The Dollar Loan Center, Las Vegas
Commentary – Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuiness, Kevin Kelly
Tag Team Match
Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli vs Star JR and Esfinge
Moxley and Castagnoli already beat the best two guys of CMLL last week now they are against two more CMLL wrestlers with a predictable outcome.
Jon Moxley seems to be in limbo at the moment, not having a meaningful feud or storyline going on, it feels like he has been stuck in this area for a while.
The commentary team mentioned that he is the only three time AEW champion, you would think someone with those credentials would involved in your top storylines or feuds but he is not.
On the flip side we know absolutely zero about Star JR and Esfinge only that they are from CMLL, So unless you’re a AEW hardcore fan it’s really hard to be invested or even care about this match.
This match went well over 15 mins with the CMLL wrestlers getting all their moves in until Moxley and Castagnoli had enough of playing around and destroyed Esfinge and Star JR with Castagnoli Straightjacket Powerbombing Esfinge and Moxley locking in a armbar to tap out Star JR.
Winner – Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli
After the match Moxley grabbed the mic and put all teams on notice that if any team steps up to them they will get stepped on.
FTR’s music plays as they come down to the ring, they stare it out until both teams begin to throw down with officials and wrestlers trying to break up the two teams up.
Singles Match
Daniel Garcia (with Matt Menard) vs Shane Taylor (with Lee Moriarty)
Daniel Garcia has been catching fire lately with win after win, I still find him very bland and haven’t understood his appeal. Shane Taylor on the other hand, I haven’t seen him win a match and just recently has been tapped out by Jon Moxley twice.
Garcia played his familiar role in this match where he takes a lot of punishment and makes a comeback, this time with Shane Toylor going for his leg drop, Garcia reversed it into a leg lock with Shane Taylor submitting yet again.
Winner – Daniel Garcia
A recap package from Dynamite played of The Young Bucks ambushing and attacking Sting and Darby Allin, this has been set up well as a good story for Sting’s eventual last match.
Backstage Lexi is with Eddie Kingston, who chimes in on the package that was played and says that it was disgusting what The Bucks did to Sting and Darby Allin. That they stole their thunder after winning the Tag Team Championships, comparing to Bryan Danielson doing the same to Bryan Keith last week.
Eddie Kingston challenges Bryan Danielson to a match at Revolution where when he wins Danielson has to shake his hand.
2 on 1 handicap match
Bryan Cage (with Prince Nana) vs The Outrunners
Brian Cage is trying to one up Hook by doing the same thing he did last week when he beat The Outrunners in a handicap match.
Brian Cage actually comes across legitimate like he could beat two men were as Hook doesn’t at all. Cage made very short work by winning by submission very quickly.
Winner – Brian Cage
There was a snake like mascot called Chance on the outside that was imitating Prince Nana’s Dance, Nana joined in with the mascot, the crowd cheered until Cage pummeled the mascot from behind.
Hook came out to confront Cage with both men scuffling to the back. On a side note, even though The Outrunners are used as enhancement talent, they entertain me with their retro old school look.
Lexi is backstage with The Undisputed Kingdom who is joined by Tomohiro Ishii asked to have the time to talk to him.
Matt Taven confronted Ishii saying that he never called him or texted when he was injured in the Kaos faction in Japan.
Roderick Strong said he was coming for Ishii at Revolution if he beats Orange Cassidy tonight.
Adam Copeland was next with a in ring Interview with Tony Schiavone, Tony said that he is the 3rd number one contender behind Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page, there is an International Champion and a TNT Champion he could go for if he chooses.
Copeland took a shot at Nicholas and Matthew Jackson of The Young Bucks and said that if he was there that night it wouldn’t have happened and sent them a warning.
He said he could go for all the titles and listed Eddie Kingston as a potential target for down the track but has his eyes on Christian Cage and his TNT Championship.
Daniel Garcia comes out to interrupt Copeland, he said the Copeland isn’t the only one that has been picking up wins lately and that he feels he deserves a shot at The TNT Championship. Copeland comes up with a proposal for a match for Dynamite on Wednesday where the winner faces Christian Cage for The TNT Championship.
They shake hands but Copeland doesn’t release the shake and gets in Garcia’s face saying that him trying to go for Christian’s TNT Title is taking food off his table and it doesn’t work for him, he said if Garcia hadn’t already had a match he would take his face off.
Garcia is visibly annoyed by this comment as Copeland walks off leaving him in the ring.
Rene is backstage with Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale and Stokley Hathaway.
Kris Statlander in these backstage segments still comes across unnatural with her talking on the mic not flowing. This was an odd segment but it seemed that Hathaway now endorses Willow.
They call out Skye Blue and Julie Hart for a match and ask Stokley about making that happen. He says he is blocked by Tony Kahn and leaves the scene.
Singles Match
Brody King (with Julia Hart) vs Marc Briscoe
Two brawlers battled it out in this one. It was only a matter of time until Marc Briscoe used a chair to jump off in the ring to the outside to flip on top of Brody King taking him out.
A lot of this match was spent on the outside the ring with both men inflicting damage on one another.
There was a table setup from earlier outside of the ring. Marc Briscoe was going to jump at King but was distracted by Julia Hart which allowed King the time to push Briscoe off the top rope to the outside with him landing on the table, the only problem is the production team completely missed this shot.
Brody King hit his finisher The Gonzo Bomb to pick up the victory. King’s mouth was full of blood from the match showing that he had been in a war.
King grabbed Briscoe with Julia Hart stabbing him in the head with a metal spike which left Briscoe gushing blood from his forehead.
The Bounty Hunter Bryan Keith is backstage with a promo, he has been on weeks of TV losing and now that he is signed he can finally have a promo, he says he is looking for the big matches and the big paydays.
Singles Match
Dionna Purrazzo vs Keira Hogan
Keira Hogan finds herself in a similar situation to Queen Aminata, where she is used to put others over.
Very predictable match, we always knew Purrazzo wasn’t going to lose as she in the main women’s program with Toni Storm.
The crowd wasn’t into this and were dead silent. I still find Purrazzo to have a very odd shape and I still think her ring attire should be different to hide her midsection which isn’t her best feature.
Purrazzo won with her Venus de Milo submission continuing on to her eventual match with Toni Storm.
Singles Match
Toni Storm vs Queen Aminata
Back to back predictable women’s matches with opposition that are very similar in their role on the card in Aminata and Keira Hogan.
Storm’s character was the only thing that was getting any reaction from the crowd, this went the same way as usual with Aminata making a good showing but coming up short.
Winner – Toni Storm
Can we not sometimes have perhaps Purrazzo or Storm interfere in each other’s matches causing them to lose instead of the predictable obvious outcome.
Storm grabs the mic and lays in the middle of the ring and rambles, she says she will have a new film released this week on Dynamite (she purposely pronounced it wrong)
International Championship Match
Orange Cassidy (c) vs Tomohiro Ishii
I’m going to be honest, I couldn’t care less about this match. I’m not a NJPW viewer and I don’t know anything about Ishii, worse yet AEW hasn’t done a thing to let me know anything about him so this being the main event is puzzaling to me.
This was a long match, the crowd were quite silent for it yet they still chanted “This is Awesome” which again I just don’t understand.
Winner – Orange Cassidy
The Undisputed Kingdom attacked Cassidy after the match but were stopped when Ishii came running back to come to Cassidy’s aid with Trent Beretta also coming to help as the show went off the air.
Kev’s thoughts – I’m sorry AEW fans but this show sucked, just a very dull, lifeless Collision this week especially on the back of a Dynamite which was solid.
I found possibly there might have a been a smaller crowd for the attendance as it came across quiet at times and maybe that was the reason but I definitely feel it was the predictability of the show that made is so bland.
There was nothing on this show that was must see or did anything to develop any storyline going forward. Once again we got a lot of predictable outcomes and generic verbiage on the promos.
Collision used to be the better show of the three but I’m starting to find this show to be the worst and it just feels that there is no effort being put in to make this must see.