‘AEW: Collision’ Review (Aug 16th 2025)
Welcome to this week’s review of AEW: 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 our review!
Match #1: Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta def. JetSpeed
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
With Moxley owning back to back victories over “Speedball” Mike Bailey and “The Jet” Kevin Knight, JetSpeed came together to try and stop their losing streak against The Death Riders in tag team action. They were a perfect 4-0 as a team on Collision, but this was their toughest test yet. JetSpeed clearly knew they had to get to work early, and hit stereo planchas onto Moxley and Yuta. After leaving Mox laying on the outside, Bailey and Knight went to work singling out Yuta in the ring. The plan worked beautifully until Moxley recovered. He evened the score, and then some. The Death Riders remained in control, although Cincinnati made it known that while they loved their hometown boy in Moxley, every time Yuta tagged in, he was mercilessly booed. Bailey desperately needed to tag in and finally did, getting the best of Yuta for a time until Moxley intervened and put both members of JetSpeed down on the outside, including a brutal release German suplex to Bailey on the apron. Mox continued to grind down on Bailey and even distracted the referee long enough for Marina Shafir to hit a big judo throw on the floor. Despite every attempt by Yuta to stop him, Speedball finally made the tag to a fresh Knight. A quick flurry of offense by The Jet was initially shut down by Yuta and Mox, but Knight fought back with a sky-high dropkick. That brought us back to Mox and Bailey, which turned into both men slugging each other back and forth until Knight and Yuta paired off and did the same as the crowd went wild. Bailey thought he had Mox dead to rights with a kick to the chin, but the former AEW World Champion backed off just in time and hit a cutter on Bailey. Knight got back in the mix to help out his partner, depositing Moxley outside to double-team Yuta. The JetSpeed offense was on full display when Knight leapt from the ring to the top rope to execute a hurricanrana on Yuta into the waiting arms of Bailey, who sat out with a powerbomb, which should have ended it. Shafir sensed trouble and intervened once again, but Bailey sidestepped her, sending Marina crashing into the steel steps and seemingly out of the mix. Back in the ring, Knight hit the UFO Splash on Yuta, but Shafir recovered just enough to roll in the ring and distract the referee. That gave Mox a chance to hit a Paradigm Shift on Bailey to the floor while Yuta low-blowed Knight and rolled him up to steal the win.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #2: Ricochet def. Ace Austin
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
After an altercation with Ricochet following AEW Dynamite, we were treated to the AEW debut of Ace Austin. The speed of Austin was on full display right from the jump, as he sent Ricochet sprawling to the outside, grasping for air just seconds into the match. Austin’s unreal athleticism seemed to be outdoing Ricochet, which is as rare as it gets, but the veteran savvy of Ricochet put him in control by knocking Austin off the top rope. The Gates of Agony made their way down the ramp to watch (and intimidate) as Ricochet continued to dominate. And as we’ve come to expect, Ricochet put himself in firm control with his own blend of arrogance and spectacular offense. Yet every time Ricochet thought he had Austin down, a two count would follow. This elicited more and more support from the Cincinnati crowd for the debuting Austin. The match turned once again when Austin gave Ricochet a dose of his own medicine by knocking Ricochet from the top. Austin immediately dove to the outside trying to inflict further damage, but also wound up coming into contact with GoA. Toa Liona stopped Austin from doing anything else, while Ricochet escaped back into the ring. The numbers game was too much for Austin and he succumbed to a Spirit Gun, earning the win for Ricochet. GoA attacked Austin after the match and posed with Ricochet after their successful night.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #3: Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong def. Blake Christian and Lee Johnson
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
Before they could head to the ring, Paragon spoke with Renee Paquette. While Kyle O’Reilly continued to show his lighter side by pushing Roderick Strong into conglomerating, Strong made it clear he was not stopping until he made the TNT Champion, Kyle Fletcher, pay for what he did to Adam Cole. O’Reilly then made plans with Hologram and Tomohiro Ishii to enjoy the tastes of Cincinnati. With O’Reilly and Strong maybe a little out of sync, the fast rising team of Blake Christian and Lee Moriarty put all of their cohesiveness on display for the world to see. Their combo offense had Paragon on the ropes early. Once Strong tagged in, the momentum shifted for good. A fired-up Strong went to work on both Christian and Moriarty, absolutely taking over the match while O’Reilly recovered. Once Strong and O’Reilly got into their rhythm, they were unstoppable and picked up the victory. Ishii and Hologram came out to celebrate, yet Strong showed no interest.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #4: Kris Statlander def. Penelope Ford, Anna Jay, and Julia Hart
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
In a match that featured four of the longest-tenured members of the women’s division, $100,000 was on the line as the prize money continued to flow in AEW. Kris Statlander was clearly the favorite of Cincinnati, as you might expect on a Staturday Night, and she was able to feed off the crowd to gain an early advantage. Of course, it’s never that easy with four competitors in the mix, so Statlander wasn’t dominating for long. Statlander got back in the action by turning a superplex attempt into a double powerbomb on Hart and Ford, but Anna Jay immediately took advantage of the distracted Statlander and nearly won the match. Ford started to take over with a cutter to Anna Jay and a poisionrana to Statlander, but she barely had a chance to do anything more, as Hart immediately knocked Ford down and turned her attention to Jay. Meanwhile, Ford recovered and had Statlander down and went for a moonsault at the same time Hart tried the same on Jay across the ring. Both downed opponents got their feet up, but when Statlander and Jay tried to fight back with clotheslines, they wound up taking out each other. The chaos at the end of the contest made it anyone’s match, but Statlander cashed in when she locked Hart in a head scissors submission for the win.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #5: Juice Robinson def. Bryan Keith
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
The Bang Bang Gang recently became enemies of Big Bill and “The Bad Apple” Bryan Keith, so tonight was another chance to settle their differences … with violence of course. Juice Robinson got off to a hot start, as he continues to ride a new-found motivation in AEW with the fans clearly getting behind both he and Austin Gunn every week. Eventually, Keith slowed the pace down in an effort to calm down the clearly pro-Juice crowd and had Juice locked in a Texas Cloverleaf, yet Juice found a way to escape. As Juice battled his way back into the match, Keith’s work on Robinson’s knee was apparent, although he refused to let it slow him down too much. Big Bill tried to get involved, but was yanked off the apron by Austin Gunn. Gunn avoided a sprinting Bill, sending the big man into the guard rail. Back in the ring, Juice put Keith down for the three count with a Juice is Loose and escaped up the ramp before an enraged Bill could attack.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #6: Nigel McGuinness def. Daniel Garcia, Hechicero, and Lee Moriarty
The following is courtesy of allelitewrestling.com:
As Tony Schiavone pointed out on commentary, no one was allowed at ringside and a second referee was outside to enforce that rule for this Technical Spectacle. Right away, Daniel Garcia paired off with Hechicero while Nigel McGuinness and Lee Moriarty put their focus on each other. The two mini battles raged throughout the opening minutes of the match, both in and out of the ring. At one point, Garcia and Hechicero traded near-fall reversals and wound up rolling through each other’s pin attempts for a tour around the ring. All four competitors wound up in a jumble of submissions all connected to each other, yet no one would tap and eventually the moves were released with everyone in too much pain. The original pairs came back together, as Hecichero ditched the technical aspect of the match by chucking Garcia over the guardrail while Moriarty and McGuinness jockeyed for position on the inside. Moriarty locked McGuinness in a crossface, but instead of breaking it up, Hechicero put a leg lock on Moriarty. Garcia recovered to lock up Hechiero in a submission of his own and once again all four men were locked together. McGuinness recovered the fastest and put Hechicero on the top rope for a successful Tower of London while also kicking a charging Moriarty, but Garcia made the save before McGuinness could get the win. All four men were in desperation mode at the end, looking to do anything possible to lock in a winning submission or pinning predicament, which tested the cardio of referee Aubrey Edwards, as she was constantly checking for tap outs and pins. Hechicero nearly put Moriarity away, but McGuinness quickly snatched him up in an armbar. Garcia immediately grabbed Moriarty in a leg submission, as it was a race to who could win first. McGuinness decided to just wallop Garcia to break up all the submissions, much to the chagrin of Daddy Magic on commentary. Finally, with Garcia locking up Hechicero, McGuinness locked Moriarty in the London Dungeon to get the win! He moves on to AEW Forbidden Door next weekend to face Zack Sabre Jr. for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
My Score: 4.5 out of 5
Final Verdict: 4/5
This week’s Collision delivered a strong mix of wrestling and storyline drama. Nigel McGuinness triumphed in a thrilling four-way technical showcase against Daniel Garcia, Lee Moriarty, and Hechicero, earning a dream match with Zack Sabre Jr. at Forbidden Door. The women’s division stole attention with Toni Storm’s fiery promo cut short by an Athena-led ambush, only for Mina Shirakawa to return and even the odds. Later, Kris Statlander scored a big four-way win before Harley Cameron made a wild and chaotic return. Meanwhile, Ace Austin impressed in his AEW debut despite losing to Ricochet, while the Death Riders, Paragon, and Juice Robinson all notched victories. Collision continues to prove itself as a vital centerpiece of AEW programming and this episode felt like a show designed to reward long-time fans while setting the stage for something even bigger… making this week’s episode a must-see!