Aussie Open will defend their NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team titles in the main event of Collision in Philadelphia.
An injury to Hiroshi Tanahashi forced him off today’s card and out of what had been scheduled as a trios match main event with Tanahashi, Lio Rush, and Tomohiro Ishii facing TJP & Aussie Open. Travel issues also prevented TJP from making it to Philadelphia for the show.
The new main event for Collision in Philadelphia features Aussie Open defending the Strong Tag titles against Ishii & Lio Rush. Aussie Open won a triple threat match last night in Washington at Capital Collision to win the Strong titles.
A tournament to determine the number one contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP United States title also kicks off today.
What had been advertised as Lance Archer vs. Juice Robinson will now be Archer vs. Fred Rosser due to a storyline suspension given to Robinson. The winner of today’s match will face either Tanahashi or Will Ospreay at NJPW Dominion in Osaka, Japan in June.
Today’s undercard:
- Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. KENTA & Chase Owens
- AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy defends against Gabriel Kidd
- Homicide & Rocky Romero vs. SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- TMDK’s Zack Sabre Jr., Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito vs. Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
- Clark Connors vs. The DKC
- ROH Pure rules match: Alex Coughlin vs. Tracy Williams
- El Desperado & Volador Jr. vs. Delirious & Kevin Knight
Our live coverage begins at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
**********
El Desperado & Volador Jr. defeated Delirious & Kevin Knight
Delirious started things off by leaping at Desperado, but after missing, he had Volador tag in before tagging out himself. Knight and Volador had a competitive sequence before Desperado tagged back into the match to take the lead. Delirious grabbed Desperado by the leg, pulling his team back into the match.
A hot tag to Volador after an extended period of opposition control led to a strong comeback. Only by escaping to the floor were Knigh and Delirious able to stay competitive.
Eventually, Desperado tagged in, leading to a strike exchange between him and Delirious. A frankensteiner/frog splash combination nearly scored the Knight/Delirious team the win. After Volador broke up the pin, he hit a backbreaker, setting Desperado up for a match-winning Pinche Loco.
Pure Rules: Alex Coughlin defeated Tracy Williams
I loved this match. From the compelling mat work to the explosive transitions, this was pure wrestling.
The match opened with mat work that quickly escalated. Williams and Coughlin locked hands, trading pins, holds, and bridges. Once the grip was broken, Williams dropped Coughlin and landed a suplex from the top rope before returning to working on the mat. From the mat, Coughlin secured underhooks, which nearly ended with a driver, but Williams flipped free and landed a suplex.
Williams struck Coughlin down before locking in a sleeper. Coughlin stood out of the sleeper, landing a powerbomb to reset the match in his favor. A vertical suplex from Coughlin scored him a nearfall.
In the end, the pair looked to trade strikes. Coughlin ducked a Williams lariat, hitting a bridging German suplex to win the match.
Clark Connors defeated The DKC
Before the match, David Finlay cut a promo. He berated ELP and hyped Connors. Finlay then declared he would be the first Bullet Club leader who “gets the Bullet Club before the Bullet Club gets him”. His Bullet Club would be willing to make cuts to maintain a roster of “killers”.
DKC rushed the ring to start the match, scoring a quick, if short, lead. It didn’t take long for Connors to reverse momentum. Connors dominated DKC, taking his time to pick him apart. Conners ended DKC’s only attempt at a rally with four nice spears. Connors then pinned DKC to win his first match with Bullet Club.
Team Filthy (Jorel Nelson, Royce Isaacs & Tom Lawlor) defeated TMDK (Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste & Zack Sabre Jr.)
This match was a ton of fun. Lawlor and ZSJ have crazy chemistry, and the rest of TMDK gel very well with the West Coast Wrecking Crew—a great match.
Before the match could begin, Team Filthy was caught with a metal carabiner, a tube of super glue, and a toothbrush. The referee confiscated all of their foreign objects.
The actual match saw TMDK gain a short lead that ended when Nelson landed a sudden backbreaker, and Team Filthy rushed the ring. Team Filthy then used their advantage to slow the pace while isolating Haste.
Haste reversed a move from the top rope into a superplex, buying him a hot tag into ZSJ. ZSJ locked Nelson and Isaacs in submissions simultaneously to establish TMDK control. Lawlor was forced to tag in to help his team stay competitive.
ZSJ and Lawlor went back and forth. When ZSJ landed a strike, Lawlor answered with one of his own. When ZSJ locked in a hold, Lawlor established on of his own. This stalemate forced a double tag.
Tito and Isaacs tagged in, traded bombs for a few seconds, and tagged out. Haste and Nelson tagged in and also traded heavy strikes, forcing another double tag, leaving ZSJ and Lawlor alone in the ring once more.
ZSJ and Lawlor went off on one another. ZSJ caught Lawlor in a cobra twist as TMDK played defense. Lawlor broke free regardless, leading to a match breakdown. After a chaotic war between the teams, Lawlor landed a knee to the back of Tito’s head, leading directly to the pin.
Just 5 Guys (SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Homicide & Rocky Romero
The match began with Rocky turning down a drink from Kanemaru’s whiskey. After this, SANADA and Homicide had a fairly uneventful back-and-forth to start the actual competition. Rocky and Kanemaru soon tagged in and had a mat-based exchange that Rocky left with the upper hand.
Homicide tagged into the match, but Kanemaru gained the upper hand, forcing Rocky to involve himself again. The match then spilled to the floor, where Rocky and Homicide gained a significant lead.
A tag to SANADA turned the match back to J5G favored. A dropkick to Rocky and Homicide allowed SANADA to tie Rocky in the paradise lock.
Rocky saving Homicide from Skull End resulted in a match breakdown. Homicide scored a nearfall over SANADA with a cutter. Homicide tried to close again with the cop killer, but SANADA reversed, turning it into a bridging pin to win the match.
AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) defeated Gabriel Kidd
This was another great match on this show and another great Cassidy defense.
Kidd rushed Cassidy to try for an early lead, but Cassidy was able to hold on through the blitz. Cassidy landed a dive that forced Kidd to slow down, much to his favor. Kidd landed a big chop that sent Cassidy to the floor. Back in the ring, Kidd taunted Cassidy with his own mannerisms.
During Kidd’s control, a camera revealed David Finlay and Clark Conners were watching on from the balcony.
Kidd’s taunting proved to be his downfall as it allowed Cassidy to gain a leg up. Cassidy landed a super kick, a Superman punch, a top rope crossbody, and a DDT for a nearfall.
Cassidy climbed to the top for another dive, but Kidd caught him with a brainbuster. Kidd then tried choking Cassidy out with a visually impressive choke from the top rope. Kidd missed the moonsault follow-up, but he hit a spinning tombstone piledriver regardless.
Cassidy caught Kidd with an orange punch, but Kidd bounced off the rope with a lariat. Kidd tried to follow up with a kimura, but Cassidy transitioned into a mouse trap pin, which scored him the win.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito) defeated BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens & KENTA)
The opening scramble saw LIJ rush Owens to establish an early lead. Once KENTA involved himself, Bullet Club was able to take control.
KENTA ended an LIJ rally with a DDT but failed to hit the GTS. Hiromu answered with a dragonscrew, forcing a double tag. Naito made quick work of most Owens resistance, but a Destino reversal into snake eyes allowed Bullet Club to maintain their lead. A running knee forced Hiromu to make the save.
Owens reversed another Destino, but Hiromu was quick to help Naito recover. Finally, after another team-on-team brawl, Naito hit Destino to win the match.
After the match, Rocky Romero walked to the ring. He asked Hiromu about an All-Star Junior Festival in the United States. On August 19th in Philidelphia’s 2300 Arena, the All-Star Junior Festival will make its U.S. debut.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Tournament Match: Lance Archer defeated Fred Rosser
Rosser came to the ring taped up following his brutal beatdown last night.
Archer cut a promo before the match. He threatened Rosser’s life before asking him to make this a Philadelphia street fight. He grabbed two kendo sticks, one for himself and one for Rosser. Rosser accepted for some reason.
This was a bad match.
Rosser was the first to strike, using the Kendo stick to the best of his ability, but Archer was able to wade the storm. On the outside, Archer slowly beat down Rosser, eventually fighting into the crowd.
At some point, they disappeared. The cameras couldn’t find them, and the fans chanted, “We can’t see.” Once the cameras did find them, they were meandering around the outside.
Archer continually attacked Rosser with kendo sticks, paying particular attention to his stitched head, eventually drawing blood. Archer then used a chair to continue his attack.
Rosser sidestepped an Archer attack, sending him crashing into a chair. Rosser took advantage, beating him with a kendo stick. After laying out Archer, Rosser locked in a stepover chicken wing. Before Archer could tap, Juice Robinson came out from the crowd and attacked Rosser, and because this was a street fight, there were no repercussions.
A loaded Left Hand of God from Juice and a lariat from Archer allowed the Murderhawk Monster to secure a win and advance in the tournament.
After the match, Archer cut another promo. He called out Tony Khan and Kenny Omega. He said Omega couldn’t beat without help. He then said Khan couldn’t protect Omega for long. Archer said he’d win the tournament in Osaka and dethrone Omeaga at Forbidden Door 2.
NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) (c) defeated CHAOS (Lio Rush & Tomohiro Ishii)
The feeling-out process ended early, as Davis called out Ishii. Ishii and Davis traded blows, but Rush tagged in, which caused a short brawl favoring CHAOS. Once Fletcher recovered, he rushed the ring allowing Aussie Open to take the lead.
Rush avoided a senton, buying him the time to tag in Ishii. Ishii fought off both of his opponents, standing tall after a shoulder tackle. Fletcher blocked the brainbuster and sent Ishii to the floor in an attempt to rally.
Fletcher tried to hit a dive from the rope, but Davis stopped him from doing so. This distraction allowed Rush to hit a super rana and re-establish control. Ishii and Rush isolated Fletcher, hitting him with multiple tandem moves.
Once Davis recovered, he hit the ring, helping Fletcher to survive the Chaos attack. This led to another Ishii/Fletcher exchange, ending with an Ishii brainbuster. Ishii could not finish, and a Saito sent him to the floor.
Rush landed a dive to the floor, buying Ishii enough time to recover. Together, Ishii and Rush knocked Davis off his feet. Ishii scored a nearfall with a lariat, but Davis reversed his brainbuster attempt into a suplex.
Rush tried to pick up where Ishii left off, but Davis dropped him with a crucifix powerbomb. Once Ishii could help Rush, they turned things back around. Ishii landed a lariat into a Rush frog splash, forcing Fletcher to make the save.
Fletcher and Davis worked together to fight back against the CHAOS pair. A lariat to Rush marked the end of a team-on-team struggle, leaving all four men on the mat.
A double boot set Rush up for Coriolis, but Ishii made the save. Fletcher dropped Ishii with a piledriver, leaving Davis free to land a piledriver of his own on Rush. Then Aussie Open landed a lariat and Coriolis to close out their first Never Openweight Tag Team championship defense.
Fletcher cut the show-ending promo, which was primarily braggadocious, with a slight jab at FTR inserted.
