wrestling / TV Reports
Sambus’ AEW Collision Review 08.10.24
Image Credit: AEW
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Hello friends! Collision is back to our regularly scheduled timeslot tonight, and we have a DOOZY of a card on our hands. New Number One contenders to the Trios Titles will be crowned tonight, as the House of Black go up against the Bang Bang Gang, with Christian Cage serving as Special Guest Referee. I’m hoping for some sort of Patriarchy shenanigans as both House of Black and the Bang Bang Gang deserve that All In spotlight. Speaking of, how about that All In card? Shaping up REEEEAAAAL nice so far!
Elsewhere, the Thunder Rosa/Deonna Purrazzo feud comes to a head in a Texas Bullrope match, and Swerve Strickland will be in action in an Open Challenge World Title Eliminator match. RUSH vs Preston Vance, despite being completely thrown together for tonight’s show, technically has an interesting backstory as RUSH completely ditched Vance to align with the Don Callis Family, so it’s certainly got legs.
Location: Arlington, TX
Venue: Esports Stadium Arlington
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness & Tony Schiavone
Opening credits, LET’S GO. Darby Allin makes his way to the ring as we prepare for our opening tag team contest.
Match One: Darby Allin & Hologram vs Premier Athletes (Tony Nese & Josh Woods w/ Mark Sterling & Ariya Daivari)
Daivari on the mic says Darby’s face won’t be black and white anymore, it’ll be black and blue. Hologram and Woods begin this one as the Hologram chants begin. Woods backs Hologram into the corner and tags in Nese, who chops the chest. Tijeras into an arm drag from Hologram, blind tag by Darby, double team kicks, leg sweeps and a Code Red from Darby gets 2. Back splash in the corner from both guys, monkey flip from Hologram sends Nese into a crossbody from Darby for 2. Darby gets distracted by Sterling, allowing Nese to slingshot him over the ropes, and Woods hits a release German suplex. Knees and strikes in the corner as Woods builds momentum, lifting Darby up and tossing him overhead. Darby gets knocked to the outside, where Nese and Sterling kick and stomp away at him.
Back in the ring, a backbreaker from Woods gets a 2. Scoop slam train by Nese and Woods until Darby gets a rollup for 2. Scoop slam of his own by Allin. Woods pulls Hologram off the apron to avoid the tag. Darby avoids a few slams and gets the tag to Hologram who takes on both men. Tornado DDT connects on Woods. Tijeras and a roundhouse kick, rising knee kick gets a 2. Springboard by Hologram, gets caught with a shot by Woods in midair. Premier Athletes double team Darby in the corner now, uppercut…Hologram is in though, gets his legs swept by Sterling but Darby launches with a Coffin Drop to take him out. Nese is sent to the floor, Woods goes for a German but Hologram clumsily locks in a mahistral cradle for 1, 2, 3.
Winners: Darby Allin & Hologram
Time: 8:44
Rating: **3/4 – Hologram didn’t look as slick tonight, but this accomplished what it needed to. Very random having Darby as a partner though, this screamed ‘thrown together’.
Dustin Rhodes gives a voiceover on the Texas Bullrope match, and says Rosa embodies the Texas spirit. Purrazzo is a ruthless mastermind. 12 feet of raw rope, a brass cowbell between, these two women on either end looking to make violent history. Nice little video!
Match Two: [Texas Bullrope Match] Thunder Rosa vs Deonna Purrazzo
Both women are wearing white so we’re pretty much guaranteed this gets bloody! Rosa pulls Purrazzo in for some lariats, grounds her with a Lou Thesz press for mounted punches. Dropkick takes Purrazzo to the floor, Rosa launches off the apron with an elbow drop. She drives Deonna shoulder-first into the steel steps, and brings her back in the ring for a backstabber. Rosa heads up top, Purrazzo sweeps the legs and pulls her into the Tree of Woe. Sliding dropkick attempt misses, they both slide under the bottom rope and have a tug of war either side of the ringpost. Rosa gets tugged shoulder-first into the post. Cowbell into the face! Deonna continues the assault with the cowbell and Rosa is the first to be busted open.
Purrazzo pulls out a couple of steel chairs and slides them in the ring. Crowd chant We Want Tables, and sure enough Purrazzo pulls out a table too. Both women in the ring now as Deonna props the table up in the corner. Rosa is bleeding heavily now as Purrazzo stacks the chairs up, climbs the buckles, and wraps the bullrope around Rosa’s throat. Rosa fights out and pulls Deonna off the top, slamming her into the pile of chairs. Rosa wedges a chair in the buckles now and sends Deonna head first into it! She wedges it in front of her face now and hits a shotgun dropkick! Chairshot to the back, cover, 1, 2, no.
Purrazzo is bleeding as well now as Rosa climbs up but gets crotched. Tree of Woe again, the chair driven into the midsection repeatedly. Spear by Purrazzo, 1, 2, no. Rosa attempts a tornado DDT, using the table to post off, but Purrazzo shrugs her off and hits a powerbomb, followed by a Gotch-style piledriver! 1, 2, no. Rosa placed on the table, whipped with the bullrope repeatedly, and Deonna climbs the buckles now. Rosa meets her up there, cowbell shots, BULLDOG through the table! Fire Thunder Driver connects for the 1, 2, 3.
Winner: Thunder Rosa
Time: 10:52
Rating: ***1/2 – The Bullrope was occasionally a little cumbersome but they did well to keep it heated and violent. Good use of the gimmick, and some of those shots were hard as hell (that shotgun dropkick into the chair in Deonna’s face…daaaamn!).
We head to a video package for The Outrunners prior to their tag team showdown with FTR later. It’s filmed like a 80s VHS tape, fantastic. They tell us we ain’t seen nothing yet.
Match Three: FTR vs The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd & Truth Magnum)
Magnum and Dax begin and Magnum flexes the guns. In comes Cash, who does the same (settle down, no jokes please). Magnum wrenches the arm, Cash comes back with a shoulder block. Magnum gets a tag to Floyd, who gets rolled up by Cash for 2. The Outrunners double team Cash in the corner, double back elbow and a double elbow drop. Cover by Magnum for 2. Atomic drop by Cash, chop to the chest and a tag to Dax. Running elbow drop gets a 2 for Dax. Dax avoids some double team offense, hits a back body drop on Magnum, and FTR pose in the ring while the Outrunners recuperate on the floor.
Dax chops both guys before tossing Magnum back in the ring. Magnum kisses the boot of Dax…so Dax stomps his hands. Cash tags in, but Magnum gets a body slam. Cash smacks Floyd on the apron, tries to suplex him in the ring but Magnum holds his legs. Pump kick from Floyd, Magnum tags back in to apply a side headlock. Floyd in again, grounds Cash, then delivers back elbow in the corner. Magnum with a clothesline from the apron. Cash tries a sunset flip, gets the leverage but Floyd is tagged back in to break it. Floyd misses a shoulder thrust in the corner, allowing Cash to make the tag to Dax. Lariat from Dax to Magnum, German to Floyd! Multiple Germans! He hits a fourth, a fifth! Standing switch reversal, Dax finally gets a piledriver! 1, 2…Dax saw the breakup coming and dodges so Magnum elbow drops his own partner. FTR are poised, Shatter Machine on Floyd! 1, 2, 3.
Winner: FTR
Time: 9:26
Rating: ***1/4 – Outrunners are pretty entertaining, and I do enjoy a good traditional tag team affair, although this lost a little steam in the middle when Outrunners were in control. FTR got it back under control with that finishing stretch though.
Lexy Nair is with Kip Sabian backstage. Kip says he’s trying to make a name for himself. This is about more than him though, it’s about family, his dad…but here comes Nick Wayne. Wayne says after 5 years, Sabian is still a nobody in this company. It will be Wayne vs Sabian one on one next week on Rampage, and he’ll make sure that just like his dead dad Sabian stays a loser.
We get comments from MJF after his match with Kyle Fletcher from Dynamite, who can’t believe he’d leave a friend in distress. Ospreay says nobody deserves to be hit with the Tiger Driver, but Fletcher disagrees. MJF is coming to Ospreay’s home and will decimate another of his boys at Rev Pro, and then he’ll hit a Tiger Driver 91 on Ospreay himself at Wembley.
Match Four: RUSH vs Preston Vance
Don Callis has demanded that RUSH doesn’t just beat Vance, he wants him to HURT him. They go face to face and Vance raises the LIJ fist, but RUSH smacks him in the face instead. We see Don Callis watching backstage, already smiling. Spinebuster from Vance who looks fired up. He chops RUSH against the barricade on the floor, but gets tossed into the barricade himself. RUSH bites the forehead and tosses him into a chair. Vance is bleeding from the forehead now and RUSH peppers him with kicks. Chops to the chest, German suplex by RUSH but Vance comes back with a spear. Back elbow by RUSH, discus lariat from Vance! Vance says RUSH is going to get the horns, went for the Bull’s Horns but gets tossed overhead into the buckles. Repeated headbutts in the corner from RUSH! RUSH shows him how it’s done and connects with the Bull’s Horns for the 1, 2, 3.
Winner: RUSH
Time: 4:04
Rating: N/R – Wish it got more time as this was great! RUSH looked dominant while Vance wasn’t treated as a total jobber, so that’s a win in my book.
Post-match, RUSH re-enters the ring and delivers another Bull’s Horns! He looks under the ring for something, grabs a chair, but the referees get involved and hold him back, demanding he heads to the back.
We go to a video package for Jack Perry. Everything in life has a price, the question is how much are you willing to sacrifice for it? Perry drags an axe along the floor and smashes TV screens showing the former TNT champions.
Swerve Strickland makes his way out for his Open Challenge World Title Eliminator match. He takes the mics as Arlington says it’s Swerve’s House. In two weeks, the main event of All In, headlined by Swerve Strickland and Bryan Danielson…and in two weeks, he owns Danielson’s legacy. Until then, he wants a warm-up. Whoever comes out here will have to stand in Whose house? Prince Nana says whoever comes out is going up against the most dangerous man in AEW. The music hits…AND IT’S TOMOHIRO ISHII!!! GET THIS IN MY VEINS.
Match Five: [AEW World Title Eliminator] Swerve Strickland vs Tomohiro Ishii
Lockup, strikes miss, enziguri avoided, and both men create a little space. Headscissor takedown from Swerve, shot to the midsection and a dropkick to the side of the head. Cover for 2. Swerve avoids a chop, smacks Ishii with a forearm, and Ishii comes right back with a shoulder block. Chop to the throat, Swerve comes back with a dropkick to the knee.Swerve paintbrushes the head of Ishii, and that fires Ishii up, who walks into the forearm shots. Swerve catches a chop and nails a back suplex followed by the diving uppercut as Ishii spills to the floor. FOSBURY FLOP TO ISHII ON THE OUTSIDE! They battle onto the apron, Swerve thinking piledriver maybe? Ishii clobbers his way out of it, chop to the chest takes Swerve off the apron, but Ishii gets tugged off the apron to the floor. Pump kick by Strickland, he sends Ishii back inside the ring, axe handle smash to the back of the neck. Neckbreaker connects, 1, 2, no.
Chinbar with a grapevine applied by Strickland. Ishii staggers on some forearms but comes back with a Saito suplex! Swerve holds on though and rolls into a side headlock. Bulldog attempt shrugged off, but Ishii gets another Saito suplex! Ishii hoists Swerve to the top rope, heads up with him, huge superplex! 1, 2, no. Lariat from Ishii, Flatliner too! But Swerve rolls into a flatliner of his own! 1, 2, no. Half nelson suplex attempt, Ishii fights out of it. Headbutt! One from Swerve! Powerslam, rolls into the brainbuster, 1, 2, Ishii kicks out. House Call attempt misses, Ishii gets a German! Pump kick by Swerve, Ishii gets right back up for a lariat. Running lariat turns Swerve inside out! 1, 2, NO. Stalling Brainbuster avoided, Swerve can’t avoid the enziguri though. Standing Swerve Stomp from the World champion. He’s poised, House Call! 1, 2, 3.
Winner: Swerve Strickland
Time: 12:15
Rating: ***1/2 – A good back and forth encounter, while keeping the champion strong. Ishii hasn’t been all that dominant in his AEW run which is surprising as he’s normally very over with the US audience. Still, the focus has to be on Swerve here in the run up to All In, and this was a great surprise for tonight’s show.
Claudio Castagnoli is backstage and says he wants the Continental Championship before the Continental Classic returns later this year. So how about the first ever Dynamite in Europe. Continental Championship on the line in Cardiff! Nice. Okada and Claudio will go face to face next week.
Lexy Nair is in the ring to welcome Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway. Lexy takes us to footage from Rampage last night, where Willow reflects on their feud, and heads off with Ishii, saying she has a plan.
Lexy Nair says an official challenge has been made for the All In Zero Hour. Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii vs Kris Statlander and….before she can finish the sentence, Stokely cuts her off, saying it’s disgusting that Willow has a small bald man do her bidding, haha. Nair says the specific partner Willow had in mind for Kris Statlander…is Stokely himself!! Stokely says there’s no way, but Kris is game, and she says they accept! Man, that’s going to be so fun when Ishii lariats the head off of Stokely at All In!
Back from commercial, Top Flight is with Lexy Nair, but MxM Collection interrupt! They’re here to say they’re sorry…sorry they didn’t make fun of Top Flight’s haircuts! Action Andretti is over it though. Dante says talk is cheap, like their fear. Mansoor isn’t ‘cosmetically cleared’ to compete, despite Top Flight making a challenge. Lio Rush apears with a text from TK, booking MxM Collection vs Top Flight next week on Collision. OK, MxM Collection are already tremendous in AEW.
Match Six: Hikaru Shida vs Aleah James
RIP James, right?! Shida off the ropes with a dropkick, German suplex, holds on into a cross-armbreaker. James tries to avoid it, swinging neckbreaker, HUGE knee to the head! 1, 2, no. James hits a hurracanrana but runs into a single leg stomp. Falcon arrow connects, 1, 2, 3.
Winner: Hikaru Shida
Time: 1:40
Rating: N/R – Aggressive showing from Shida, but will she have anything to do at All In?
We head to the sit-down interview with Jim Ross and Bryan Danielson. Danielson reflects on signing his first developmental contract with JR 24 years ago. Danielson looks back and is so grateful for all the blessings. JR says Danielson’s body started failing him, and wonders what that brings up for Danielson. Dragon says it’s mostly his neck and the concussions. He has to be careful. But he also thinks of the ways his body has served him well. A lot of guys didn’t have to do the things he did on the indies just to get noticed. The odds are he’ll have to get neck surgery before the end of this year. He’s accepted it.
JR asks if he’s prepared for what he’ll need to beat a young, hungry champion. Each time previously, Danielson thought he was ready to beat the AEW champion in the past, but failed. But he’s always learnt something. 25 years into wrestling, he thinks he’s the best mentally he’s ever been. What will be the difference in this match? Exactly that, he’s at his best mentally than ever before, and that’s what will win him the AEW championship at All In.
Back from break, Lexy Nair catches up with Hikaru Shida. Shida says she called out Britt Baker, and Baker got the win on Dynamite. Now they’re 2-2. One day they will settle the score, but right now Shida needs a chance to go back to Wembley…and that last chance is Mercedes Mone. Shida says she’s the best, the longest reigning AEW Women’s champion in history, and the ace of the division. Put the TBS championship on the line this Wednesday, and then once she wins it, it will be her that moves on to Wembley to face Baker instead. I like that, nice intrigue, and a good promo from Shida.
Christian Cage now makes his way to the ring as the Special Guest Referee for our Trios match. And yes, he has a turtle neck referee’s shirt, because this man doesn’t miss.
Match Seven: [#1 Contenders Match for Trios Titles – Special Guest Ref: Christian Cage] The House of Black vs The Bang Bang Gang
Juice and King start this out for their respective teams. King backs Juice into the corner, Cage allows for the separation. King and Juice shove each other, now all six men enter the ring for a standoff. Cage backs them off, remaining impartial. Malakai Black in against Austin, kicks blocked, Gunn grabs the foot but Black holds him, allowing Buddy to tag in and nail a double stomp to the arm. Matthews gets in the face of Cage in a callback to being taken out a few weeks ago, but he turns his attention to Colten. Stalemate from both guys, standing switches, Matthews sends Colten to the floor. Juice gestures at Buddy to distract him, but Matthews hits an axe handle off the apron onto Colten.
Matthews climbs the buckles but Colten shoves him HARD back into the barricade! Austin follows up and sends Buddy into the railings before bringing him back in the ring. Juice tags in, vertical suplex, just a 1 count. Splash in the corner, neckbreaker delivered, another 1 count. Triple team from the BBG with a train of clotheslines and a leg lariat by Juice for 2. Juice stands on the head and neck of Buddy against the bottom rope, choking him out. Buddy takes out the Gunns on the apron, low bridges Juice to the outside, kicks him in the chest and hits a rising knee to Colten! Buddy makes the tag to Brody King! But Christian didn’t see it, so he sends King back out.
Buddy takes on all three members of the BBG again, whipping Austin head first into the top turnbuckle. Another knee lift, and now Buddy makes the tag and the ref sees it. Black is in, elbow strikes, kicks to Juice. Knee to Colten, diving moonsault off the buckles to the floor! Springboard moonsault in the ring! King splashes Austin, but Juice pulls him out to avoid the canonball…but King with a suicide dive to take out all 3 members of the Bang Bang Gang on the outside!
King continues the assault with chops while Buddy sends Juice into the barricade. Knees to Colten by Black, and the BBG are all placed together on chairs by the barricade. King takes a run up, HUGE running crossbody crushes all 3 members! King chops Austin, sending him back inside the ring, and then throws him right back out. Austin manages to take out the other two on the apron, makes the tag to Juice, who fires up on King with jabs. Dropkick by Colten! Black and King are in opposite corners, canonball by Juice on Black. Jumping lariat and a senton on King gets 2. Gunns are thinking 3:10 to Yuma but King avoids it, kicking Juice away. Black up top, diving double stomp! Lariat by Brody King, 1, 2, no, broken up by Juice and Austin. Austin tags himself in, chops King repeatedly but King is having none of it. He walks into a 3:10 to Yuma from Juice and Austin! 1, 2, no, Buddy makes the save. Austin with the Fameasser across the ropes! Double arm spinning neckbreaker by Colten, into the Bossman Slam from King. Juicy DDT, Buddy is up for the Meteora! This is wild now, and all 6 men are down as Christian makes the count. He gets to 9, Buddy gets up and he SPEARS HIM! And carries on the count, glorious. He signals for the bell.
Winners: N/A – Double Countout
Time: 16:18
Rating: ***3/4 – It’s a testament to every man in that ring tonight that despite a seemingly obvious result, they put on a great contest with genuinely engaging nearfalls and had me hooked. I am SO HERE for the presumed three-way Trios match at All In, that should be mighty tasty.
The Patriarchy run down with chairs and clean house, taking out all 6 men. Wayne and Killswitch toss Austin hard into the buckles and over the ropes to the floor. Wayne’s World from the steel steps to the floor! Cage with a chairshot to Buddy’s ankle, and now Killswitch with the chokeslam to Colten Gunn onto the steel chair. Wayne and Killswitch hold Malakai Black back, and give him to Cage, who delivers the Killswitch onto the steel chair. The Patriarchy stand tall as Collision goes off the air.
That was a hot finish to the show tonight! I’ll be back with more NJPW G1 action on Monday, and of course right back here for Collision coverage next Saturday. Have a good one, folks!
