A Bunkhouse Brawl for the Ring of Honor Tag Team titles headlines tonight’s live AEW Collision from Springfield, Massachussetts.
Sammy Guevara & Dustin Rhodes will defend the titles against former champions The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett). The former titleholders lost the gold back on the August 17th Collision in Arlington, Texas, while tonight marks the first defense for the champs.
The show will feature an all star ten-man tag team match with FTR, Hook and The Outrunners uniting to take on the Grizzled Young Veterans, Roderick Strong, The Beast Mortos, and Rush. The Outrunners made the save for FTR last Saturday after they were attacked by GYV after their match.
Darby Allin, who is set to face Jon Moxley at Wednesday’s Grand Slam, will take on Evil Uno while AEW Women’s World Champion Mariah May, who will defend against Yuka Sakazaki Wednesday, will square off with Lady Frost in non-title action.
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Collision kicked off with plunder all around the ring for the opening match. Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness were on the call.
Bunkhouse Brawl for ROH World Tag Team Titles – Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara (c) defeated The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
A fun, fast-paced plunder brawl to kick off the show. The Rhodes and Guevara team is working wonders, as Guevara gets to benefit from Rhodes and his eternal goodwill with the fans. I’d expect these two to continue to get shine on the road to All In: Texas next year.
The champions came out first in jeans and jumped the challengers on the ramp to kick off the title defense. Rhodes used his father’s belt buckle to carve up Bennett while Guevara hit a moonsault off the barricade to Taven. Bennett sent Rhodes into a chair in the corner to take him out for a moment. Guevara had a chair flung in his face to cut off a dive before the Kingdom hit a suicide doomsday device from the ring to the floor.
Rhodes menaced both of the Kingdom with a tazer, but they cut him off with a double superkick. Rhodes fought Bennett away and took Taven off the stage with a bulldog through barbed wire tables. Bennett sent Rhodes into the ring, but Guevara pulled him off the apron with a cutter through another table as we went to a commercial.
After the commercial break, Guevara climbed a ladder before a now-bloodied Taven shoved him off the ladder through two tables. A bloody Rhodes fought both men off with double crotch grabs, then got his hands on a cowbell and ran wild with it. Rhodes sent Taven into a chair with a powerslam, then suplexed him through the chair for a nearfall. Bennett sent Rhodes through two chairs with a Death Valley Driver, then held a chair in place for a Just The Tip with the chair.
Guevara cut off the pin and hit Taven with the Go To Hell. Guevara set Bennett up in the corner for Shattered Dreams, which Rhodes hit with a barbed wire cowboy boot. Rhodes hit the Final Reckoning, then held Bennett in place for a Guevara senton off of a ladder for the win.
Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly, & Hologram were backstage with Lexy Nair when The Premier Athletes immediately cut them off. Mark Sterling noted that his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts named today AEW Day, and that he was going to make sure there were no Conglomeration shenanigans tonight. Mark Briscoe took offense, calling Sterling a “shenanigator” and bringing in Rocky Romero as an equalizer for their team.
We got a short video hyping Britt Baker’s return to the ring at the Dynamite 5 Year Anniversary show on October 2.
Tony Schiavone announced that after the events of last week, Queen Aminata demanded a match with Serena Deeb and will get it tonight.
Evil Uno was backstage with Lexy Nair ahead of his match with Darby Allin. He was upset that people were overlooking him when Allin entered the frame. Allin warned Uno that Jon Moxley was starting a war and that he looked down on everyone else in AEW. Allin challenged Uno not to wrestle him tonight, but to fight him tonight and prove Moxley wrong.
Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly, & Hologram (w/ Rocky Romero) defeated The Premier Athletes (Ari Daivari, Josh Woods, & Tony Nese) (w/ Mark Sterling)
Hologram took the first advantage of the match, evading Nese in the corner before hitting a ropewalk dropkick. The Athletes caught O’Reilly in the corner and laid the boots to him as we went to a commercial. I normally fast-forward the commercials, but there was one for the season premiere of 911, in which a truck crashed and sent 22 MILLION KILLER BEES into the streets. And they called a bunch of firefighters to…wrangle them up, I guess? I just about died. Why were there so many bees in a truck? What is Jennifer Love Hewitt supposed to do about it?
I wiped the tears out of my eyes for Hologram’s hot tag. He got cut off but tagged in Briscoe for his own hot tag. Briscoe hit a Death Valley Bomb and went up for the Froggy Bow, but Sterling cut him off. Romero got Sterling in place for a Hologram dive, and Briscoe hit the Jay Driller on Woods for the win.
(MxM Collection taking tips from Jean Pierre Lafitte, it seems.)
Non-Title Match – Mariah May defeated Lady Frost
May blew McGuinness a kiss on commentary, allowing Frost to steal a roll-up for a nearfall. May took control with a Mariah-Go-Round spinning sidewalk slam. May took Frost off the top rope with a headscissors and hit a John Woo dropkick, but Frost came back with a cartwheel off of May’s back into a dropkick. May and Frost traded German suplexes before May hit a headbutt and a running knee. May hit the Storm Zero for the win.
During this match, it was announced that the Learning Tree would take on The Conglomeration (Cassidy, Briscoe, & O’Reilly) next week on Collision: Grand Slam in a Tornado Trios Match.
We got a video package for the Women’s Title match next week on Dynamite: Grand Slam between Mariah May & Yuka Sakazaki.
Willow Nightingale was backstage with Lexy Nair. Nightingale said that she was still hurting from her loss at All Out but was looking forward to the future. Deonna Purrazzo & Taya Valkyrie entered the frame to chew out Nightingale for not looking out for her friend Yuka Sakazaki over the past few weeks. Purrazzo offered Sakazaki protection, drawing Nightingale’s objection. Valkyrie got in Nightingale’s face, and a challenge was made for next week’s Rampage.
(I can’t say that a Purrazzo & Valkyrie team excites me very much.)
The Acclaimed were in the back. Caster insulted MxM Collection with a freestyle, saying that their style was weak and that MxM was stealing the Acclaimed’s style to get themselves noticed.
We got a video package for Darby Allin vs. Jon Moxley on Dynamite: Grand Slam that also brought up the group’s pleas to Wheeler Yuta to join them.
Darby Allin defeated Evil Uno (w/ Alex Reynolds)
Much better than it looked on paper, as Allin fired Uno up to fight hard in the pre-tape. Allin is one of the most consistently good TV wrestlers in the world, as he never takes a night off in the ring and always finds an interesting angle to approach a match.
Uno slapped Allin in the face to start, then clubbered on him in the corner. Reynolds distracted the referee to allow Uno to whip Allin with his belt. Allin came back with a suicide dive and tore into Uno’s mask, but a Reynolds distraction allowed Uno to pinball Allin around ringside. A piledriver got uno a nearfall. Allin caught Uno in a Bully Choke, a move that Jon Moxley used to beat Uno in the past, but Uno got to the ropes. Uno hit a buckle bomb and a flatliner for a nearfall.
Reynolds helped Uno fight off a sunset flip, forcing Allin to hit him with a suicide dive. Allin side-stepped an Uno cannonball off the apron, then hit a Coffin Drop to the floor. Allin hit a Coffin Drop in the ring to score the win.
We got a recap of the Hangman Page/Jeff Jarrett interaction from Dynamite. In video from after Dynamite, Jeff & Karen Jarrett were with Renee Paquette. To his wife’s dismay, Jarrett challenged Hangman Page to a Lumberjack Strap Match at Grand Slam. Jarrett named a few people he had in mind to be lumberjacks, like the Dark Order, Jay Lethal, & Satnam Singh. He had enough of Page’s attitude and his ego and was going to kick his ass at Grand Slam.
Serena Deeb defeated Queen Aminata
The crowd wasn’t into this match to start, chanting for Willow instead. By the end, these two earned This Is Awesome chants as they had a very good TV match here.
Deeb outwrestled Aminata to start, catching her in a seated surfboard stretch. Aminata had a short flurry before Deeb took Aminata down with a neckbreaker in the ropes. After a commercial break, Aminata fought out of an Octopus Stretch with a sidewalk slam.
Aminata made her comeback, hitting a swinging suplex for a nearfall. Aminata dropped Deeb with a German suplex before hitting a sliding kick for a nearfall. Deeb came back with a hammerlock lariat for a nearfall. We got a pinning predicament before Deeb hit a chop block. Aminata hit Deeb with the Brain Drain headbutt, but it sent Deeb to the floor. Deeb caught Aminata with a Dragon Screw on the way back into the ring, then hit the Detox in the ring for the win.
We got a recap of the Harley Cameron vs. Hikaru Shida match from Rampage. It featured interference from both Saraya & Jamie Hayter, leading to Saraya challenging Jamie Hayter to a Saraya’s Rules match for Grand Slam. Saraya & Cameron were with Renee Paquette backstage. Cameron ran down what Saraya’s Rules were, all of them essentially saying that Saraya could cheat and that Cameron could interfere.
Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara were backstage with Lexy Nair. They put each other over before Guevara noted that he wanted two titles like Rhodes had. He challenged Kazuchika Okada to an eliminator match for Grand Slam and said that if he won, he’d take his title match at the 5-Year Anniversary Dynamite the following week.
(Sammy Guevara vs. Kazuchika Okada. What the hell does that look like? I guess we’ll find out next week.)
All-Star Ten Man Tag Team Match – Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson), Roderick Strong, Rush & The Beast Mortos defeated FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood), Hook & The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd)
This felt like a throwback to CM Punk’s Collision, with a multi-man tag main event that went one commercial break too long. It’s good to see Rush get a win, though.
Wheeler & Drake started, but a big brawl kicked off and the babyfaces pinballed Strong around before Mortos saved him from the Redrum. After a commercial, Mortos had control of Harwood and hit him with a cannonball. Rush tagged in and stomped on Harwood before hitting his pose. Gibson tagged in but got overwhelmed by Harwood. Hook tagged in but took a double clothesline from the Veterans for a nearfall.
Strong and Hook got after it, with Hook laying the rudos out with strikes before sending Strong flying with a T-Bone suplex. The rudos took control of Hook as we went to another commercial. Hook made the tag to Floyd, who ran wild with bodyslams. Magnum tagged in to hit the Predator elbow drop. They hit Drake with the Shatter Machine, but the pin got broken up and a Pier Six brawl broke out.
Gibson cut off Magnum with a throat chop. Magnum got worked on by the rudos into and through the commercial break before getting the tag to Harwood. We got German suplexes from the tecnicos before another Pier Six brawl broke out. Strong and Hook brawled to the back, and Rush and Harwood were left in the ring. FTR set up the Shatter Machine, but Mortos broke it up before hitting the spinning tornillo to the crowd on the floor. Another Shatter Machine attempt got broken up by Mortos, who worked together with Rush to lay Harwood out. Rush hit the Bull’s Horns and pinned Harwood to get the win.
Serena Deeb was backstage and challenged Britt Baker to a match on the 5 Year Anniversary Dynamite from Pittsburgh on October 2.
Nigel McGuinness Town Hall
A very good promo from McGuinness to close out the show. I liked Schiavone standing up for Danielson in his absence and calling out McGuinness for trying to manipulate the situation outside of Danielson’s control. McGuinness really got it across how his obsession with Danielson had driven him crazy and how badly he needed the Danielson match to prove himself right after over a decade of retirement. A great final sell for Grand Slam.
Nigel McGuinness was on the stage, noting that Bryan Danielson had still refused to answer his challenge for Grand Slam. He accused Danielson of faking his injury, and that the reality was that Danielson feared McGuinness. McGuinness said that if Danielson wouldn’t do it for them, and if he wouldn’t do it so his family couldn’t be embarrassed by him anymore, he should do it for the fans.
Tony Schiavone took to the stage and said that he knew that McGuinness was trying to manipulate Danielson into a match. He said that Danielson wasn’t afraid of McGuinness and that he would fight McGuinness if he was cleared. Schiavone said that in his five decades of calling wrestling, Danielson was the greatest wrestler he had ever seen. McGuinness said that if anybody else had said that to him, they would have gotten laid out.
He told Schiavone to sit back down, then told Danielson that it was his destiny to get one more match with Danielson. He spent years shouting at the moon about how he was as good as Danielson, but no one believed him. There were only two people who knew what he was saying was the truth, himself and Danielson. Danielson knew that McGuinness was better than him and refused to give McGuinness his vindication. McGuinness hoped Danielson showed up, and if he didn’t, he hoped the devil heard his prayers.
