‘AEW: Collision’ Review (Jun 15th 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 of this special anniversary show!
Match #1: Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli) def. Rocky Romero, Lio Rush & TMDK (Mikey Nichols & Shane Haste)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Lio Rush attempted a round kick on Danielson, but Danielson ducked it. Rush rocked Danielson with a hurracanrana. Yuta tagged in and ate a thrust kick from Rush. Lio tagged out to Rocky Romero. Yuta and Romero traded strikes in the center of the ring. Yuta hit a German Suplex on Rocky. Claudio grabbed a tag, but TMDK jumped into the fray. Nichols nailed Claudio with a running lariat. Claudio face planted both members of TMDK and tagged Danielson in. Danielson blasted Haste with a shotgun dropkick. Haste cut off Danielson with a running elbow. Danielson managed to apply the Le Bell Lock, but Haste grabbed the ropes to force the ref to break the hold. Meanwhile the members of both teams began to brawl around the ring. Rocky rammed into Danielson with the Forever Clotheslines. Rocky hoisted Danielson up onto the top turnbuckle but Danielson countered with a giant Manhattan Drop. Claudio came in and cleaned house on TMDK! Claudio clubbed Haste with a European Uppercut and then a big back body drop! Claudio jumped on Haste with a double foot stomp. TMDK double teamed Claudio to cut off his momentum. Moxley tagged in and caught Nichol with a cutter. Moxley planted Nichols with a piledriver. Mox and Nichols had the same idea and collided into one another with lariats. Lio Rush tagged in and went for a frog splash, but Mox avoided it. Mox pump kicked Lio Rush. TMDK jumped in and hit tandem offense on Moxley. Claudio jumped in and put Rocky in the Giant Swing. Claudio hoisted up Lio Rush, tossing him over to Moxley. Mox grabbed Lio midair and drilled Lio with the Death Rider, scoring the pin for the BCC!
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #2: No Disqualification Match – Deonna Purrazzo def. Thunder Rosa
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Thunder Rosa rammed Deonna Purrazzo into the top of the steel steps. Thunder Rosa went for a dropkick, but Deonna dodged it. Deonna smashed Thunder Rosa’s arm in between the ring and the top of the ring steps. Thunder Rosa rallied back with a Death Valley Driver. Thunder Rosa pulled a table out from beneath the ring. As Thunder Rosa was placing the table into the ring, Deonna whacked Thunder Rosa with a sliding baseball dropkick, knocking the table into Thunder Rosa’s head. Deonna grabbed a chair and tried to hit Thunder Rosa with it, but Thunder Rosa booted the chair into Deonna’s head. Thunder Rosa planted Deonna with a Samoan Drop onto a table. Deonna fired back with a big shoulder tackle on Thunder Rosa, who was tied in the Tree of Woe. Thunder Rosa spiked Deonna with a DDT onto the steel chair for a near fall. Thunder Rosa put a garbage can over Deonna’s head. Thunder Rosa used the table as a ramp, running up the table, jumping off, and dropkicking the garbage can that was on top of Deonna’s head. Deonna nailed Thunder Rosa with a piledriver. Deonna applied the Venus De Milo, but Thunder Rosa escaped. Deonna kicked a camera man at ringside. She grabbed his camera and smashed it into Thunder Rosa’s head. Deonna applied the Venus De Milo while Thunder Rosa was tied up in the ropes and the referee stopped the match!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #3: CMLL’s Hechicero def. Dalton Castle
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Castle and Hechicero traded chops and then forearm shots in the center of the ring. Hechicero clobbered Dalton with a diving cross body. Dalton drilled Hechicero with a basement DDT. Castle tried for the Bang-a-Rang but Hechicero escaped. Hechicero charged at Castle, but Castle countered with a suplex. Hechicero cracked Dalton with a knee lift and then brought him down with a twisting leg drop to pick up the pin fall!
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #4: Dante Martin def. Lee Moriarty
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
The winner qualifies for a shot at the vacant TNT Championship at Forbidden Door in the TNT Title Ladder Match. Moriarty went to work on Dante’s legs. Dante used the bottom rope to spring out of the way of Lee. Dante dropkicked Lee from in between the ropes and then chopped Lee. Moriarty planted Dante and applied the Border City Stretch. Dante reached the ropes with his boot, forcing the ref to break the hold. Dante cracked Lee with a knee lift. Dante followed up with a meteora from the top! Dante dropped a frog splash onto Lee and pinned Moriarty!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #5: Kyle O’Reilly def. Anthony Henry
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Roderick Strong was on commentary for this match. Strong was accompanied by ROH World Tag Team Champions Matt Taven and Mike Bennett. Kyle and Anthony grappled to the mat. Kyle applied an arm bar, but Anthony rolled to the ropes. Kyle hit a flurry of offense and knocked Henry to the mat. Kyle applied the cross arm breaker and Henry tapped out!
My Score: 0 out of 5
Match #6: House of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) def. The Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson & The Gunns – Austin & Colten Gunn)
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Black blasted Juice with a kick after Juice taunted him. Juice tagged right out to Austin. Brody tagged in for House of Black and Austin immediately tagged out to Colten. Brody clobbered the Gunns and sent them over the top rope with a lariat. Brody charged into the Bang Bang Gang, splashing all three men against the barricade with a running cross body press. Juice and the Gunns isolated Malakai in their corner of the ring. Juice rocked Black with a leg lariat for a near fall. Juice tried for a running cannonball, but Black moved out of the way. The Gunns tried to keep Black from making the tag to his corner, but Black fought them off and tagged Buddy Matthews! Buddy cleaned house on the Gunns. Buddy connected with a meteora to Juice. Buddy had an awkward landing and tagged out to Brody King. AEW Medical Staff came out to check on Buddy. The medical team helped Buddy to the back. This left the House of Black outnumbered by the Bang Bang Gang. Juice connected with a running cannonball to Brody in the corner. Brody dropped Juice with the Bossman Slam! A more-than-usual motivated Black tagged in and decimated the Gunns and Robinson with kicks and strikes, clearly worked up over the odds being against his team. The Gunns spiked Brody with the 3:10 to Yuma, but he wasn’t the legal man. Juice climbed to the top rope but “The Bastard” Pac knocked Juice off the top turnbuckle. Pac flipped off Austin with the middle finger! Malakai Black cold cocked Austin with The End kick and pinned him!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Final Verdict: 3/5
Another week another solid episode of Collision, with 5 good matches and only one squash match this week. Though not much was really made of the one-year anniversary, which was a surprise. Instead, we got the usual good matches, nothing that truly stood out but the kind of dependable stuff we’ve come to expect from the Saturday night show. Nice to see Dante Martin and Lee Moriarty get a spotlight on this week’s show, both men showcasing why they still deserve their spots in AEW even with ALL the new incoming high-profile talent! The main event, whilst not outstanding, was a whole heap of fun – though was the Patriarchy stuff tacked on to cover up an actual injury to Matthews? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
