‘AEW: Collision’ Review (Apr 20th 2024)
Welcome to this week’s review of AEW’s latest television show, Collision, which brings wrestling back to Saturday nights! We’ve got the commentary team of Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness calling the action, so let’s get into the review!
Match #1: Adam Copeland, Mark Briscoe & Eddie Kingston def. Action Andretti & Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Briscoe and Action countered one another in the opening minutes of the match, but Briscoe leveled Action with a flying forearm. Copeland came in but Action cracked him with a back elbow. Darius and Dante used combos on Copeland. Adam Copeland scooped up Dante and grounded him with a running powerslam. Kingston grabbed a tag from Copeland. Kingston clubbed Dante with a stiff lariat. Dante connected with a jumping knee strike. Darius and Mark tagged in for their respective teams. Darius drilled Copeland and Briscoe with a double DDT. Briscoe sent Action and Darius flying with exploders. Both teams charged at one another, and they all had the same idea, colliding with clotheslines. Briscoe planted Darius with the Jay Driller. Kingston clocked Action with the spinning back fist, and Copeland followed up with a spear to Action! Briscoe splashed Action with the froggy bow, and Kingston covered Action for the pin!
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #2: Powerhouse Hobbs def. CJ Esparza
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Powerhouse Hobbs bulldozed Esparza. Hobbs hit the World’s Most Dangerous Slam on the apron over and over. Hobbs put Esparza in the torture rack and quickly gained a dominant victory.
My Score: 0 out of 5
Match #3: The Gunns (Austin & Colten Gunn) def. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Schiavone said that Tony Khan told him that if the Gunns walked out, they wouldn’t have a match tomorrow at Dynasty. The Acclaimed grabbed the Gunns and pulled them back into the ring. Bowens blasted Colten with the Fame-Asser. Bowens cradled Colten for a pin, but Colten shoved Bowens off him, inadvertently knocking Bowens into Caster. Bowens smashed Colten over his knee and went for the cover, but Austin jumped in to break up the pin. Austin grabbed Bowens by the ankle. Colten hit the Fame Asser this time for a near fall on Bowens. Austin entered the match with a running bulldog on Bowens. Caster grabbed a blind tag. Colten racked Caster’s eyes and then forearmed Caster to the back of the neck. Caster tried to rally back, climbing to the top turnbuckle, but Colten shoved Caster. The Gunns smashed Bowens with 3:10 to Yuma! Caster jumped from the top with the Mic Drop on Austin. In all the commotion, Colten covered Caster for a pin, and with the assistance of some leverage from Jay White and White’s baseball bat, got the three-count!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #4: Bunkhouse Brawl – Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli) def. The Don Callis Family (Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Takeshita and Fletcher ambushed the BCC as the BCC made their entrance. The two teams brawled into the crowd! Claudio rammed a garbage can into Takeshita’s body. Danielson whipped Fletcher into the barricade and then onto the announcers’ desk. Takeshita hit Claudio with the time keeper’s bell hammer. Danielson wrapped a cord around Fletcher on the floor, trying to choke him out. Claudio put Takeshita into the Giant Swing and then Danielson dropkicked Takeshita. Fletcher cracked Danielson with a steel chair. Fletcher blinded Claudio with powder in the eyes. Fletcher power bombed Claudio for a near fall. Danielson countered a brain buster on the ramp with a DDT to Takeshita. Claudio clocked Fletcher in the head with Fletcher’s championship belt. Danielson was busted wide open. Claudio smashed Fletcher’s head into the steel ring steps, and now Fletcher was bleeding from the head. Danielson dropped Takeshita with a spin kick to the head. Fletcher grabbed Danielson by the ankle and Takeshita seized the moment to double team Danielson. Takeshita wrapped a steel chain around his fist. Takeshita tried to hit Danielson with the chain, but Danielson blocked it with a kick. The BCC put Takeshita and Fletcher in stereo Le Bell Locks. Hobbs ran into the ring and wiped out the BCC with spinebusters. From out of nowhere, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley got into the ring and he and Powerhouse Hobbs duked it out! They brawled into the crowd. Fletcher grabbed Danielson and put him into the waiting arms of Takeshita, who was on the turnbuckles. Takeshita was looking to powerbomb Danielson from the turnbuckles onto a steel chair, but Danielson countered with a hurracanrana! Claudio had the steel chain wrapped around his arm and nailed Fletcher with a running lariat. Danielson rocked Fletcher with a running knee strike! Danielson wrapped the chain around Fletcher, put Fletcher in the Le Bell Lock, and forced Fletcher to tap out!
My Score: 4 out of 5
Match #5: Skye Blue def. Leyla Hirsch
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Leyla escaped the Code Blue and then pump kicked Skye. Skye Blue nailed Leyla with a spinning neck breaker off the apron onto the arena floor. Blue blasted Leyla with a cartwheel elbow to the face. Leyla rallied back with a suplex off the turnbuckles. Skye Blue wasn’t dazed for long, winning with the dragon sleeper.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #6: Pac & FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) def. Kazuchika Okada & The Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Pac stunned Okada with an onslaught of kicks. Pac and FTR hit the Elite with sliding baseball kicks. Dax grabbed a tag and chopped Okada in the corner. Matthew tagged in but ate a hip toss from Dax. Pac was looking for the Rings of Saturn on Okada, but the Bucks ran in to make the save. The Elite tried for their own baseball dropkick to the outside, but FTR and Pac dodged it. Pac cracked Nicholas with a running kick and then a brain buster. Matthew jumped in to break up the pin attempt on his brother. Pac fought off all three members of the Elite! Dax hoisted up Okada for a stuffed piledriver with the assistance of Pac. Okada distracted the referee while the Bucks double teamed Pac outside the ring! Back in the ring, Okada face planted Pac. Dax grabbed a hot tag and cleaned house on the Bucks! Dax drilled Okada with a brain buster. Okada rocked Dax with a DDT. Okada dared Dax to hit him, and Dax obliged with chops. Okada leveled Dax with a dropkick. Dax countered a Rainmaker with the Sharp Shooter. The Bucks superkicked Dax to break Okada free. Pac connected with a 450 splash on Matthew Jackson, but the Elite broke up the pin. The Bucks stunned Pac with superkicks and then planted Pac with the Shatter Machine for a near fall! The Bucks walloped Pac with the EVP Trigger, but Cash Wheeler was there to save Pac from the pin. FTR rallied back with the Shatter Machine on Matthew! Pac hit the Black Arrow on Matthew Jackson and scored the pin!
My Score: 4 out of 5
Final Verdict: 4/5
Surprise, surprise, AEW pulls it out the bag on the night before their latest pay-per-view Dynasty. What an episode! With not one but TWO fantastic multi-man matches in the Bunkhouse Brawl and the Trios main event. I mean, with the guys involved great matches were expected but expectations don’t always meet reality but here they certainly did. Not quite up to the same standard as those two matches, the opening trios match was a great teaser for Copeland, Briscoe and Kingston teaming together at Dynasty – a match that is, for me, one of the must-see of the upcoming PPV. On a side note, it is GREAT to see Leyla Hirsch back on AEW programming, she was on a real roll before her injury and now she’s back I’m hoping she can work her way back up the AEW women’s roster once again. I often say that you can skip shows on big wrestling weekends like this – after all you’ve got Smackdown, Rampage, Collision, TNA’s Rebellion pay-per-view AND Dynasty all in one weekend – but this is definitely a 100% unskippable episode of Collision!