Dynamite
Date: June 24, 2026
Location: Rio Rancho Events Center, Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Taz

It’s the last Dynamite before Forbidden Door and the finals are officially set for the Owen Hart Cups. That means we need to have the big hype segments for Sunday’s final showdowns. As for tonight, Zack Sabre Jr. is here again to face Jack Perry in his Forbidden Door warmup match. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Jon Moxley gives the Death Riders a pep talk. Will Ospreay gets in their bouncing circle and falls down. Well of course he did.

Death Riders vs. Brodido/Mistico

Yuta grabs Bandido’s arm to start and they trade takedowns. Back up and Bandido snaps off a running headscissors before headlocking Moxley. That earns Bandido a trip into the corner, meaning Castagnoli can stomp him down. Bandido shrugs that off and brings Mistico in to get a rather spinning headscissors to take Castagnoli down.

It’s off to King for the big man slugout and of course King can run the ropes to springboard into a double wristdrag to Castagnoli and Moxley. The Riders are sent outside for a triple dive and we take an early break. We come back with Bandido still in trouble and Moxley getting two off a suplex.

Bandido gets in a running kick to the chest and Mistico gets the much needed tag. That means house can quickly be cleaned, including a quick sunset flip for two on Castagnoli. Bandido muscles Castagnoli over for a suplex but Marina Shafir offers a distraction. That’s enough for Moxley to get in a belt shot and roll King up for the pin at 12:19.

Rating: B. This was a good, hard hitting opening match with King getting to showcase his impressive athleticism. At the same time, this doesn’t make Bandido look strong going into his title shot and Mistico has his upcoming tag match and this…really had nothing to do with that either. It’s a weird way to go, though Bandido getting a pin here would have made a bit more sense.

Post match Bandido has a quick staredown with the Riders.

The Conglomeration is ready to fight in the cage at Forbidden Door. Darby Allin is ready to fight and the team promises to load up their backpacks. The rest of the team leaves and Orange Cassidy looks a bit annoyed but insists he’s fine. Renee Paquette doesn’t seem convinced.

Survival Of The Fittest Qualifying Match: Marina Shafir vs. Harley Cameron

Cameron is in Supergirl inspired gear and gets kicked in the ribs to start fast. Shafir mounts her but Cameron is right out into a half crab. That’s broken up as well and Cameron knocks her outside for a crossbody off the steps. Back in and Shafir gives her an AA and we take an early break. We come back with Shafir snapping off some judo throws but Cameron manages a belly to back suplex. Cameron hammers away in the corner until Shafir knees her right back. The half crab is broken up again so Shafir flips her into a choke, only to have Cameron backflip into a cradle for the pin at 7:52.

Rating: C+. This was a nice surprise victory for Cameron but what matters the most here is that Cameron is going to be in next week’s match. I’m not sure if she’s going to win the title and she probably won’t, but at least she’s going to bring her rather amazing charisma to the whole thing. She’s a good bonus to the match and could even win the whole thing, which is kind of stunning considering where she was when she first came to AEW.

Video on Maya World vs. Mercedes Mone in the Women’s Owen Hart Cup finals.

Will Ospreay vs. ELP

ELP (El Phantasmo) works on the arm to start and runs Ospreay over with a shoulder, earning him a nip up. Ospreay sends him outside without much trouble and hits a slingshot dive but ELP is back up with a quick drop onto the apron. One heck of a moonsault takes Ospreay down again and we take an early break.

We come back with Ospreay hitting an enziguri, only for ELP to grab a tornado DDT. Ospreay’s forearms make ELP laugh and they trade kicks to the head until Ospreay grabs a standing Spanish Fly. ELP gets in a superkick for two of his own but Ospreay flips over into a Styles Clash. The Hidden Blade pins ELP at 10:42.

Rating: B-. It was another entertaining match with Ospreay getting to do all of his stuff, though again I’m not sure how well this did to make Ospreay look great. It did a good job of building up ELP, who hung with Ospreay for a good while before getting taken out. That’s something that happens quite a bit during this season and it’s kind of annoying as Ospreay is in the likely main event of Forbidden Door and ELP isn’t likely going to be here beyond tonight.

Post match Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana come out for a staredown, with Ospreay leaving through the crowd.

Swerve Strickland vs. Daniel Garcia

Garcia walks in from outside and…how long has he been waiting out there? Strickland runs him over to start so Garcia pops up to get in Strickland’s face. That’s not a good idea as Strickland shoves him down and stomps away, setting up a running boot to the floor. This time Garcia pulls Strickland down for a hammering but takes too long yelling at a fan. Strickland kicks him in the face again and we take a break.

We come back with Strickland missing a Swerve Stomp to the apron and getting his leg dragon screw whipped. Strickland’s leg is fine enough to roll over and drop Garcia with a suplex. Garcia’s clothesline is shrugged off so he kicks out the leg instead. The ankle lock has Strickland in more trouble but he backbreakers his way out. A powerbomb is spun into a powerslam (cool) to plant Garcia, who pops up with a Styles Clash for two of his own. Strickland House Calls him for two, followed by a Hidden Blade to finish Garcia at 12:25.

Rating: B. Much like the previous match, this was a good way to build up someone who has nothing going on while the person set for a big match on Sunday is going 50/50 with Garcia. If protecting Garcia is that important (and I’m sure it is for whatever reason), don’t put him in the match. Strickland and Ospreay should have looked like killers in their matches and instead they’re just out there taking 10+ minutes to beat stars beneath them.

Post match Strickland goes after Garcia’s arm so Ospreay runs back in for the brawl. Nana offers a distraction though and Strickland gives Ospreay the House Call. A Vertebreaker drops Garcia and Ospreay chases Strickland off with a chair.

Video on Team Ospreay vs. Team MJF.

Don Callis and his Family are ready to win but MJF cuts them off to rant about Mark Briscoe. The reality is that Briscoe has never beaten MJF and that isn’t going to change. MJF thinks the two sides haven’t been on the same page but Callis whips out a shirt for TEAM DCMJF and yes the image is of them muscular and in limited clothing. MJF and Callis love it but the Family is less than impressed.

Jack Perry vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Sabre takes him down with a cravate and shrugs off Sabre’s attempt to go after the leg. They fight over a double arm crank until Perry rolls him up for some near falls. A very near fall sends Sabre outside but he’s fine enough to start in on the arm, including snapping it over the top rope.

We take a break and come back with Perry hitting a Sliced Bread but getting sent outside. Sabre grabs a cross armbreaker on the floor but has to let it go, allowing Perry to hit another Sliced Bread on the apron. A moonsault to the floor takes Sabre out again, only for him to grab a triangle choke back inside. Perry reverses into a sitout powerbomb for two and the Snare Trap has Sabre in trouble for a change. Sabre twists the arm around to escape so Perry grabs a package powerbomb for two more. That earns him a double arm crank, with Sabre using his leg to pull Perry’s arm down for the submission at 13:12.

Rating: B-. This was a good example of Sabre getting to take Perry apart, which boosts him up on the way to facing Kenny Omega on Sunday. Granted we saw Sabre do something similar in his most recent match around here so it was only so necessary. It’s certainly fitting the theme for the night though and we’ll get the big match with Omega soon enough.

Young Bucks vs. TMDK

Tito jumps Matt from behind to start fast but the Bucks are right back with their stereo running bulldogs. A double clothesline puts TMDK on the floor for the stereo dives, followed by some back elbows to the face back inside. Matt gets crotched on top though and Nick gets pulled out of the air, with a spinebuster getting two on Matt in a big crash. Matt flips away from both of them though and grabs a DDT, allowing the tag off to Nick. House is cleaned and the Superkick Party is on, setting up the Meltzer Driver to pin Nicholls at 4:20.

Rating: C+. It was fun while it lasted and I’ll take this over the rest of the matches, as the Bucks get a pretty nice win over a team who doesn’t have anything going on. That’s a good way to go here as there was no reason to have the Bucks in any serious trouble. Nice enough job here and I’ll take that just about all the time.

Post match TMDK jumps the Bucks and Kenny Omega makes the save. Forearms are exchanged with Sabre and TMDK bails. Omega says may the best man win on Sunday and he certainly will.

We look at Thekla invading a Stardom show and attacking the owner.

Survivor Of The Fittest Qualifying Match: Red Velvet vs. Queen Aminata

Velvet’s ROH Women’s TV Title isn’t on the line. Velvet rolls over her into a sunset flip for an early two and then wristdrags her down again. Aminata is right back with a snap suplex for one but the big headbutt misses. Aminata’s right hands in the corner are countered into a powerbomb and we take a break.

We come back with Velvet grabbing a sitout bulldog for two but Aminata gives her a slingshot reverse suplex to leave them both down. The running boot in the corner sets up a middle rope double stomp for two on Velvet. Back up and Velvet flips her off the top, setting up a frog splash to the back for two. Velvet kicks away and, after an apology, misses the big kick to the head. Aminata knocks her into the ropes and hits a PK for the pin at 10:17.

Rating: C+. And of course a reigning champion loses clean in a qualifying match. I’m sure there was absolutely no one else available to take this loss, but it’s just Ring Of Honor anyway, which has been treated like nothing since it was brought back from the dead to create a promotion of cannon fodder. This is the kind of stupid stuff that drives me crazy in wrestling and it doesn’t need to happen but here we are anyway.

The Young Bucks are ready to superkick their opponents at Forbidden Door but Adam Copeland and Christian Cage brawl through with the Dogs. They brawl into the makeup area and Connors blinds Copeland with some hairspray to take over. The Dogs choke them both out. And we get a five second pose, complete with Cage’s old over the top sunglasses.

International Title: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ricochet

Takeshita is defending and the Gates Of Agony are here with Ricochet. An early cheap shot knocks Takeshita outside and the big flip dive hits him as well. Back in and a springboard 450 gives Ricochet two as he’s certainly starting fast. Takeshita is back up but misses a charge in the corner, allowing Ricochet to hit a 619. The springboard clothesline and a running shooting star press give Ricochet two and we take a break.

We come back with Ricochet striking away in the corner and knocking him out to the floor. The shooting star off the apron is countered into a suplex though and they’re both down. Back in and a Blue Thunder Bomb gives Takeshita two before they trade kicks to the head. The wheelbarrow suplex drops Ricochet, who is right back up with Vertigo for two.

A shooting star press gives Ricochet two but he flips out of a German superplex. Takeshita’s Last Ride gets two but Ricochet uses the referee to cut off the running knee. A kick to the head sets up a Ricosault for two and Ricochet is stunned on the kickout. Takeshita drops him with a clothesline though and it’s the running knee and Raging Fire to retain at 13:48.

Rating: B. I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised that these two had a fast paced match together and they made it work here. Ricochet getting a somewhat random title match is hardly a stretch and it’s fine as a main event for a bit of an odd show. Takeshita gets a nice title defense as well and that’s a good thing as he looks for his next big challenger.

Here is Mark Briscoe with something to say about MJF. He and his friends are ready to fight in the cage on Sunday and he brings up their history in Blood & Guts. That was all about the thrill of the fight but this has some more consequential implications. Briscoe agrees that he and MJF are nothing alike (and he thanks God for that) but he knows he can beat MJF if they get a chance. On Sunday, he’ll be fighting with his friends while MJF has some hired stars who don’t care about him.

Cue Don Callis for a distraction so MJF can jump Briscoe from behind. Briscoe fights back and we get the parade of people running in one at a time to hit a single big move. Andrade has to save MJF from the Jay Driller but they go face to face. Callis cuts that off and MJF loads up the ring, only to accidentally hit Andrade. The Jay Driller lays MJF out to end the show. This was pretty much what you would have expected, though they do have some stories in the big cage match, which does help things.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a good example of a show where it’s perfectly fine from a quality standpoint, but it’s not something that interests me. A good chunk of this show was built around setting up Forbidden Door matches for wrestlers who aren’t likely to be regulars around here in a few days.

They aren’t regulars coming into this show either and it made for a less than thrilling show. Forbidden Door isn’t doing much to get my attention this year, though they’ve done an effective enough job with what they had. Not a bad show at all here (though another champion losing in a qualifying match makes my head hurt), but not my taste for the most part.

Results
Death Riders b. Brodido/Mistico – Rollup to King
Harley Cameron b. Marina Shafir – Cradle
Will Ospreay b. ELP – Hidden Blade
Swerve Strickland b. Daniel Garcia – Hidden Blade
Zack Sabre Jr. b. Jack Perry – Double arm crank
Young Bucks b. TMDK – Meltzer Driver to Nicholls
Queen Aminata b. Red Velvet – PK in the ropes
Konosuke Takeshita b. Ricochet – Raging Fire

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Collision
Date: June 20, 2026
Location: Smart Financial Center, Sugar Land, Texas
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness, Excalibur

We’re eight days away from Forbidden Door and this week we get another match officially set for the show. In this case it’s the semifinals of the Women’s Owen Hart Cup with Athena facing Maya World. Other than than we should have the usual big Collision attraction, meaning the announcements of stuff for Dynamite. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Young Bucks/Jack Perry vs. Lethal Twists

Christian jumps Nick to start fast and everything breaks down in a hurry. Perry hits a suicide dive onto Johnson but misses a moonsault and gets superkicked by Christian. The Bucks make the save and it’s Christian getting kneed in the corner. Perry gets tied up in the Tree Of Woe though and Christian adds a moonsault as we take a break.

We come back with the Twists going after Perry’s knee but the leg is fine enough to snap off a hurricanrana to the floor. Matt gets the tag to clean house and the Bucks do their top rope double stomp on the rope into the sitout powerbomb. Stereo powerbombs out of the corner set up stereo Scorpion Deathlocks with Perry getting Lethal in the Snare Trap.

Everyone makes the ropes and it’s Perry slugging it out with Lethal. Johnson and Lethal are back with cutters as commentary points out that the referee is just watching and enjoying the match. The Death Valley Driver into Hail To The King gets two on Perry and we hit the parade of everyone kicking everyone. Perry gets in a double poisonrana and the Meltzer Driver finishes Johnson (McGuinness: “Five stars.”) at 14:20.

Rating: B. As usual, starting with the Bucks is a good way to get the crowd going as the AEW fans absolutely love these guys. It makes a lot of sense to go this way and the Lethal Twists are a good choice for their victims. Yes it feels like a match we’ve seen about a million times, but that’s kind of a feature with the Bucks.

Kris Statlander and Mina Shirakawa seem to respect each other but they’re ready to fight tonight. Harley Cameron will be on commentary and tells them to shake, though they shake hands while she shakes her….yeah you get the idea.

Hikaru Shida doesn’t care who she’s going to be facing in Survival Of The Fittest because TBS will stand for THE BEST IS SHIDA!

Survival Of The Fittest: Mina Shirakawa vs. Kris Statlander

Harley Cameron is on commentary. Shirakawa’s headlock has Statlander down early on until she sends Shirakawa hard into the corner. A Stunner over the top rope drops Statlander but she catches Shirakawa with something like a Big Ending onto the apron. We take a break and come back with Shirakawa hitting La Mistica before knocking Statlander outside. Back in and a missile dropkick gives Shirakawa two but Statlander is back with the Falcon Arrow for two of her own. Shirakawa comes back with another La Mistica but Statlander rolls her up for the fast pin at 9:09.

Rating: C+. Statlander winning clean is good to see as she’s kind of been all over the place lately. I’m not sure if she’s going to win the title, but at least she has something to do at the moment. On the other hand you have Shirakawa, who has felt like she’s in the middle of nowhere for months and that doesn’t seem to be changing.

Post match match respect is shown, with Harley Cameron joining in.

We get a commercial for the Bang Bang Gang’s spay and neuter center.

Jack Perry talks about Zack Sabre Jr. welcoming him to Japan in an act of kindness. He would love another act of kindness in the form of a match on Dynamite. After they can hit the bar again, with Perry picking up the tab, because the winner should always pay.

Hurt Syndicate vs. Warren Johnson/Zack Mason

Lashley gets annoyed at a chop and it’s off to Mason, with Lashley shoving both of them down. It’s off to Benjamin for a nasty German suplex, followed by a running knee. Lashley hits the spear on Johnson and Benjamin gets the pin at 1:52.

Post match MVP says that the Hurt Syndicate doesn’t want titles, but they are more than willing to hurt people for money. If anyone is interested, come find them.

Skyflight is ready for Dante Martin to face Mistico. In addition, Matt Sydal is back and Skyflight has his back. I’m really not sure if this team needs another warm body.

Nigel McGuinness introduces Tommaso Ciampa and Chris Jericho for a face to face chat. Jericho praises Ciampa and knows that he’s wanted to face him for a reason. The question is which version of Jericho Ciampa will face, but it won’t matter because all of them will take him out. Ciampa likes the sound of that and he wants to face Jericho on July 8 in Clearwater, Florida at Beach Break.

Jericho is in for some wrestling that night, but tonight they’re fighting. The brawl is on but Ciampa quickly cuts him down with a low blow. Ciampa beats him down and busts him open, with the running knee leaving Jericho laying. This was simple and to the point but I definitely like setting it up for a show other than Forbidden Door. That show is going to have enough and I want to see this match get some focus, which it wouldn’t receive at the pay per view.

Pac vs. Shota Umino for the latter’s IWGP Global Title is set for Forbidden Door.

Dante Martin vs. Mistico

Christopher Daniels is here with Martin. Mistico flips away from a headlock to start but gets elbowed in the chin. Martin sends him outside for a suicide dive but Mistico fights back and hits a suicide dive of his own. Back in and Martin runs the corner for a superplex and two, leaving Mistico’s knee banged up as we take a break.

We come back with Mistico’s knee being fine enough to hit a springboard high crossbody to send Martin outside. There’s the slingshot dive and they go back inside to trade groggy right hands. They kick each other down and we get a double breather. Mistico is up first and his moonsault hits a raised boot, allowing Martin to get two off a rollup. Mistico’s powerslam gets two, as does Martin’s package powerbomb. Martin heads up top, only for Mistico to plant him with a super Spanish Fly for the pin at 11:34.

Rating: B-. Yeah this was fine, as they weren’t pretending that this was anything more than “here’s Mistico in a match”. They weren’t hiding that or trying to make it anything else and that’s a fine way to go. Mistico has such a following and is such a big deal that getting him on the show makes sense, especially on a show so close to Mexico.

Ricochet wants Konosuke Takeshita and the International Title but first he wants to beat up the returning Matt Sydal.

The Dogs don’t think much of Adam Copeland and Christian Cage being around for thirty years. They want the Tag Team Titles at Forbidden Door and they’ll put those b****** down.

Pac vs. Jay Alexander

Jon Moxley is on commentary and doesn’t think this is going to take long. Pac backs the rather muscular Alexander into the corner and then drops him with a running clothesline. Marina Shafir gets in a cheap shot and Pac adds a missile dropkick. The Brutalizer finishes Alexander at 3:11.

Rating: C. This was quick and to the point as Pac gets to run through someone with quite the size and power. Pac has an intensity to him that could make him look good against anyone and that’s a nice asset to have. At the same time, Moxley put him over rather strong on commentary, saying Pac could win any title in the world on any given night, including Moxley’s. There are a lot of things to criticize about Moxley, but he knows how to make people sound strong on commentary.

Thunder Rosa wants to team with someone from CMLL and challenge for the Women’s Tag Team Titles.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Adam Priest

Schiavone: “We haven’t seen Zack Sabre Jr. in an AEW ring since a year ago at Forbidden Door!” Forbidden Door was in late August last year, so no, it hasn’t been a year ago. Sabre works on the arm to start, including a nasty snap with his legs. Priest is right back with a snap suplex but Sabre is right back to the arm.

The arm is bent over the top rope and Priest is in trouble as we take a break. We come back with a double clothesline leaving both of them down before Priest knocks him down again. Priest starts in on Sabre’s leg but Sabre pulls the bad arm back in and twists it around. A double arm crank makes Priest give up at 10:36.

Rating: C+. This was the “here is Sabre’s warm-up match for his warm up match for Omega at the pay per view match”. As usual, it went on longer than it needed to and did more for Priest than Sabre. While Sabre was more or less toying with him the whole time, Priest looked tough in his comebacks, which doesn’t really do much for Sabre, as is often the case in matches like this.

Megan Bayne and Lena Kross are in for whatever Thunder Rosa wants to do.

A bloody Chris Jericho thanks Tommaso Ciampa, but Ciampa won’t thank him later. Serious Jericho is a nice thing to see.

Owen Hart Cup Semifinals: Maya World vs. Athena

Athena’s ROH Women’s Title isn’t on the line. Athena takes her down in the corner for a pat on the head to start but gets dropped with a running shoulder. A rather rolling crucifix gives World two as we’re told that Thunder Rosa will team with Olimpia to challenge for the Women’s Tag Team Titles. If that’s how they’re going to announce it, why bother with the mystery in the promos earlier? Just tell us then so that it’s not an afterthought in the main event.

Anyway they both try dropkicks at the same time and flip up for a staredown. World cartwheels into a basement dropkick and they go to the apron to slug it out. Athena catches a roll and flips her into a faceplant on the floor as we take a break. We come back with World hitting a superplex and stomping Athena in the ribs. World’s moonsault gets two, as does Athena’s sitout powerbomb. Athena stomps her down and gets two more off a rollup, which has Athena frustrated.

The O Face misses and World gets two off a tabletop suplex. They fight outside, with Athena hitting a Rock Bottom onto the barricade. World is mostly done but Athena breaks the count to bring her back in. Athena yells a lot, which just wakes World up. The big comeback doesn’t last long though as Athena hits the O Face for….two, giving us a well deserved stunned kickout face. Some superkicks put World down and Athena loads up the big right hand, only to get rolled up for the out of nowhere pin at 14:10.

Rating: B. Well World pretty much has to win the tournament now or this is a heck of a way to use Athena. As usual, Athena comes up to the AEW roster and loses but I’m sure she’ll get to continue her nearly four year reign as ROH Women’s Champion. As for World…well, it’s certainly a way to make someone look bigger, but it doesn’t mean nearly as much if she just loses to Mone. I like making a bigger star, though good grief just let Athena be a regular in AEW already.

Post match respect is shown but here is Mercedes Mone to interrupt and hug World, who is then jumped by Athena. The Statement Maker goes on and Athena mocks World to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was the “let’s get a lot of stuff together for Forbidden Door as fast as we can show” and….yeah it mostly worked. The action was good enough and the PPV card feels a lot more complete. At the same time, it was a show that felt rather packed and didn’t leave much time for anything to have an impact. That’s something AEW has had issues with for a long time and while it would be nice to see that change, it isn’t likely to happen. Either way, good show here, and it did a lot of the work that AEW needed.

Results
Young Bucks/Jack Perry b. Lethal Twists – Meltzer Driver to Johnson
Kris Statlander b. Mina Shirakawa – Rollup
Hurt Syndicate b. Warren Johnson/Zack Mason – Spear to Johnson
Mistico b. Dante Martin – Super Spanish Fly
Pac b. Jay Alexander – Brutalizer
Zack Sabre Jr. b. Adam Priest – Double arm crank
Maya World b. Athena – Rollup

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Dynamite
Date: June 17, 2026
Location: Smart Financial Center, Sugar Land, Texas
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Taz, Excalibur

We’re less than two weeks away from Forbidden Door and the tournaments are on a roll. We have the two Owen Hart Cups and the qualifying matches for the upcoming Survival Of The Fittest, which is basically a tournament of its own. That’s in addition to the six on six cage match and tonight we’re getting that match minus the cage. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

MJF and the Don Callis Family are in the back with MJF bragging about his abilities and now he’s ready for Mark Briscoe and company. Other than that though, he’s ready for Will Ospreay, who needs to realize that it isn’t 2024 and time has passed Ospreay by. As for Briscoe, it’s hilarious that he thinks he has a prayer to win the match tonight or at Forbidden Door. Callis introduces the rest of MJF’s team, which includes Kevin Knight, Kyle Fletcher, Jake Doyle, Kazuchika Okada and Andrade El Idolo. That’s quite a team, but Andrade isn’t happy with the move. Callis calms him down, again, and tells him to do the match.

Kenny Omega vs. Tony Nese

This is the result of Nese wanting a match. Omega wastes no time in taking over and hitting the Snapdragon. The V Trigger and One Winged Angel finish at 1:49. Now that’s how you properly use an ROH star, as Nese doesn’t do anything on his own and was perfect cannon fodder for Omega.

Post match Omega gets the mic but here are TMDK to interrupt. The three of them get in the ring so Omega wisely bails, with the Elite coming out to back him up. Omega explains that no one knows what TMDK means anyway but he’s ready for Zack Sabre Jr. at Forbidden Door. This is what it should have been, as it’s just another thrown out there Forbidden Door match and I’d rather they do this than have Sabre get a bunch of TV time to build him up at the last minute.

We look at the Dogs beating the Young Bucks on Collision.

We run down the rest of the card.

Death Riders vs. Brodido

Garcia shoves Bandido around to start and takes him to the mat for a slap to the back of the head. Back up and Bandido takes over on him rather quickly and hand it off to King for a slam. Garcia stops to dance and is double chopped down and it’s time for Moxley to come in. The big exchange of forearms (complete with intense glaring) goes to King as Moxley is sent outside for the dive from Bandido.

We take a break and come back with King and Moxley striking it out again. Moxley hits a cutter but King pops back up for a running clothesline. Bandido comes back in to suplex Garcia into the corner but King stops to yell at Marina Shafir, allowing Moxley to get in a suicide dive. A spike piledriver puts King down on the floor and Bandido is knocked down as well.

King is getting to his feet about 40 seconds after being spike piledriven on the floor so the Riders throw him back inside for two. Moxley plants King down again and we take a second break. We come back with Moxley knocking Bandido off the apron so King can’t escape. Moxley and Garcia fire off the corner clotheslines but he double clotheslines his way out.

It’s off to Bandido for the house cleaning, with Garcia and Moxley both having to be saved from delayed vertical suplexes. Instead Shafir is suplexed and Bandido hits a big dive to hit all three of them. Back in and everyone is knocked down again until Bandido catches Garcia with a pop up knee. King dives onto Moxley and the 21 Plex finishes Garcia at 22:04.

Rating: B. Well that was…random. I’m not sure where this came from but it wound up being a good match, King’s ridiculous selling of a spike piledriver on the floor aside. If nothing else, it was nice to see Bandido avoid taking a fall as it keeps the ROH World Title looking even remotely important. I mean it isn’t, but at least they’re giving it a bit of an impression.

Kyle Fletcher and Kazuchika Okada aren’t sure who they’ll be facing tonight, but it won’t be Tomohiro Ishii, who has been attacked. Oh no. Not that guy who never wins anything important!

Tommaso Ciampa talks about how he used to respect Chris Jericho. He loved the version who changed the wrestling world and took over New Japan. The version last week though? The one with all of the puns? Ciampa hates that one and offers to dance with Jericho if Jericho is interested.

The Dogs are coming to the ring for a chat but Adam Copeland and Christian Cage pop up to beat them down. Cage says he didn’t do anything to the Dogs’ mothers because he would never do anything to a team named after their mothers. Copeland talks about the things he and Cage learned over the years, including facing teams like the APA and learning from their beatings. The Dogs can walk through the Forbidden Door, but they’re walking back out as housebroken little pups.

Starlight Kid is ready to stand up for Stardom and beat Thekla. Thank goodness someone is standing up for…that other promotion.

Thekla talks about doing everything that Kid did and she got fired from Japan. Now it’s time for Thekla to beat Kid and take her mask.

Bandido is really happy about the win over the Death Riders. Bandido wants to face Jon Moxley for the Continental Title at Forbidden Door so Jon Moxley comes in to tell him to shoot his shot. This is going to be Bandido’s third pay per view out of four where he loses a singles match with the person beating him having no interest in being the ROH World Champion. As in the title he has defended once in America this year. Which absolutely needs to be a thing.

Women’s Owen Hart Tournament Semifinals: Hazuki vs. Mercedes Mone

They run the ropes to start until Hazuki slips on a springboard attempt but knocks Mone down. The threat of a running shot sends Mone bailing out to the ramp and she bails again from what looks like a rolling clothesline. We take a break and come back with Mone hitting a nasty gutbuster for two, with Hazuki rolling outside this time. Mone knocks her into the corner for two more but Hazuki gets in a toss to the floor. The suicide dives connect, as does a missile dropkick back inside.

Back in and Mone gets in two Amigos but the third is blocked, leaving Mone to snap the arm over the middle rope. A Meteora knocks Hazuki onto the ramp as we take a break. We come back with Hazuki firing away but getting sent face first into the middle buckle. Hazuki knocks her down again and drops the top rope backsplash, setting up the crossface. That’s broken up as well and they trade forearms from their knees with Hazuki getting the better of things.

They trade kicks to the face for a double down but Hazuki is back up with a kick to the face for two more. A brainbuster sends Mone out to the floor but she comes back inside for an exchange of rollups. The Statement Maker goes on and is broken up, leaving Mone rather frustrated. La majistral gives Hazuki two and they trade running shots to the face. Mone catches her with a Backstabber into the Statement Maker out of mostly nowhere for the tap at 22:28.

Rating: B. I never know what to say in a match like this because this whole thing was based on what these two did when they faced each other somewhere else. I’m sure that match was great, but basically we’re just told “yeah they had an awesome match”. Hazuki doesn’t mean anything in AEW (where she debuted last month) but Mone gets to have another match that I’m sure will be described as a classic.

Video on Maya World vs. Athena in the other semifinal.

Here is Will Ospreay, who is rather happy after getting married over the weekend. Yeah he has to go on his honeymoon so he took his wife upstairs, did various things, and told her to clean herself up because he was going to Houston. With that out of the way, here is Swerve Strickland as well, with Prince Nana mocking Tony Schiavone’s suit.

Strickland says it’s been awhile and Ospreay says the look on Strickland’s face is different. Actually Strickland thinks Ospreay has changed because no one knows why Ospreay is with the Death Riders. Ospreay says people need to let it go because he’s training with them and the training is working. That night where the Riders hurt him though, he didn’t see Strickland anywhere. Then they agreed to help Hangman Page get the World Title but where was Strickland there again? So where was Strickland?

Before he can speak, Ospreay takes the mic and says his own dream is bigger than Strickland’s explanation. Their match is going to be the semifinals of Ospreay’s World Cup. Strickland threatens to take Ospreay out and asks where Page is now. After everything they did, Page is just gone and now Strickland is supposed to step aside again?

Strickland is ready to get his title back because he’s better than Ospreay on his best day. Ospreay shoves him down so Strickland gets the chain out. Cue the Death Riders, with Strickland saying Ospreay really has changed. They got the point across well enough, but this was a rather lengthy exchange.

Chris Jericho wants to go face to face with Tommaso Ciampa on Collision.

Will Ospreay yells at Daniel Garcia when Jon Moxley comes in to ask if Ospreay feels in control. Moxley tells him he can’t lose control and Ospreay lets go of Garcia.

MJF and the Don Callis Family come to the ring for the main event but Mark Briscoe and the Conglomeration pop up. Briscoe introduces the rest of the team, including Konosuke Takeshita (who he introduces with a less than great name for someone Asian) and Darby Allin.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman/Don Callis Family vs. Conglomeration/Darby Allin/Konosuke Takeshita

Briscoe starts with MJF, who breaks new ground by tagging out at the bell. Andrade comes in and is sent outside for his regular photo, earning a dropkick through the ropes from Briscoe. Back in and the good guys take turns beating on Andrade in the corner but he’s able to take his pants off anyway. Fletcher and O’Reilly come in with Fletcher posing a lot before taking over.

O’Reilly rolls into an ankle lock and everything breaks down into the big brawl. Takeshita hits the big running flip dive but Allin gets jumped from behind inside. Fletcher and Knight almost get in a fight until it’s MJF coming back in to stomp on Allin’s ankle. We take a break and come back with Doyle working on Cassidy’s arm, only for Cassidy to feed him MJF’s arm instead. That’s enough for Strong to come in and clean house, including throwing Cassidy at various people.

Doyle is back in and gets knocked down to give Strong two as everything breaks down again. We get the parade of knockdowns until Takeshita and Fletcher fight over a brainbuster. Takeshita gives him a Blue Thunder Bomb instead and it’s off to MJF vs. Briscoe for the big showdown. Briscoe cleans house again but Knight breaks up the Jay Driller. Allin hobbles after Knight through the crowd but Doyle grabs Allin and sends him off the stage and into the post. The Jay Driller plants MJF so Don Callis distracts the referee. MJF takes Strong down into the Salt Of The Earth for the rather fast tap 17:23.

Rating: B-. This is one of the things that AEW does and I don’t get it. They have this match go over seventeen minutes and then expect me to be interested in seeing it again, albeit in a cage, in about a week and a half. I really do not get it and while the match was good enough, I don’t really need to see them do it even bigger at Forbidden Door. The result is fine enough, even with Strong tapping out so quickly.

Post match the good guys are beaten down, with Andrade and MJF almost getting into a fight. That’s broken up and Briscoe gets hit in the face with the diamond ring to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was the big push towards Forbidden Door and it accomplished that pretty well. The important thing here was setting up some matches for the pay per view while also advancing some of the stuff that is already set. You need to have shows like this and they did it with some good matches here, albeit with some parts which were less than enthralling.

Results
Kenny Omega b. Tony Nese – One Winged Angel
Brodido b. Death Riders – 21 Plex to Garcia
Mercedes Mone b. Hazuki – Statement Maker
Maxwell Jacob Friedman/Don Callis Family b. Conglomeration/Darby Allin/Konosuke Takeshita – Salt Of The Earth to Strong

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Collision
Date: June 13, 2026
Location: Andrew J. Brady Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness

We’re still on the Summer Blockbuster and in this case that means we have a big old street fight between Shane Taylor Promotions and the Death Riders. It’s also Forbidden Door season and that means we have Kenny Omega getting warmed up before he faces Zack Sabre Jr. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Happy Birthday Jacob. I love you buddy.

Kenny Omega vs. Bad Dude Tito

Tito has Mikey Nicholls in his corner and slams Omega down to start. A running hurricanrana works a bit better for Omega and they’re quickly on the floor. Tito gives him a suplex on the outside and an exploder version gets two back inside. Omega is right back with You Can’t Escape but the moonsault hits knees. As I try to figure out if the part that YOU CAN’T ESCAPE is the roll or the roll and moonsault, Tito strikes him up against the ropes but gets kneed down for two. Another V Trigger sets up the One Winged Angel to pin Tito at 4:52.

Rating: C+. That’s exactly what it should have been as Omega shouldn’t be having trouble with someone who doesn’t have much of a singles track record. Omega gets to look strong on the way to the pay per view and it’s not like this hurts Tito in any meaningful way. Do more stuff like this, as it accomplished what needed to be done.

Post match Omega says he wasn’t sure what to do as he wasn’t back in time for the Owen Hart Tournament but then he was given a gift from Zack Sabre Jr. Omega knows that Sabre is a great star and some Omega used to be, so let’s do this at Forbidden Door. Simple and to the point here, which is good.

Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis aren’t happy with Konosuke Takeshita and want the International Title back in the Don Callis Family. Kazuchika Okada comes in and likes the thinking.

Survival Of The Fittest Qualifying Match: Hikaru Shida vs. Zayda Steel

Christopher Daniels is here with Steel. They chop it out to start until Shida pulls her down by the hair and blocks an armdrag. Shida hammers away in the corner but Steel is back with a running headscissors. A running dropkick sends Shida outside but she’s fine enough to cut off a dive.

We take a break and come back with an enziguri sending Shida outside, allowing Steel to point at the title. Something like a standing Koji Clutch has Shida in more trouble, at least until she slips out for a running knee. Shida ties up the leg and arm at the same time…and actually gets the tap at 9:53.

Rating: C+. That was a very abrupt ending as it felt like Shida was just starting to work on the leg when Steel tapped. That being said, Shida is someone you want in a multi person match for a title as she has the resume to make it feel more important while also being a threat to win the thing. Steel continues to be the kind of spunky woman who loses a lot, which makes her a bit of a common idea in AEW.

Post match Shida gets in a few cheap shots so Daniels comes in to clear her off.

The Opps insist that they’re good without Samoa Joe around. They don’t like Anthony Bowens being after the applause though because this is about violence. How exactly are these guys supposed to be different than the Death Riders?

Rascalz vs. Austin Atlas/Aaron Atlas

Xavier headlocks Austin to start and it’s off to Wentz for a Bronco Buster. Everything breaks down in a hurry and the Hot Fire Flame finishes Austin at 1:41.

Post match the Rascalz introduce Myron Reed for his match.

TNT Title: Kevin Knight vs. Myron Reed

Reed is challenging and Don Callis is on commentary. Reed knocks him into the corner to start and gets hammered down to the floor without much trouble. Back up and Reed nails a spinning kick to the head before sending Knight outside. They trade places and Reed cuts off a dive with a Stunner over the ropes. Back in and they trade chops in the corner until Knight hits a springboard forearm.

We take a break and come back with Reed putting him down before they trade kicks to the chest. The F5 onto the ropes into the hanging faceplant gives Reed two so Knight is back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for the same. It’s too early for the UFO Splash as Reed jumps up to the top for a Stundog Millionaire. The diving cutter drives Knight out to the floor and a 450 connects for two back inside as Knight has to get a foot on the rope. Back in and Reed gets dropkicked out of the air, allowing Knight to hit a swinging Rock Bottom to retain at 13:14.

Rating: B. Despite me still not quite getting how title shots are handed out around here, this was a rather energetic, fast paced match. Reed continues to be quite the fiery star in the ring (though I’m not sure how much sense it makes to throw yourself over the top rope and crash onto the floor with more momentum than your opponent, even if it looks awesome). This was fun enough, even if Reed was another challenger with no chance.

Megan Bayne and Lena Kross are ready for anyone.

Maya World talks about her brother passing away recently and she’s wrestling in his honor. Now she’s ready for Athena.

Athena is sorry for World’s brother but what about her? As cute as World’s Cinderella story might be, she’s still living in Athena’s world.

Athena vs. Tiara James

Non-title. Athena hammers away to start and hits a running clothesline in the corner. James actually gets some near falls so Athena dropkicks her out to the floor. Athena crushes her against the barricade and the Koji Clutch finishes at 2:18. This was more efficient than Athena’s ROH squashes.

Post match the beatdown stays on until Maya World chases Athena off. Athena runs back in to jump World and lay her out.

The Demand isn’t happy with their lack of respect but Ricochet wants more gold. Say with Konosuke Takeshita.

The Dogs vs. Young Bucks

The Bucks clear the ring to start and take over on Finlay in the corner. The running flipping neckbreaker into a backbreaker drops Finlay again and there’s the running double bulldog. Nick hits a big dive onto the ramp but Finlay takes both Bucks down. A double shoulder drops Nick and an Irish Curse hits Matt.

That’s shrugged off and Matt hits a big dive off the ramp to take Finlay down again. Finlay is right back up with the suplex into Connors’ spear from the ramp and the Bucks are in trouble. They beat the count at nine and we take a break. We come back with Matt getting faceplanted for two but fighting up for the tag off to Nick. A high crossbody gives Nick two and everything breaks down again.

The Bucks hit a stereo top rope double stomp/Swanton and the double Sharpshooter goes on. With that broken up, the superkicks abound until Connors rolls Matt up for two. A missile dropkick/Tombstone combination gets two on Connors, followed by the BTE Trigger for the same with Finlay making the save. The Meltzer driver is broken up and a shillelagh shot into the spear gets two with Nick making a save of his own. Back in and a suplex/spear combination finishes Matt at 16:06.

Rating: B. This was the usual wild match with a bit of regular wrestling in the middle. The Bucks know how to fly all over the place and it was entertaining while it lasted. At the same time the Dogs definitely needed the win and even with some cheating involved, beating the Bucks means quite a bit in AEW so that should be a nice boost for them.

Dynamite recap.

The Conglomeration is ready to help Mark Briscoe win the World Title.

Forbidden Door rundown.

Commentary apologizes to Stardom for Thekla’s comments but Thekla pops up to say no one in Stardom deserves her respect. Yes she got fired from Japan but look at her now. Everyone is talking about Stardom and it’s because of her. The whole Stardom locker room wants her so send their best girl for a title shot at Forbidden Door. And the president who fired her can have a front row seat! For a story about something that happened in another promotion last year, this is certainly a story.

The Bang Bang Gang have opened a spay a neuter center and are willing to treat the Dogs.

Survival Of The Fittest Qualifying Match: Julia Hart vs. Persephone

Persephone’s CMLL Women’s Title isn’t on the line. Hart slaps her in the face to start and mocks Persephone’s eyes, which were damaged by Hart’s mist a few months ago. Persephone strikes away and gets a quick rollup for two, followed by a bridging suplex for the same. They head outside with Hart looking at the title and getting dropped face first onto the apron as we take a break.

We come back with Persephone getting in a dropkick but Hart crucifixes her for a quick two. A basement dropkick puts Hart down again and we get a double breather. Some feet to the face stagger Persephone but she pops up with a heck of a spear. They fight up to the stage where Hart’s DDT is countered into a powerslam to leave both of them down again. Back in and Hart goes to the eye again and loads up the mist, which is slapped out of her mouth. Persephone is fine enough to hit the Razor’s Edge to advance at 9:09.

Rating: C+. They were trying something here with Hart going after the eye over and over but it never seemed to go anywhere. Persephone gets some revenge though and that’s the right idea, as she is someone who seems to be getting a bit of focus around here. Hart continues to do well in the ring and the match was another nice outing for her.

Starlight Kid will take up Thekla’s challenge.

Thekla knows Kid and hates her with a passion, just like she hates Stardom.

Jake Doyle vs. Mike Bailey

Bailey is wanting to beat the Family one by one to prove that Kevin Knight (on commentary) doesn’t need them. Doyle shrugs off some strikes to start and knocks him down but charges into a foot in the corner. Bailey sends him outside for the big moonsault, meaning it’s time for the staredown with Knight. The distraction lets Doyle run him over and we take a break.

We come back with Bailey having to fight out of some chokes and kicking Doyle in the head. Doyle clotheslines him from behind though and they’re both down. Back up and Doyle gets smart by standing on Bailey’s foot and hitting him in the face. Doyle gets caught going up though and Bailey powerbombs him down, setting up a shooting star press for two. The tornado kick connects in the corner but Bailey misses the Ultimate Weapon. A sitout powerbomb gives Doyle the pin at 10:06.

Rating: B-. I approve of anything that involved Bailey getting beaten up so this worked out well. If nothing else, it’s nice to see Doyle getting his feet wet again after his time off due to injury and this was a good way back for him. At the same time, Bailey’s quest for revenge is off to a rousing start and hopefully leads to him getting beaten up time after time.

Death Riders vs. Shane Taylor Promotions

Ten person street fight. The Riders start outside as usual, where the Promotions jump out from behind some bushes to jump them. Castagnoli gets buried underneath some bike racks and almost everyone else goes inside. Moxley follows Taylor to ringside and throws a chair at him as this is total chaos thus far. Moriarty and Garcia go inside until Pac comes in to jump over Moriarty a few times.

A dropkick puts Pac down but Moxley is in to knock Moriarty into the corner. Taylor and company are back in and the brass knuckles punch knocks Moxley silly, naturally busting him open in the process. Castagnoli runs in for the save and even muscles Taylor up for a suplex. Adora comes in to chop Castagnoli, who responds by loading up a Swing on Taylor. That’s broken up by Adora, who is swung in Taylor’s place as we take a break.

We come back with the Promotions bragging to a camera, allowing Castagnoli to powerbomb Bravo through a table. Pac hits a moonsault onto a pile at ringside, leaving Garcia to strike away at Moriarty inside. The running shots in the corner have Moriarty in trouble, allowing the Riders to do a bouncing circle. Dean hits Pac with a helmet before Castagnoli Air Raid Crashes Moriarty off a barricade and through a table. Christyan XO comes out to hand Dean something to knock Garcia silly, setting up a double stomp onto a chair for two.

Moxley is back in with a turnbuckle but Taylor saves Bravo from a bit of maiming. The big beating has Moxley down on the floor, leaving Shafir alone in the ring. The Promotions jump her and get off her socks so the tacks and glass (oh here we go) can be poured out. Shafir’s bare feet are dropped onto them but she fights up anyway, allowing the Riders to come back in for the save. Garcia uses a piece of glass to break up the Border City Stretch and Moxley cutters Taylor and the string of clotheslines connect in the corner. The Paradigm Shift finishes Taylor at around 24:00 (I never heard an opening bell).

Rating: B. It was a good brawl, even if there was a grand total of no way Moxley and company were losing in Moxley’s hometown. The action was violent though and I liked the Promotions jumping them outside. This was a match designed for Moxley and company to get a feel good win, though it would have been nice to not see Taylor, who has by far the highest value on the team, not lose on back to back shows.

Overall Rating: B. This was a show that absolutely felt bigger than most Collisions and that helped quite a bit. The street fight was entertaining enough (stupid glass/tacks spot aside) and some of the other matches worked well. I liked the opener with Omega going over strong, as that’s how it should have gone and didn’t go way too long. I could have gone with the show being trimmed down a bit, but this was definitely an improvement over the normal Collision.

Results
Kenny Omega b. Bad Dude Tito – One Winged Angel
Hikaru Shida b. Zayda Steel – Leg and arm stretch
Rascalz b. Austin Atlas/Aaron Atlas – Hot Fire Flame to Austin
Kevin Knight b. Myron Reed – Swinging Rock Bottom
Athena b. Tiara James – Koji Clutch
The Dogs b. Young Bucks – Spear/suplex combination to Matt
Persephone b. Julia Hart – Razor’s Edge

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Dynamite
Date: June 10, 2026
Location: Andrew J. Brady Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

The road to Forbidden Door continues as we have the first half of the Summer Blockbuster shows. That means two more Owen Hart Cup matches, but also hometown boy Jon Moxley gets to defend the Continental Title against Shane Taylor. Mark Briscoe is still hunting the World Title as well so let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

I was in attendance for this show, sitting in the ninth row on the floor with the entrance on my left. My seat was right in front of the special curtain where wrestlers would interrupt or run in from throughout the night, which led to some rather jarring moments when people would run in or appear out of nowhere.

Tony Schiavone brings out Tommaso Ciampa, who wants to get right to the point. Ciampa wants Schiavone to repeat the he is better than Chris Jericho, even threatening violence to make it happen. This brings out Jericho and we get a chorus of Judas. Ciampa cuts it off and asks if we’re happy that the song and dance is done.

Jericho wants to know who he has to talk to in order to fight someone with hair. He thinks they’ve gotten off on the wrong foot so he introduces himself, but Ciampa has known him his entire career. Jericho: “It’s very nice to meet you Tommy.” The fans chant Tommy, which makes things all the more surreal for me. Ciampa says no one calls him Tommy, not even his mother. Jericho: “You mean….Tommy’s Mommy?”

That’s chanted as well as things get even more bizarre. Jericho wonders why Ciampa doesn’t like him, while throwing in some insults of his own (“Also bald. Bad beard. Goblin face. Mean Santa.”), with Ciampa saying this is a joke to him. Jericho gets in his face and goes serious, saying Ciampa is finding out that he isn’t Jericho and it has left him angry. “Tommy”. The fight is on and security sprints out for the save but can’t separate them. A few more brawls finally result in them being held apart. Good segment here, with Jericho and Ciampa being an interesting pairing.

Don Callis and Kevin Knight arrive but Andrade El Idolo interrupts, asking for his World Title shot. Knight is brand new to the Family and is already asking for a title shot but needs to go to the back of the line. That doesn’t sit well with Knight, who is going to the ring, with Callis promising Andrade a title shot. Andrade doesn’t seem to buy it.

Continental Title: Jon Moxley vs. Shane Taylor

Moxley, the hometown star, is defending and gets the insane reaction you would expect. They take their time to start with Moxley working on the arm before going with the exchange of forearms. Taylor goes after the body but gets knocked outside for a suicide dive (oh yeah he’s happy to be here). Moxley is knocked over one of the announcers’ tables and then put through a regular table as we take a break.

We come back with Taylor dropping a leg on the apron but Moxley strikes away. A jumping clothesline puts Taylor down and Moxley hammers/bites away in the corner. Taylor knocks him off the top for the middle rope splash, followed by a big clothesline for two. The chinlock goes on until Moxley fights his way out and grabs a cutter. The cross armbreaker goes on but Taylor is back with a big knee to the face. Moxley pops back up with a Stomp into the bulldog choke for the tap at 13:11

Rating: B-. It wasn’t a great showdown but I don’t think it was supposed to be. This was more about getting Moxley out there in front of his home crowd and letting them have a good time. That worked out rather well with the fans going nuts for Moxley and not liking Taylor, so it served its purpose all around.

Post match Taylor lays him out with a right hand. Taylor gets a belt to whip Moxley so here is Daniel Garcia through the crowd (from the area right behind me which made for quite the jarring surprise), only to get beaten down as well. Marina Shafir gets taken out too and the Promotions leave. While I like seeing the Riders get beaten down for a change, this is stretching the feud a bit too far.

Video on Mercedes Mone, who talks about being here to save the division.

Here is Don Callis to introduce Kevin Knight, who praises Callis for seeing his star power. The signing bonus helped too. Anyway, Knight calls out MJF but gets the returning Darby Allin instead. Allin jumps him from behind with the skateboard but is smart enough to vamoose when the Family comes after him, even running out of the building in a nice visual.

Mark Briscoe talks to Tony Khan, who thinks it’s a good idea.

Mark Briscoe vs. Pac

Pac drives him into the corner for an early clean break. Back up and Briscoe knocks him down for a change. Briscoe gets knocked outside but switches places and hits a dropkick through the ropes. The Bang Bang Elbow connects from the apron but Pac busters his brain on the floor as we take a break.

We come back with Briscoe striking away and hitting an Iconoclasm. It’s too early before the Froggy Bow can launch so Briscoe tries another suplex and they crash out to the floor. A Blockbuster off the apron connects but the Froggy Bow hits knees. Pac tries a shooting star press but hits raised knees, allowing the Froggy Bow to connect and give Briscoe the pin at 12:12.

Rating: B. Well you knew these guys were going to beat each other up and it was a heck of a showdown. Briscoe is on a roll right now and seems like he’s getting ready for the World Title shot sooner than later. As usual, there is something to having someone beat a bunch of people to get the title shot and that’s where they seem to be going with Briscoe.

Post match Briscoe calls out MJF and we take a break (In the arena, Tony Khan came out to say MJF was getting his makeup finished so he would answer after the break. As a bonus, Briscoe entertained us with a joke: Two muffins are in an oven. One muffin says “Dang it’s hot in here.” The other muffin said “HOLY S*** A TALKING MUFFIN!”).

Post break MJF does come out to say that he’s the boss around here and Briscoe doesn’t get a title shot. MJF is the rising tide that lifts all of the boats but MJF would be just an anchor. The other thing is that MJF has all of the money, and it talks. This brings out the Lethal Twist to jump Briscoe so the Conglomeration makes the save.

Briscoe grabs the mic to say that MJF is just an a****** and not the real power around here. That would be Tony Khan, who has decided that Briscoe and MJF can get five partners each and fight at Forbidden Door. If Briscoe’s side wins, he gets a title shot. Oh and we’ll do it in a cage. MJF panics as Orange Cassidy is ready for his scheduled match.

Andrade El Idolo vs. Orange Cassidy

Feeling out process to start with Cassidy not being able to get very far. They go to the test of strength dance deal over the hands in the pockets until Andrade gets frustrated. The pants come off and the fans approve…so Andrade takes his own off, revealing a pair of jogging jeans (or whatever they’re called). Either way, that’s freaking brilliant.

Andrade is livid and goes after Cassidy to knock him outside as we take a break. We come back with Cassidy firing off a clothesline to send Andrade rolling to the floor. Cassidy’s dive is countered into a suplex so Andrade stops for a photo with a redhead. Cassidy hits a dive this time…and Lio Rush (I’m not a fan of the gimmick, but him doing his run on all fours two feet from you is CREEPY) is next to the woman. He wants a picture with Cassidy, who reluctantly agrees, only for Andrade to go after Rush.

That doesn’t work either, allowing Cassidy to hit a DDT on the floor. Back in and Andrade crotches him on top, setting up some running knees in the corner. Cassidy reverses something into a Stundog Millionaire and they slug it out from their knees. They both wind up on the rope, with Cassidy DDTing him onto the ramp. Another DDT gets two back inside but the Orange Punch is cut off with a spinning elbow. The DM finishes Cassidy at 15:12.

Rating: B-. The Rush deal was a funny moment and Andrade’s rise up to the title match continues to be a nice thing to see. Much like Briscoe beating Pac, Andrade beats an established name to get him ready for something even bigger. In other words, this is going well enough and it’s not a bad thing to see.

Post match Andrade asks how you know.

Last week, Will Ospreay was happy with his win but Alex Windsor came in to cry in his arms. Ospreay hugged her tight and got rid of the camera.

Video on Thekla.

Jon Moxley is banged up so the Death Riders want a five on five street fight on Collision.

Women’s Owen Hart Cup First Round: Skye Blue vs. Maya World

World is replacing an injured Sareee and her brother recently passed away. Blue jumps her to start fast and they trade some running forearms. World gets knocked down and hammered in the face, followed by the boot choke in the corner. Back up and World kicks her out onto the ramp and we take a break.

We come back with Blue knocking her down for two and they fight over a suplex. World’s bridging German suplex gets two but Blue catches her in the corner. A Cheeky Nandos kick connects but World blocks a running knee. That means World can hit her own running knee for two and they forearm it out. Blue gets German suplexed and pops up for a running knee and they’re both down. A TKO gives Blue two but the Code Blue is blocked. Instead World grabs a flipping rollup for the pin at 11:12.

Rating: C+. They didn’t have a great option here as there is pretty much no way either of them is beating Athena in the semifinals anyway. I’ll take World getting the spot over Blue, as she’s a more interesting opponent for Athena and has the rather emotional situation with her brother as a bonus. It’s a completely fine match and that’s all it needed to be in this situation.

Zack Sabre Jr. will be at Forbidden Door and wants Kenny Omega. And it’s set.

MJF comes in to see the Don Callis Family and wants to buy some wrestlers for Forbidden Door. Callis goes on a rant about how he’s not a pimp or a butcher but MJF whips out a briefcase full of money. That changes Callis’ mind and they’ll figure out the team next week. Kevin Knight wants to be on the team and MJF agrees, though Knight wants a title shot if MJF’s team wins.

MJF agrees, but it’s Knight’s last title shot. The Family goes to leave but Andrade asks Callis about his title shot again. Callis assures Andrade it’s coming and Andrade isn’t sure. Commentary points out that Callis is lying, just in case you didn’t get the obvious lie from the known liar.

Men’s Owen Hart Cup Semifinals: Brody King vs. Swerve Strickland

King starts fast and goes for the choke, which takes them both out to the apron. King knocks him to the floor for the running flip dive but Prince Nana cuts King off. A drop toehold sends King into a chair and Strickland adds a running double stomp off the apron. We take a break and come back with King blocking a powerbomb out of the corner and ripping a turnbuckle pad away.

Swerve goes up top for a super Russian legsweep and a Swerve Stomp gets two. They go outside with King chokebombing him onto the announcers’ table to leave them both down. They get back inside with Strickland striking away and hitting a House Call, only to get dropped with a clothesline.

Back up and a charging King is sent into an exposed buckle to bust him open. The House Call doesn’t even knock him down but a top rope House Call…gets two (and there’s your “that should have been it but let’s keep going” spot). King flips him into the corner for a cannonball and the piledriver gets two. Nana gets in a cheap shot though and the Vertebreaker gives Strickland the pin at 14:59.

Rating: B. These guys know how to beat each other up rather well and it’s great to see them getting to do it again. King is the definition of a midcard monster and while he wasn’t going to beat Strickland, he made Strickland work for it. Good stuff here, with King’s blood making it all the better.

Overall Rating: B+. I had a good time with this show, which granted might have at least partially been due to being there. It was a show that moved things forward and Forbidden Door is starting to come together. I liked the show and it did feel like a big deal to have so many names around. Allin and Jericho coming back (ok the latter wasn’t gone as long but it was a cool moment) made it more special and there wasn’t really anything close to bad on the whole show. Nice job here.

Results
Jon Moxley b. Shane Taylor – Bulldog choke
Mark Briscoe b. Pac – Froggy Bow
Andrade El Idolo b. Orange Cassidy – DM
Maya World b. Skye Blue – Flipping rollup
Swerve Strickland b. Brody King – Vertebreaker

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Collision
Date: June 6, 2026
Location: Covelli Center, Youngstown, Ohio
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness

The tournament season continues with more from the Owen Hart Cups. This weekend features at least one women’s match and there is a chance of even more. In addition, the Women’s Tag Team Titles are on the line as Tay Melo/Anna Jay get their shot after surviving five minutes with the champions last week. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Commentary runs down the card.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Megan Bayne/Lena Kross vs. Anna Jay/Tay Melo

Bayne/Kross are defending. Jay and Bayne start things off with Bayne easily hitting a big shoulder. A bulldog out of the corner doesn’t work for Jay and it’s Melo coming in to Strike Kross down. The running knee gets two, with Bayne having to make a save. Everything breaks down and the champs are sent outside. Some big dives to the floor take them out again and we take a break.

We come back with Jay in trouble and Bayne tossing her down for two. A bulldog out of the corner is enough for the tag to Melo to clean house. Bayne gets planted for two and everything breaks down. A double DDT drops Kross for two and Bayne clotheslines Jay to leave everyone down for a breather. The Queenslayer goes on but is broken up and Melo is sent outside. That means it’s the Divine Intervention to drop Jay and retain the titles at 10:28.

Rating: C+. This was exactly what you would have expected and that’s perfectly fine. At some point the champs have to sweat a bit and that’s what they covered here. Melo and Jay are only somewhat serious challengers and that’s how they were presented here, which could have been a lot worse. Completely acceptable opener.

Video on Swerve Strickland vs. Brody King.

The Don Callis Family beat people up in the back while RPG Vice brag about getting rid of Konosuke Takeshita.

Shane Taylor vs. Alan Angels

Right hands and the Marcus Garvey driver finish Angels at 1:16. He lasted longer than I was expecting.

Post match Taylor says his Promotions are taking over as the most violent group in AEW. If the Death Riders don’t like that, come do something about it.

Shane Taylor Promotions vs. Death Riders

Moxley and Moriarty start things off as Shane Taylor is on commentary. They go technical with Moriarty taking him down by the arm and driving him back into the corner. Bravo gets to chop away, with Moxley switching places to fire off chops of his own. Pac comes in to stay on Bravo, with Castagnoli getting to do the same. Everything breaks down and we take an early break.

We come back with Pac down in the corner and Christyan XO helping with some cheating. Dean’s middle rope clothesline gets two and we hit the chinlock. The Bronco Buster makes it worse for Pac so Moxley makes a save, allowing Pac to suplex Moriarty. The tag brings in Castagnoli, who throws Bravo out of the corner.

Bravo escapes the Swing attempt so Castagnoli swings him into Moxley’s dropkick. Everything breaks down and Trish Adora crotches Pac on top. Wheeler Yuta dives onto Taylor and Marina Shafir cuts off Adora before she can use a chair. A bunch of clotheslines hit Bravo in the corner and the Brutalizer finishes him off at 14:41.

Rating: C+. It was fun while it lasted but I for one am shocked that Shane Taylor Promotions, the team that loses every big match they have, lost another big match. That’s just what they do in wrestling and it can be rather tedious to see how long it takes them to lose most of the time. The Riders were good this week and there is a good chance that they’re on the other side next week, as it’s not like they have much in the way of stability.

Dynamite recap.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Beef

Ciampa knocks him down in a hurry to start and hits a running knee. A Liontamer makes Beef tap at 1:17. Total squash and “Ciampa hates Jericho” is kind of great.

Post match Ciampa puts it on again and insists that Tony Schiavone deem him better than Chris Jericho.

Shane Taylor has attacked Wheeler Yuta and wants a match with Jon Moxley on Dynamite.

Clark Connors vs. Juice Robinson

Connors chokes with a shirt to start and gets in a Thesz press for some left hands. Robinson is back with some lefts of his own so Connors bails out to the floor. That means the big running flip dive to knock him down again but Connors drives him into the barricade. Connors lights a match and, after it goes out, throws it on Robinson. Back in and Robinson is dropped again as we take a break.

We come back with a slugout not going anywhere so Connors hits something of a Pounce. Robinson fights up and hits the backsplash, allowing him to strike away. A sitout powerbomb gets two but the Killswitch is countered into a powerslam to give Connors two. The spear is countered into a flapjack though and Robinson sends him outside for the dive. Cue David Finlay for a failed distraction and Robinson gets to strike away. Finlay gets in a cheap shot from the floor though and the spear gives Connors the pin at 13:10.

Rating: C+. This was indeed a wrestling match between two professional wrestlers and…well what else is there to say about it? The Dogs are higher up on the food chain at the moment and that make the match little more than a way to fill in time. In other words, pretty much like everything the Bang Bang Gang does.

Video on Survival Of The Fittest, with various women wanting to win the TBS Title.

Jon Moxley is down to face Shane Taylor, even if he doesn’t think that’s the best move for Taylor to make.

Trios Titles: La Faccion Ingobernable vs. The Conglomeration

The Conglomeration is defending, just in case you thought that the team who are never around here had some titles for whatever reason. Cassidy and Guevara start things off and naturally that means a pose off. Stereo dropkick attempts let them both nip up so it’s off to Strong to take over. A backbreaker sets up Cassidy’s lazy elbow for two on Guevara but he’s back up to rake Cassidy’s eyes.

Cassidy gets caught in the corner for some running clotheslines and Guevara goes after the eyes again. That’s shrugged off and it’s off to Strong to clean house as everything breaks down. The champs are knocked to the floor and we take a break. We come back with Strong in trouble and getting triple dropkicked for two. Rush and Strong trade chops in the corner until it’s off to O’Reilly for an ankle lock.

That’s broken up so O’Reilly hits a double clothesline as everything breaks down again. The Stundog Millionaire hits Dralistico but Cassidy has to roll away from a Bull’s Horns attempt. Rush gets dropkicked over the barricade but Dralistico is up with a big dive to the floor. Back in and Cassidy escapes Guevara’s GTH attempt and gives him a Superman Punch. A rollup pins Dralistico to retain the titles at 12:50.

Rating: B-. This was definitely more interesting than the other six man, but again there is no reason to believe that LFI is going to win anything important. They’re brought in to AEW every so often and don’t get to do much more than lose. That doesn’t leave much of a reason to get interested in them here, but that’s what happens when you do next to nothing for months on end.

The Dogs want to fight the Young Bucks so they can do that at some point next week in Cincinnati.

The Conglomeration is interrupted by RPG Vice, who challenge Orange Cassidy to face Andrade El Idolo on Dynamite.

Women’s Owen Hart Foundation First Round: Hazuki vs. Persephone

Hazuki grabs a headlock takeover to start and grinds away as Persephone seems to have something wrong with her eyes. The eyes are fine enough for a top wristlock to put Hazuki down and they trade some rollups into a standoff. Hazuki’s headlock is broken up and Persephone hits a basement dropkick. Some right hands have Hazuki in trouble but she sends Persephone outside.

That’s fine too, as Persephone pulls a dive out of the air and sends her flying as we take a break. We come back with Persephone having to fight out of a crossface. With that broken up, Persephone hits a running clothesline and gets a needed breather. A hurricanrana out of the corner puts Persephone down and Hazuki nails a springboard missile dropkick.

Persephone is able to catch her on top with a superplex though and they’re both down again. A rather nice bridging German suplex gives Persephone two so she tries a powerbomb, only to be reversed into a Codebreaker. Hazkuki’s la majistral gets the pin at 12:21.

Rating: B-. As is usually the case, the match was fine but it’s kind of hard to believe that either of these two have any chance to beat Mercedes Mone in the second round. That’s the problem with a lot of tournaments, as there is no reason to buy Hazuki as a real threat against the bigger star. It happens in all kinds of tournaments and it didn’t help that they’re both basically guest stars.

Post match Mercedes Mone runs in to jump Persephone so Hazuki makes the save for the big brawl to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was as by the book of a Collision as you could get, as very little here felt even remotely important. You had a main event for the right to lose to Mercedes Mone, the Death Riders doing their same match, the latest Shane Taylor push which I’m sure will get over so well, and a bunch of…well nothing really. As usual, Collision needs a better draw than “here’s what’s coming up on Dynamite” and that just wasn’t happening this week. It’s not a bad show, but it felt completely unimportant.

Results
Megan Bayne/Lena Kross b. Anna Jay/Tay Melo – Divine Intervention to Jay
Shane Taylor b. Alan Angels – Marcus Garvey Driver
Death Riders b. Shane Taylor Promotions – Brutalizer to Bravo
Tommaso Ciampa b. Beef – Liontamer
Clark Connors b. Juice Robinson – Spear
The Conglomeration b. La Faccion Ingobernable – Rollup to Dralistico
Hazuki b. Persephone – La majistral

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Dynamite
Date: June 3, 2026
Location: Siegel Center, Richmond, Virginia
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

We’re less than a month away from Forbidden Door and that means we have a lot of the Owen Hart Tournaments to go. The tournaments will decide two of the bigger matches at All In and the finals will be taking place later this month at the pay per view. They both continue this week, including a mystery wildcard name so let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Rush is ready to win the World Title. MJF pops in to say he doesn’t buy it and gets beaten up as a result. Somehow this leads to the match being No Countouts. You know, because that changes so much around here.

Andrade El Idolo comes up to Rush, telling him to do it for the family.

AEW World Title: Rush vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

MJF is defending and there are no countouts. Hold on though as MJF makes sure to point out that he beat Virginia’s Hangman Page and that the fans put the virgin in Virginia. Rush hammers away to start so MJF spits in his face and gets in a poke to the eye. Back up and Rush sends him outside for the running flip dive. Rush whips him into the barricade a few times and chokes with the camera cable to make it worse.

The charge is countered with a drop toehold though and Rush is sent into the chair. A charging MJF is backdropped over the barricade and through the timekeeper’s table and Rush stomps away back inside. The turnbuckle pad is removed but the referee blocks the ram, allowing MJF to send Rush into it instead. MJF hits a better than expected spinebuster but gets sent face first into the exposed buckle.

Back up and a running knee gives the bleeding Rush two, followed by a running dropkick for two. MJF is right back with a powerbomb backbreaker for two and we hit the quickly broken Salt Of The Earth. Rush heads to the apron and cuts off MJF with a headbutt before planting him on the apron.

We take a break and come back with the Bull’s Horns getting two, with MJF having to put a boot on the rope. A piledriver on the apron sees Rush’s arm give out and another running dropkick misses, sending Rush crashing through the barricade. MJF Tombstones him onto the broken barricade and grabs a LeBell Lock back inside. Rush flips off the camera and then passes out to retain MJF’s title at 18:34.

Rating: B. This was kind of a weird choice for the whole thing but it was nice to see Rush’s never ending string of wins actually turning into something. I’m not sure why MJF needed this kind of a win but it’s not like he has anything going on with Forbidden Door coming up. It wouldn’t stun me to see him not defend the title, and right now it isn’t like there is much to do there.

Post match MJF loads up a belt shot but Mark Briscoe runs in for the save. The Conglomeration is here to make sure MJF runs off.

Mark Briscoe vs. Lio Rush

The Conglomeration is still at ringside and freeze because Rush can’t see them if they’re not moving. Or something (your champions people). Rush says something in Briscoe’s ear to start and then does his dodging to get in Briscoe’s face. Briscoe charges into a boot in the corner and they go to the apron to shout a lot.

Rush chases him around on the floor (running on all course because Rush is weird and creepy and stuff) until Briscoe gets in a Blockbuster off the apron. We take a break and come back with Rush hitting a suicide dive and then mocking the Red Neck Kung Fu. They strike it out until Briscoe hits an Iconoclasm for two but the Jay Driller is blocked. The Cutthroat Driver finishes Rush at 9:12.

Rating: B-. So the crazy man, who is likely the next in line for the World Title shot, was running away in fear from a man who makes weird faces and runs around the ring like a dog. This was after the same running man scared the Trios Champions so badly that their best solution was to stand there like statues. All for the sake of someone who hasn’t won a match in AEW in over a year. But he’s weird and wacky so it’s all ok.

Post match Briscoe talks about his brother passing away and then having his own birthday a few weeks later. Instead of having birthday cake with his brother, he had to debut in AEW alone. Then he met some people who were down to conglomerate and it gave him some joy about being a wrestler again.

Then he crossed paths with MJF, who tried to take that joy away. Briscoe beat him once and MJF left so the joy was back. Now MJF Is back again and Briscoe wants the World Title. MJF calls himself the Devil, but the book says the Devil loses. Heck of a promo. Maybe next time don’t do it after he was running scared from a guy acting like a dog.

Video on Kevin Knight turning on Mike Bailey.

Here is the Triangle Of Madness, with Thekla explaining that she hates Stardom because they don’t like how she treated their stars. She wants the rest of her team to win gold, but she’s focused on Stardom. Thekla then climbs a ladder and spits on the Stardom logo.

The Death Riders work on Will Ospreay’s neck before he faces Mark Davis again. Jon Moxley comes in to say this is a different Ospreay coming after Davis. Moxley says Ospreay’s job tonight is to win, and he’s starting to see something change in Ospreay.

Andrade El Idolo vs. EK Manning

Spinning back elbow and DM finish at 39 seconds.

Post match Andrade says MJF just beat Rush, but does MJF think he can beat him? This brings out Don Callis and Jake Doyle to interrupt, which seems to have Andrade confused. After some quick praise, Callis introduces the newest member of the Family: Kevin Knight. And…that’s it. No explanation or anything. Just time for Knight’s title defense.

TNT Title: Mike Bailey vs. Kevin Knight

Knight is defending. Bailey is so mad at Knight for turning on him that he starts with a lockup. They run to the floor where Knight blocks a kick and sends him into the steps. Back in and Knight misses a springboard clothesline but avoids another kick. A clothesline sends Bailey outside again but he’s back up with a corkscrew moonsault. Back in and Knight avoids the Ultimate Weapon and hits a dropkick as we take a break.

We come back with Knight hitting a basement clothesline for two but Bailey finally connects with some kicks. Another kick sends Knight to the floor but he pops back up to shove Bailey’s moonsault down. Knight gets in a dive of his own, only for Bailey to connect with moonsault knees back inside. A backbreaker gives Knight two but Bailey kicks him in the head again. Bailey takes him up top so Jake Doyle offers a distraction, allowing Don Callis to get in a cheap shot. A super spinebuster (or something) puts Bailey down and the Crash Landing retains the title at 12:54.

Rating: B-. The match was fine and hopefully ends the Jet Speed stuff for good. That being said, way to take Knight, who felt like he could be a big deal, and put him in the Don Callis Family. I definitely look forward to him teaming with RPG Vice on Collision and being cannon fodder in whatever other feud Callis has that goes on for a year or so without getting to a point.

Post match Knight says that’s how you do it. He had to get rid of the dead weight….so he joined the Don Callis Family. And he wants to be World Champion too. There is nothing here to suggest that he needs to be part of the Family whatsoever.

The Dogs continue to mock Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, complete with kazoos. The Young Bucks come in to call them stupid and mock Finlay for being the world Bullet Club leader ever. Now that we have our required New Japan reference out of the way, a match seems likely for tonight.

MJF says Mark Briscoe doesn’t get a title shot.

Women’s Owen Hart Quarterfinals: Alex Windsor vs. ???

The surprise entrant is…the returning Mercedes Mone. She takes Windsor down without much trouble to start and hits a dropkick to cut off an early comeback. A basement dropkick connects for Windsor but Mone pulls her into the Statement Maker. That’s escaped so Mone grabs a Backstabber instead.

Windsor goes for the rope and knocks Mone to the apron, only for Mone to neckbreaker her to the floor. The Meteora off the apron puts Windsor down again and we take a break. We come back with Mone hitting Three Amigos but Windsor hits a running shot of her own. Windsor hits a running clothesline off the apron and blocks another Three Amigos back inside.

Mone gets planted but gets back up so they can head up top. Windsor is knocked down, setting up a top rope Meteora for two. The running Meteora in the corner only hits corner though and Windsor gets two off a rollup. The Backstabber cuts Windsor off though and the Statement Maker finishes at 12:26.

Rating: B-. I’m not a Mone fan, but she absolutely does feel like a big deal to have back. While I don’t want her to get right into the title picture, it’s hardly a horrible travesty to have her beat Windsor, who has mainly been in the midcard picture. This was a good enough way to bring Mone back, though I did forget how annoying it was to see her spamming the Meteora over and over.

Video on Tay Melo and Anna Jay going to a time limit draw with Megan Bayne and Lena Kross on Collision, setting up their title match on Collision.

Don Callis, with Kazuchika Okada, is glad to have Kevin Knight in the Family. Then he’s ready to see Mark Davis win the Owen Hart Tournament. Okada wants the International Title back.

Tommaso Ciampa takes credit for sending Chris Jericho home and says things have changed since Jericho had his big hiatus. Jericho can come back but it will only be worse, you stupid idiot.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament Semifinals: Mark Davis vs. Will Ospreay

Davis’ National Title isn’t on the line (makes sense as he hasn’t actually defended it on an AEW show yet). Ospreay snaps off a running hurricanrana to start and hammers away in the corner, earning himself a rather big slam. Davis hits a running backsplash and grabs an abdominal stretch, which doesn’t last long. Instead Ospreay is back up with a handspring kick to the head and they head outside.

A kick to the head staggers Davis but he’s smart enough to move away before Ospreay can dive. Ospreay tries a tornado DDT off the apron and gets caught with a Crash Landing onto the announcers’ table. We take a break and come back with Davis getting slammed off the top for two, allowing Davis to chop away. That fires Ospreay up and he kicks Davis in the face a few times, setting up the 630 kick for two.

A German suplex drops Davis again and Ospreay gets in a springboard stomp to the arm. Davis reverses an armbar into a powerbomb though, followed by the piledriver for two. Another piledriver on the apron is blocked and Davis clotheslines him back inside. Ospreay manages a hurricanrana out to the floor with Davis beating the count. He dives back inside and Ospreay comes in from off camera with a missile dropkick in a great visual.

The Styles Clash connects for two but Davis is back up with a kick…which accidentally hits the referee. We’re 18 minutes into this match and 12 minutes into the overrun and now get a ref bump. There’s the Hidden Blade but there’s no referee so the Don Callis Family runs in for the save. The Death Riders make the save so Lance Archer is in to take them out.

Claudio Castagnoli, Brian Cage and Pac all get to run in for a save each until a springboard Oscutter hits Davis. Jake Doyle pulls the revived referee at two though so Marina Shafir jumps on his back. Doyle throws her down so Jon Moxley runs in to go after Doyle, allowing Pac to hit a big dive.

Then Kyle Fletcher runs in to break up the Stormbreaker but Konosuke Takeshita pulls him to the floor for a brawl. Davis grabs a screwdriver and gets hit with the Hidden Blade but there’s still no referee. OH MY GOODNESS JUST FINISH THE MATCH ALREADY! Another referee runs in for two and Davis spins Ospreay into a piledriver for two. Back up and Ospreay spins him into the Death Grounds for the tap at 23:05.

Rating: C. Buckle up because I’m probably going to go for awhile. I’m sure that I’ll be told that this was so awesome and such and yeah, the first two thirds or so were rather good. It was Davis getting to continue his awesome run and feel like a big threat to Ospreay, who he has beaten before. They were clicking for the most part and having a good match. But that’s not how things work around here.

No no, just having a good match isn’t enough. Instead, we needed to bring in about 12 people with three different stories for a big old spectacle. Writing up all of the people running in made me feel like I was seven years old and writing down all the superheroes and TV characters I’d want to come to my birthday party. I’m sure it was fun to have all those people run in because the two stables have about 18 people between them, but that doesn’t make for a good TV presentation.

But that’s how AEW has to be. This was the semifinals of a #1 contenders match and the World Title match from this whole tournament isn’t happening for almost three months. The semifinals had a dozen run ins, a ref bump and the return of the screwdriver. There was absolutely no reason for this match to be such a circus or go anywhere near this long. It was a spectacle for the sake of having all these people in there for STABLE WARZ (which is a totally original idea in AEW and not something they have driven into the ground over the years).

I’m sure this will probably tie into this year’s Blood & Guts and that had to be built up here. It’s not like there was any other place to do it outside of a tournament to go to another pay per view before we wait two months for the title match. This was just the semifinals too! What are they going to have for the finals? Nothing like this probably, because that’s the finals, where the wrestling is allowed to sell itself.

No, instead we had to have this be a big stable fight because that’s what Tony Khan thinks is good booking: throwing as much stuff out there as he can week after week whether it needs to be there or not. I liked most of this match and then it turned into something that felt like it belonged on a Vince Russo show. In short, just stop doing so much already, because you’re wasting what could have been a heck of a match.

Overall Rating: C. This show was one of the most frustrating things that I’ve seen in a very long time. As usual, the wrestling was good and I’m not taking any of that away from the wrestlers. They were out there working hard and some of the matches were rather nice, with the opener probably being the best on the show. That’s not the issue here and it rarely ever is with AEW.

This show featured some entertaining action, a heck of an emotional promo from Briscoe, a big return in Mone (I’m far from a fan but she is absolutely a big star around here and I can see why she’s in this spot so soon). It even set up a few possible options for World Title matches and got us closer to Forbidden Door.

You know what I’m going to remember about this show though? Mark Briscoe running away in fear from low level weird guy Lio Rush, who also scared the Conglomeration into standing still like statues. That’s in addition to Kevin Knight, who was looking like a potentially strong heel, joining the Don Callis Family because they just aren’t on the shows enough lately.

There’s also “it’s Forbidden Door season so you better know all these things about promotions from around the world because we get to have guest stars! This is totally different from when these wrestlers are here every month because crossovers are really important to the TV show for….they’re just awesome ok? Oh and don’t forget the main event, featuring more wrestlers than some pay per views, because an established story between two good wrestlers isn’t enough. We just needed those run-ins and other stories to be involved.

This week was everything that I can’t stand about Tony Khan’s booking rolled into one show. It was a bunch of ideas that I’m sure made he and his friends laugh their heads off making it to television, him getting to bring in a bunch of wrestlers from other promotions because he thinks that his e-fed ideas make for good shows, and, of course, MORE MORE MORE! Everything has to be more because that’s just how things work in Tony’s mind. Longer shows, more people, more action, more promotions, more everything.

I legitimately got annoyed at this show more than once, which is frustrating as AEW has been having some better efforts lately. Instead though, they revert back to form as Forbidden Door rolls around, because it’s about getting in a bunch of stuff that is there because the calendar says so. Next week’s show is about an hour and fifteen minutes from my house. I have the show written down on my things to do list and planned on going. This show might have convinced me otherwise, as the idea of paying to see something like this is almost scary. As usual, the wrestling was fine, but someone sedate Tony already.

Results
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Rush – LeBell Lock
Mark Briscoe b. Lio Rush – Cutthroat Driver
Andrade El Idolo b. EK Manning – DM
Kevin Knight b. Mike Bailey – Crash Landing
Mercedes Mone b. Alex Windsor – Statement Maker
Will Ospreay b. Mark Davis – Death Grounds

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Collision
Date: May 30, 2026
Location: Propst Arena, Huntsville, Alabama
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness

It’s another edition of Collision after the special one hour show on Wednesday. Never fear though because we’re getting the full two hour edition this week as well. We’re done with Double Or Nothing and are likely to get some additional Owen Hart Cup matches this week. That should work well enough so let’s get to it.

Here is Wednesday’s show if you need a recap.

Konosuke Takeshita thanks the Conglomeration for having his back on Dynamite and promises that this isn’t over with the Don Callis Family. Takeshita has a backpack of his own.

Trios Title: Conglomeration vs. Don Callis Family

Lance Archer and RPG Vice are challenging for the Family and Tommaso Ciampa is on commentary. Strong and O’Reilly take turns beating on Romero to start, with a backbreaker setting up Cassidy’s lazy elbow. Romero actually takes Cassidy down but Cassidy is right back with his hands in his pockets for an armdrag.

Beretta takes over on Cassidy and Romero hits the lariats but it’s off to Archer, which makes Cassidy think twice. O’Reilly is more than willing to strike away at him and Archer limps around, at least until he runs O’Reilly and Cassidy over. We take a break and come back with O’Reilly fighting out of trouble and hitting a clothesline.

Strong gets the tag to clean house, including the usual backbreakers. Cassidy is put onto Archer’s shoulder for a spinning DDT but Romero gives Cassidy the running Sliced Bread #2. Beretta adds a delayed piledriver for two but a second is countered with a backdrop. Romero gets caught with a gutbuster and Archer gets choked out. Cassidy’s top rope elbow finishes Romero to retain the titles at 11:37.

Rating: B-. Good enough opener here with the Family sending in its G team to lose a title shot. At the same time, Cassidy is more than capable of making his stuff work against low level goons, which is exactly how RPG Vice could be described. This was a fine way to start the night, as is often the case with the Trios Titles.

Video on Megan Bayne and Lena Kross, who are all dominant and such.

Tay Melo/Anna Jay vs. Lena Kross/Megan Bayne

Non-title eliminator match with a five minute time limit. Kross and Bayne are sent into each other to start but fight back without much effort. Bayne plants Jay a few times and it’s off to Kross for the shoulders in the corner. Kross knocks Jay down for two but she escapes Bayne’s slam attempt.

A small package gives Jay two of her own and it’s back to Melo to strike away. There’s a double DDT for two on Kross as we have a minute left. A running boot/German suplex combination gets two on Melo but the Divine Intervention is broken up. Jay gets the Queenslayer on Bayne and time expires at 5:00, giving Melo and Jay a title shot.

Rating: C+. The match wasn’t exactly thrilling but it did exactly what it needed to, with Melo and Jay getting set up as the next challengers. That’s how it should have gone and it made for a good, short match. They don’t need to win the titles, but it’s a fine way to set up a title shot without burning off too much time.

Long recap of Wednesday’s Dynamite and Collision.

Here is Tommaso Ciampa, who was hoping that the old Chris Jericho would be here to get some revenge but instead he’s not here. Therefore, we’ll go with 1,004 reasons why he hates Jericho. This includes Fozzy sucks, the light up jackets, the cruises he makes everyone go on and HIS ARMBARS. Ciampa hates that full head of hair that Jericho has too and Jericho needs to understand that this isn’t some happiness tour. He promises to take Jericho out.

Maya World vs. Hazuki

Persephone is on commentary. Hazuki works on the arm to start and grabs a rollup for two, with World’s backslide getting the same. Back up and World kicks away, setting up a bulldog into the middle buckle. Hazuki’s headscissors into a basement dropkick gets her out of trouble and she stomps away in the ropes. A point at Persephone takes us to a break.

We come back with Hazuki winning an exchange of forearms but World catches her in the corner. Something like a powerbomb out of the corner gives World Two but Hazuki grabs the rope to prevent her from going up. A pump kick sends World to the apron for a hanging DDT so Hazuki heads up top. That’s broken up and World knocks her to the floor, where Hazuki runs right back inside for a dive. Back in and a tabletop suplex gives World two, only to miss a moonsault. The Codebreaker out of the corner sets up a top rope backsplash to give Hazuki the pin at 10:20.

Rating: B-. This was Hazuki’s traditional introduction match to let us know who she was before she starts up in the Owen Hart Tournament. It doesn’t help that it’s a cold match and went back and forth, but at least Hazuki got to be on one of the shows. This is something that happens in these tournaments on the regular and while I get the appeal, it often comes off as filler more than anything else.

Post match Persephone gets in the ring for the showdown.

We get a tribute to Dennis Condrey (who lived in Huntsville) and Bobby Eaton (who was from Huntsville). That’s a rather nice moment as the Midnight Express really was as good as advertised.

Video on Lee Moriarty, who has been the Ring Of Honor Pure Wrestling Champion for almost two years.

Lee Moriarty vs. Tim Bosby

Shane Taylor is on commentary. Moriarty wrestles him down without much effort and slides between Bosby’s legs for a bring it on. Bosby’s uppercut earn him a leg lariat and it’s the Border City Stretch to give Moriarty the tap at 1:34.

Post match Shane Taylor Promotions come in to praise Moriarty and insult the fans but the Death Riders’ entrance for their match cuts them off.

Death Riders vs. The Infantry

Moxley grabs Bravo’s arm to start and shoves him down, allowing Pac to come in for a wristlock of his own. The Infantry’s manager Christyan XO grabs Pac’s leg so Marina Shafir scares her off the apron. Dean pulls Pac to the apron and the beatdown is on, with Moxley grabbing a chair to chase them off. Taylor gets off commentary to punch Moxley down and a DDT drops Pac on the floor as we take a break.

We come back with Moxley getting kicked down again and a Bronco Buster hitting Pac. The chinlock is broken up and Pac hits a dive, allowing the tag off to Moxley. House is quickly cleaned and Moxley wins a slugout with Dean by knocking him into the corner. A double DDT drops the Infantry but they come back with an enziguri into a neckbreaker. Moxley raises his knees to block a splash and even Shafir gets in a shot in the corner. Pac hits a big clothesline and the Death Rider finishes Bravo at 11:10.

Rating: B-. The Death Riders continue to be confusing, as they are heels a lot of the time but here they might as well have been the 1986 Rock N Roll Express. The fans were certainly into them as they love Moxley, but it’s a little weird to see Kenny Omega act like they’re evil incarnate on Dynamite and then have them do this kind of a match a few days later. That being said, the Infantry continues to look like cannon fodder and not much more, which makes seeing them on Ring Of Honor feel like a bit of a waste of time.

Also a sidenote: Taylor was rather good on commentary. If he puts in some practice, he might have a future there as he has a clear voice and the experience to fit in as a veteran.

The Triangle Of Madness is happy that Thekla retained the title but Skye Blue is coming for the Women’s Title. Or they’re just tricking us and everything is fine.

Lio Rush, with an umbrella, scares the Conglomeration.

Here are the Dogs to throw out disposable cameras for their Five Second Pose because Alabama is too stupid to use smart phones. The pose is GUNNS DOWN but a certain team cuts them off.

The Dogs vs. The Gunns

The rest of the Bang Bang Gang is here with the Gunns and Jon Moxley is on commentary. Colten shoulders Finlay down to start and it’s off to Austin for an elbow to the face. Austin slugs away at Connors and hits a jumping Downward Spiral before dropping Finlay as well. We take a break and come back with Austin in trouble, including the Dogs putting a Polaroid on his head.

That just fires Austin up so Colten can come back in and clean house. That doesn’t last long as it’s a double suplex to send him flying, leaving Clark surprised at the kickout. The Dogs miss a high/low and the real hot tag brings Austin back in. They all forearm it out and then knock each other down, with Finlay chop blocking Colten. A shillelagh to the jaw knocks Austin silly and the spear gives Connors the win at 10:43.

Rating: C+. That’s a surprising result as you might think you would want to reestablish the Gunns a bit after they’ve been apart for so long. The team still looks good, but the Dogs are a bigger deal at the moment and this was more about making them stronger. At least I can tell the Gunns apart now so thank goodness for different hair (which they probably had before).

Post match the Dogs stay on them but the rest of the Bang Bang Gang run in for the save.

Video on Kevin Knight vs. Mike Bailey.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

The TBS Title will be decided in a Survival Of The Fittest (or possibly fitness according to Schiavone), a six woman elimination match, taking place on July 1. Qualifying matches will take place in the coming weeks.

Don Callis Family vs. Jimmy Wild/Tommy Mars

It’s Brian Cage/Jake Doyle for the Family as Nigel pops Moxley by saying Mars is substituting for Wild’s normal partner, Johnny Wet. The Drill Claw and a sitout powerbomb finish for the Family at 1:31. Total squash.

Post match Konosuke Takeshita comes out for the main event and Doyle/Cage have to be held back from him.

International Title: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Daniel Garcia

Takeshita is defending. Garcia pulls him down into a headscissors but Takeshita escapes and glares on his way up. Takeshita kicks away as even Moxley admits Takeshita is going to give you a beating no matter who you are. Garcia bails outside so Takeshita follows him to keep up the fight. They start to get back inside but Garcia hits a dragon screw legwhip (Moxley approves) as we take a break.

We come back with Shafir on commentary now and suggesting Garcia use his toe. Takeshita uses a wheelbarrow suplex to escape an ankle lock as Moxley takes Shafir’s place (Schiavone: “You know you just gave your headset to a crazy woman?”). Garcia gets an STF, followed by a piledriver, which just wakes Takeshita up. A running knee knocks Garcia silly but he chops Takeshita down to block another running knee.

They slug it out until Takeshita gets two off a Blue Thunder Bomb. The knee gives out though and Garcia hits a Stomp before taking him up top. Takeshita tries a top rope clothesline but gets pulled into the Dragontamer. That’s broken up as well and Takeshita hits a heck of a wheelbarrow suplex. The Raging Fire retains the title at 16:33.

Rating: B+. This got intense and as usual, Moxley added a lot on commentary as he comes off like the biggest fan in the world. That’s always going to help as he just adds an energy to any match he’s calling. Garcia winning the title was never a realistic ending, but that wasn’t exactly the point here. They beat each other up and I had fun watching them do it so I’ll take it.

Post match even Moxley appreciates the match but the Don Callis Family comes in to jump Takeshita. Moxley gets up to help but Shane Taylor Promotions jumps him as well. This brings out the Conglomeration to get in on things and Nigel McGuinness gets in a fight with Shawn Dean. Mike Bailey runs in and the good guys clear the ring.

Takeshita seems to nod a thank you to Moxley and shows respect to Garcia to end the show. This felt like the ending to a house show where the promotion said “oh just send all the good guys out there to beat up all the bad guys and send them home happy”. It might not be the most original idea, but I’ve seen worse.

Overall Rating: B. As absolutely sick as I am of Tony Khan produced wrestling after 12 hours of it in a week, this was a pretty nice midcard heavy show. I liked the rotating commentators deal as it added some flavor to the matches and kept things moving. This wasn’t exactly must see stuff, but it felt different enough to make things a bit different than usual, which was rather appreciated.

Results
Conglomeration b. Don Callis Family – Top rope elbow to Romero
Tay Melo/Anna Jay vs. Megan Bayne/Lena Kross went to a time limit draw
Hazuki b. Maya World – Top rope backsplash
Lee Moriarty b. Tim Bosby – Border City Stretch
Death Riders b. The Infantry – Death Rider to Bravo
The Dogs b. The Gunns – Spear to Austin
Don Callis Family b. Jimmy Wild/Tommy Mars – Sitout powerbomb to Mars
Konosuke Takeshita b. Daniel Garcia – Raging Fire

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Collision
Date: May 27, 2026
Location: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

It’s the third of three hours this week as we’re still coming off of Double Or Nothing. This time around we have a pretty big main event in the form of a street fight between Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida. Other than that, it’s likely your usual Collision, but at half the size. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

We open with Mark Davis throwing Jack Perry (who Davis just beat in the Dynamite main event) out of the ring. Don Callis threatens Will Ospreay, who is Davis’ second round opponent. With that out of the way, Callis insults Konosuke Takeshita, who was never anything compared to Kyle Fletcher.

Cue Fletcher, who gets a big hug from Fletcher and brags about being back from a serious injury so soon. He’s a genetic freak and officially medically cleared to return to the ring. He wanted to get back to cut away the dead weight of the Don Callis Family, which means Takeshita himself. Cue Takeshita…and the Conglomeration, to quickly clear the ring. Takeshita is glad to have his title back and wants Fletcher, who seems interested.

Will Ospreay is fired up for a six man. Marina Shafir and Jon Moxley are cool with Ospreay, but Pac isn’t so thrilled.

Death Riders/Will Ospreay vs. Rascalz

Xavier snaps off some headscissors to take Ospreay down to start but gets kicked in the chest. The annoyed Pac comes in to cravate Xavier but it’s off to Wentz, who is chopped back into the corner. The Rascalz fight back and hit the dives to the floor as we take a break.

We come back with Ospreay hitting a double handspring Pele kick, allowing the tag back to Pac. House is quickly cleaned and Reed is suplexed into the corner for two. The Riders hit the running clotheslines in the corner and Pac and Ospreay hit stereo running clip dives. Back in and Reed ducks Moxley’s clothesline and hits a jumping cutter. Ospreay and Pac are back in to beat on the Rascalz, setting up a triple submission for the tap (Ospreay making Reed tap to the cross armbreaker is what seems to count) at 10:22.

Rating: B-. The ending was never really in doubt but at least it wasn’t a straight up squash. Instead this was more the Death Riders reining the Rascalz in like fish and eventually catching them in some holds. That’s a fine way to go, even if it continues to make the Rascalz look that much less important week after week.

The Opps say that even though things haven’t been going well, the mission doesn’t change. That being said, Samoa Joe is stepping away for a few months for another movie/TV role. Sweet goodness just disband the team already if the lineup keeps changing this often.

Video on Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida, with both of them talking about how sick they are of each other.

Lena Kross and Megan Bayne have laid out Tay Melo and Anna Jay.

Andrade El Idolo vs. Ace Austin

Andrade’s headlock is broken up to start so he snaps off a hurricanrana. Austin sends him into the ropes for the pose and we take a break. We come back with Andrade knocking Austin down and Andrade poses with a woman on the floor. Said woman is pulled over the barricade for a better picture, allowing Austin to get in a shot of his own.

A standing legdrop hits Andrade, who is sat on top for a running anklescissors. The Death Valley Driver gives Austin two but Andrade knocks him into the corner. The running knees miss for Andrade though and Austin is back with a springboard kick to the face. Andrade isn’t having that and hits the spinning elbow, followed by the DM for the pin at 8:09.

Rating: B-. It’s another good performance from Austin, who loses while looking impressive in the process. I know that’s AEW’s standard practice but it would be nice to see him win something over a more impressive name for once. Or just not lose for a change, though I can’t really imagine either happening anytime soon.

Kris Statlander vs. Hikaru Shida

Anything goes street fight. They slug it out to start and Statlander kicks her out to the floor. Statlander grabs a chair but takes too long, allowing Shida to sit it on the top rope. They go outside together with Statlander being sent into the barricade for a hard beating. That just earns Shida a hard powerbomb onto the floor and they go up towards the entrance. Make that into the back, with the fans not approving. Shida suplexes her onto a piece of barricade and we take a break.

We come back with Statlander superplexing her onto a pile of chairs and a chair/kendo stick duel breaking out. Statlander’s moonsault hits chairs and Shida nails a top rope Meteora for two. Shida hits a Falcon Arrow, with Statlander nipping up to escape in a cool moment. Statlander fires a chair at her head and it’s time to set up a table on one side of the floor and chairs on the other.

Shida is Death Valley Drivered onto the open chairs but Statlander can’t bring herself to swinging some light tubes. Instead Shida kicks her down and breaks the tubes over her back, cutting Statlander open. They fight to the apron, where Statlander hits a Tombstone to put Shida through the table. Cue Harley Cameron to cheer Statlander on, with Staturday Night Fever finishing Shida at 15:56.

Rating: C+. Well they did indeed have a street fight because they were in Philadelphia, making it a requirement. Ignore that it was their first singles match against each other but you have to keep the ECW fans happy. This was more violence for the sake of violence, with the light tubes doing their usual job of dimming any interest I had in the thing.

Overall Rating: B-. This was a totally fine Collision, even if it came a good bit later than the usual show. The main event felt enough like a main event to warrant that spot, even if we have another hour for the “real” main event on Saturday. It’s not the best feeling to have a three hour block so soon after a five hour pay per view, but it’s both not AEW’s fault and the action was good enough.

Results
Death Riders b. Rascalz – Cross armbreaker to Reed
Andrade El Idolo b. Ace Austin – DM
Kris Statlander b. Hikaru Shida – Staturday Night Fever

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Dynamite
Date: May 27, 2026
Location: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Taz, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone

We’re done with Double Or Nothing and MJF got the World Title back from Darby Allin. That’s the big story, but it wasn’t the last part of the show. After the title change, Kevin Knight came to the ring and attacked Allin, turning evil in the process. Other than that, we are about a month away from Double Or Nothing and we need some Owen Hart Cup finalists. Odds are we’re get closer to those this week, especially since we have another hour of Collision after this show. Let’s get to it.

Here is Double Or Nothing if you need a recap.

Back at Double Or Nothing, Will Ospreay was happy with his win and ran into Kenny Omega. They get to the point, with Omega asking why Ospreay is hanging out with the Death Riders. Omega said Ospreay could have trained with him if he wanted the World Title, but Ospreay points out that Omega is barely ever here.

That leaves Omega without much of a defense but as a friend, he wants Ospreay to watch out for the Death Riders. Ospreay doesn’t seem offended but here is Jon Moxley to say that’s good advice. Moxley gives Ospreay a bag of ice and says the truck is outside. With Moxley gone, Omega says Ospreay can call anytime and they seem to part as friends.

Here is Kevin Knight for a chat. He knows everyone wants to know why he attacked Darby Allin. The answer is because Allin let them all down and even though they’re in Philadelphia, he’s not trusting the process. Knight was the last person to beat MJF but he didn’t get a title shot.

Instead Knight was sitting on the bench even though he isn’t a bench player. He wasn’t wasting any time because he should be in the main event. This brings out Mike Bailey (in a less than nice jacket) who thinks Knight can turn around and apologize. Knight ignores the handshake and lays Bailey out. That’s a smart move.

Ricochet, with the Demand, isn’t worried about Chris Jericho tonight, even if everyone else is banned from ringside.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricochet

Everyone is banned from ringside. I take it that doesn’t involve commentary or the production crew but I guess that’s implied. Ricochet starts fast and kicks him into the corner but Jericho is up with a backdrop to the floor. Jericho hits a dive and loads up the announcers’ table for the Walls on said table. With that broken up, Ricochet sweeps the leg off the apron and starts going after the leg as we take a break.

We come back with Jericho hitting a Death Valley Driver on the apron and they’re both down on the floor. They get back inside where Jericho tries the Lionsault but has to switch to a springboard back elbow as Ricochet gets up. The threat of the Judas Effect sends Ricochet back outside and he snapmares Jericho over the top. The suicide dive and running flip dive connect, as does a springboard Phoenix splash to give Ricochet two back inside.

Jericho is right back up with another Walls but Ricochet goes after the banged up knee to escape. Ricochet uses the referee as a distraction and hits Jericho low but misses the 630. Jericho’s Codebreaker gets two and there’s the Judas Effect into a not so clean Lionsault to pin Ricochet at 13:57.

Rating: B. This was the kind of match that Jericho needed as they didn’t do any shenanigans and he won clean (well, mostly clean as the Lionsault landed on Ricochet’s face) in the end. That’s how this should have gone and it wound up being a good TV match. Jericho can still go in the ring when he has to, but the situation has to be set up right, as it was here.

Post match Jericho celebrates but Tommaso Ciampa runs in to jump him from behind. The running knee leaves Jericho laying.

Andrade El Idolo wants the world Title because he’s that awesome and better than MJF.

Orange Cassidy vs. Lio Rush vs. Brian Cage vs. Rush

For the sake of simplicity, Lio Rush is “Lio” and Rush is “Rush”. Cage sends Lio outside to start and Cassidy is tossed as well, leaving the power guys to go at it. Rush cuts off a charge with a shot to the face but they knock each other down, allowing Cassidy and Lio to come in and get two each.

Lio starts running the ropes to confuse Cassidy before sending him to the apron. A handspring kick to the head knocks Cassidy outside but Cage pulls a suicide dive out of the air. Back in and Rush hits the Tranquilo pose as we take a break. We come back with Cassidy dropping his top rope elbow on Cage, who muscles him up with an apron superplex. Lio is dropped with a Falcon Arrow for two more but Cassidy manages a Stundog Millionaire to send Cage outside.

The diving tornado DDT plants Cage again but here is Lance Archer to cut Cassidy off. Cue the returning Jake Doyle to go after Cassidy, with Roderick Strong running in for the save. The teams brawl off, with Cassidy being carried to the back. Lio hits a quick springboard Stunner on Rush but misses the Final Hour. Rush sends him into the barricade and chokes a bit, setting up the Bull’s Horns for the win at 12:10.

Rating: B-. It was little more than a showcase match and that’s how it was described. Thankfully once two of them left, Rush didn’t waste time in running through Lio, which is how this should have ended. It was a good enough match with Cassidy doing his thing and Cage and Rush beating each other up. If nothing else, Rush beating someone with some actual status is nice to see.

MJF runs into Kevin Knight and thanks him for the beatdown on Sunday. Knight says he’s coming for the World Title, which doesn’t sit well with MJF. Kyle Fletcher comes in to stare Knight down and Don Callis likes what he sees.

Video on Mark Briscoe, including some cool old Briscoe Brothers footage.

The Brawling Birds aren’t happy with Jamie Hayter losing on Sunday but Alex Windsor is ready for whomever she is facing in the Women’s Owen Hart Cup.

Here is MJF for some bragging. He’s rather pleased with being a three time World Champion by the time he’s thirty years old and they will talk about him for years to come. The banner and confetti fall but here is Mark Briscoe to interrupt. He calls MJF a stranger in a strange place here in Philadelphia, almost like he’s a penguin.

Briscoe accuses MJF of thinking he’s above everyone else, but Briscoe beat him not too long ago. So he wants a title shot and asks if MJF is going to man up. That’s a firm “no” because this is a business and Briscoe isn’t business. MJF goes to leave but gets cut off by Rush, who wants the title as well. MJF says no to tonight but actually agrees for next week. That sounds shenanigansy.

Jack Perry is on his bus and uses the loudspeaker to say he’s ready for Mark Davis. Then he does a Rocky training montage.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brody King

They fight over a lockup to start and neither can get anywhere so they stare at each other a bit more. A big running clothesline sends Castagnoli outside where King chops away and we take a break. We come back with the two of them slugging it out and hitting stereo clotheslines.

They forearm it out with Castagnoli getting the better of things but King knocks him into the corner. A forearm knocks Castagnoli into the corner for the cannonball but he’s able to cut off a suicide dive. The Neutralizer is cut off so Castagnoli uppercuts away. Swiss Death is shrugged off though and King’s big clothesline finishes at 12:02.

Rating: B-. This was about two big guys beating the fire out of each other and that’s exactly what you knew it would be the second the match was announced. I do like King advancing as there is no reason to pretend that Castagnoli is going to make a serious run in the tournament. He’s there for one purpose and he served that purpose right here.

Here are Adam Copeland and Christian Cage for a chat after winning the Tag Team Titles at Double Or Nothing. Cage loads up his catchphrase and says it wasn’t that bad, because he didn’t bang of the fans’ mothers. Ok maybe he did. Either way, FTR was the top team but not the tippy top team. Copeland is so happy that he’s bringing back the FIVE SECOND POSE!

Cage points out that there is no such thing as flash photography again, but Copeland whips out a bag of disposable cameras, which he stocked up on 25 years ago just in case. Cage is STUNNED (that’s one of the funniest facial reactions I’ve seen in a good while) as Copeland hands them out and explains the concept but the Dogs attack them to break up the pose. The beatdown is on and Cage’s bad arm is injured again. The Dogs do their own pose and promise to win the titles.

Swerve Strickland is happy with his first round win and is ready to take out Brody King in the second round.

Tay Melo/Anna Jay vs. Ava Everett/Allie Katch

After an insert promo from Lena Kross and Megan Bayne about how they aren’t impressed by Melo and Jay, we’re ready to go. Katch is sent into the corner and hit with some running shots to the face to start. Everett comes in and gets kicked down as well, setting up a Gory Bomb into Melo’s knee for the pin at 1:13. Total squash.

Mike Bailey wants to face Kevin Knight.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Mark Davis vs. Jack Perry

Non-title and Davis jumps him to start fast so the beating can ensue. Back up and Perry takes Davis’ eye patch and sends him outside for the suicide dives. There’s the running flip dive as well and we take a break with Davis in trouble. We come back with King fighting back and sending him hard into the barricade.

Perry can’t piledrive him on the apron but can knock him put him on the ropes for a hurricanrana. Back in and top rope moonsault gets two, followed by a step up backsplash for two more on Davis. Perry sends him outside and hits a sliding wheelbarrow bulldog but Davis is fine enough to hit a suplex onto the apron.

We take another break and come back with Perry having lost his shoes but being able to hit a top rope DDT. They trade rollups for two each and Perry hits his own piledriver for two. The Snare Trap goes on until Davis makes the rope and is up with a huge clothesline. They go up top and Davis knocks him into a super piledriver for the pin at 17:25.

Rating: B+. These guys beat the fire out of each other and it was fun to see Davis getting another win. If nothing else, it’s good to see a champion get a pin rather than losing right out of the blocks. Perry is going to be fine and he lost to that big of a move so it’s not like it’s some quick upset.

Overall Rating: B+. They had a good followup to the pay per view here with enough action and storyline advancement to make for a fun show. MJF having to deal with a bunch of people makes sense, and it seems like we’re well on the way to Ospreay getting the big title win in England. Good stuff here and I could go for seeing what they’re setting up for the summer.

Results
Chris Jericho b. Ricochet – Lionsault
Rush b. Orange Cassidy, Brian Cage and Lio Rush – Bull’s Horns to Lio
Brody King b. Claudio Castagnoli – Clothesline
Tay Melo/Anna Jay b. Ava Everett/Allie Katch – Gory Bomb into a knee to Everett
Mark Davis b. Jack Perry – Super piledriver

Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6