Tonight’s live AEW Collision from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will see the return of reigning TBS Champion Mercedes Mone.
It will be Mone’s first in-ring action since defending the title against Billie Starkz earlier this month and subtly taking a jab at ROH Women’s World Champion Athena afterward, leading to speculation of a future match.
Ahead of meeting in a match for the AEW Trios titles at Dynasty, FTR’s Dax Harwood will go one-on-one with Wheeler Yuta of the Death Riders.
Visa issues seemingly behind her, former AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter will return for the first time since late-January to battle Queen Aminata.
In what is effectively a Tag Team title eliminator match, Big Bill & Bryan Keith will take on Top Flight. Bill and Keith challenged the Hurt Syndicate for the titles Wednesday with MVP suggesting they need a win first.
After declaring for this year’s men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament on Wednesday, Jay White will compete against Kevin Knight.
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Collision is coming tonight from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sir Elton John opened up the show, as Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness are on the call as AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm made her way to the ring.
Toni Storm Town Hall
An effective opening segment setting up the women’s title match at the PPV. I would like a little explanation as to why Ford is sticking around with Bayne, as their partnership seemed to come together by happenstance more than anything. But they’ve made Bayne a credible threat to Toni. The question now is whether Bayne is a monster of the month or the new face of the division.
Storm said she loved Milwaukee but told Megan Bayne to get out there immediately. Bayne didn’t come out, so Storm took a spotlight and spoke. She was embarrassed, hurt, and ashamed that she got pinned by Bayne on Dynamite so easily. She replayed the scene in her head all night in her hotel room, wondering if that would be the scene at Dynasty. In the morning, she hit her head on the sink and remembered who she was. That would’ve been nice a few months ago.
She promised to beat Bayne at Dynasty before Penelope Ford jumped her. There was a very interesting camera shot here, as the camera was right next to the ropes, so we never saw Ford coming. Storm took out Ford, but Bayne laid Storm out with a lariat and a Fate’s Descent. Bayne stood tall with the Women’s Title and told Storm to bow down.
The Death Riders were in the back. Claudio Castagnoli challenged Cope to a singles match on Dynamite to get revenge for Cope taking him out. He said that Adam had lost his Edge and was just trying to Cope with it. I see what he did there. He promised to leave enough of Cope to destroy at Dynasty. Jon Moxley said that there were only three people in the world he feared – his mother, his sister, and his wife. That was until he met Marina Shafir. He felt like he and Swerve Strickland should sit back and watch Shafir and Willow Nightingale take each other on Wednesday. Shafir told Nightingale to try and smile after getting her liver ripped out. That’s a very specific organ. Will random intestines or a spleen work as well?
Jay White defeated Kevin Knight
White with a clean and tidy win in this opener. Knight got some shine here, and Tony Khan announced that Knight was All Elite, so we’ll be seeing more of him in the future. I think Knight has a ton of potential from his athleticism alone, and could develop into a player on the AEW roster in due course.
We got highlights of Knight in New Japan, as the announcers ran down his credentials as a New Japan Dojo graduate and a former IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champion alongside KUSHIDA. The announcers talked about both men’s similar backgrounds having been foreigners that trained in New Japan during the opening exchanges.
Knight scored with a headscissors, but White came right back with chops. White sent Knight to the apron and DDT’d his leg to hobble him. After a commercial, White chopped Knight off the top rope to the floor. White laid in more chops before Knight drilled him with a dropkick. Knight fired up, hitting a standing frog splash for a nearfall. Knight hit a headscissors that took White off the top rope, but White came back with a slick flatliner. White hit a big uranage before putting Knight away with the Blade Runner.
After the match, White took the mic and put Knight over, saying he believed we would see a lot more of Knight in AEW. The crowd gave Knight an ovation before he left. White said that he would show the world that he was the most elite because he needed his shot at the AEW World Title. He would show everyone it was still the Switchblade Era at All In.
The announcers reset things before throwing to video of MJF throwing the first pitch at the Texas Rangers Opening Day game, in the building where All In will take place. MJF noted that Bobby Lashley lived in Texas, but the Rangers asked for him instead.
We saw a picture of ROH Women’s World Champion Athena standing outside of Mercedes Mone’s locker room, with an accompanying tweet where she said that she might say hello to Mone tonight.
Non-Title Match – TBS Champion Mercedes Mone defeated Robyn Renegade
We got the long-awaited face-off between Mone and Athena here, and it went as well as they could have hoped. With Mone entering herself into the Owen, this is a perfect way to transition her from the TBS Title to the World Title without taking much steam off of her. With Dynasty being in a week, I think this match may be better served for Supercard of Honor in May with a Title For Title stipulation.
Renegade got a lot more offense in than I thought she would, but Mone moved out of the way of a moonsault and landed a Meteora for a nearfall. Mone put Renegade away with the Mone Maker and the crossface.
After the match, Tony Schiavone made his way into the ring as Mone had something to say. Mone called herself the greatest TBS Champion of all time and came to AEW to win more gold. She added herself to the Owen Hart Tournament and vowed to become the AEW Women’s World Champion. Schiavone said that Billie Starkz would be in the tournament as well, which annoyed Mone. She said that Starkz didn’t have more heart than Robyn Renegade and said that whoever trained Starkz sucked at pro wrestling.
This brought out Starkz’ mentor and Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena for a face-off to a big reaction as Nigel McGuinness listed her bonafides. Mone swung at Athena, but Athena laid her out with a forearm. Renegade went to help Mone up, but Mone shoved her in the way of an O-Face and bailed. Athena stood tall with her title to end the segment.
We got a recap of last week’s match between Julia Hart & Queen Aminata. Aminata was with Lexy Nair, who informed the audience that due to a wrist injury she picked up in that match, she wouldn’t be cleared for action tonight. Nair said that Billie Starkz would be taking Aminata’s place against Jamie Hayter. Nair was interrupted by Serena Deeb, who told Aminata that all of this could have been prevented if she had listened. Deeb said that Aminata made the wrong call, but Aminata said that she still refused to listen to Deeb’s trash. Deeb said that since Aminata had a few weeks off anyway, she could do some reading. She handed her the BINDER OF 1,000 HOLDS and left.
(The BINDER OF 1,000 HOLDS is so over with me.)
The Learning Tree (Big Bill & Bryan Keith) defeated Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) (w/Leila Grey)
A strong win for The Learning Tree as they head to challenge The Hurt Syndicate. Top Flight feels like a more dynamic version of Private Party, but they continue to be fodder for the pushed acts on this show. Hopefully, this issue with The Cru will get them some positive momentum. That is, if they ever book the match.
After some posturing, Keith started with Dante Martin. Dante got Keith in their corner and scored some tandem offense with his brother, but Keith caught Darius with a kick to the face and tagged in Bill. Darius tried to fight out of the corner, but Keith booted him off the apron as we went to a commercial.
After the break, Darius was fighting for a tag. Dante booted Keith and got the tag but immediately got cut off by Bill. Bill ran wild, but Dante ducked a jump into the post and vaulted over Bill for a tag. They double teamed Bill and sent him to the floor before Darius hit the standing Muscle Buster for a nearfall. Bill took Darius out on the floor before taking a top rope dive from Dante.
Keith got his knees up on a Dante splash, and Bill hit a corner splash before throwing Dante into Keith’s rising knee. Bill put Dante away with a big chokeslam for the win. After the match, The Cru came from the crowd to try and jump Top Flight, but AR Fox slid in the ring to cut them off. The Cru backed away as this issue continued.
Lexy Nair’s guest at this time was Jamie Hayter, who she welcomed back. Hayter was excited to be in the ring with a young whippersnapper like Billie Starkz and respected how hard she fought. She promised to give Starkz a ton of fight in the main event tonight, then entered her name in the Owen Hart Tournament. She said that she came back at last year’s All In and will leave this year’s All In as champion.
Adam Cole & Daniel Garcia Town Hall
They announced the match with the graphic before the wrestlers made the match in the segment. It’s not like we didn’t know where this was going, but it made the promo here quite redundant to the TV audience. Maybe Khan made the match without telling them. Anyway, this was a good segment, with Garcia getting the last word in and getting a strong response to his promo.
During Cole’s entrance, it was announced that the rematch between Cole & Garcia would happen at Dynasty with no time limit and no interference. Both men came out with their partners, Cole with The Kingdom and Garcia with Matt Menard. Cole said that he respected Garcia for being a fighting champion, and it had to sit wrong with a fighting champion that he couldn’t beat Cole. Cole didn’t want their issues to end with a draw and said that Garcia knew Cole was the better man.
Garcia said that it did eat him up that he couldn’t beat Cole. Menard took the mic and asked how many shots Cole would get, and that Garcia didn’t need to give him another shot. Garcia agreed that he didn’t have to do it, but he wanted to do it. Strong took the mic and said that as good as Garcia was, he wasn’t ready to beat Cole. This started an argument that Garcia finished by saying that nobody would be at ringside, and there would be no time limit. It would be Cole vs. Garcia one last time, the better man would win, and it would be him.
Athena & Billie Starkz were backstage, with Athena mocking Mercedes Mone’s cadence. Athena said that if Mone was going to be a passive-aggressive b***h, she would get hit. She told Mone to keep her and her minion’s name out of her mouth. Athena got down to business and entered the Owen Hart Tournament before turning her attention to Starkz’ main event. She was sure Starkz would let her down but promised to watch closely anyway.
(Athena entering The Owen caught me off guard, as I expected her to simply take the TBS Title off of Mone. They’re stacking these Owen tournaments with marquee names and really stacking the build to All In.)
Wheeler Yuta defeated Dax Harwood
A solid match here, as Yuta continues to get heat and continues to weave Bryan Danielson’s offense into his arsenal. Yuta getting the clean win surprised me a bit, but it does advance Harwood’s frustrations heading into Dynasty.
They were very evenly matched in the opening exchanges, with Yuta retreating to ringside after a suplex. Yuta baited Harwood to the floor and sent him to the barricade and the stairs. Yuta locked Harwood’s arm in the turnbuckle before reminding the referee that he had till five to break, then took Harwood down with a superplex as we went to a commercial.
We came back to Harwood and Yuta brawling across the barricade. Yuta backdropped Harwood on the floor, but Harwood caught Yuta with a Dragon Screw as they got back into the ring. Harwood locked on the ringpost Figure Four, but when he tried to put a Sharpshooter on in the ring, Yuta shoved him into the post. Harwood fought back and took Yuta down with a back superplex for a nearfall.
Yuta locked on a Cattle Mutilation, but after Harwood made the ropes, he slipped away from Yuta and socked him in the face. Yuta rebounded into the ring and dropped Harwood with a German suplex. Harwood escaped another Cattle Mutilation and got the Sharpshooter on. Yuta got to the ropes, and when Harwood pulled him in the ring, Yuta caught him with the Seatbelt pin combination to score the win. Harwood looked upset as Claudio Castagnoli gave Yuta a solemn pat on the back.
After the match, Harwood argued with referee Paul Turner and grabbed him by his shirt. The black shirt security came in and restrained Harwood to the corner, a bit forcefully in my opinion. Cash Wheeler came out to clear the security off of his partner, but Harwood shoved him down, presuming he was another security guy. Harwood offered a hand to help Wheeler up, but Wheeler shoved him away and left. The crowd gave Harwood You F****d Up chants as he stewed in the ring.
Alicia Atout’s guests at this time were Nick Wayne, Kip Sabian, & Mother Wayne. They were immediately interrupted by The Cru, who asked him what was up with Wayne’s boy AR Fox. Wayne sussed out that The Cru wanted him to deal with their dirty work for them, but his issues with Fox were well in the past. Sabian told Wayne to hear them out, and The Cru said that no one knew Fox like Wayne did.
Hologram defeated Blake Christian (w/ Lee Johnson)
Schiavone put over Hologram’s winning streak, as it was the longest in AEW today. We got some quick action as you would expect from Hologram, ending with Christian sending Hologram into the steps as we went to a commercial.
After the commercial, Hologram made his comeback and hit a dive into Lee Johnson, who shoved Christian out of the way. Christian put Hologram on the barricade, but Hologram took Christian down with a hurricanrana to the floor. A slight distraction from Johnson allowed Christian to hit a Spanish Fly off the stairs and a springboard 450 for a nearfall. Both men traded kicks before Hologram hit the crossbody Spanish Fly. Christian fought off the Portal Bomb, but handsprung onto Hologram’s shoulders, allowing Hologram to hit the Portal Bomb anyway for the win.
Lexy Nair’s guests at this time were Thunder Rosa & Kris Statlander, who Nair announced were both in the Owen Hart Tournament. Statlander said that nobody could stop her, but Rosa disagreed. She never lost the women’s title and would scratch and crawl to get it back. Things got testy, but they shook hands and parted ways.
The full Owen Hart Memorial Tournament brackets will be announced on Wednesday’s Dynamite. Toni Storm vs. Penelope Ford was also added to the card for Wednesday.
Jamie Hayter defeated Billie Starkz
An interesting choice for a main event here, and a very interesting Athena/Hayter staredown at the end of the show.
Hayter knocked Starkz down with a pair of shoulder blocks, but Starkz popped back up with a straight punch to the face. Starkz caught Hayter with a rebound kick, but Hayter ripped Starkz off the ropes and hit a missile dropkick as we went to commercial.
Starkz fought to the ropes on a single-leg crab as we came back from the break. Starkz sent Hayter to the apron and booted her to the floor before hitting a dive. Back in the ring, Starkz hit a senton for a nearfall. Hayter won a strike exchange with a shotgun dropkick. Starkz caught Hayter and hit a backbreaker for a nearfall. Hayter fought out of the Electric Chair and hit the Ushigoroshi and a sliding lariat for a nearfall.
Starkz ducked the Hayterade and traded running strikes, but Hayter scored with a German suplex for a nearfall. Starkz ducked another Hayterade, but Hayter hooked her arm and hit a step-up Hayterade off the ropes for the win. After the match, Athena stared down Hayter from the ramp as the show came to a close.
