaving Caster laying in the ring.
Match Result: Rush defeated Max Caster? I think?
I was really enjoying this spectacle of a match until the weird ending. I love Open Challenges and Caster’s are great, with a pretty good gimmick to them. But it all just seemed kinda pointless, especially once JetSpeed got involved.
Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor and The Infantry – Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo) Vs Sky Flight (Top Flight – Darius and Daunte Martin – and Scorpio Sky)
This match was set up earlier in the night so that Shane Taylor Promotions could earn the money that they earned on Dynamite last night. The infantry got involved pretty much immediately as Bravo, Dean and Bravo took turns hitting moves on Darius on the ring apron.
STP had complete control of the match in the opening, isolating Daunte and triple teaming him in the corner. STP used every violent trick in the book including a killer one-handed chokeslam from Taylor.
Back from break, Daunte tagged in with Dean and fortunes started to turn for Sky Flight. Daunte got a hot tag to Sky who cleared the ring. Daunte leapt over the top rope taking out Taylor and Bravo. Sky, in the middle of the ring managed to hit his finisher and get the pin.
Match Result: Sky Flight defeated Shane Taylor Promotions
-Backsage the camera showed Darby Allin dragging Jon Moxley to the top of a fire escape. Just as Allin was about to shove Mox off the fire escape and presumably multiple stories down, AEW Security showed up (?) and dragged Allin away.
That was very, very strange. Did Allin just commit attempted murder? Why were there security guys on the fire escape? Where were Yuta and Shafir? I have more questions, but there are only 12 minutes left in the show.
AEW TNT Title Chicago Street Fight: Dustin Rhodes (c) vs. Kyle Fletcher
To shake off the last 20 minutes or so, it’s time for the main event! Dustin Rhodes has found the fountain of youth and has been doing his best work in what should be the twilight of his career. Fletcher is absolutely killer and not only looks like a 2025 Shawn Micheals, he works like him too.
Rhodes laid the hammer down right away, while Don Callis on commentary lamented the use of a closed fist… in a street fight. The match spilled out of the ring and Fletcher found a kendo stick. Rhodes took it away from him and laid in some hard smacks.
Fletcher reversed the favor though, pulling the steel steps away from the ring and hitting a DDT on top of them, sending Rhodes to the ground. Fletcher then went under the ring for a table and leaned it up against the barricade. He laid Rhodes out on it and dove at him through the ring ropes. Rhodes dodged it though and Fletcher flew through the table.
Rhodes grabbed a second table and set it up at ringside. He also pulled a bullrope from under the ring, introducing it to Fletcher’s face. Repeatedly. Rhodes, bleeding from the forehead pulled Fletcher, also bleeding from the forehead, to the ring apron and tried to bulldog Fletcher onto the table. Fletcher grabbed a rope though, so Rhodes went through the table solo.
Back from commercial, Fletcher was whipping Rhodes with his own cowbell, focusing on the knee. Fletcher charged Rhodes who flipped him over with a Code Red. Rhodes began pounding on Fletcher, executing a CrossRhodes, but only getting a two count.
Rhodes went under the ring and grabbed a couple of chairs. Fletcher picked one up and they played lightsabers until Rhodes hit Fletcher in the back. A lot. Rhodes took a little too long to lay in the killing blow and Fletcher kicked the chair back into his face. Fletcher set up two chairs and hit a jumping pile driver on the seats. Rhodes kicked out at two.
Fletcher grabbed a table and brought it into the ring as the show went into overtime. Fletcher pulled Rhodes to the top turnbuckle, looking for a superplex. Rhodes fought back though, sending Fletcher through his own table with a massive Texas Destroyer! Somehow, Fletcher kicked out at two though.
Rhodes went under the ring and pulled out a set of work gloves…. covered in tacks! He went for the Iron Claw, but Fletcher blocked it. Rhodes pushed though though and hit the claw with the tack gloves! What a weird thing to write!
Fletcher got free and brought a whole bag full of tacks unto the ring. He spread them out and went for a suplex. Rhodes reversed it. Then Fletcher reversed it. This went on for a while until Rhodes hit a powerslam right on the tacks!
Fletcher, regretting his choice of outfit, got set up by Rhodes in the corner. Rhodes poured the remainder of the tacks into Fletcher’s trunks and shattered his dreams!
Rhodes pulled Fletcher up, but Callis had slipped Fletcher a screwdriver which he drove into Rhodes’ head. Callis then held Rhodes against the rope while Fletcher stabbed him in the leg over and over. The screwdriver hung out of Rhodes’ leg until a medical staff member pulled it out.
Fletcher hit a brainbuster on Rhodes in the middle of the tacks and got the pin to win the match and the TNT Championship.
Match Result: Kyle Fletcher defeated Dustin Rhodes
After the match, Callis and Fletcher beat on Rhodes with a chair until officials sent them packing.
Wow. That was downright gruesome. Hell of a match and I’m sad to see Rhodes’ title reign end so quickly, but they both earned that match. I’ll say this about AEW; they pack a LOT into two-and-a-bit hours. Two great tag matches, an awesome main event and overall, a pretty good show with only a few confusing moments. But it’s wrestling, there’s always a few confusing moments. Either way, I had fun so mission accomplished, Collision!
TNT title stipulation match set for Thursday’s AEW Collision
A match for the TNT Championship is now set for next week’s AEW Collision.
After Rhodes successfully defended the title against Lee Moriarty on Saturday, Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher came to the ring. Fletcher said he was owed a one-on-one title match and wouldn’t allow anyone else to challenge for the title. Rhodes agreed to the match, but said it would be under a Chicago street fight stipulation.
The match was later made official for the next episode of AEW Collision. It will air on Thursday as WWE is set to hold their SummerSlam PLE next Saturday and Sunday.
Rhodes won the title in a surprise at AEW All In earlier this month in a match he originally wasn’t scheduled to be in. Adam Cole was to defend the title against Fletcher, but was injured on the final Collision before the event and gave a speech at All In where he said he was unsure when, or if, he’ll be able to return. The title was vacated and a four-way match between Rhodes, Fletcher, Sammy Guevara, and Daniel Garcia was announced, with Rhodes winning.
Here is the updated lineup for next week’s Collision:
AEW Collision for July 31, 2025:
- Chicago street fight for TNT Championship: Dustin Rhodes defends against Kyle Fletcher
Champion vs. champion match added to AEW Collision
AEW has a second official match added to Saturday’s live Collision from Chicago and like the first, it’s also for a championship.
Announced Thursday during Ring of Honor’s weekly TV show, TNT Champion Dustin Rhodes will have his first title defense since winning the gold at All In as he faces reigning Ring of Honor TV Champion Lee Moriarty whose title will not be on the line.
Rhodes won a four-way at All In for the vacant title, downing Kyle Fletcher, Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia. The title was vacated due to Adam Cole’s concussion suffered earlier that week.
Rhodes and Moriarty have never had a singles match, but were on opposite ends of an eight-man tag team match on the All In pre-show.
The 56-year-old is also one half of the ROH Tag Team Champions with Sammy Guevara and one-third of the ROH Six-Man Champions with Marshall & Ross Von Erich.
The next match or matches for the AEW Tag Team title eliminator tournament are also expected for the show, but have yet to be announced.
Current AEW Collision lineup | Saturday, July 26 | Chicago, Illinois
- TNT Champion Dustin Rhodes defends against Lee Moriarty
- ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defends against Alex Windsor
- AEW Tag Team title eliminator tournament: TBA
AEW Collision live results: Bandido, JetSpeed & Mascara Dorada team up
Saturday’s All In aftermath edition of AEW Collision from Chicago will feature Bandido in the night’s featured bout.
The current ROH World Champion will team with CMLL’s Mascara Dorada and JetSpeed (Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight) against Josh Alexander, Lance Archer, Rocky Romero and Hechicero of the Don Callis Family.
With no interference, Megan Bayne will go one-on-one with Tay Melo in her first singles match since December 2022.
In a four-way $200,000 tag team match, it will be The Gunns vs. Gates of Agony vs. CRU vs. Big Bill & Bryan Keith.
New TNT Dustin Rhodes will be on hand to celebrate his title win as will Max Caster who will hold another Best Wrestler Alive challenge.
Ricochet will face AR Fox, and Rush will take on Katsuyori Shibata in a highly-anticipated match.
Following her re-debut of sorts at All In, Alex Windsor will return to AEW TV against Taya Valkyrie.
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Dustin Rhodes opened AEW Collision, saying that he wished his day was with him right now as he celebrated his win of the TNT Championship. Rhodes talked about how his dad always told him to keep stepping, getting up every time he is knocked down. It is hope that things can and will get better as you keep get back up. Rhodes said that he spent 37 years in the wrestling business, reaching the highest of heights, and hitting rock bottom, and he experienced a lot of failure. He said he was waiting to say this for 30 years: “I am now the face of TNT.” Rhodes promised that he would give his all week in and week out because he wanted to be a fighting champion, and that he will keep fighting into the future.
Don Callis came out with Kyle Fletcher, and Fletcher said that Rhodes’ story was crap, and the celebration that they were having tonight was supposed to be his. Fletcher was angry that his one-on-one title shot was ruined by Cole getting injured, and that Rhodes was lucky to win the title in a four way match. Fletcher said that he was going to take everything from Rhodes, and take his title.
Rhodes put Fletcher over as a great wrestler, and talked about his own times falling short at winning the title, from Lance Archer, to Sammy Guevara, to Christian Cage, and Brodie Lee, but Rhodes wrestled 3 times in 24-hours, and all Fletcher does is make excuses, while Rhodes pulled it off and Fletcher didn’t.
Don Callis calmed Fletcher down, and said that Rhodes was a legend, and that he has known him since 1997, going on the road together. He wanted Rhodes to think about what will happen when he loses the TNT Championship, and offered him a place in the Don Callis Family, as that was a better than being a 3rd wheel in the Rhodes family. At this, Rhodes attacked Callis. Fletcher attacked Rhodes, but Rhodes fought back and sent Fletcher to the floor, fleeing the ring. This segment was great, especially Dustin Rhodes.
–Mark Briscoe was narrating the recent actions of the Conglomeration, with Ishii, Willow Nightingale and her feud with Kris Statlander, and Briscoe, Hangman, and Hobbs standing tall over the Death Riders on Wednesday, with Briscoe leaving the last word for MJF, saying he was coming for him.
–A recap of Ricochet and AR Fox’s issues aired, with the announcers reminding us that Ricochet turned on Fox in their tag match, and how he recruited the Gates of Agony. This was a small story playing out on TV, which I like when wrestlers don’t necessarily have a PPV level feud in the works at the moment. It gives both of them something to do that is mildly interesting, and keeps them both on TV until something else comes.
Ricochet vs. AR Fox
Ricochet tried to bait Fox into fighting at ringside, but Fox refused to do so, dodging and countered Ricochet at every turn, hitting a tope con giro to the floor and going to ringside on his terms. The Gates of Agony came down at this point, stalking Fox. Ricochet distracted the referee letting Liona slam Fox on the apron as they went to ad break. When the came back from break, Fox managed to dodge a shoulder thrust from Ricochet and hit a top con giro, and a senton bomb for a 2-count.
Ricochet and Fox went into a series of near falls, ending with Ricochet powering into a Death Valley Driver, which popped the crowd. Fox kicking out led to Ricochet going for the Spirit Gun, but Fox dodged it, and Ricochet ended up draped on the middle rope near the turnbuckle. Fox used the ropes and launched himself into a Canadian Destroyer on Ricochet, pulling him from the middle ropes. That was incredible. Ricochet dodged a 450 Splash and Ricochet hit a Spirit Gun for the pinfall.
Result: Ricochet
This was a great match, but it would be nice for AR Fox to get some credibility by beating some lower card guys in the future. He is really good, and the fans clearly like him, so it is time for him to start winning.
–A recap of Hangman Page and Jon Moxley aired, and as Colt Cabana, Nigel McGuinness, and Tony Schiavone were discussing what happened, Marina Shafir emerged from the audience behind Cabana and started choking him unconscious. Moxley came out of nowhere and started punching Cabana in the face with a chain, busting him open. Yuta joined Moxley in the beat down. Moxley claimed he was only giving the fans what they wanted, and he choked Cabana with the chain, screaming that Cabana should tap out, and he threw Cabana over the ropes choking him out. Cabana tapped out, just like Moxley did at AEW All In, and then Moxley let go, and left through the crowd as the fans chanted “You tapped out!” at Moxley. Tony Schiavone noted that Cabana was very good friends with Hangman Page, and this couldn’t be interpreted as anything else but a message to him. This angle was awesome.
–Kris Statlander was with Lexy Nair, and she was talking about what happened at All In and her loss in the Casino Gauntlet. As she was talking, the Death Riders walked by, and Yuta, covered in Cabana’s blood, and said “Champions always make a comeback” before Marina Shafir pulled him away, and Statlander said that he was right. I loved this angle too. The Death Riders came across as very dangerous, yet very scummy, heels. Great storytelling in giving us a villain to boo.
Megan Bayne vs. Tay Melo
Everyone was banned at ringside for this, hopefully eliminating the Penelope Ford factor for Bayne in this match. Bayne dominated the opening portion of the match, but Melo countered a spear into a Fujiwara armbar, and transitioned into a triangle choke, but Bayne did a Rampage Jackson slam to counter out. Melo and Bayle shuffled for position at the ropes and Melo pulled Bayne to the floor with a head scissors. Bayne caught Melo as she jumped from the apron with a cross body and hit a fallaway slam on the floor.
As they came back from break, Melo hit a kick in the corner and several boot scrapes across the face of Bayne. Bayne stood up annoyed by it, hitting a belly-to-belly suplex. As Bayne did this, Tony Schiavone announced a match for Dynamite – Hangman Page vs. Wheeler Yuta because of what they did to Colt Cabana for Shark Week Dynamite. Poor Yuta is going to die. Melo locked on a guillotine choke, but Bayne fought out. Bayne went for Fate’s Descent, but Melo rolled out hit a running knee, and a Canadian Destroyer for a 2-count. Bayne responded with a flying lariat in the middle of the ring and hit a running Liger bomb for the finish.
Result: Megan Bayne
Nigel McGuinness had the call of the night that Melo was now a Marsh-melo.
–Don Callis walked up to Sky Flight, offering Scorpio Sky a place in the Don Callis Family. Christopher Daniels said that they were well represented, but they were looking for a fight, and if Callis was up for it, he could give the Callis Family a fight. Don Callis said he would think about it, which seems sinister.
–Alex Windsor cut a promo before the match, talking about taking Athena to the limit at Grand Slam Australia.
Alex Windsor vs. Taya Valkyrie (w/ mXm Collection & Johnny TV)
There wasn’t a lot to this match as they only got a few minutes, but it saw Windsor going for a sharpshooter, and Valkyrie reversing into a STF. Windsor hit a blue thunder bomb, a lariat, and then locked the sharpshooter on for Valkyrie for the win.
Result: Alex Windsor
–Athena appeared in the balcony that Toni Storm was in on Dynamite, and she mocked Toni Storm, and also dismissed Windsor, saying that her match with Windsor ended like all the others, with Athena winning. As Athena was making fun of Storm, Storm came out and said that no one was allowed to be in the balcony but her, and she dared Athena to fight her.
Athena refused, saying that she would fight her on her terms, as Storm had to face Billie Starks on Wednesday. Storm then said it was true that she was facing Starks, and that if Starks won, she would be granted a shot at Storm, which Athena did not like. Storm then ran into the crowd and ran up to the balcony, going after Athena, who ran away.
–Anthony Bowens was backstage with Lexy Nair, and he was talking about how he did not have success at All In. Billy Gunn walked up, and Bowens was confused, as Gunn said he would be there for him, but wasn’t at All In. Gunn said that Bowens has been confusing, saying he wanted him there, but didn’t want him there, and that they needed to get on the same page, and that Bowens needs to stop obsessing with Max Caster. At least they tried to fix that plot hole. Gunn said he had a match for Bowens next week, and all he needed to do was trust him.
Big Bill & Bryan Keith vs. Cru (Action Andretti & Lio Rush) vs. The Gates of Agony (Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun) vs. The Gunns (Austin & Colton Gunn) (w/ Juice Robinson) in a $200,000 Tag Match
Austin Gunn started the match with Andretti, and was quickly forced to tag out to Colton Gunn, as they were so much faster. Colton hit a double clothesline, forcing Cru to leave the ring, letting the Gates of Agony to come in. Bishop Kaun ate a dropkick and fell backwards into the corner and was blind tagged by Bryan Keith. Keith and Colton started an exchange, but Keith quickly tagged out to Bill, who got a huge reaction from the Chicago audience.
It didn’t take long for the match to break down into all 4 teams brawling as they went to the ad break. Colton Gunn was isolated in this by Cru, and they came back from the break with Lio Rush doing handsprings into people causing them to fall from the apron. Rush tried to knock Bill off the apron, but Bill shrugged off his chop and Rush shook his head, indicating it was a mistake. Colton Gunn tagged out to Bill out of desperation, who ran wild, destroying everyone in the ring and hitting a black hole slam on Rush.
Colton Gunn tagged in, interrupting Bill’s rampage, but Bill launched him into the air and hit a punch. Colton Gunn went down holding his knee, which did not look good. I think this is where his injury happened. Bill ran around ringside dropping everyone, but as he was running in front of the announce table, Toa Liona came out of nowhere and hit a pounce that sent Bill flying through the air and over the announce table, causing Nigel McGuinness and Tony Schiavone to run away. Ricochet came out and grabbed the leg of Austin Gunn, allowing the Gates of Agony to destroy Andretti for the win.
Result: The Gates of Agony
While Ricochet still hasn’t won one of these money matches, his crew finally did, with his help.
–A recap of the Patriarchy turning on Christian Cage aired, with Adam Copeland clarifying that he was not saving Christian, but getting revenge on FTR, and Nick Wayne giving his reasons for the turn, saying that Christian never stuck with the plan.
Kyle O’Reilly (w/ Roderick Strong) vs. Max Caster
Kyle O’Reilly answered Caster’s challenge this week. Caster claimed that O’Reilly could not win the match if he couldn’t catch him, so Caster ran around the ring on the outside. Well, O’Reilly could win by allowing a count out, but that did not occur to either of them, and Strong tripped Caster, allowing O’Reilly to catch him. Caster tried to hit O’Reilly with his trademark for the Best Wrestler Alive gimmick, but O’Reilly kicked it away. Caster raked the eyes of O’Reilly, but O’Reilly turned a sunset flip into an armbar and Caster immediately tapped out.
Result: Kyle O’Reilly
–We were shown Tomohiro Ishii and Hologram watching backstage, and they were looking at the TV like normal human beings! A positive.
–Juice Robinson was backstage and he talked about Ricochet, wanting revenge for what he did in the 4-way tag match. Big Bill walked in, and said that Robinson was getting in his business during the match, and they started fighting, with Robinson driving Bill into the lockers behind him, almost knocking them over, before a bunch of referees and agents separated them.
Rush (w/Dralistico, & The Beast Mortos) vs. Kaysuyori Shibata
Shibata and Rush started the match exchanging hard strikes with very hard chops that delighted the fans. This continued for the first 2 or 3 minutes, as they kept returning to chops until Rush finally hit a punch that dropped Shibata and they went to the floor. As Rush sent Shibata back into the ring, Shibata stood up and hit a running kick that sent Rush to the floor. Shibata grabbed Rush by the hair and rain around the ringside area, driving Rush into the guardrails repeatedly.
Shibata locked a figure four leglock on Rush back in the ring. Shibata hit a dropkick in the corner on Rush as they came back from break, getting a two-count. Shibata went for a vertical suplex, but Rush countered into his own, hitting two suplexes, and then Shibata countering and hitting one. Both men went back and forth on the suplexes until Shibata hit the last one, and they were both down. Rush kicked out at one, but ate a German suplex. Rush stood back up and hit one on Shibata, and they started exchanging German suplexes like the vertical.
Rush hit a headbutt on Shibata, but Shibata hit a hard chop and locked on a sleeper hold in the middle of the ring, but Dralistico & Mortos ran in, but Shibata dispatched them. The referee did not end the match for some reason, as Nigel McGuinness claimed that LFI must have paid off the referee. Rush hit the Horns in the corner on Shibata for the win.
Result: Rush
Listen, I know people will say that the reason Rush wasn’t DQ’d was because they didn’t actually touch Shibata, but it was still right in front of the referee. This was no good. It does not make sense. The match itself was quiet great, but that finish was a mess.
–LFI attacked after the bell, indicating that they wanted the Trios titles. Powerhouse Hobbs ran down to make the save. It seems we’re setting up a match for later once Joe returns.
The Don Callis Family (Hechicero, Rocky Romero, Josh Alexander, & Lance Archer) vs. JetSpeed (Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey), Mascara Dorada, Bandido
Bandido and Hechicero started the match, with Bandido eager to get revenge for his loss as Hechicero eyes the ROH World Championship. Bandido rolled to the floor and Dorada hit a headscissors after a tilt-a-whirl from Hechicero. Dorada tried to hit a handspring, but Lance Archer was the one who was on the other end of it, and this quickly stopped that. The speed of the babyfaces still had an advantage, with it taking a triple dropkick from Dorada, Bailey, and Knight to drop Archer. Dorada, Bailey, and Knight all hit planchas to the floor on the heels as the party match continued.
Josh Alexander hit a reverse suplex on Mike Bailey as they went to the final ad break. Hechicero came in and locked on a series of violent submissions on Bailey, as they continued to isolate him for the heat. Tony Schiavone announced that there was good news though, as Don Callis was not at ringside. His hatred for the heels makes up for the occasional missed call. I love Tony Schiavone. As they came back from break, Bandido tagged in and hit a gorilla press on Alexander.
Rocky Romero hit a knee to the back of Bandido, allowing Alexander to tag out and Hechicero came in and swarmed Bandido immediately, hitting a flying knee in the corner and a went for a running powerbomb, but Bandido countered into a sunset flip bomb to tag out to Dorada. Dorada countered a chokeslam from Archer, who worked as a wonderful base for Dorada’s offence.
Archer went for the Black Out, but the Callis Family broke it up. Rockey Romero was launched off the shoulders of Archer onto Dorada which set of a series of big moves from everyone until Archer took out Bailey, Bandido, and Knight all at the same time. Archer clotheslined Knight into the ring from the apron, but Knight landed on his feet and hit a dropkick and Knight hit an assisted Asai Moonsault to Archer that finally dropped him. Romero almost finished Dorada with a sliced bread, but the the babyfaces made the save, and as Bailey and Knight hit dives onto everyone on the floor, Bandido hit the 21-plex on Romero allowing Dorada to hit the shooting star press on Romero for the win.
Result: Bandido, Mascara Dorada, & JetSpeed
Final Thoughts
I really like how Collision has been advancing the midcard stories on Collision lately. It is clear the show is not the A show, but having the midcard stories built on this show and given time makes them feel more important, and that also gives Collision a distinct purpose – it doesn’t always advance the A-show stories, but it will always advance the stories of several of the midcard wrestlers. The angle with the Death Riders and Cabana was tremendous though, and definitely plays into one of the A level stories with Hangman and Moxley.
AEW Dynamite – July 23, 2025
Hangman Page vs. Wheeler Yuta
AEW Collision – July 26, 2025
Athena vs. Alex Windsor
Shibata vs. Rush, Dustin Rhodes promo part of AEW Collision lineup
Saturday’s AEW Collision lineup includes Katsuyori Shibata vs. Rush, plus a promo from the new TNT Champion.
As announced during Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, Shibata and Rush will go one-on-one on the Saturday, July 19 Collision in a first-time-ever singles matchup.
Also set for Saturday’s show, TNT Champion Dustin Rhodes will address the audience after his emotional All In title win.
The recent issues between TayJay and the Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford duo will be settled on the show as well, as Tay Melo faces Bayne in a singles match with everyone banned from ringside.
Alex Windsor will make her Collision debut on Saturday’s episode facing Taya Valkyrie in a one-on-one match.
Ricochet will square off with AR Fox in another singles match announced for the card.
In an eight-man tag, The Don Callis Family’s Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero, Josh Alexander, and HEchicero will face Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey, Bandido, and Mascara Dorada.
Saturday’s Collision will be taped Thursday night, July 17 in Chicago as part of AEW’s three-week residency at the Aragon Ballroom. The card:
AEW Collision airing Saturday, July 19 —
- Katsuyori Shibata vs. Rush
- TNT Champion Dustin Rhodes speaks
- Megan Bayne vs. Tay Melo — Everyone banned from ringside
- Alex Windsor vs. Taya Valkyrie
- Ricochet vs. AR Fox
- Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey, Bandido & Mascara Dorada vs. Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero, Hechicero & Josh Alexander
Dustin Rhodes wins TNT Championship at AEW All In
Dustin Rhodes is the new TNT Champion.
In a four-way match to crown a new champion, Rhodes countered Daniel Garcia’s dragon tamer submission into a flash pin, scoring the pinfall and his first AEW title in a match that also featured Rhodes’ tag team partner Sammy Guevara and Kyle Fletcher.
After the match, an emotional Rhodes took his time before eventually getting to his feet and taking the championship from the referee. Nephews Wyatt and Wayne Rhodes came to the ring to celebrate along with Ross & Marshall Von Erich. Guevara at first was upset about how the match went down, but eventually shook hands with Rhodes as the new champion continued to celebrate his title victory.
Shortly before All In began on Saturday, it was announced that Adam Cole would have to vacate the TNT Championship that he was set to defend on the show against Fletcher. In a promo that took place right before the match, an emotional Cole announced that he was out of action due to injury and wasn’t sure if he would be able to return to wrestling.
Rhodes is one third of the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions with The Von Erichs and also holds the ROH Tag Team titles with Guevara.
Eight-man tag match added to AEW All In Zero Hour
A new match has been added to AEW All In’s Zero Hour pre-show.
After Sammy Guevara & Dustin Rhodes defeated The Infantry to retain the ROH Tag Team titles at Supercard of Honor, the rest of Shane Taylor Promotions came out to jump the champions. Anthony Ogogo then arrived to deliver a punch to Rhodes when suddenly Ross and Marshall Von Erich came out for the save. It was immediately announced that Shane Taylor Promotions (Taylor, The Infantry, and Lee Moriarty) with Ogogo in their corner would take on Rhodes, Guevara, and The Von Erichs with their father Kevin Von Erich in their corner.
Earlier in the show, The Von Erichs were victorious over the Premier Athletes. They are also two thirds of the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions along with Rhodes. Moriarty was also victorious, defeating CMLL’s Blue Panther to retain the ROH Pure Championship.
Here is the updated lineup for Saturday’s All In:
AEW All In, Saturday, July 12, 3 p.m. main card, 1 p.m. Zero Hour pre-show —
- Texas death match: AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defends against Hangman Adam Page
- AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Mercedes Mone
- AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. AEW International Champion Kenny Omega in a winner takes all match for the AEW Unified Championship
- AEW Tag Team Champions Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin defend against Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey, and Christian Cage & Nick Wayne in a three-way
- TNT Champion Adam Cole defends against Kyle Fletcher
- AEW Trios Champions Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata & Powerhouse Hobbs defend against Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta & Gabe Kidd
- Men’s Casino Gauntlet match for a future World title shot
- Women’s Casino Gauntlet match for a future World title shot
- Will Ospreay & Swerve Strickland vs. The Young Bucks
- Zero Hour: FTR vs. The Outrunners
- Zero Hour: Big Boom AJ, Tomohiro Ishii, Hologram & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Trent Beretta, Rocky Romero, Lance Archer & Hechicero
- Zero Hour: Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, The Infantry, and Lee Moriarty) with Anthony Ogogo vs. Dustin Rhodes, Sammy Guevara, and The Von Erichs with Kevin Von Erich
Dustin Rhodes signed new six-year AEW contract in 2024
The new AEW contract Dustin Rhodes signed last year is a long-term one.
In December 2024, Rhodes announced that he had agreed to a new multi-year contract with AEW. The exact length of the deal was not disclosed at the time, but it’s now been revealed to be a six-year agreement. The information was disclosed in a profile on Rhodes that the Dallas Morning News published today.
“If he can make it to the end of the six-year deal he signed with AEW over the winter, in which he consults, coaches, occasionally wrestles and acts as an ambassador for the promotion, he’ll have six decades in the business,” the story says.
The 56-year-old Rhodes currently holds the ROH Tag Team titles with Sammy Guevara and the ROH Six-Man Tag Team titles with Marshall & Ross Von Erich. Rhodes told the Dallas Morning News that he still dreams of being a World Champion at some point before his career is over.
Rhodes told the Battleground Podcast this February that he would like to have his retirement match in approximately three years, which would mean that a portion of this new AEW deal would be spent fully in a non-wrestling capacity if he sticks to that timeline.
Ring of Honor live results: Supercard of Honor go-home show
The final stop before this Friday’s Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor has arrived with tonight’s show on HonorClub.
ROH Tag Team & Six-Man Champions Dustin Rhodes, Sammy Guevara and the Von Erichs will be in competition against the Grizzled Young Veterans and the Premier Athletes.
Former ROH Women’s World Champion Deonna Purrazzo will take on Rachael Ellering in a Pure rules match ahead of the now-delayed women’s Pure title tournament.
CMLL’s Atlantis and Atlantis Jr. will battle the Spanish Announce Project, Adam Priest goes one-on-one with Aaron Solo, and The Frat House will host another initiation ceremony to round out the show.
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Coming to you live from the best chicken restaurant with wifi Southeastern Ontario has to offer, it’s Ring of Honor on Honorclub. The show before the show, as in less than 24 hours it’s Supercard of Honor!
Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. vs. Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico)
I love the SAP and the only thing that I like more than the SAP are All-Atlantis teams, so i was pretty stoked to see this match in the lineup. A father-son luchadore team up against two of the premiere ROH technicians and high-flyers? Yes please.
Atlantis started things off against Angelico and it was clear from the lock up that Angelico’s 6-inch height advantage wasn’t going to count for much. Atlantis threw the slim man around until Serpentico tagged in and added a back elbow to the fray.
Junior tagged in and the two Atlantis’s’s (Atlanti? Atlantees?) double teamed Serpentico until Atlantis left the match and Junior went up for a frog splash that went awry when Serpentico pulled him off the ringpost.
Angelico tagged in and brought a little more aggression than we usually see from him, driving Junior into corner with some dropkicks. Serpentico joined the fun and SAP tried a while into the corner, but Junior dodged and hit a double slingblade on them both.
All four men entered the ring and a brawl broke out, with SAP almost getting a double pin. Atlantis send Angelico out though and Junior managed to land that frog splash on Serpentico, picking up the pin and win for he and his Dad!
Match Result: Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. defeated Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico)
After the match, SAP looked to avenge the loss, but in the end, respect won out and a four way Code of Honor was adhered to.
Adam Priest vs Aaron Solo
Weirdly, Priest did not get an entrance. Solo did, which was deserved, but nothing for Priest.
The two locked up and Priest immediately went to the technical style locking in a headlock. Solo, no technical slouch, reversed it into one of his own and the two rolled around on the mat until Priest hit the wrong side of Solo’s foot and was knocked to the ground with a dropkick.
Priest fought back though, looking like a proto-Mox and bringing some hard, violent strikes to the match. His firs pin attempt got only a two, but he caught Solo on the way up and tried a single leg hold. Solo squirmed to the ropes though, but Priest went for a camel clutch next.
Solo finally caught Priest looking with a neckbreaker followed by a spinning kick. Priest responded with a German suplex and Solo took him to the ring Apron (the hardest part of the ring!) where he dropped him face first onto the canvas.
Solo went up top for a double stomp, but Priest dodged it and locked in a half-crab submission. Solo was forced to tap giving Priest the victory. THEN he got his music played.
Match Result: Adam Priest defeated Aaron Solo
The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver and Evil Uno) vs The Frat House (Griff Garrison, Cole Karter, Jakked Jameson, Preston Vance)
Before the match could start, the Frat House came out and said that they were not medically cleared to compete tonight due to being hung over. They presented their newest pledges and said if they beat the Dark Order they would be in.
They didn’t really give names to the Pledges, Riccaboni ran through them, but fast enough that i couldn’t catch them.
Regardless, as you can imagine, the Dark Order made short work of the pledges and got a pin. So they win I guess?
“Match” Result: The Dark Order defeated The Frat House (Pledges)
After the “match” the Dark Order grabbed a mic and announced that tomorrow at Supercard of Honor, it would be The Dark Order vs The Frat House proper!
Pure Rules Match: Deonna Purrazzo vs Rachael Ellering
The Women’s Pure Title Tournament may be on hold for the moment, but I love seeing these women’s matches, and Purrazzo vs Ellering is a dream match in any format.
Physically, both competitors were pretty evenly match, so the lockups off the top were definite tests of strength. Purrazzo got a little cocky and Ellering made her pay for it with some vicious chops and lariats in the corner. She then hit a gutwrench suplex but only got a two count.
Purrazzo fought back with a big bicycle kick and pulled Ellering’s bandana down so she could see, allowing her to get an Armbar on, forcing Ellering to use her first rope break at 3:19.
The two traded shots in the middle of the ring until Purazzo sent Ellering down with a big lariat, into a double wristlock. Ellering twisted out and hit a big back elbow on Purrazzo. Ellering scooped her up and hit a big side slam for good measure.
PUrazzo locked in an armbar in the middle of the ring and Ellering held on as long as she could but was forced to tap with about 3 minutes left in the match.
Match Result: Deonna Purrazzo defeats Rachael Ellering
The Sons Of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) & The Von Erichs (Marshall von Erich & Ross von Erich) vs Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) & The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese) (w/Mark Sterling)
Earlier, the Sons of Texas ran into the Infantry (their Supercard opponents) backstage and assured Dean and Bravo that they would be walking out of Supercard still the Champions. The Infantry disagreed and they went their separate ways.
As for this match, it started off with Sterling announcing that he’s done some lawyering and he’s determined that Dustin Rhodes cannot legally kick him in the “privates” like he did when they last met.
So, there was that.
Guevara and Nese kicked things off with Guevara falling prey to Nese’s technical prowess. Nese backed Guevara into a corner and delivered some big back elbows. Then did jumping jacks while Guevara shook it off and delivered a dropkick to Nese. Nese responded by challenging Guevara to a push up contest. Guevara deked him out and tagged in Marshall.
Gibson tagged in and went toe-to-toe with Marshall until Marshall backed him into a corner and delivered a big cannonball. Ross tagged in and the brothers double teamed Gibson in the middle of the ring.
Ross was sent to the outside where Sterling, Drake, Nese and Daivari stomped him. Throwing him back in the ring, Ross was islolated and Drake and Gibson tagged in and out beating him up in the corner. Drake locked in a sleeper hold but Ross reversed it into a back suplex and got a hot tag to Rhodes.
Daivari jumped in, but Rhodes was clearing house and snap slammed Nese, Daivari and then dragged Sterling into the ring for a Shattered Dreams. Before he could execute it though, Nese got in the way.
A melee broke out and at then end of it, Nese and Guevara were legal with Sterling still up on the ropes, apparently unable to free himself. Daivari took out Marshall and Nese took out Ross and Sterling freed himself momentarily, but Rhodes came back and shattered his dreams.
Nese tried to help but ate a Texas Destroyer for his trouble. The Von Erich’s up the Claw on GYV and Rhodes hit a big slam on Daivari in the middle of the ring to pick up the win heading into Supercard!
Match Result: The Sons Of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) & The Von Erichs (Marshall von Erich & Ross von Erich) defeat Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) & The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese) (w/Mark Sterling)
See you tomorrow at Supercard of Honor!
AEW Collision live results: Tag Team title eliminator, Ric Flair honors ‘Mongo’ McMichael
Tonight’s Beach Break edition of AEW Collision will feature some implications for the upcoming Double or Nothing in addition to Ric Flair honoring his late friend, Steve “Mongo” McMichael.
The WWE Hall of Famer will be on hand in Chicago to pay tribute to the former WCW announcer, wrestler and Pro Football Hall of Fame member after his recent passing.
ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara will take on CRU’s Lio Rush & Action Andretti with the winners challenging AEW World Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate at Double or Nothing.
The Don Callis Family will be represented as Kyle Fletcher takes on AR Fox while Rocky Romero, Trent & Lance Archer battle Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii & ROH World Champion Bandido.
Big Bill & Bryan Keith will challenge the Gates of Agony in a street fight.
Megan Bayne will take on Anna Jay, “Speedball” Mike Bailey faces Blake Christian, and Powerhouse Hobbs goes one-on-one with Wheeler Yuta to round out the show.
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Live Coverage of the show will begin at 9 PM ET due to Triller delaying the airing until then.
Megan Bayne (w/ Penelope Ford) defeated Anna Jay (w/ Harley Cameron)
Bayne drove Jay back into the corner, attacking with shoulder blocks and a chop. Jay got distracted by Ford on the floor and Bayne hit a kick that caused her to fall to ringside. Bayne hit a back suplex on the apron on Jay while blowing a kiss to the camera and waving. Bayne hit a belly to belly suplex out of a bear hug, which was impressive. Bayne missed a senton on the apron and her and Jay exchanged strikes until Jay hit a back stabber. Jay low bridged Bayne, forcing her to fall to the floor, and followed with a crossbody off the apron onto both Ford and Bayne.
Jay hit a blockbuster off the middle rope, but Bayne responded by holding onto Jay as she hit the neckbreaker and rolled into a falcon arrow on Jay. Jay countered Fate’s Descent with DDT and tried to lock on a sleeper, but Bayne fought out. Ford pulled a turnbuckle pad off, but Harley Cameron pulled Ford out of the ring and they brawled to the back. Jay hit a drop toe hold into the exposed buckle on Bayne, but Bayne kicked out of the school boy roll up. Jay locked on the sleeper again, but Bayne drove Jay into the exposed buckle back first, and then powered Jay up into Fate’s Descent. This was fine, but the crowd was pretty dead for the match. A lot of the women are struggling with taking Fate’s Descent (the F5), so this looked a little rough. Jay is way better than she was even just a year ago, and Bayne is very good, and this match was better than the crowd reaction would dictate.
Kyle Fletcher (w/ Don Callis) defeated AR Fox
Fletcher rushed Fox to start the match, hitting a Yakuza kick in the corner. Fox hit a jumping kick on Fletcher and ran up the ropes and did a bunch of springs into a wheelbarrow bulldog on Fletcher. Fletcher ran back into the ring before Fox could dive and hit a pop-up eye of the storm, which was a cool twist on the old James Storm move. The graphics AEW showed throughout this match were glitched on screen, and I’m not sure if this was a Triller issue or something with the file they sent to Triller to air. Regardless, it was a bit distracting.
While TNT was on break Callis commented that his desire for the Hangman Page vs. Will Ospreay match was that they both get injured and Fletcher comes in and wins it. Fox hit a school boy into a cutter, which was really cool. Fletcher fought off a piledriver and hit a half nelson suplex. Fox tripped Fletcher on the apron and hit a stomp to him while rolling over the ropes, and then hitting a tope con giro to the floor. That was really cool. Fox missed a 450 splash and Fletcher picked him up and hit a Michinoku driver for a two count. Fletcher hit another Yakuza kick, but Fox hit a cradle for a 2-count. Fox dodged a kick to a great reaction from the crowd, but Fletcher took control again, hitting the kick he just missed, and hit a vertical drop brainbuster for the win. The crowd was getting into this one by the end, and Fletcher did take most of the match. Good match.
–A short recap video aired for Hangman Adam Page and Will Ospreay. Good way to drive the story home.
Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii, & Bandido defeated Lance Archer & Roppongi Vice (Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero) (w/ Don Callis)
Ishii immediately went after Romero, angry that he betrayed CHAOS, but Beretta pulled Romero from the ring, allowing Lance Archer and Brody King battle to the delight of the crowd. Both big men hit hard strikes, but King hit a big boot and a tope suicidia to the floor on Archer. Great start to this match. King tried to hit a running attack on Archer on the floor but Beretta cut him off with a busaiku knee on King. Archer hit a chokeslam on King onto the apron and it broke down into a ringside brawl between everyone.
The graphics continued to be washed out like someone used the fill function in photoshop to paint them all white while they advertised several matches before going to break. Romero and Beretta almost hit Strong Zero, but Bandido superkicked Beretta to break it. Brody King and Ishii helped launch a running shotgun dropkick on Rocky Romero, which almost went through Romero at the speed he hit, and King hit a cannonball in the corner for the win.
–Lance Archer attacked King after the match and the Don Callis family started beating on the babyfaces, but the Outrunners ran down to make the save and cleared the ring. The Outrunners, sadly, got very little reaction.
–We saw the Paragon talking to Lexy Nair while the Grizzled Young Veterans walked up to them, and I am having déjà vu as this angle was almost exactly the same as last week, except this time, we now have a date for their match – next week on Collision.
Mike Bailey defeated Blake Christian (w/ Lee Johnson)
As one would expect with these two, it did not start slow, with Blake Christian hitting a lowpe on Bailey, followed by a 450 double stomp on Bailey. That had to suck. Christian and Bailey exchanged kicks in the middle of the ring until Christian went for a springboard until Baily hit a superkick on the incoming Christian that dropped him. Christian and Bailey exchanged chops in the middle of the ring, ending with Bailey firing up and demanding Christian chop him. Christian stomped his foot instead, but Bailey hit a crane kick and a triangle moonsault to the floor on Christian.
Lee Johnson distracted Bailey on the floor, allowing Christian to hit his fosbury flop through the middle rope. However, this did not last long, and Bailey hit a top rope hurricanrana and a spinning heel kick for the win. This was very fast, both in time, and actual moves done in such a short period of time.
–Mike Bailey grabbed a mic and challenged Kazuchika Okada to come out and fight him. Okada’s music hit and he made his way to the ramp. As Okada was talking, Rush and Dralistico came in from the crowd and laid Bailey out. Rush eyed Okada, and Okada feigned great sadness at Bailey getting beat down. It seems we’re heading for a multi-man match for Double or Nothing.
–A short recap video aired for The Gates of Agony vs. The Learning Tree for their street fight that is coming up next.
–A post match promo from Dynamite with Jon Moxley aired, as he was still covered in blood, as he said that no one will ever make him flinch, and that Gabe Kidd worked for him now. Kidd ended the promo with the words, “Abandon all hope.” Truly awesome promo from Moxley here. One of the best he has done in awhile.
The Learning Tree (Big Bill & Bryan Keith) defeated The Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
As expected, this was a wild brawl. Keith was driven through a table in the corner by Kaun hitting a spear. Toa Liona Big Bill went into the middle of the ring, and Liona broke a pool cue over his own head, tossed the other half to Bill, and then they started wailing on each other with the broke pieces of the pool cues. That was awesome. Eventually they got tired of doing that, dropped the broken cue, and started charging at each other repeatedly without falling.
Bishop Kaun started choking out Bill with a cut cable of sorts, and smashed him with a garbage can. Keith hit Liona with the broken pool cue and Liona smacked Keith with a garbage can lid. Kaun and Liona started getting over in this match with their violence against Bill and Keith. There is definitely something they could do with these two.
Liona and Kaun put a garbage can over Keith’s head and put him in a tree of woe, hitting dropkicks in the corner. Liona then hit a Banzai Drop on Keith but Bill ran in and laid him out to make the save. Bill grabbed a backpack from ringside that was filled with bricks, and a fan in the front row audibly yelled “Oh man! Bricks!” That was hilarious. Bill went to hit Kaun with the brick against the ringpost, and Kaun ducked and Bill broke the brick against the ring post with an awesome loud sound. Liona dumped Bill over the announce table, taking out some of the crew, as Nigel jumped into the front row to avoid getting hit.
Keith hit Liona with a garbage can lid but Liona no sold it and hit Keith before hitting a crossbody over the barricade, onto Keith, who was propped up on the barricade, and they destroyed the timekeeper’s area. Liona picked up Keith and attempted to put him through two tables at ringside, but Keith countered out of it. Big Bill ran in and hit a big boot that sent Liona crashing through the tables. Keith grabbed a piece of drywall and broke it over Kaun’s head, who just laughed about it. Keith hit a knee and Big Bill hit a chokeslam as the fans chanted “We want drywall!” a chant I never expected to hear. Bill pinned Kaun in this wild brawl that was tons of fun.
–A hype video aired for Mina Shirakawa and Toni Storm, with Shirakawa saying that her time was now, and she was going to take Toni Storm’s title.
–The tribute for Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael was next, with his widow, Misty, and Dean Malenko there. Tony Schiavone ran down the story of Mongo’s football career and his start in wrestling, being on TNT on Monday Nitro as a commentator, and joining the Four Horsemen. Flair said a lot of very nice things about Mongo here, talking about the six year battle Mongo faced with ALS, and the fans started chanting Mongo’s name. Flair thanked all the fans as Schiavone announced AEW working with an ALS charity. This was really nice.
The Sons of Texas (Sammy Guevara & Dustin Rhodes) defeated Cru (Action Andretti & Lio Rush)
Nigel McGuinness said that he never saw a team look so sharp, referring to the points on Rush and Andretti’s jackets, and I laughed. I do love a good pun. However, them wearing actual spikes instead of stuffing filled ones on a jacket would have made it better. Andretti mocked Rhode’s old Goldust gimmick, and Rhodes quickly made him pay for that, then tagged out to Guevara who hit a standing moonsault. Guevara hit a dive onto Cru, and Guevara then asked Rhodes to do it, and the fans cheered him on. He hit the ropes, told them to suck it, then did a spinaroonine. Not sure what I expected, as it wasn’t that, but it was hilarious.
Rush worked over the bigger Rhodes while he was grounded, and it reminded me of how good Leo Rush actually is, as he was so smooth in everything he did, right down to clipping the knee of Rhodes, letting Andretti tag in and continue the heat. I liked how they did this, as they are significantly smaller than Rhodes, but were able to make it seem believable as they cut down the bigger man. Rhodes got the foot up on a corner charge, hit a classic Rhodes style powerslam on Rush, and tagged in Guevara for the hot tag. Guevara flew over the ropes onto Andretti, hit a crossbody into the ring on both, and hit Rush with a cutter.
Guevara hit a second cutter on Andretti for a 2-count. Guevara called for a top rope move, but missed a 450 splash. Andretti and Rush then hit a seamless series of moves. Rush taunted Guevara, and Cru both hit kicks and a suplex on Guevara for a 2-count as Rhodes broke it up. Rhodes hit a Canadian Destroyer on Rush, but Andretti hit a superkick on Rhodes and dropped him. Guevara flipped out of a burning hammer and hit a GTH on Andretti and pinned him before Rush could come in to make the save. The finish seemed a little weird, like Rush was late getting there, but regardless, The Sons of Texas will face the Hurt Syndicate at Double or Nothing. Good match, though we spent weeks watching Cru in the crowd for nothing, it seems.
–Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander were arguing backstage, and both of them said “When you’re done with the Death Riders, you know where to find me,” with Willow insinuating that Statlander was joining them and Statlander was commenting on Willow’s ongoing feud with them.
–Tony Schiavone ran down a few of the matches we will see over the next week, including a stretcher match being added to Double or Nothing between Ricochet and Mark Briscoe. That seems a little out of nowhere for the stip, but not for the match, at least. I list the full announcements below the main event! Schiavone noted that we should see the promo that Ricochet did on social media. While I have no problem watching a promo on social media, the majority of fans that watch the show do not watch social media promos, so a clip of it would have been nice here.
Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Wheeler Yuta
Yuta hit some forearms that Hobbs no sold, but got Hobbs necked on the ropes. It didn’t do much good though, as Yuta ran into Hobbs and nearly killed himself as Hobbs hit a shoulder tackle. Yuta poked Hobbs in the eyes and went for a crossbody, but Hobbs caught him and hit an Oklahoma Stampede. Hobbs slammed Yuta repeatedly on the apron then hit a massive superplex. Hobbs looked insulted that Yuta had the audacity to kick out.
Yuta slipped out of another middle rope move attempt from Hobbs, and hit a dropkick to the knee of Hobbs. Yuta ripped the kneepad off Hobbs’ right knee, screamed “What is all this tape for?” before stomping Hobbs and announcing he had to five, echoing Bryan Danielson in ROH, as the referee tried to break the hold and resuming stomping the knee. Yuta was incredible in this match as a heel.
Hobbs refused to give up, as he and Yuta ended up back on the ropes again, and Yuta bit Hobbs and shoved him from the ropes and hit a big splash for a 2-count. Yuta mocked the ‘Yes’ chants of Danielson, going for a busaiku knee, but Hobbs hit a clothesline and a powerslam to cut him off, and the fans chanted, “Meat!” for Hobbs. Yuta ended up caught in the corner, and he ate several lariats which McGuiness dubbed a series of t-bones and a ribeye. Yuta went to the knee again, and for the busaiku knee once more, but Hobbs popped up and hit a big spinebuster to pin Yuta. The crowd was not overly hot for this match, but Yuta was an incredible heel.
–Marina Shafir ran down to the ring from the crowd and hit a chopblock on Hobbs. Willow Nightingale ran down to make the save, hitting Shafir with a spinebuster. Yuta grabbed Willow by the hair to stop her beating on Shafir, but Willow shoved him into a forearm from Hobbs. Nightingale went to hit a powerbomb on Yuta, but Shafir pulled him from the ring, and the camera showed Statlander at the entrance tunnels watching the events as the show went off the air.
Final Thoughts
This was a decent episode of Collision, though largely uneventful. No match was a blow away match, but that street fight was tons of fun. The Moxley promo was awesome.
Announced for Dynamite:
Will Ospreay and Hangman Page face-to-face
MJF signs a Hurt Syndicate Contract
Mina Shirakawa vs. Julia Hart
Mercedes Mone and Jamie Hayter face-to-face
Announced for Collision:
The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Paragon
AEW Double or Nothing Card:
Owen Hart Tournament Finals: Mercedes Mone vs. Jamie Hayter
AEW World Women’s Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Mina Shirakawa
Nigel McGuinness & Daniel Garcia vs. FTR
Ricochet vs. Mark Briscoe in a Stretcher Match
AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Hurt Syndicate (c) vs. The Sons of Texas
Anarchy in the Arena (no official competitor list yet)
Owen Hart Tournament Finals: Hangman Adam Page vs. Will Ospreay
Ring of Honor TV live results: Dustin Rhodes teams with all of his championship partners
Ring of Honor Tag Team and Six-Man Tag Team Champion Dustin Rhodes will unite with all of his championship friends on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub.
Rhodes will join fellow Tag Team Champion Sammy Guevara and fellow Six-Man Champions Ross & Marshall Von Erich to battle MxM Collection (Mansoor & Madden) and Tony Nese & Ari Daivari of the Premier Athletes.
In singles action, Wheeler Yuta will return to ROH against Matt Mako, the former Matt Makowski, in his first ROH match in four years.
The show is rounded out by Trish Adora against Rachael Ellering, and a tag team match between The Frat House’s Cole Karter & Griff Garrison against Dark Order’s Evil Uno & Alex Reynolds.
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ROH on Honorclub returns to Thursday for Episode 116 and we return with it!
Wheeler Yuta defeated Matt Mako
And so did Wheeler Yuta! It’s been a few months since we’ve seen Yuta in ROH, pre- his Dave Grohl lookalike phase. Yuta’s been busy in AEW being a Death Rider. Speaking of which, do they like, ride the grim reaper? Is that it? Anyways, he’s been doing that, so it’s cool of him to show up here to take on Mako, in what is technically his ROH Debut. Mako had a couple matches in the 2021 version of Ring of Honor, but went by Makowski at the time. He’s hit the reset button here though and so shall we all.
After a traditional test of strength lockup, waist locks were traded and Mako actually got the drop on Yuta with a cross armbreaker hold. Yuta got out of it bu standing on Mako’s head until he let go. Yuta relied on his Pure Wrestling skills but a lot meaner in order to keep Mako off his feet and on the mat.
Yuta set in with a very casual bridged indian deathlock, before dragging Mako to the corner for some patented chopping of the chest. Mako showed a flurry of offense, but Yuta was able to quickly recover, putting an end to it with a right angle slam.
Mako locked in a really vicious armbar, but Yuta wiggled free and delivered a high knee to the face. Yuta then put Mako in a Cattle Mutilation and Mako passed the heck out, giving Yuta the victory
Match Result: Wheeler Yuta defeated Matt Mako
-A promo aired showcasing Tom Lawlor and Josh Woods’ history and their match at AEW x ACTION DEAN~!!!2 on May 24th. It was about 17 minutes long. TLDR: They know each other and are going to fight.
Trish Adora (w/Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) defeated Rachael Ellering
Ellering and Adora have only met one other time in ROH, way back on Episode 93 in November of last year. Adora came out on top in that match and is looking to do the same here with Bravo and Dean in tow. Ellering is more than likely looking ahead to the ever-impending Women’s Pure Title Tournament that’s right up her alley. The wild card(s) here would be Shane Taylor protegees Dean and Bravo.
These two were pretty evenly matched in terms of strength and size, as well as attitude. It felt like the match could devolve into a brawl at any second. Both women worked with hard strikes, Ellering a particularly nasty shoulder block and Adora with a huge fisherman bridge suplex.
Adora managed to get the drop on Ellering with a huge lariat that actually put Ellering down for the three. Quick and dirty with no Infantry involvement.
Match Result: Trish Adora (w/Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) defeated Rachael Ellering
-Red Velvet cut a promo in the back, saying that her TV Title is much more important than a Pure Title that no one has even won before. She then tried out a few new catchphrases that didn’t really land and ended it off demonstrating how she stirs it up.
The Frat House (Cole Karter & Griff Garrison) (w/Jacked Jameson & Preston Vance) defeated The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno)
The story here is as old as time: The Frat House are the cool, cocky jocks and the Dark Order are the kids who spend their lunchtime plotting DnD campaigns. They are natural enemies in the wild and even if you raise them as puppies, there is bound to be some conflict. In this case, the conflict is simply two groups of people who (in wrestling parlance) cannot co-exist.
A couple of NPC pledges accompanied the Frat House to the ring. The best part of the Frat House intro was the much thinner Garrison flexing next to Jameson and Vance. the Dark Order arrived with their usual poses and the fight was on.
Karter and Reynolds kicked things off, with Karter casually addressing Reynolds and Reynolds exploding with anger, causing a flailing Karter to get a quick tag to Garrison. Uno joined the fray and the Order hit a double neckbreaker on Garrison and Karter.
Uno and Garrison carried the match into the next phase where Vance tried to get involved in an attempt to distract Uno. It didn’t work, but Karter managed to trip Uno up and leave him open for a double team. The numbers game (6 against 2) began to catch up to the Order here.
Uno was dragged to the outside where the Pledges, Vance and Jameson worked him over. The ref saw it but couldn’t really do much about it. Back in the ring Uno finally managed to get a a tag to Reynolds who cleared the ring of Garrison and Karter. Uno took out the Pledges and Reynolds went up top for a double stomp on Karter.
The Order hit a Gory Special on Garrison, but Jameson distracted the ref so that they couldn’t get a pin. Karter grabbed a pledge bat, but Uno wrestled it away. The ref caught it and gave it back to Jameson. While he was doing that, Vance hit a lariat on Uno, knocking him silly. Garrison got the pin when the ref’s attention returned.
Match Result: The Frat House (Cole Karter & Griff Garrison) (w/Jacked Jameson & Preston Vance) defeated The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno)
The Sons Of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) & The Von Erichs (Marshall von Erich & Ross Von Erich) defeated MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden) & The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese)
At this point, I think that everyone in this match has wrestled each other so often over the last few months, they should know how to do this in their sleep. Rhodes’ worlds collide here as his Tag Team Champion Partner (Guevara) teams up with his Six-Man Championship partners (The Von Erichs). All of them as Sons of Texas, but I’m just going to call the team Dustin’s Pals for simplicity. MxM and the Premier Athletes (or MxMxPA as I’ll be referring to them) have been making the Frat House look like polite gentlemen with their antics over the last few months, but have failed to claim any of the gold on the other side of the ring with resorting to thievery. Also, whatever happened to Danhausen?
Guevara and the Von Erichs have benefited greatly from Rhodes’ veteran influence and it showed by the pile of gold (well, silver) around their waists. The Crowd was hot as a chili dog for this one too, loud and raucous.
Nese and Marshall kicked things off and immediately, Nese isolated Marshall in the MxMxPA corner. MxM tagged in and double teamed him. He got a little help from Eric who managed to tag himself in and isolate Mansoor. Guevara tagged in and put on a show of dropkicking Mansoor. He played a little too long to the crowd though and Mansoor nearly got the drop on him.
The match progressed and Eric and Daivari locked up. Daivari went up top for a splash, but Eric dodged it and got a tag to Rhodes to a huge ovation. Rhodes played his greatest hits on Nese and Daivari and went for a pin, but MxM broke it up.
Sterling caused a distraction which sent Rhodes into Marshal and left Guevara open to a powerbomb neckbreaker from MxM. Rhodes pulled Sterling into the ring and set him up for a Shattered Dreams that would surely result in a lawsuit. Marshall and Eric locked dueling Iron Claws on Nese and Daivari and both tapped out simultaneously, ending the match.
Match Result: The Sons Of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara) & The Von Erichs (Marshall von Erich & Ross Von Erich) defeated MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden) & The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese)
After the match, strange music hit and who should come wandering out for reasons unknown? Cru; Action Adretti and Lio Rush. They have a match against Guevara and Rhodes coming up and stared them down as the show came to a close.
Ring of Honor TV live results: Six-Man Tag Team title match
Ring of Honor returns for their second show in as many days, headlined by a Six-Man Tag Team title bout as Dustin Rhodes will team with Marshall & Ross Von Erich to defend against MxM Collection & Johnny TV.
Sammy Guevara will go one-on-one with Lee Johnson.
Dark Order’s Evil Uno & Alex Reynolds will take on Rosario Grill & Jon Cruz while ROH World Champion Bandido will team with Komander to challenge The Infantry in tag team action.
The Frat House’s Griff Garrison, Preston Vance & Cole Karter will be in trios action while a CMLL showcase will feature Atlantis Jr.
Lexy Nair will hold a sit-down interview with Serena Deeb and Queen Aminata.
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As tends to happen in ROH, a bunch of stuff transpired outside of ROH’s regular programming since ROH on Honorclub Episode 111. This week, ROH held what they called a “Special Episode” on Youtube. Officially it was a prelude to the Spring Break Thru episode of AEW Collision, on at a special time in its own right. Unofficially it was a quartet of decent matches that probably should have been part of ROH on Honorclub episode #112. The special featured:
- Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin) (w/Leila Grey) defeated The Conglomeration (Rocky Romero & Tomohiro Ishii)
- Shane Taylor (w/Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) defeated KM
- ROH Women’s World Television Title #1 Contendership: La Catalina defeated Taya Valkyrie
- Nick Wayne (w/Mother Wayne) defeated Michael Oku (w/Amira)
- Also, Nick Wayne won the ROH World Television Title from Komander on Collision.
So, now that we are all caught up, lets dig into Ring of Honor on Honorclub episode 112!
ROH World Champion Bandido & Komander (w/Alex Abrahantes) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions’ The Infantry(Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) (w/Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor)
ROH World Champion Bandido is definitely a working champion having won the title just over a week ago and already had a Proving Ground match. Now, this obviously non-title tag match puts him in the crosshairs of the Kingpin of ROH, Shane Taylor. Taylor has re-invented Bravo and Dean in his image and one can’t help but wonder if this match is a way for Taylor to jump the queue and get in the Champion’s face. Komander is stinging from having just lost the ROH TV title to Nick Wayne on Collision, so his energy level may be low for this match.
Bandido was sporting some taped up ribs as Bravo and Dean jumped their opponents during the Code of Honor. Bandido fought out of it though, but he ended up on the outside and face first into the barricade. The infantry relied on chop-blocks to injure the knee of the Champion, isolating him from his partner.
Moriarty and Taylor jawed on the outside while Dean and Bravo swapped in and out, working the knee of Bandido. Eventually Bandido ducked a big boot from Dean and rolled into a hot tag with Komander. Komander showed no amount of run rust from last night’s loss as he flew around the ring taking on both members of the Infantry.
Suddenly, Shane Taylor climbed to the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring) and laid a shot into Bandido’s face. Thinking quickly, Komander propelled Bandido onto Taylor and the champ executed a sunset flip, sending him onto his cohorts on the outside.
Bandido then hit a 21 Plex on Dean to get the win.
Match Result: ROH World Champion Bandido & Komander (w/Alex Abrahantes) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions’ The Infantry(Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean) (w/Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor)
ROH World Six Man Tag Team Title Match: Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs (Marshall von Erich & Ross von Erich) (c) defeated Johnny TV & MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden)
This is it. For all the marbles. Well, all three of them, IE the ROH Six-Man Tag Titles. Rhodes and the Von Erichs have held the straps for 265 days, with many of them spent waiting for the Von Erichs to return from injury. During that time, the MxM Collection made life tough for Rhodes and his Tag Team Championship partner, Sammy Guevara for months. Now, everyone’s here, they’re ready and Johnny TV has joined the fray.
And what a fray it was! MxMxTV jumped their opponents from behind as they made their entrance. Rhodes was knocked out and it looked like Ross was injured, but the ref checked he was good to go so the match officially started.
Mansoor and Marshall battled in the ring, Marshall’s hard strikes knocking the smaller Mansoor from post to post. Rhodes stayed out of it, still recovering from the beatdown on the ramp. Ross tagged in and the brothers Von Erich manhandled Mansoor.
Mansoor caught Ross and Madden jumped in to deliver a big kick to the face. TV joined the party and a triple team was on. Even Taya Valkyrie got involved, stomping Ross on the outside with some serious heels (the boots, not the alignments).
With Rhodes still MIA, the numbers game was catching up to the Von Erichs, especially the recently returned from injury, Ross. TV planted him with a diving front wheelbarrow, as Rhodes staggered to his feet. Instantly, Mansoor attacked him on the outside, delivering a hard shot to the ribs.
Ross and Mansoor hit each other with a double clothesline, giving Ross the chance to get a red-hot tag to Marshall. Just as he was about to reach it though, Madden grabbed Marshall off the apron and smashed his face into the ring steps. With that, Rhodes made it to the apron and took the tag from Ross to face off against TV.
Rhodes cleaned house, but Madden caught him and set up a chokeslam. The Von Erichs hit a double dropkick to save their partner. A brawl broke out and all six men battled in the ring. When the dust settled, Madden was hung up for a Shattered Dreams. TV tried to help but Rhodes stacked him on Madden for a double Shattered Dreams followed by a Texas Destroyer.
Ross locked the Iron Claw on Mansoor and Rhodes delivered a modified CrossRhodes to TV to get the pin and retain the titles for his team.
Match Results: Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs (Marshall von Erich & Ross von Erich) (c) defeated Johnny TV & MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden)
Sammy Guevara defeated Lee Johnson (w/Blake Christian)
It was a surprise to see Johnson coming to the ring with Christian, who notoriously does not play well with others. It was also a surprise to see Christian in casual leather pants. However, if there was any question about Johnson’s drift the heel side, its confirmed by an association with notorious jerkbag Christian. Guevara has been wrestling his truest and bluest in singles and with his Tag Team Champion partner, Dustin Rhodes.
Surprisingly, the two locked up off the top and kept the pace slow. Wristlocks and headlock takedowns were a plenty. The two ended up face to face after a double kip-up. Guevara was impressed and offered his hand, but Johnson took the opportunity to deliver a stiff shot to the face.
Christian got involved, pulling Guevara to the outside which allowed Johnson to nail him with a big flip over the top rope. Back in the ring, Johnson began working over Guevara in the corners. Quick Irish Whips and diving forearms were his weapons of choice. Guevara got to his feet and the two traded chops, with Guevara coming out on top.
Guevara managed to get Johnson in the air for a GTH, but Johnson wriggled free. Guevara caught him coming off the ropes though and managed to get a schoolboy threecount for the win.
Match Result: Sammy Guevara defeated Lee Johnson (w/Blake Christian)
After the match, Guevara tried to show respect, but Christian jumped him. Suddenly a newly refreshed Dustin Rhodes appeared and cleared the ring. Then even more suddenly, MxMxTV appeared and beat up the Sons of Texas! Then truly even more suddenly, the Von Erichs appeared and things erupted into chaos with an all-out brawl.
TV landed a shining Wizard on the face of Rhodes as the heels overtook the faces. TV put an exclamation point on things by smashing a Tag Title belt into Rhodes. Guevara tried to protect him, taking the brunt of the beatdown.
The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno) defeated Jon Cruz & Rosario Grillo
The Dark Order have had their hands full lately with The Frat House. Like many beefed-out jock types, The Frat House doesn’t like the Order because they are different. Cruz and Grillo? I’m sure they get along with them just fine. They seem pretty laid back.
Cruz and Uno kicked things off which was very fun. Uno can move like a man half his size and Cruz is a man half his size. A big boot from Reynolds brought in Grillo, but the Order was waiting and double teamed him. Cruz and Reynolds kept it going with Reynolds getting the upper hand by way of hit elbows in the corner.
Cruz sent Reynolds to the opposite corner and Grillo grabbed his tights to keep him isolated from Uno. The two double teamed Reynolds while Uno watched helplessly.
Uno finally managed to get a tag from Reynolds and he cleaned the ring. Reynolds helped Uno execute a Gory Special and Uno got the pin on Grillo.
Match Result: The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno) defeated Jon Cruz & Rosario Grillo
Then, (sigh) The Frat House arrived. They had a new flag and new members in the form of a couple of unnamed Pledges. Jameson said a bunch of gibberish about winning or losing and boozing (it made no sense, but rhymed, so people liked it). The Frat House then jumped their own pledges for some reason? Commentary seemed to think that it was because they knew that the Dark Order would be upset by this hazing.
This led to a “match” involving the Frat House taking on their pledges, one of whom we learned was named” “Love Doug.” It didn’t matter much as the Frat House quadruple teamed him and pinned him to get the “win.”
I mean, there was a ref and the bell tolled, but it’d be hard pressed to call this a match.
The Dark Order rushed the ring with chairs, and the Frat House bailed, leaving their Pledges writing around the outside of the ring.
-Backstage, Queen Aminata and Serena Deeb joined Lexy Nair. This was a big deal because it was an announcement of a newly-created ROH Women’s Pure Championship! There will be a tournament to crown the inaugural champion and Aminata and Deeb will face off in the opening first round match. Deeb ran down Aminata and her generation, saying she’s the person this title was made for. Aminata responded saying she believed in herself and that Deeb should be careful what she wishes for because this student is now the master.
Atlantis Jr., Esfinge & Fuego defeated Barbaro Cavernario, Euforia & Zandokan Jr.
The main event of this special episode was a Crisis of Infinite Luchadores match featuring the very popular Atlantis Jr, the very orange Fuego and the very pantsless Esfinge taking on the very brutal Cavernario, the very flamey Euforia and the very debuting Zandoken Jr.
A six-man brawl kicked things off with huricanranas and headscissors being delivered all across the board. Cavernario and Fuego ended up in the ring when the dust settled, but quickly Esfinge and Zandokan joined them and a 4-way battle commenced.
Fuego and Cavernario ended up one-on-one in the ring and Fuego’s speed out paced Cavernario’s brawn. Euforia fared better though, powerbombing Fuego, bringing in Esfinge.
The theme here seemed to be older luchadores vs younger ones as wrestlers swapped in and out. It’s really fun watching these matches because we know of the high-flying luchadores, but we rarely get to see the more hard-hitting and brutal ones. Zandokan would fit this bill.
Zandokan knocked Atlantis silly, and untied his mask. Zandokan, Euforia and Cavernario triple power bombed him and tried to take the mask, but Fuego and Esfinge came to the rescue and took out the other two, leaving Atlantis and Zandokan to battle it out.
Euforia slid in and Atlantis knocked him out with a dropkick followed by a big frog splash from the top rope to get the pin and the victory.
Match Result: Atlantis Jr., Esfinge & Fuego defeat Barbaro Cavernario, Euforia & Zandokan Jr.
Ring of Honor TV results: Bandido vs. Jay Lethal title eliminator
Days after kicking off his second Ring of Honor World title reign, Bandido will put a future title shot on the line as part of tonight’s HonorClub streaming show.
Bandido will face former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal in a Proving Ground match where if the challenger can draw or defeat the champion, a future shot is his. While they have shared the ring plenty through the years, this will be their first ever singles match.
For the first time since last September, ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & the Von Erichs will be in action against Violence is Forever and Davey Bang.
NJPW’s Tomohiro Ishii will make his return to the black and red brand to challenge Preston Vance.
After returning to action recently, Marina Shafir will look get on the winning track tonight against Nixi XS.
MxM Collection and Johnny TV will reunite for a trios bout against Drake Daniels, Jordan Kross & Ryan Matthews.
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A brand new ROH World Champion, a pair of high-profile six-man tag matches and the return of a certain problem are all backed tightly into ROH on Honorclub episode 111!
(Also, Preston Vance will be there).
Johnny TV & MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden) (w/ Taya Valkyrie) defeated Drake Daniels, Jordan Kross & Ryan Matthews
Johnny TV, Mansoor and Madden are a match made in gorgeous heaven. So, I’ll be calling their Trios Team MxMxTV. A while back, Madden and Mansoor stole a championship belt from Dustin Rhodes, tonight carried to the ring by Taya Valkyrie. So that makes MxMxTV 1/3rd of the Six-Man belt holders. Or something like that. Daniels, Cross and Matthews (who sound like a 1970’s folk trio) were all making their ROH debuts in this match.
TV and Kross kicked things off like anyone would: by engaging in a dance battle (TV won). He used that advantage to deliver some really devastating knees to the face of Kross. Mansoor and Madden isolated Kross in the corner and doubled teamed him with various pose-based offense. Matthews tried to help, but it did not work.
While Valkyrie and TV made out over the title belt at ringside, Daniels entered the match and was immediately destroyed by the much, much bigger Madden. Kross and Matthews were easily dispatched while TV, Madden and Mansoor hit a three-way Centerfold and posed with the beaten Daniels.
Match Result: Johnny TV & MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden) (w/ Taya Valkyrie) defeated Drake Daniels, Jordan Kross & Ryan Matthews
Marina Shafir defeated Nixi XS
Shafir was back in ROH after spending some time hanging out with Voldemort’s forces in AEW. …What? …Death RIDERS? Oh, that’s totally different. Either way, she’s back and ready to face off against XS in her ROH debut.
XS looked straight out of an episode of GLOW, which was a great juxtaposition to the more straight forward look and style of Shafir. Shafir used the Code of Honor to whip XS around in a series of Judo throws. XS had a very, very expressive face, so she was able to really sell Shafir’s offense. Shafir on the other hand, no-sold everything that XS threw at her. One Mother’s Milk submission later and XS was tapping out.
Match Result: Marina Shafir defeated Nixi XS
-Backstage the ROH Trios Champions (with all three belts?) cut a promo. The Von Erichs talked about how it made them mad that MxM stole Rhode’s title belt. Rhodes called MxM stupid. Yes, Stupid. Rhodes then issued a challenge to MxMxTV to show up next week so he could take his belt back.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Preston Vance (w/ Jacked Jameson)
Vance, Jameson and their Frat House compadres Griff Garrison and Cole Karter have been running around being professionally obnoxious in ROH for a few weeks now. Their very presence makes me seethe with rage (which means they are very good at their jobs. And being jerks. Their job is to be jerks), so it’s with great pleasure that everyone welcomed Ishii back to ROH to smash, cook up and eat at least one member of the Frat House.
Vance tied up with Ishii and even though he had about a foot on him in height, Ishii has the density of a dying sun and was able to shrug off just about everything Vance threw at him. Vance tried to turn up the speed of the match, but Ishii ended up being grabbed by Jameson and pulled out of the ring.
Jameson gave Ishii a few shots while Vance distracted the Ref and tossed him back into the ring. Vance hit Ishii in the back of the head and delivered a suplex which seemed to enrage Ishii who began growing with every elbow Vance threw at his head.
The match devolved into the two of them just punching each other until Ishii caught Vance with a side slam. Vance ran the ropes and brought down Ishii with a football-style tackle. He tried for a discus lariat, but Ishii avoided it and clotheslined Vance.
Jameson jumped up on the ring apron (the highest part of the ring!) and tried to cause a distraction, but Ishii knocked him off and he and Vance traded strikes until Ishii landed a big head butt followed by a brainbuster to pick up the victory.
After the match, Ishii called out Jameson, who claimed that he had a “broken nose” so he couldn’t fight. Sure.
Match Result: Tomohiro Ishii defeated Preston Vance (w/ Jacked Jameson)
-An interview with Bandido aired from backstage at AEW Dynasty. He’s very excited to be ROH World Champion and was grateful to God to be there with his family. He declared his mom “the real champ” for her support. Then he challenged her to a Ladder match for the belt. OK, that didn’t happen, but I’d watch it. Just saying.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs (Marshall & Ross) defeated Davey Bang, Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku in a non-title match
It’s the return of Texas’ favorite (grand)sons to team up with one half of the Sons of Texas! Marshall and Ross Von Erich have been on the shelf due to injury since February and their return couldn’t have come at a better time, as MxM just stole Rhodes’ Championship title belt, which we dealt with earlier. Their opponents tonight Bang, Garrini and Ku were all last seen in ROH in 2023 with a collective 0-5 record between them.
Rhodes and one of the other guys kicked things off and Rhodes made him look good. At this point, I need to note that the commentary team was absolutely terrible this week regarding who was in the ring with the better known wrestlers. It was like they didn’t know who was who and shared that lack of knowledge with the audience.
Anyways, (I think) Bang and Garrini tried to isolate Ross in the corner with a double team. Garrini tried to do the same with Ku, but that allowed Ross to get the tag to Marshall who cleaned house. When the dust settled, it was Marshall and Ku, with Ross and Rhodes keeping the other two at bay.
Bang tried to go up top, but ended up jumping right into an Iron Claw from Marshall. Marshall transitioned it into a front slam and got the pin to pick up the victory for his team.
Match Result: Dustin Rhodes & The Von Erichs (Marshall & Ross) defeated Davey Bang, Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku
-Backstage, Taya Valkyrie cut a promo about how she has the opportunity to take on Red Velvet and get a shot at the ROH Women’s TV title. The one thing stopping her is La Catalina, who Valkyrie claims copied her by coming to ROH via Mexico. The two will face off next week, with the winner getting a shot at Red Velvet’s ROH Women’s Television championship.
ROH World Champion Bandido defeated Jay Lethal in a Proving Ground match
Bandido defeated Chris Jericho (not an ROH Wrestler) at AEW Dynasty (not an ROH Show) to become the ROH World Champion for the second time. Unlike his predecessor, this ROH World Champion actually appears on the show and got right down to business here with a Proving Ground match against one of the legends of ROH, a former ROH World, Pure, Television and Tag Team Champion, Jay Lethal. If Lethal scored a victory or lasted to the 10 minute time limit, he’d be slingshotted right into challenging for Bandido’s not-even-cold-yet title. (No word on if Bandido’s Mom will be there).
The two locked up and almost immediately the action left the ring. Lethal landed a running dive through the ropes, knocking Bandido almost back up the ramp, before tossing him back into the ring. Lethal tried to get a figure four on, but Bandido reversed it into a small package for a two count.
Lethal and Bandido then traded chops with Lethal having the advantage because he has “calloused hands from years of weightlifting” according to Ian Riccabonni. Lethal spun Bandido around with a bit lariat and tried for another figure four, which Bandido reversed into another small package, and got another two count.
Third time was the charm though as Lethal got a figure four on Bandido in the center of the ring. Bandido wormed his way to the ropes though and Lethal broke the hold, but continued working the knee of the Champion.
Lethal went for a Lethal Injection, but Bandido caught him midair and threw him to the ropes. The Champion then hit a 21 plex and picked up the win over Lethal. After the match, Lethal shook Bandido’s hand, showing respect to the new Champion.
Match Result: Bandido defeated Jay Lethal
And that does it for Episode 111. Next week: Taya Valkyrie vs La Catalina.