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:

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

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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Double Or Nothing 2026
Date: May 24, 2026
Location: Louis Armstrong Stadium, New York City, New York
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness

We’re back with another big time pay per view and that means the card is stacked. That’s a good thing as the card does look appealing, though there is always the chance that it is going to go all the way into tomorrow. The main event if MJF challenging Darby Allin for the World Title in a hair vs. title match. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Lena Kross/Megan Bayne vs. Zayda Steel/Viva Van

Non-title match with a five minute time limit. Steel gets smart and bails outside to run away from Bayne and burn some clock. Back in and Bayne reverses a DDT attempt but Steel bails outside as we’re already over a minute in. Van scores with a springboard spinwheel kick and knocks Bayne outside, followed by a throat snap across the top. Kross isn’t having that and superkicks Van, allowing Bayne to unload in the corner.

It’s off to Kross for a basement clothesline and the alternating elbows in the corner. An enziguri gets Van out of trouble though and it’s off to Steel, who snaps off a headscissors. A pump kick misses for Kross and Steel tornado DDTs her with less than a minute to go. Bayne comes in for a kick to the face and German suplex, followed by the Divine Intervention to pin Steel at 4:46.

Rating: C. This was pretty much in the vein of “what else were you expecting” as it was the dominant team against a makeshift pair of opponents. The match was more about Steel trying to stall, which isn’t a bad way to go. It just would have made more sense for her to do it again later in the match rather than going for a pin, as it’s the same result. Either way though, having Bayne wreck Steel at the end was fine.

Post match Bayne lays out Christopher Daniels and give Van a Divine Intervention of her own. Anna Jay and Tay Melo run in armed for the save.

Kickoff Show: Opps vs. Death Riders

Always nice to throw in a six man tag. Yuta slips out of Bowens’ armbar to start and gets him into a backslide. Bowens gets the same off a small package but gets sent into the corner for some shots to the face. Yuta insists that HE HAS TIL FIVE and gets hit in the face for his efforts.

Hook and Garcia come in with Hook sending him flying off a suplex. Shibata and Castagnoli come in to trade some rapid fire forearms, with Shibata knocking him into the corner for a running dropkick. Hook comes back in and has his suplex blocked, allowing Castagnoli to send him into the corner. Yuta gets atomic dropped but the Riders get together for a triple boot to Shibata.

Garcia tries to come in and hammer away, which just isn’t working for Shibata, who grabs an STO. It’s Hook coming in and getting caught in the wrong corner for some running elbows and a two count. A missed charge lets Hook snap off some suplexes though and he rolls underneath a double clothesline to bring Bowens in. That means house can be cleaned but Castagnoli makes a save and Bowens is left on his own. A faceplant puts him down and a running uppercut gives Castagnoli the pin at 10:34.

Rating: B-. This is exactly what you would have expected from what would likely be on Collision most of the time. They had a pretty fast paced match, but I’m not sure why you would have had Bowens take the fall when Hook is around. Is Hook really still supposed to be that important? Are we still pretending that’s the case?

Kickoff Show: Boom & Doom/Conglomeration vs. Shane Taylor Promotions

The good guys have Harley Cameron, Big Justice and the Rizzler with them. Marshall handspring kicks Bravo in the face to start and it’s off to AJ for some right hands in the corner. The good guys get to keep alternating for right hands to Bravo in the corner. Well right hand from Cassidy. Everything breaks down and Cassidy gets caught in the wrong corner for a running Bronco Buster from Dean.

Cassidy fights back but gets punched down, leaving him to grab a Stundog Millionaire on Moriarty. The tag brings in AJ to clean house as Cameron has to save Rizzler from Christyan XO. Briscoe comes in to wreck the Promotions, including using the chair for the big step up flip dive. The Tower Of Doom brings Bravo down for the pin at 6:31.

Rating: C. Yeah fine. As usual, you’re only going to be able to get so much out of a match like this one with so many people involved but it was hardly bad. The idea here was to get some popular stars on the show and they did just that, along with Marshall. I don’t get the appeal of AJ and company these days, but I can only get so annoyed about him being in a six and a half minute wacky tag match.

Post match Eddie Kingston, Ortiz and Mance Warner come in to chase off the Promotions, who they’ve been fighting a bit in Ring Of Honor.

Mick Foley and Renee Paquette are in the ring to hype up the main event when MJF interrupts. MJF doesn’t want to hear from someone whose entire career was built on failing. He mocks the New York Knicks and Darby Allin before saying Foley would always lose when the chips are down. Foley thanks MJF for letting him have this moment one last time and agrees that yes, he did lose a lot of matches. Granted he did beat the Rock a few times, but none of those losses were in 2:15.

Unless MJF wants his matches to be compared to how long it takes to fry an egg, he better get ready for Allin. Foley sees a lot of himself in Allin, but it’s a more athletic Allin who wants to be World Champion. Foley says MJF has wavy hair and tonight it’s waving goodbye. MJF kicks him low but here is Allin to chase MJF off. Foley talks about how he inspired Allin’s career and how he saw Allin at a small show and knew there was something there. Tonight, Foley wants Allin to win one for the weird ones. To quote one of Foley’s friends, BANG BANG!

And now, the show proper.  Also: points for lightening up on the Kickoff Show.  21ish minutes of wrestling and a big promo in an hour is fine and nowhere near as crammed as usual.

Tag Team Titles: Adam Copeland/Christian Cage vs. FTR

FTR, with Stokely, is defending in an I Quit match and if they win, Copeland and Cage can never team together again. They stare each other down to start and the double brawl is on, with Cage and Harwood being left in the ring. Cage hits a clothesline but it’s way too early for the Killswitch. Stokely slips Harwood some barbed wire, which Cage takes away just as fast. The wire is wrapped around the middle rope so Cage can send him throat/face first into it, followed by standing on his back.

Back in and Copeland whips the champs with the barbed wire before Cage hangs Harwood over the rope. Wheeler makes the save but Copeland is back up with a ladder. Harwood is suplexed onto said ladder so of course it’s time for a table. That’s enough of a delay for FTR to fight back but Cage uses pliers on Harwood’s I believe nose and Wheeler’s…well the front of his trunks.

That’s broken up and Copeland is sent outside for a spike piledriver onto the announcers’ table (dang). A cinder block to Cage’s bad arm misses so the arm is put inside the block. Cage: “I….I….I BANGED YOUR MOTHER!” The chair crushes the block on the arm on the steps but Cage is back up to bite Harwood’s head. A Killswitch drops Wheeler so Stokely starts unhooking the turnbuckle.

The buckle is unhooked and Cage gets choked into a Shatter Machine, only for Copeland to come back with a pair of spears. Copeland unloads with chair shots to both champions and Harwood begs for mercy, but doesn’t quit. Wheeler asks him to stop but Stokely is up with a wrench to knock Copeland into a Shatter Machine. Cue Beth Copeland, who is immediately sent into the steps.

Harwood is back up with lighter fluid and the table is set on fire. Wheeler misses Beth though and spears Stokely through the fire instead (as the tributes are on). Beth is up to save her husband from a Conchairto (six months off a piledriver, a minute off being rammed into the steps) and Adam hits a piledriver. Cage gets a Sharpshooter and Cage adds the Grindhouse with Spike to make Harwood quit for the titles at 19:34.

Rating: B. They hit most of the notes here, though I’m not sure how much they needed to draw this one out for an extra month. What matters the most is that the titles are off of FTR, who were ready to lose the things already. It’s a big nostalgia moment, but Cage and Copeland are still able to have a good match and this was a nice win in the end.

We recap Konosuke Takeshita challenging Kazuchika Okada for the International Title. They’re both part of the Don Callis Family but have been having issues for months. Okada beat him back in December in the Continental Classic but this is more personal.

International Title: Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita is challenging (and not defending his New Japan TV Title) and dang the fans certainly like him. They stare each other down to start and trade forearms until Takeshita charges into a boot to the face. Raging Fire is broken up though and it’s an early standoff. The fans get all over Callis as the two of them get into a shove off, with Takeshita hitting a jumping shoulder.

Okada is right back with a dropkick out to the floor, where Takeshita is driven into the barricade a few times. Back in and Okada suplexes him for a cocky one, followed by a neckbreaker for the same. Takeshita manages an exploder suplex but the middle rope backsplash hits raised knees. Okada charges into a jumping knee to send him outside, where Takeshita is right there with the big running flip dive.

Back in and Okada drops him down as well, setting up the top rope elbow. The build to the Rainmaker takes too long though and they fight over a Tombstone, with Takeshita planting him. A wheelbarrow suplex is shrugged off and Okada pops up with a dropkick into the Rainmaker and they’re both down. They slug it out on the apron until Okada hits another Rainmaker and Takeshita is down on the floor. Okada DDTs him on the floor but Callis calls off a Tombstone.

That’s enough for Okada to take a breather, allowing Takeshita to hit the brainbuster on the floor. Callis freaks out and Takeshita flips him off, followed by something like a very high German suplex for two. Okada’s Tombstone gets two but Takeshita gets all fired up and wins a slugout.

The Blue Thunder Bomb looks to set up the running knee, which is countered into a Rainmaker attempt, which is countered into a rollup for two. The Rainmaker connects but Okada holds onto the arm, only for Takeshita to hit his own Rainmaker. Takeshita’s running knee gets one and Raging Fire gives him the pin and the title at 19:04.

Rating: B+. I’m hardly surprised this was intense, with the result being the best way it could go. What matters the most is that Takeshita seems to be done with Callis for good, as there is no need for someone that talented and popular to be stuck with Callis for so much longer. They beat each other up and it felt like a showdown, with Takeshita dropping Okada on his head outside being quite the violent moment. Some of the quick kickouts got a bit annoying but they got the result absolutely right.

Post match the Don Callis Family comes in and Takeshita stares Okada down…as Kyle Fletcher returns. Fletcher stands with Takeshita and gives him a hug as the Family leaves. And of course Fletcher lays Takeshita out, then does it again with the brainbuster. Okada hands Fletcher the title and Takeshita is knocked colder.

We look at the Women’s Owen Hart Cup, which starts here with Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa. They’ve had some issues in Ring Of Honor to set things up a bit.

Women’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Mina Shirakawa vs. Athena

Athena’s Ring Of Honor Women’s Title isn’t on the line and she backs Shirakawa into the corner to start. Shirakawa ducks a charge and gets in her shake but Athena knees her off the top. They go outside, with Athena’s running knee hitting the steps. A running dropkick against the barricade knocks out a video screen has Shirakawa in trouble but she’s right back as they go inside again.

Shirakawa starts in on the leg but dives into a Wasteland for two. Back up and Shirakawa hits a Sling Blade before knocking her out to the floor. The slingshot corkscrew dive connects and it’s an electric chair drop back inside. The Figure Four is broken up though and Athena sweeps the leg (it works in No Mercy and it works here) but a middle rope O Face is broken up. Shirakawa’s seatbelt gets two and she gets the Figure Four, sending Athena over to the rope. Athena pumphandles her into a Tombstone and now the O Face finishes Shirakawa at 10:46.

Rating: B-. This was another Collision level match and Athena gets her latest win that isn’t likely to result in her finally breaking through on the main roster. She’s been such a star in Ring Of Honor for so long now and there is no reason, at least in front of the scenes, for her to not jump up. Hopefully it happens here, but I have no reason to believe that is the case, as we’ve been here for years now.

We recap Jon Moxley defending the Continental Title against Kyle O’Reilly. They went to a time limit draw on Dynamite and now it’s a no time limit rematch for the title. O’Reilly has made him tap a few times before so Moxley might be in danger.

The Conglomeration gives O’Reilly a pep talk.

Continental Title: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley is defending and there is no time limit. They go with the grappling to start and O’Reilly’s armbar doesn’t go anywhere. Moxley knocks him down and grabs a snapmare for a kick to the back, with O’Reilly popping right back up. O’Reilly strikes away and grabs a guillotine choke, with Moxley firing off right hands. That doesn’t work for Moxley as he gets sent outside for a running knee from the apron.

Some kicks to the chest and rams into the steps have Moxley in more trouble but O’Reilly’s big kick hits the post. Back in and they trade forearms until O’Reilly tries a kick, which hurts him even more. The leg is wrapped around the rope for a dropkick to the knee and Moxley grabs a leglock. O’Reilly grabs the rope so Moxley bites him in the head. They go to the corner, where O’Reilly snaps the arm over the top and hits a middle rope knee to said arm.

The cross armbreaker is reversed into a half crab, with Moxley shifting it into a leglock. O’Reilly gets out and grabs an ankle lock, with Moxley escaping but getting kicked out to the floor. Back in and Moxley shrugs off a Curb Stomp and hits a cutter for a double down. A double clothesline gives us the same result and they punch it out from their knees. Moxley clotheslines him into the Death Rider into a bulldog choke but O’Reilly reverses into an ankle lock. That’s reversed into a grapevined ankle lock and O’Reilly taps at 18:44.

Rating: B. I saw them do this for twenty minutes earlier in the week so I was only so interested in seeing them to it for another eighteen minutes here. Some of the two of them popping up made my eyes roll, but you have to expect that on occasion. It was incredibly physical and a way for the two of them to show off their skills, but doing it twice in a week was too much.

Post match their teams come out and we get a big handshake.

We recap Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe in the first round of the Owen Hart Tournament. Ospreay is back from his neck surgery and picked to train with the Death Riders over the Opps. That doesn’t work for Joe and that’s just not a good idea.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Samoa Joe vs. Will Ospreay

Ospreay Oscutters him at the bell and hammers away in the corner but Joe hits a heck of an elbow. Ospreay’s drop down into the dropkick sends Joe outside and there’s a suicide dive. Back in and a 450 looks to set up a cross armbreaker, with Joe going straight to the rope. Joe bails to the floor and is ready for a moonsault, instead choking Ospreay and sending him into the steps.

Back in and Joe goes after the neck before winning an exchange of forearms. Ospreay tries to chop back but gets knocked down again, this time for a backsplash. The MuscleBuster is broken up though and Ospreay stomps on Joe’s arm. A handspring kick to the head gets two but Joe walks away from the Oscutter. Joe goes into his string of holds, followed by a hard kick to the chest.

Ospreay Hulks Up and strikes away, with a Styles Clash connecting for two. The Hidden Blade gets two more but another Hidden Blade is cut off with a powerslam. The Koquina Clutch is countered but Joe plants him down and grabs it again, with the third arm drop seeing Ospreay grab the rope. Another MuscleBuster is countered into another Hidden Blade for one, followed by another Hidden Blade for the pin at 13:53.

Rating: B. As much as I can’t stand that “kick out at one off a finisher, then the same thing finishes you” stuff that we’ve seen twice now, this was a hard hitting fight. Joe is always just enough of a threat to beat anyone, though Ospreay going forward was by far the better way to go. He’s on the road to Wembley (in theory) and Joe was a heck of a first step there.

Post match Joe shows some respect before leaving.

We recap Bandido vs. Swerve Strickland in another Owen Tournament match. Strickland has attacked him a few times and Bandido is ready to fight back.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Swerve Strickland vs. Bandido

Bandido’s Ring Of Honor World Title isn’t on the line (of course) and Prince Nana is here with Strickland. Bandido goes right at him to start and dropkicks the knee but Strickland is right back up to take over. A big boot misses though and Bandido flips up into an Eddie Dance. Strickland is sent outside for a running dropkick and a superkick.

With Strickland sat in a chair, Bandido hits a running dive to knock him back out of it in a big crash. Back in and Strickland suplexes him into the corner before cranking on the neck. Bandido fights up but his leg is twitching. That’s shrugged off and Bandido kicks him out of the corner into a nifty German suplex.

The frog splash gets two but Strickland gives him a House Call into a Swerve Stomp for two more. They go to the apron where Bandido somehow poisonranas him out to the floor for the big crash. Back in and the 21 Plex connects but Bandido’s neck gives out, meaning we get more twitching. Bandido is able to try a Code Red but backflips up into a hurricanrana. The 21 Plex is loaded up again, only to be reversed into a Vertebreaker. The House Call finishes Bandido at 15:17.

Rating: A-. Yeah this was rather awesome and I don’t think that’s much of a surprise. Bandido is more or less guaranteed to have a great match no matter what he’s doing and that was certainly the case here. They beat the fire out of each other but it always felt like Strickland was playing from ahead. That allowed Bandido to fight from underneath and that is where he works best. Outstanding match here from two of AEW’s most exciting stars.

We recap the Women’s Title match. A bunch of women want the title and Thekla isn’t worried. Well she might be but you can’t tell as she’s kind of nuts.

Women’s Title: Thekla vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter

Thekla is defending. Hayter cleans house to start and hits a double clothesline but Thekla fights back in a hurry. Statlander and Hayter have the big power standoff, which is broken up by Shida. With everyone else on the floor, Thekla hits a big dive onto the pile to put everyone down.

Back in and Statlander bites the hand to get out of Thekla’s Rings Of Saturn and Alabama Slams her into the corner to escape the Upside Down. Thekla knocks her down again but spends too much time posing, allowing Shida to get in a shot of her own. Shida and Statlander grab a suplex each and all four are down. They slug it out from their knees until Statlander and Hayter crossbody each other.

Back up and Thekla shoves Statlander into a suplex from Hayter, who Haytebreakers Thekla. That’s reversed into a Black Widow to Hayter, who reverses into the Hayterade. Shida breaks it up at two and there’s the Falcon Arrow. Shida tries to grab Hayter’s leg but Statlander cuts that off in a hurry. Staturday Night Fever hits Hayter but Shida is in with a kendo stick for a save of her own. Thekla knocks Shida outside and Stomps Statlander to retain at 14:03.

Rating: B. They went from bell to bell with pretty much non-stop action as they beat each other up. Shida and Statlander have their issues to build things up even more and it made for a good mini feud. Thekla needed to keep the title at the moment as she’s on fire and I could go for seeing whatever else she can do.

The villains in Stadium Stampede arrive. The idea here is pretty simple: Chris Jericho was feuding with Ricochet and the Demand. It’s Double Or Nothing so we have Stadium Stampede so they both built up teams of seven people for a wild fight.

The good guys all get together in the back, complete with music and graphics which are likely out of a movie I haven’t seen.

Chris Jericho/Elite/Hurt Syndicate vs. Don Callis Family/The Demand/The Dogs

Stadium Stampede, meaning anything goes and they’re going to go nuts everywhere. It’s a huge brawl to start and we go to a quick quadruple screen to keep track of everyone. Ricochet gets caught in the wrong corner for some running knees and then Lashley spinebusters him onto the pile on the floor. Back in and Andrade rolls some suplexes to Perry but gets kneed out to the floor by Benjamin.

Perry hits a piledriver to drop Benjamin on the chair and Liona Samoan drops both Bucks at once. Ricochet is up with a dive and the Demand stands tall. Liona grabs an abdominal stretch on Omega and all six of his partners pull together. Believe it or not, it’s a bad idea to leave all of Omega’s partners free and it’s broken up pretty quickly. Finlay is backdropped onto the pile at ringside and Omega is fine enough for his own flip dive. Benjamin’s dive makes it even worse and there’s Jericho with a dive of his own.

Back in and the good guys hit a string of four super hurricanranas, followed by a quadruple submission attempt. Perry hits Davis with something that leaves a lot of smoke near the ring and the holds are broken. The Bucks set up tables on the floor as the Hurt Syndicate and Gates Of Agony brawl to the back.

They fight up an aisle and Lio Rush pops in to freak Lashley out. Rush jumps on Liona’s back and they go through a door as we come back to the arena. Omega and Jericho beat up Andrade as the Bucks and the Dogs are brawling in the concourse. Andrade fights back and takes a photo with a woman, only for Luchasaurus to pop in and go after him instead. Back in the ring and Jericho pours out a bag of tennis balls for a suplex to Ricochet but the Walls are broken up.

Davis and Perry brawl near catering with Davis being went eye first into a table. Andrade joins them but has to run from Satnam Singh, triggering a food fight. The Dogs and the Bucks fight on the stage, with Connors being put in a trashcan and in a shopping cart for a ride down the aisle. Liona is back in to clean house and hits Benjamin in the head with some kind of a stick or baton.

Connors spears Lashley and we cut to the back, where Ricochet beats Jericho up with a tennis racket. Cue Luther to give Jericho a BIG tennis racket and Jericho beats on Ricochet before throwing tennis balls at him. Back in the ring and Nick and Benjamin roll different kinds of suplexes before the Bucks superkick a variety of people.

We cut to the back where Davis, with his eye taped up, finds a golf cart with a knife and a note. Cue Perry to drive his bus through the cart (and another car) with Davis running off. Back inside and Omega V Triggers Andrade and Benjamin suplexes Kaun through a table. Omega One Wing Angels Andrade off the apron through a table and it’s Ricochet left alone inside. The parade of finishers is on until Kaun makes the save, earning himself a septuple (yes septuple) superkick. The Lionsault gives Jericho the pin at 31:12.

Rating: B+. This was a nice balance of insanity, brawling, fun moments and goofiness, mainly because it didn’t feel like a lot of it was scripted. Now of course it was, but it felt naturally enough that you could believe it was made up on the fly. Heck of a spectacle here and better than I was expecting, which is a nice relief.

Post match the Syndicate joins Jericho for the big thumbs up. Then Jericho puts himself through a table, seemingly in a tribute to Sabu. Nothing wrong with that.

We recap Darby Allin defending the World Title against MJF. After MJF ran his mouth about how awesome he was as champion, Allin got his title shot and won the belt in about two minutes. MJF demanded a rematch and finally put his hair on the line to get a shot. Allin has been defending all over the place and is wearing down fast though.

AEW World Title: Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Darby Allin

Allin is defending, title vs. hair. We get a video of a guy getting in a cab to try to make it to the show for the main event. The camera pans below the street and Allin is skateboarding through the sewers. Well there’s nothing wrong with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tribute. We get the Big Match Intros and MJF insists on being introduced from “a mansion none of you can afford” and not from “one of the bulls*** boroughs”.

Some early headlock takeovers give Allin two each and he dropkicks MJF through the ropes. The suicide dive gets caught in the ropes though and Allin crashes out to the floor. Back in and the Heatseeker is broken up so MJF slingshots him in for a cutter instead. The chinlock is broken up but MJF forearms him out of the air. MJF tries a super Tombstone but gets reversed into the Diamond Dust to leave them both down.

It’s too early for the Coffin Drop though and MJF crawls outside, where Allin hits the suicide dive. The Coffin Drop only hits apron though and believe it or not, Allin is in big trouble on the floor. A package piledriver on the side of the steps knocks Allin sillier, but he’s right back with a low blow into a headlock takeover for two back inside. The Scorpion Deathlock goes on but MJF makes the rope, followed by raising his knees to block another Coffin Drop.

Another slingshot cutter is countered into a Scorpion Death Drop and they’re both down. They trade the headlock take for two each before trading rollups for one each. A Code Red gives Allin two more and they’re both down again. They pull themselves up and MJF is sent outside, where he pulls the cameraman in the way of Allin’s dive. MJF drags him up to the stage and tries to give Allin a hair cut but Allin reverses into a choke.

Allin puts him on a well placed table and climbs the scaffolding for the Coffin Drop to leave both of them down. Back in and another Coffin Drop gets two so Allin, who is bleeding from the back of the head, grabs the Scorpion Deathlock. Allin collapses again but is fine enough to grab the Scorpion Death Drop. Another Coffin Drop is broken up though and the super Tombstone into the headlock takeover finishes Allin to give MJF the title back at 24:02.

Rating: B+. These guys beat the heck out of each other and it felt like a match that could have gone either way. They had something with the idea of Allin fighting with everything he could and finally coming up short. I’m not sure about MJF getting the title back so soon but Allin couldn’t hold it that long given what he was doing as champion.

Post match Allin is stretchered out so MJF goes after him. Kevin Knight runs in for the save…and attacks Allin as MJF gives an “I’ll take it” look from the stage to end the show. If this gets Knight away from Mike Bailey, I’ll take that too.

Overall Rating: A. Yeah this was pretty outstanding, with one awesome match after another. It’s a good example of a show where you can pick multiple matches as your match of the night and be fine with any of them, from the Tag Team Titles to the International Title to the Continental Title to Stadium Stampede to Bandido vs. Strickland. That’s a heck of a lineup and watching it over two days helped. This was rather awesome stuff, as AEW gets back to its top level pay per view offerings. I have no idea if it lasts going into Dynamite, but I’ll absolutely take this here.

Results
Megan Bayne/Lena Kross b. Zayda Steel/Viva Van – Divine Intervention to Steel
Death Riders b. Opps – Running uppercut to Bowens
Boom & Doom/Conglomeration b. Shane Taylor Promotions – Tower Of Doom to Bravo
Adam Copeland/Christian Cage b. FTR – Sharpshooter/Grindhouse with Spike to Harwood
Konosuke Takeshita b. Kazuchika Okada – Raging Fire
Athena b. Mina Shirakawa – O Face
Jon Moxley b. Kyle O’Reilly – Ankle lock
Will Ospreay b. Samoa Joe – Hidden Blade
Thekla b. Hikaru Shida, Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter – Stomp to Statlander
Chris Jericho/Hurt Syndicate/Elite b. The Dogs/The Demand/Don Callis Family – Lionsault to Kaun
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Darby Allin – Headlock takeover

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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We’re back to what might be the signature AEW pay per view and the card is certainly big enough. As usual there are a lot of matches and people on this show, with quite a few of them involving high stakes. That includes the main event, which is the rare mask vs. title match. We also have some wacky gimmickery on the docket so let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Megan Bayne/Lena Kross vs. Zayda Steel/Viva Van

This is one of the non-title five minute deals as Bayne and Kross get to toy with the two of them for a bit before destroying them. That doesn’t make for the most interesting matches, but it does help when the match is guaranteed to be relatively short. Van and Steel could be any two breathing humans here and it wouldn’t make much of a difference, which is kind of the point.

Of course I’ll take Bayne and Kross to win, as there is no reason to suggest that a makeshit pair, including Van with her one win ever in Ring Of Honor, is going to score the upset. Kross and Bayne are waiting on real challengers to show up and there is a good chance that won’t be until we get to Wembley with the Brawling Birds. For now, they run through another thrown together team in short order.

Kickoff Show: Death Riders vs. Opps

This is a fine example of the “let’s get everyone on the show” match, as there is little reason for the match to be happening other than to fill in time on a pre-show. At least the teams have been having some issues, but it is a little difficult to get excited over a match involving Wheeler Yuta and Hook. It’s a match that feels like it could open any given edition of Collision and that only means so much.

We’ll flip a coin and say the Opps win here, as they could use the victory. This is especially true of Anthony Bowens, who is still new to the team and would benefit from picking up a win. It’s not like Yuta or Daniel Garcia are going to be hurt by taking a loss and Claudio Castagnoli will be there to keep things from getting too dull. The match should be ok, though it’s something that could easily be dropped.

Kickoff Show: Boom & Doom/Conglomeration vs. Shane Taylor Promotions

And we’ll wrap up the pre-show with ten more people in a match, including a way to get QT Marshall of all people on the card. I’m really not sure how much value there is to have Big Boom AJ on the show again but he’s here one more time, likely with his son again as well. Other than that we have the Promotions, who might as well be AEW’s version of the Job Squad given their success rate.

Naturally I’ll take the good guys to win here, as there is really no reason to suggest something else is going to happen. Hopefully they keep this quick, as it’s a match that doesn’t serve much of a purpose on an already crowded show. I’m not sure what the appeal is if having AJ around anymore, but at least it’s mainly just once in awhile and rarely outside of something like this.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Samoa Joe vs. Will Ospreay

So here we have one of the first matches of the tournament and as usual, the two of them have been doing something to set up the match. Joe wanted Ospreay to join the Opps but Ospreay has been training with the Death Riders instead. That’s a fine enough way to go and hopefully they have enough of a story to make this work. Ok to be fair, there is almost no way that Ospreay vs. Joe won’t work in the first place.

I’ll go with Ospreay to win here, as he is fresh off the new training with the Death Riders and is going to be doing some fresh things in the ring. Joe is someone who can work with anyone and it should be a blast to see these two wreck each other for a good while. I can’t imagine Ospreay losing in a tournament with the right to challenge for the World Title in his home country on the line so I’ll go with Ospreay winning here.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Bandido vs. Swerve Strickland

We might as well do the other first round match as well and as usual, the Ring Of Honor World Title hasn’t been mentioned in the slightest. That’s hardly a surprise, as Bandido’s match at Dynasty didn’t see it mentioned whatsoever either. Hopefully the title either moves on or becomes a thing people actually want. Anyway, this is about moving forward towards All In and that should be going in one way.

I can’t imagine this goes anywhere other than Strickland going over, as he’s that much of a bigger star in AEW. Bandido can do just about anything in the ring with anyone but Strickland is someone who should be going forward. It’s going to be a rather awesome match either way due to their impressive talent, though it winds up with Strickland beating Bandido and moving on.

Women’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa

These two have had some recent interactions in Ring Of Honor, which is better than nothing. This is one of the trickier matches, as both of them tend to lose their bigger matches in AEW. That leaves this as a more of a sad tossup than anything else, as I could see either moving on to lose in the next round. They both need a win of their own though and one stands out more than the other.

I’ll take Athena to win here, as she has the crazy long title reign to make her seem important. Unfortunately that tends to mean absolutely nothing in the long run, but at the moment she’s higher up than Shirakawa. Neither is going to win the whole thing, but Athena going over makes a lot more sense. Now just find a way for Athena to get up to the main roster already because GOOD GRIEF ALREADY!

Women’s Title: Thekla(c) vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter

Ah yeah we have title matches on this show too. This is kind of a weird way to go but there is something about having so many challengers trying to take the title. Thekla has done rather well for herself in recent months and become one of the best things in all of AEW. I could go for seeing her keep the title for a good bit longer, though I’m not entirely sure that’s going to happen.

While I could see one of the other three taking the belt here, I’ll go with Thekla retaining. If nothing else, that’s partially due to wanting to see her do her insane yet entertaining promotions from week to week. She’ll have to lose the title one day and that might not be until All In, so for now we’ll go with her stealing the win to retain, possibly with an assist from the rest of the Triangle Of Madness.

Tag Team Titles: FTR(c) vs. Adam Copeland/Christian Cage

This is an I Quit match after FTR beat Copeland and Cage in Canada earlier this year. Since it’s a rematch, Copeland and Cage are putting up their careers (as a team) and that should make it a bit more interesting. In theory it should guarantee how the result goes, though that isn’t always the way AEW goes. I’m kind of curious to see how it goes, which is more than I could say about their first match.

I’ll go with the sake of sanity here and say that Copeland and Cage win the titles and get their big moment. If nothing else, FTR has held the titles for a very long time now and there isn’t much for them to do at the moment. It’s time for someone new to get in the title picture and naturally that means giving the titles to a team who are almost a hundred years old combined. The Canadians win here after things get rather violent.

Chris Jericho/Hurt Syndicate/Elite vs. Demand/Don Callis Family/The Dogs

Oh boy here we go. We have fourteen people in this version of Stadium Stampede and I’m not exactly looking forward to this. These matches wind up being fun, but at the same time it might as well be a short film. This is AEW’s version of a cinematic match as it’s all about doing whatever insanity they get together and think of this time around. Hopefully they don’t go insane with the time, but it’s an AEW pay per view.

I’ll go with the good guys winning here, even if it’s a total guess as to who is going to win this thing. The match is designed to be a big spectacle and nothing more, so hopefully they don’t go too far (ok you know better) and then we move on. If nothing else, Jericho can actually get a win without having to get the win himself. It could be fun, though I’m more than a bit uninterested.

International Title: Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita

This is one of the longer built matches on the card, as it has been teased for the better part of ever. They had a match back in the Continental Classic, about five months ago, though that was part of a tournament rather than the grudge match they’ve both been wanting. I’m curious to see how it goes, as Okada is capable of having a rather good match if he’s trying. If that’s the case, it should work here.

I’m expecting one of them to be kicked out of the Don Callis Family and that person is going to leave without the title. In this case, I’ll take with Okada retaining the title here, likely with Don Callis turning on Takeshita and setting up a third match down the line. Okada has already held the title for way too long and ultimately Takeshita will take it from him, but I’ll go with AEW waiting a bit longer to pull the trigger.

Continental Title: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Here we have another AEW trope: a rematch from a long match from less than a week ago with possibilities of the rematch going even longer. That’s the case here, as we’re just waving the title’s time limit rule (again) after the two of them went to a twenty minute time limit draw on Dynamite. That’s not the most promising thing, though I’d bet on seeing a lot of forearms exchanged, which must be good right?

I’ll go with Moxley retaining here, as the solution for Moxley seems to be “he can have long matches and wins because he’s awesome”. Last year Moxley kept tapping out to O’Reilly but not he even better so he won’t do that again. That seems to be the story here and odds are Moxley needs to get his win back. It should be hard hitting, but you kind of know what you’re getting with Moxley most of the time.

AEW World Title: Darby Allin(c) vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Title vs. hair and…I have no idea where to go here. The idea seems to be that Allin is wearing himself out with the title defenses, though I’m still not sure I can imagine MJF getting the title back so soon. That’s one of the things that makes a match that much more interesting, though Allin’s title reign has already worn me down on him. The matches have been fun, but I don’t really need to see him going crazy long again. So who wins here?

Geez where does this go? The logical way to go would see to be MJF but I’ll go with the twist of Allin retaining and MJF losing his hair. Maybe Allin loses the title soon after, but him losing here seems so simple. MJF losing his hair has some great potential and I could see him going there, but I’m not sure I need to see him get the title back. I’ll take Allin retaining here, though with a grant total of no confidence.

Overall Thoughts

This is a heck of a card and there could be some rather good matches on it, though as usual the idea of how long these matches are going to go is just draining. I’m interested in some of them though and Double Or Nothing does tend to be one of the better shows on AEW’s calendar. The wrestlers will definitely put in the work though, and that’s going to help this go a long way.

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 20, 2026
Location: Cross Insurance Arena, Portland, Maine
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

This is a special one hour edition of the show and is taking place just after the regular Dynamite. That should make for an interesting show as some of these wind up going a bit differently than regular editions. It’s also the last show before Sunday’s Double Or Nothing so it’s time to push towards the show. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

We open with Darby Allin getting up after retaining the World Title over Mike Bailey. Kevin Knight gets in the ring and says he’s proud of Bailey, even in defeat. Knight praises Allin’s success and tasks him with humbling MJF. If Knight can beat MJF, he knows Allin can do it, and everyone wants to see MJF get his head shaved. Bailey and Knight leave and here is MJF to jump Allin from behind. Somehow Bailey and Knight have no idea this is going on so MJF gets some hair clippers. Allin takes them away and goes for the hair, sending MJF running.

The Death Riders give Will Ospreay a pep talk.

Will Ospreay vs. Katsuyori Shibata

They immediately fight over a cross armbreaker attempt until Shibata grabs a front facelock. A suplex on the apron sets up a suplex on the floor and Shibata forearms away back inside. Ospreay fires right back with a Helluva Kick and another kick sends Shibata outside again. There’s the big dive and we take a break.

We come back with Ospreay hitting his handspring kick to the head, followed by a Phenomenal Forearm for two. The Kawada Kicks are shrugged off and Shibata grabs a choke. Shibata sends him into the corner for a running dropkick but Ospreay hits a quick running forearm.

The Falcon Arrow gives Ospreay two but here is Anthony Bowens for a distraction. Shibata hits his own Hidden Blade so here are the Death Riders. Back in and Shibata low blows him into a cross armbreaker, which is reversed into a Styles Clash. The Hidden Blade finishes Shibata at 10:51.

Rating: B-. The big thing that stands out here is that while Ospreay has learned some things from the Death Riders, he is still doing his older stuff. That’s a lot better than taking away the offense that made him a star for the sake of more submission stuff. He’s doing some things that Moxley has taught him, but it’s just a feature rather than the big focus. That’s great to see and it’s a rather nice surprise.

Post match Samoa Joe comes out to ask what we have here. Ospreay’s new friends had to come out and save him, which Joe would have done for his friends too. Ospreay has made a choice though and Joe is going to put him to sleep. That sends Ospreay into a rant about how bad his neck was and he doesn’t know how Joe is going to kill him when he’s already died in the ring. All he wants to do is go to All In and wrestle in his home country’s biggest stadium. The Death Riders have turned him into an assassin and he’s ready to take Joe out. Heck of a promo from Ospreay here.

Adam Copeland recaps how he and Christian Cage got to know each other as kids (a ninja star was involved). The fans have seen them grow from kids into men and this is real. FTR wants to kill this and Copeland wants the best version of FTR to show up. Cage says FTR has made choices (second promo in a row with that statement) and that means they are going to get f***** up. Another intense promo here and it did more to sell me on the match than what they’ve done otherwise.

Rush vs. TJ Crawford

Bull’s Horns finish at 1:00.

Megan Bayne/Lena Kross vs. Elle Valentine/Kayla Lopez

Non-title five minute time limit match. Bayne powers Lopez into the corner for the running shoulders, with Lopez celebrating an escape. That earns Lopez some hard shots in the corner and Kross comes in for the rapid fire elbows. Valentine comes in and gets kicked in the face and some delayed suplexes have Valentine and Lopez in more trouble. Divine Intervention finishes at 2:50. Another total squash.

Video on Darby Allin vs. MJF.

Double Or Nothing rundown, with the Kickoff Show being hosted by the debuting Mick Foley.

Tag Team Titles: Conglomeration vs. FTR

FTR, with Stokely, is defending and jump Cassidy and Strong to start fast. The early spike piledriver is broken up so FTR go up the aisle. Strong cuts that off and beats up the champs as we settle down. A gutbuster looks to set up the Orange Punch to Harwood but Wheeler pulls him out to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Strong fighting out of a chinlock and hitting a backbreaker. Cassidy comes in with a top rope clothesline to Harwood and a sunset flip gets two. A suicide dive hits Harwood but he’s back in with a spinebuster. Wheeler grabs a chinlock before handing it back to Harwood, who misses some elbows. Wheeler misses a charge on the apron and flies into the post but Harwood is right back up with a piledriver.

We take another break and come back again with Wheeler getting crotched in the corner, allowing Cassidy to get over to Strong. Everything breaks down and Strong throws Cassidy at Harwood in the corner and hands it back to him. Strong gets posted on the floor, leaving FTR to give Cassidy the lazy kicks.

Stokely loads up Christian Cage’s watch but misses a big swing, allowing Cassidy to get a rollup for two. Stundog Millionaire hits Harwood but Cassidy walks into the Shatter Machine. Strong makes the save and Cactus Clotheslines Wheeler out to the floor. That lets Stokely get in a shot with the watch to give Harwood the pin on Cassidy at 18:36.

Rating: B-. That ending wasn’t exactly inspiring, as it makes FTR look kind of weak heading into a pay per view title defense. It was nice to have Stokely actually do something for a change, but that wasn’t much of a finish. At least it clears out this feud so FTR can focus on Copeland and Cage, as there wasn’t much of a need to have them fighting on two different fronts.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked this well enough, though that main event could have been a bit shorter to wrap up an already long night a bit earlier. The Ospreay match and promo were good and it makes me want to see he and Joe unload on each other. If nothing else, it’s nice to have Collision dropped down by an hour for a week, as it makes for such an easier watch.

Results
Will Ospreay b. Katsuyori Shibata – Hidden Blade
Rush b. TJ Crawford – Bull’s Horns
Megan Bayne/Lena Kross b. Elle Valentine/Kayla Lopez – Divine Intervention to Valentine
FTR b. Conglomeration – Watch punch to Cassidy

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 16, 2026
Location: Wicomico Civic Center, Salisbury, Maryland
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness

We’re back to the usual time and schedule for the show as we have the World Title on the line again. This time Darby Allin is defending against Sammy Guevara, who issued the challenge at last night’s Ring Of Honor Supercard Of Honor. That’s in addition to a few other matches set up at last night’s show. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

We run down the card.

After Dynamite, Jon Moxley, with the Death Riders, complained about not being able to beat Kyle O’Reilly. In theory, that means O’Reilly will be the next Continental Champion but Moxley is going to find a way. Claudio Castagnoli is ready to face Brody King in the Owen Hart Tournament. The rest of the team is ready to face the world. If it’s Wheeler Yuta against the world, the world doesn’t have much to worry about.

Conglomeration vs. Shane Taylor Promotions

Non-title Eliminator Match. Bravo and Briscoe trade headlocks to start with Briscoe knocking him into the corner. That means it’s off to O’Reilly vs. Moriarty, with O’Reilly taking him down to taking him down into a rollup for two. The cross armbreaker is blocked but everything breaks down, with O’Reilly being left alone to hammer Moriarty in the corner. Cassidy comes in for one right hand and Moriarty falls down.

Dean comes in and gets armdragged by Cassidy, who is sent to the apron and beats up the Infantry anyway. A slingshot spear finally takes Cassidy down and Taylor (not in the match) drops a leg on the apron as we take a break. We come back with Cassidy getting in his spinning DDT but Moriarty grabs an abdominal stretch.

The other members of the team all pull until they get caught, meaning Cassidy can bring O’Reilly back in. The Infantry’s belly to back neckbreaker puts O’Reilly down for two and everything breaks down. Taylor cuts off Briscoe’s step up chair dive so O’Reilly takes Taylor down. That leaves Briscoe to Froggy Bow and Jay Driller Dean for the pin at 13:33.

Rating: B. This was the usual good match that turned into a fairly wild brawl by the end. That worked out well, with the Conglomeration always working, even in the altered lineup. Both teams were mixing it up a bit here and that’s fine enough, as it’s not like the titles were on the line in the first place.

Will Ospreay is ready for the Owen Hart Tournament. He respects Samoa Joe, but no one is stopping him from winning the whole thing.

The Conglomeration is happy with their win (it wasn’t a title defense, despite what the interviewer says). O’Reilly is ready for Moxley and Briscoe is ready for Tommaso Ciampa. Willow Nightingale wants all the gold, including the Women’s Title.

TBS Title: Willow Nightingale vs. Red Velvet

Nightingale is defending (Velvet’s ROH Women’s TV Title isn’t on the line) and say it with me: it’s an open challenge. Nightingale backs her into the corner and smiles to start so Velvet kicks the leg out. Velvet’s arm cranking doesn’t work so Nightingale gets up and offers a (left) hand(ed) shake.

Velvet tries and fails to crank on the arm and Nightingale sends her into the corner for the rapid fire clotheslines. A sitdown splash misses for Nightingale and Velvet rolls her up for two. They head outside, with Velvet striking away, only to get caught with a suplex. We take a break and come back with Nightingale missing her flip dive off the apron for a nasty crash. A bulldog gives Velvet two but she charges into a spinebuster for the same.

Nightingale drops her with a powerslam but the Babe With The Powerbomb is countered into a hurricanrana. Velvet hits some running knees, only to flip into a full nelson slam for two more. Back up and Nightingale wins a strike off but gets flipped off the top. The Final Slice gives Velvet two, only for Nightingale to Pounce her out of her skin. The Babe With The Powerbomb retains the title at 13:03.

Rating: B-. Velvet has been on a roll since she came back from her injury and it’s nice to see her getting to showcase that on the bigger stage. At the same time, it feels like all Nightingale does anymore is defend the title in open challenges. It really shouldn’t be hard to find her a regular challenger and hopefully that is coming up sooner than later.

We look at the Women’s Owen Hart Cup brackets.

Video on Sammy Guevara, who is ready to challenge Darby Allin for the World Title.

Guevara knows he can beat Allin, as he’s done it four times before. Then he’ll beat MJF and shave him bald, but he’ll leave a fade.

Darby Allin isn’t surprised MJF isn’t here. He’s here to defend the title though because he loves this. If Mike Bailey wants a title shot, bring it on Dynamite.

Tommaso Ciampa is attacking Mark Briscoe in the back and they brawl into the arena, where Briscoe whips him into the barricade. Briscoe throws in some chairs, along with Ciampa, but the Jay Driller is broken up with a low blow. Ciampa chairs him down and takes Briscoe up top but the Conglomeration runs in for the save. Briscoe wants their match on Dynamite No DQ.

We look at the Men’s Owen Hart Cup brackets.

Opps vs. Lethal Twist

Lethal wants to start with Joe and gets his wish, with a chop just annoying Joe a bit more. It’s off to Bowens and Johnson, with Bowens sending him hard into the corner and stomping away. Bowens drives Lethal back first into the apron a few times as he’s being rather aggressive here. Back in and a Russian legsweep sets up Joe’s backsplash for two but a Blake Christian distraction lets Lethal hit a missile dropkick.

We take a break and come back with Johnson hammering on Joe. The beating doesn’t last long as Joe is up for the tag off to Bowens, who cleans house. A spinning torture rack faceplant gets two on Johnson, who Death Valley Drivers him into Hail To The King from Lethal. The Figure Four is blocked and Bowens clotheslines his way out of trouble. Joe comes in and yells at Lethal for clotheslining him, meaning it’s the Koquina Clutch to Lethal and a twisting armbar to Johnson for the double tap at 11:48.

Rating: B-. I can go for Bowens getting to do something of note after so many months of just floating around. The more aggressive style worked well for him here and the armbar is a fine way to go. This has me intrigued to see more and that’s not something I’ve gotten to say about a Bowens match for a long time. Nice fit here, which I didn’t see coming.

Post match Bowens talks about how confused he was for a long time, but then he found the Opps and it’s a perfect fit. He is the pride of professional wrestling and your hero, crediting Joe with his change of attitude. Joe tells Will Ospreay that decisions have consequences and while Ospreay sees it as a dream match, it’s going to be a nightmare.

We look at Swerve Strickland attacking Bandido last night at Supercard Of Honor.

Brody King threatens Strickland with violence but Bandido says he has to do this one himself.

Megan Bayne/Lena Kross vs. Allie Katch/Kaia McKenna

Non-title Eliminator match with a five minute time limit. Bayne knocks Katch into the corner to start and it’s off to Kross for the rapid fire elbows to the face. Everything breaks down and the non-champions get slammed into each other. The Divine Intervention finishes Katch at 1:50.

Video on the Double Or Nothing Women’s Title match.

Athena and Mina Shirakawa bicker before their Owen Hart Cup match.

We look at Nigel McGuinness beating Josh Woods at Supercard Of Honor.

We look at Lio Rush’s “star making performance” from last night. Not exactly no.

Rush, being rather normal, says “these things happen”, when asked about Action Andretti costing him the match. He insists it’s fine, but when interviewer Nigel McGuinness leaves, he takes off his sunglasses to reveal red eyes as black goo drips out of his mouth. Anything in wrestling involving “black goo” is not a good idea. Free lesson of the day.

The Dogs/Mark Davis vs. The Rascalz

Clark Connors beats up a production worker for dropping something. The Rascalz triple team Davis to start and manage to knock him down in the corner. Everything breaks down and the Rascalz get to strike Davis down inside. The Dogs make a save and Wentz gets triple teamed down as we take a break.

We come back with Connors running over to break up a tag attempt as Wentz is still in trouble. Wentz fights up a few seconds later and gets the tag off to Reed to clean house. The Dogs cut that off and it’s back to Davis, who takes too long setting up a double Doomsday Device. That’s broken up with a double superplex and the Rascalz hit a triple dive. Reed cutters both Dogs but gets piledriven by Davis, setting up the Last Clip to give Finlay the pin at 11:33.

Rating: B-. The match was entertaining, but I could really go for more tag matches with, you know, tags throughout. I get that things are going to break down eventually as almost all tag matches do, but it shouldn’t be this much of the match. Davis and the Dogs worked well enough here and the Dogs certainly need the wins.

Anna Jay has a lot left to do and Tay Melo is here with her. Their team seems to be back.

AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara

Allin is defending and it’s No Countout again. Allin looks down at the title…and Guevara stomps him onto it for a smart move. The bell rings and Guevara goes outside to set up the table (because No Countout means No DQ) and a ladder (because of course). Guevara’s Swanton off the ladder sends Allin through the table and we’re less than two minutes into the match.

Back in and the GTH is countered into the Scorpion Deathlock but Allin collapses with the hold on. For some reason that’s not a stoppage and Guevara drops a springboard splash for two. Allin knocks him off the top but the Coffin Drop is broken up and Guevara sends Allin crashing out to the floor. Back in and Three Amigos give Guevara two and we hit the chinlock.

We take a break and come back with Guevara diving into a choke but making the rope. Guevara is back up with a shot to the face but Allin kicks him in the face and hits a springboard shoulder. A pair of GTH’s and a frog splash give Guevara two so he puts Allin on a table at ringside. The 630 misses for Guevara and a Coffin Drop retains the title at 17:06.

Rating: C+. I get what they’re going for with Allin but I’m at the point where I really could go for a break from him. Seeing the same person headline show after show in a 15-20 minute match is losing its charm. The match was far from bad, but I’m looking forward to Allin losing the title just so he’s away for a little while. Throw in him reaching Super Cena levels of surviving stuff and it’s even worse.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked the show for the most part, as it felt more like a show that was focusing on setting things up while also doing some stuff here. That’s not usually the case with Collision but they have been doing a bit better in recent weeks. If that’s becoming the new norm, Collision will get a lot more useful in a hurry. For now, good stuff, even if I’m rather over the Allin stuff.

Results
Conglomeration b. Shane Taylor Promotions – Jay Driller to Dean
Willow Nightingale b. Red Velvet – Babe With The Powerbomb
Opps b. Lethal Twist – Double submission
Megan Bayne/Lena Kross b. Allie Katch/Kaia McKenna – Divine Intervention to Katch
The Dogs/Mark Davis b. The Rascalz – Last Clip to Reed
Darby Allin b. Sammy Guevara – Coffin Drop

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: May 13, 2026
Location: Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, Asheville, North Carolina
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

We’re on the way to Double Or Nothing and this week we find out if MJF is willing to put up his hair against Darby Allin and the World Title. Like doubling the stakes you might say. Other than that, we get to see the unveiling of this year’s Owen Hart Classic brackets. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Earlier today, MJF wouldn’t answer a question about whether he would put his hair on the line. Then he passed a rather surprising number of bald men until running into the Demand. Ricochet says MJF will look good bald, but not as good as him.

FTR/The Dogs/Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Copeland/Christian Cage/Orange Cassidy/Young Bucks

Believe it or not, it’s a brawl to start with everyone going out to the floor but we quickly settle down to Harwood and Cassidy in the ring. Harwood’s top rope superplex connects but Cassidy is right back up with a Stundog Millionaire. Ciampa comes in and can’t connect with a chop, instead getting kicked away. Nick gets the tag and picks up the pace until the Bucks take out the Dogs.

It works so well that they do it again before going after Stokely. FTR’s save earns them some superkicks and it’s off to Cage, who lets the Bucks hit another double superkick before getting two. We take a break and come back with Stokely on commentary and Cage fighting out of the corner.

The non-Harwood villains pull Cage’s partners off the apron though until Copeland gets back up. Cage knocks Harwood down and brings Copeland in to quite the positive reaction. The Edge-O-Matic gets two on Connors and everything breaks down. Copeland hits an Impaler on Connors and his partners all come off the top for the big visual.

The Bucks hit dives and Cassidy and Cage put their hands in their pockets but Cage throws Cassidy over the top onto a pile. Cage hits his own dive but Copeland walks into a Shatter Machine with Cassidy making a save. We hit the parade of knockdowns and Connors spears Harwood by mistake. Connors gets triple superkicked into a spear from Copeland for the pin at 15:52.

Rating: B. This was your wild tag match to start the show and the fans were definitely into the whole thing and brought it up even higher. Copeland getting the pin is good, though it might have made more sense for him to win with the Grindhouse on the way to the I Quit match. That’s a minor quibble though and it was an energetic way to start the show, which is a good idea.

We go to the Death Riders’ training area (seemingly on a rooftop) where Will Ospreay trains his neck and Jon Moxley talks about how Ospreay used to fly like a bird. Because that’s what birds do. Now he needs to be a bird of prey.

Video on Stadium Stampede.

The Demand and Mark Davis introduce Andrade El Idolo and the Dogs as their other team members. That might be a bit more effective if the Dogs hadn’t just lost a match.

Mike Bailey vs. Westbrook

Bailey misses a kick and the standing moonsault but manages to knock Westbrook out to the apron. The Tornado Kick and Ultimate Weapon finish at 1:10.

Kevin Knight gets in the ring with Bailey and it’s Open Challenge time.

TNT Title: Kevin Knight vs. ???

Knight is defending against…Brian Cage of all people and yes of course he’s still part of the Don Callis Family (who are here along with Mike Bailey). Knight’s chop has no effect to start and some running shoulders do about the same. Cage sends him into the corner and then does it again, only to charge into a raised boot. Knight’s dive to the floor bounces off of Cage though and he F5’s Knight onto the apron as we take a break.

We come back with Cage grabbing a DDT into a swinging neckbreaker (that was nice) but getting his neck dropped across the top rope. Knight scores with a springboard missile dropkick and they’re both down. Cage is sent outside and taken out with a big dive, followed by a hurricanrana into the steps. Back in and Cage grabs the apron superplex for two as Bailey and Lance Archer get in a fight on the floor. That leaves Knight to hit a springboard clothesline and a hurricanrana out of the corner. The UFO Splash retains the title at 10:45.

Rating: B-. Well Cage is back and he’s losing again. I’m not sure how much he’s going to help the Callis Family, but the point of the team seems to be to build up as many wrestlers as they can find. Either way, it’s a fine power vs. speed match and that’s something that is almost always going to work.

Post match Bailey congratulates Knight on his win and Knight welcomes Cage back. Bailey says Knight is a future World Champion and Bailey wants the next World Title shot.

Here are the Men’s Owen Hart Cup brackets:

Samoa Joe
Will Ospreay

Mark Davis
Jack Perry

Swerve Strickland
Bandido

Claudio Castagnoli
Brody King

Joe vs. Ospreay and Strickland vs. Bandido will both be at Double Or Nothing. The finals are at Forbidden Door.

Jack Perry, holding a knife, talks about how Mark Davis needed a golf club to beat him. They’ll fight at Double Or Nothing in Stadium Stampede and then it’s back to basics, with Perry moving on towards the World Title.

Will Ospreay vs. Ace Austin

We do get a handshake to start before they take turns flipping out of wristlocks. Austin’s standing armbar is countered into a seated armbar, which is broken rather quickly as well. Austin puts him down with a test of strength but can’t break the bridge. A running dropkick to the back of the head hits Ospreay and Austin pulls him into a Muta Lock, sending Ospreay over to the ropes.

Austin Death Valley Drivers him for two and we take a break. We come back with Ospreay hitting a Phenomenal Forearm, setting up a standing corkscrew moonsault for two. Ospreay’s handspring kick to the head sends Austin outside but he’s back up to dropkick Ospreay through the ropes. Back in and the Oscutter gets two more but the Hidden Blade misses.

Austin faceplants him and grabs an anklescissors to bring him off the top. Ospreay’s legs get tied up for a rollup and a spinning Downward Spiral gets two more. A Cheeky Nandos misses for Ospreay but he pulls Austin into a sitout powerbomb for another near fall. Austin hits a springboard spinning kick to the head for two but Ospreay kicks him in the arm and grabs a cross armbreaker for the tap at 15:41.

Rating: B+. Dang I could go for more of Austin, as there is something about him that is just fun to watch. Of course he didn’t have a chance here against the new and improved Ospreay but they had a very entertaining match together. Ospreay is the same high flier he was before but now with a submission game, which doesn’t fit him so well, but having him turn on Moxley and use that against him could work well.

Post match Ospreay shows some respect to Austin. This brings out Samoa Joe and the Opps, with Joe saying Ospreay could have had a first round bye but made his decision. Therefore, it’s time for pain at Double Or Nothing. Tonight though, the rest of the Opps head to the ring but here are the Death Riders before things get violent. Ospreay looks at Jon Moxley and seems to think there might be some benefits to this.

MJF interrupts Konosuke Takeshita and praises him for what he has been doing. Takeshita is going to win the title tonight and MJF thinks he would be a great first challenger. With Takeshita gone, MJF gives Don Callis the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Andrade El Idolo comes in to stare MJF off and say he wants the title.

Here are the Women’s Owen Hart Tournament brackets:

Persephone
Hazuki

Willow Nightingale
Alex Windsor

Mina Shirakawa
Athena

Skye Blue
Sareee

Nightingale vs. Windsor is at Double Or Nothing and the finals will also be at Forbidden Door. It’s also good that Persephone is back and it must be time for Athena to lose on the main roster again.

The Conglomeration isn’t sure which of them should get the Tag Team Title shot. Willow Nightingale is going to win the Women’s Owen Cup. Oh and Mark Briscoe is back and wants Tommaso Ciampa next week, which will be another three hour show.

Triangle Of Madness vs. Hikaru Shida/Brawling Birds

Everything breaks down to start with the fight heading outside. The Triangle gets beaten up on the floor, with Hayter taking over on Thekla in the corner. Thekla fights up and hits a big dive to the floor as we take a break. We come back with Hayter big booting her way out of trouble, allowing the tag back to Shida.

A suplex sends Hart into the corner and it’s back to Thekla to kick Shida down. The double gordbuster and double superkick put Shida down, with the other two coming in for the save. Blue breaks up Two Birds One Stone and it’s the Haytebreaker to Hart. Two Birds One Stone is loaded up again but Thekla comes in with a belt shot for the DQ at 10:03.

Rating: C+. I like the ending as Thekla would rather do damage than win the match, especially with her big title defense coming up. The Birds work very well together and got to showcase themselves a bit here, though the lack of Statlander was a bit odd. That being said, I’ll take a regular team getting some ring time over a makeshift group of three women.

Post match the beatdown is on until Mina Shirakawa and Willow Nightingale make the save.

Video on Rush.

AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Allin is defending and his early suicide dive is rammed into the post. They head inside with Takeshita sending him flying into the corner, where Allin bites the face. A top rope shoulder doesn’t do anything to Takeshita, who knocks Allin outside instead. The steps are loaded up but Allin scratches his way out of a suplex and dropkicks Takeshita off of said steps. A suicide dive hits Takeshita again and they get up to the apron.

Takeshita Blue Thunder Bombs him to the floor and we come back with Allin pulling him into a guillotine choke. That’s reversed into a wheelbarrow suplex and a bridging German superplex (GEEZ) plants Allin hard for two. The running knee gives Takeshita two more and Don Callis gives him the ring. Takeshita doesn’t want it though and gets small packaged for two more.

Allin Code Reds him off the top and the Last Supper gets two. Takeshita is sent outside and the Coffin Drop connects to a standing Takeshita on the floor. Back up and Takeshita goes onto the steps but gets his suplex reversed into a Scorpion Death Drop. Back in and Takeshita gets the knees up to block a Coffin Drop, only for Allin to grab a Scorpion Death Lock. Takeshita makes the rope but the Coffin Drop connects to retain the title at 15:30.

Rating: B. Another good match from Allin, though having him space them out a bit more might work better for him. At the same time, it was another case where there was basically no drama about who was winning as their Double Or Nothing matches were both set, though I’ll take Takeshita over Okada. It’s nice to have the World Champion around, though we’ve pretty much covered the “Allin fights really hard to keep the belt” stuff for the time being.

Post match Allin grabs the mic and wants MJF’s decision right now, because starting a segment this far after the show was supposed to be over is fine. A table is set up and MJF comes out, with Allin wasting no time in signing the contract. MJF can’t bring himself to do it though, instead talking about how Allin always believes that making people happy matters. Deep down though, the people know that Allin is someone who got lucky.

At Double Or Nothing, MJF is going to become a three time World Champion at 30 years old. Allin promises to make MJF bald at Double Or Nothing and that’s enough to get the signature. The brawl is on and MJF leaves him laying but Kevin Knight runs in to break up a super Tombstone to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Dang that was long, with a seventeen minute overrun. Other than that though, this was a rather good show, with a pair of awesome matches. The MJF stuff was all but guaranteed so it was hardly a big change, but this was just about making it official. They added a bunch of stuff to Double Or Nothing here too and the card looks pretty good, so hopefully they don’t change it too much before the pay per view.

Results
Adam Copeland/Christian Cage/Orange Cassidy/Young Bucks b. FTR/The Dogs/Tommaso Ciampa – Spear to Connors
Mike Bailey b. Westbrook – Ultimate Weapon
Kevin Knight b. Brian Cage – UFO Splash
Will Ospreay b. Ace Austin – Cross armbreaker
Triangle Of Madness b. Brawling Birds/Hikaru Shida via DQ when Thekla used a belt
Darby Allin b. Konosuke Takeshita – Coffin Drop

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: May 6, 2026
Location: North Charleston Coliseum, North Charleston, South Carolina
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Taz

It’s another double show this week as we have the usual two hours of Dynamite, plus the first half of Collision. As usual, the World Title is on the line as Darby Allin is defending against Kevin Knight in what could be a heck of a match. We’re also getting pretty close to Double Or Nothing and that should mean some new things being set up. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Tony Schiavone is in the ring for a dedication to Ted Turner, who started the network they’re on and had a big hand in bringing wrestling to national television. Schiavone brings out Sting, who talks about how great it was to have an all in billionaire who loved wrestling. Back in the day, a lot of people wanted to get rid of wrestling but Turner would tell the wrestlers to keep doing what he was doing because he had deep pockets.

He and Darby Allin burned this place up for three and a half years and he’s glad to see Allin defending the title tonight. Schiavone talks about how the TNT and TBS Titles have plates honoring where Turner started wrestling in Atlanta. And now, three hours of wrestling! It was nice to see this kind of thing and given that they air on the Turner networks, it kind of had to be there.

We get a ten bell salute to Turner.

Opening sequence.

Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson

Non-title Eliminator Match. They go head to head and yell a lot before trading the forearms. Robinson headbutts him in the corner and a catapult sends Moxley out to the floor. The big flip dive off the apron connects and they go back inside, where Moxley (already bleeding) stomps on the hand. The fingers are split apart but Robinson is able to send him outside again, this time with a toss into the timekeeper’s area. Back in and Robinson hammers away until we take a break.

We come back with Moxley working on the fingers again but Robinson gets up to slug away. That’s cut off rather quickly and now it’s Moxley getting to fire off the right hands in the corner. A super hurricanrana gets Robinson out of trouble and he reverses a piledriver attempt into a rollup for two.

The snap jabs just earn Robinson a bite to the face but he’s right back with a high crossbody. They trade headbutts and forearms until Moxley misses a charge into the post. A mere thirteen seconds later, he’s back with a bulldog choke and piledriver for two. The choke goes on again and Robinson is out at 14:34.

Rating: B-. This was Moxley in his Superman mode as he bounced up from charging into a post like it was nothing so he could do his big offense. That’s the kind of ridiculous stuff he does every so often and it makes for some less than great matches. Also, nice job of having the Bang Bang Gang get its momentum back on Collision and have their leader lose in the first match on the following Dynamite.

Will Ospreay trains with the Death Riders and Moxley says this is Death Ground (as in ground from which he can never escape) if his neck doesn’t get stronger. Yeah of course this is hard. And no more cameras.

Orange Cassidy vs. Dax Harwood

The winner gets a shot at the loser’s titles and Harwood has about seven people (including Tommaso Ciampa, RPG Vice, Cash Wheeler, the Dogs and Stokely dressed as Cassidy) with him. Cassidy brings out the rest of the Conglomeration, Adam Copeland, Christian Cage and the Young Bucks with him as there are probably fifteen people involved in this segment

Harwood armdrags him down to start but Cassidy kicks him off and grabs a headlock. Cassidy blocks the chops in the corner and hits an Orange Punch, sending Harwood outside. Another Orange Punch hits the post though and the hand gets wrapped around the post as we take a break. We come back with Cassidy being sent into the corner but blocking a superplex attempt. A top rope DDT gets two and Harwood goes outside, where he cuts off a suicide dive attempt.

Back in and a spinning DDT drops Harwood but Stokely offers a distraction and a cheap shot from the floor gets two. A big brawl on the floor looks to allow Harwood to bring in the ring bell, which is quickly taken away. Cassidy kicks him in the face but gets caught in a slingshot powerbomb for two more. Back up and the Orange Punch gets two so Harwood goes after the bad arm/hand again. That’s reversed into a cradle though and Cassidy gets the pin at 12:01.

Rating: B-. Well that was….busy. This felt like a match that could have had about, I don’t know, fifteen or so less people at ringside? I’m hardly thrilled with the idea of more people getting a chance to be a double champion again but it’s just another match before (I’m guessing) we get to Copeland and Cage getting their rematch at Double Or Nothing.

Post match everyone comes in and the good guys clean house.

Video on Rush.

Last week, the Demand jumped Chris Jericho.

This week, Jericho (not Chris Jericho but just Jericho) is in the back but wants to talk about the Demand in front of the people. He comes out to the ring and says he’s done with the three on one beatdowns. Instead, he’s going to DEMAND that Ricochet come out here and face him man to man right now.

Cue the Demand, with Ricochet mocking Jericho, who says that he can’t hear over all of the booing. Ricochet is tired of this stuff and listening to these people in Charleston, North Carolina (Jericho: “It’s South.”) and brings up a challenge for Stadium Stampede. He’s just not sure if Jericho can find four other partners because no one around here likes him. Jericho yells at him for getting the state wrong (Ricochet: “Same thing.”) and is sure he can find someone. Otherwise he’ll just do it himself.

The brawl is on and Jericho clears the ring…for a bit, only to get beaten back down. Cue the Hurt Syndicate to make the save. Schiavone: “I know they love Bobby Lashley and they love South Carolina native Benjamin Shelton.” That’s either a really odd reference to a Hulk Hogan interview from about a year ago, or Schiavone isn’t very good at his job.

Mina Shirakawa gives Harley Cameron a pep talk and rips Cameron’s shirt open. Shirakawa realizes Cameron is wearing her bra underneath rather than gear and has to apologize. Cameron doesn’t seem to mind and is fired up.

International Title: Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Keith

Okada is defending in your random title match of the week. In case you’re wondering, Keith’s most recent singles win on AEW TV was in October. Of 2024. Excalibur says Keith has been racking up wins in Ring Of Honor though, and that is true. I mean he hasn’t actually won a singles match this year but the three he had in 2025 count right? Oh wait actually as Excalibur said that Keith has had success on the independent circuit. From what I can find, that success is a record of 1-1-2 this year. So I guess this is based on the ROH tag success? To get a singles title shot. Right.

Anyway, Keith kicks away to start and snapmares him into a knee drop for two. Keith goes up but gets dropkicked out to the floor, where Okada hits a DDT as we take a break. We come back with Keith not being able to get a Fujiwara armbar but he can knee Okada in the head. Keith hits a running DDT for two and they head outside again, where Keith gets in another DDT.

Naturally that doesn’t do much and Okada gives him a slam into the dropkick. Another dropkick misses but Okada backdrops his way out of a tiger driver attempt. The next attempt works a bit better but Diamond Dust is countered into something like a sitout Tombstone. The Rainmaker retains the title at 10:16.

Rating: B. Keith made the most of his chance here and the match wound up being good. While it would be nice to see the choice of title challengers have a bit more logic, it was nice to see Keith getting a shot. Okada is on the way to his biggest match in AEW (or at least close to it) so call this a rather early warmup.

Post match Okada says he’s coming for the World Title. Censored.

Video on Andrade El Idolo.

Mike Bailey gives Kevin Knight a pep talk before tonight’s World Title shot. Knight is ready to win another title.

Samoa Joe and the Opps, now with Anthony Bowens, wants Will Ospreay on his team. Either do that, or get his fist instead.

Mina Shirakawa/Harley Cameron vs. Hikaru Shida/Kris Statlander

Shirakawa and Statlander lock up to start, with Statlander giving her a slam and dancing a bit. A backslide gives Statlander two and it’s off to Shida vs. Cameron. That doesn’t last long as it’s back to Statlander, who gets headscissored into the corner. A backbreaker puts Shirakawa down though and Shida comes back in for a running knee on the apron.

We take a break and come back with Shirakawa and Shida trading forearms until Shirakawa knocks her silly. Cameron comes back in with a tornado DDT and Shirakawa adds a missile dropkick to Statlander as everything breaks down. Statlander is back up with a fisherman’s driver to Shirakawa but Shida’s running knee hits Statlander by mistake. Cameron rolls Shida up for two but Statlander is back in to boot Cameron in the face. Shida’s Falcon Arrow gets the pin at 12:43.

Rating: C+. At least Shirakawa didn’t lose again. I’m not sure why Shida and Statlander’s team is continuing as it isn’t like they have much to do at the moment after losing their title shot. It’s nice to have them actually doing something, but a team with issues despite having success is a bit played out.

Swerve Strickland wants power and that means going after the most wanted, Bandido.

Bandido, with Brody King, says he’s not hard to find and King threatens Strickland for coming after his friends. Didn’t we just see King vs. Strickland a month and a half ago? Also of note: neither Bandido, King, Strickland or commentary referenced Bandido being the Ring Of Honor World Champion whatsoever. Bandido had the belt, but no one mentioned it at all. That was the case when Andrade El Idolo came after the title as well. It’s not a good sign when the Defy World Title (as held by Bryan Keith) gets more discussion than the title held, and displayed, by an AEW star.

AEW World Title: Darby Allin vs. Kevin Knight

Only Allin is defending. They go with the grappling to start until Knight knocks him down and grabs a headlock. Allin reverses into one of his own and hits a springboard elbow to the face. Back up and they clothesline each other and Knight snaps off a heck of a super hurricanrana. A big dropkick sends Allin outside and we take a break.

We come back with Allin grabbing a Code Red for two and Knight goes outside. The suicide dive knocks Knight down again and Allin sits him in the chair. Knight pops back up and hurricanranas him off the top and out to the floor for the big crash. One heck of a springboard clothesline hits Allin on the announcers’ table and they’re both down for a bit. Back in and Knight dives into a Scorpion Deathlock, sending him over to the ropes.

Knight is able to catch him in the Tree Of Woe and hits a Coast To Coast, followed by the UFO Splash. The knee is too banged up though and it’s a delayed cover for two. Allin kicks the knee out and grabs a guillotine choke before hanging him on the top rope. The Coffin Drop in the ropes sets up the regular Coffin Drop to retain the title at 15:36.

Rating: B. This was good again, with Allin’s rather impressive string of title matches continuing. At the same time, it seems like they’re setting up the idea of Allin giving it everything he has in these title matches, which could result in him having some trouble rather soon. Knight losing is acceptable enough as it’s to the World Champion, but it shouldn’t be happening again anytime soon.

Sting comes out to celebrate to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was another strong show, though it was missing something to take it all the way to that higher level. It was a show built more around setting things up for later and building to things that we’ve already gotten set up. That’s a fine way to go on occasion, though they really do need to add some more stuff to Double Or Nothing, as we only have three matches thus far. Anyway, this was more than good enough.

Results
Jon Moxley b. Juice Robinson – Bulldog choke
Orange Cassidy b. Dax Harwood – Rollup
Kazuchika Okada b. Bryan Keith – Rainmaker
Hikaru Shida/Kris Statlander b. Harley Cameron/Mina Shirakawa – Falcon Arrow to Cameron
Darby Allin b. Kevin Knight – Coffin Drop

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 2, 2026
Location: Peoria Civic Center, Peoria, Illinois
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness

We’re firmly into the Darby Allin title reign now and that very well could have something tied into this week as well. Other than that, we’re on the way to Double Or Nothing in a few weeks and that means the card needs to be put together. Some of the matches are either set or practically made so maybe we get some movement in that direction this week. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Death Riders/The Dogs vs. Top Flight/Rascalz

The Rascalz and Top Flight jump the villains to start and the brawl is on the floor before the bell. The bell does indeed ring and Reed is right there with a big dive onto a pile at ringside. Back in and Connors misses a charge into the corner, allowing Wentz to strike away in the corner. Finlay comes in to stomp Wentz in the corner but it’s quickly off to Darius to strike away at Pac.

That doesn’t last long either as Moxley comes in to rain down right hands in the corner but Darius fires off some forearms. Darius gives him a suplex into Dante’s slingshot hilo, allowing Reed to hit a springboard spinning dropkick. Castagnoli drops Reed on the floor though and we get a stream of knockdowns outside. Back in and Reed dives into Castagnoli’s uppercut as we take a break.

We come back with Reed fighting out of trouble but getting taken right back down. Reed gets close to the tag but the other villains run in to knock his partners off the apron. The diving tag brings Xavier in a few seconds later and everything breaks down. Connors gets double stomped for two but the push moonsault is broken up. A spear gets two on Wentz but he knocks Connors down, allowing the tag back to Darius.

Everything breaks down and Pac gets taken down with a springboard Downward Spiral for two more. Finlay gets caught in the wrong corner and pummeled with a string of strikes but he shoves Reed into Wentz. A high/low hits Xavier but the Rascalz are back in with stereo springboard Codebreakers. Moxley gets tornado DDTed for two, only for Pac’s big lariat to drop Darius. The Brutalizer makes Darius tap at 16:23.

Rating: B. I mean, yeah it’s a lot of fun and you could tell the people involved had a great time. The thing is, I feel like I’ve seen a version of this match or something really close to it dozens of times in AEW. That doesn’t make it bad in any way, but if you want to get the “I can’t believe I just saw a match like that” feeling, maybe don’t have multiple versions of it every week.

Jack Perry, and his bus, are on the way.

National Title: Jack Perry vs. Mascara Dorada

Perry is defending and, after a handshake, goes for the wristlock. A headlock takeover works a bit better for Perry and he follows it up with a monkey flip. Back up and quite the headscissors drops Perry for a change and they trade very springboardy wristdrags. Dorada sends him crashing out to the floor and then into the crowd, where Perry comes up swinging. They slug it out on the barricade until Dorada hits a Canadian Destroyer.

We take a break and come back with the two of them trading flips until Perry superkicks him into a poisonrana. Dorada’s Code Red drops Perry and they both need a breather. A Blue Thunder Bomb gives Perry two more and he sends Dorada outside for a moonsault. Back in and Dorada kicks his leg out and loads up an electric chair, which is flipped into a neckbreaker for a rather near fall.

The 450 gets two more and Dorada knees him out of the air. A Razor’s Edge Dominator plants Perry for another near fall but the shooting star press hits raised knees. Dorada goes up top again but gets pulled down with a super hurricanrana for the pin to retain the title at 14:20.

Rating: A-. This got rather outstanding by the end and that’s no surprise given Dorada was in there. He shows up every so often and has become a remarkable treat around here. That fast paced style works so well for him and that was certain the case with this one. Perry is a lot better when he’s firmly in the midcard where he belongs because he can do stuff like this. Very good stuff here as they kept pulling me in further, which doesn’t happen often.

On Dynamite, Kris Statlander snapped on Hikaru Shida for costing them the Women’s Tag Team Titles. Shida promised to make it up to her.

Conglomeration vs. MxM TV

Non-title. O’Reilly and Mansoor start things off with some kicks sending Mansoor over for the tag to TV. That’s fine with O’Reilly, who hammers away in the corner to put TV in trouble. Cassidy takes too long to hit a single punch though and TV kicks him down, followed by a big dive to the floor. MxM poses inside and it’s a side kick/German suplex combination to Cassidy.

Starship Pain gets two as everything breaks down. What looks like a double Doomsday Device is broken up and Mansoor gets crotched on top. Madden gets Angle Slammed and low bridged to the floor, with Cassidy sitting on O’Reilly’s shoulders. Cassidy chokeshoves Mansoor onto Madden and Cassidy’s falling top rope elbow finishes TV at 4:29.

Rating: C+. Yeah this was fine, with the champs getting to show off a bit against an established team. It was nice to see the Conglomeration win a shorter match for a change and look dominant enough. After a pair of long, wild matches, this was a nice change of pace and it went well.

Post match Tommaso Ciampa comes out for the staredown.

We get a rather somber moment with commentary wishing Rebel the best in her health situation. That’s a nice thing to see, but dang the whole situation is a punch to the gut.

We recap Will Ospreay seemingly joining the Death Riders.

TBS Title: Willow Nightingale vs. Anna Jay

Nightingale is defending in an Open Challenge and this is Jay’s first match since November. Jay’s early rollup attempt is blocked so she sits Jay on top instead. Nightingale wants Jay to show her fire, which apparently means a sunset flip for two. Some clotheslines in the corner have Jay in trouble but she avoids a backsplash. The running flipping neckbreaker gets two and Jay fires off the kicks in the corner. Nightingale sends her outside though and hits a flip dive off the apron.

We take a break and come back with Jay fighting back but getting sent into the corner again. A superplex drops Jay and a Death Valley Driver gets two. Jay kicks her in the face and grabs an X Factor for two, followed by the Queenslayer. Nightingale breaks that up though and grabs the Babe With The Powerbomb to retain at 9:45.

Rating: C+. It’s good to have Jay back, as she is one of the long lasting members of the division. At the same time, it seems like nothing has changed for her as she continues to lose big matches. The good thing is Nightingale gets another win, though she’s going to need a big challenger sooner rather than later.

Hikaru Shida’s make up gift to Kris Statlander is…a match against Harley Cameron and Mina Shirakawa. Shouting ensues.

Death Riders vs. Bang Bang Gang

Yuta and Robinson start things off with the former quickly being taken into the wrong corner. That’s broken up and a rolling tag brings Austin in to fight back. A basement dropkick hits Yuta and Austin hits a kick from the apron. That means the handstand can ensue, only for Austin to get dropkicked to the floor. Back in and Garcia hammers away in the corner as we take a break.

We come back with Austin still in trouble, with the Riders hitting a string of running shots in the corner. Austin fights out of Garcia’s front facelock and grabs a Death Valley Driver, allowing Robinson to come back in. House is quickly cleaned but Marina Shafir’s distraction lets Garcia get in a cheap shot. That’s shrugged off and Robinson hammers away on the now bleeding Yuta.

A lariat gives Robinson two as everything stays broken down. Austin is flipped over the top to the floor, meaning it’s a Fastball Special for two on Robinson. Back in and Austin hits his springboard spinning kick to the head but walks into an Angle Slam. Robinson is back up with his forward DDT and actually pins Garcia at 12:07.

Rating: B-. Well dang man. I wasn’t expecting that so well done on having a surprise result for a change. It helps when the Gang never wins anything of note so having them beat an established team is a good thing. The group still needs reinforcements, but a win is better than nothing.

Post match Jon Moxley freaks out and Robinson motions that he wants the Continental Title. That brings the Riders in for the beatdown but the Gunns are back to make the save. Yuta is laid out with the 3:10 To Yuma.

Megan Bayne and Lena Kross brag about their success.

Skye Blue vs. Nixi XS

Blue kicks her in the face at the bell and another boot sends Nixi out to the floor. A hanging swinging neckbreaker drops Nixi again and it’s a Cheeky Nandos Kick back inside. The running knee connects but Blue pulls her up at two. The Descent Into Madness finishes for Blue at 2:15. Complete squash.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

TNT Title: Hook vs. Kevin Knight

Hook, with Katsuyori Shibata, is challenging and takes Knight down by the leg to start. Back up and Knight gets in a shot to the arm before they fight over a lockup on the ropes. Hook flips out of a hiptoss attempt before avoiding a dropkick, leaving Knight frustrated. With nothing working, Knight slugs away in the corner and dropkicks him to the floor. The slingshot dive misses though and Hook suplexes him over the barricade.

We take a break and come back with Hook’s northern lights suplex getting two. Knight makes the clothesline comeback and hits the spinning splash for two of his own. A super hurricanrana sends Hook flying and a running dropkick hits him in the corner. The referee gets distracted though and Shibata crotches Knight on top. A belly to belly superplex and a high angle suplex give Hook two but Redrum is countered. Knight takes Shibata out and hits a running DDT into the UFO Splash to retain at 12:06.

Rating: C+. The match was fine for an extended Knight workout, but that’s about all it was. There was zero reason to believe that Hook was going to win the title, especially from someone who has been on a roll like Knight. As a result, the Opps, or at least half of them, were little more than some pests that had to be dealt with here. In other words, it’s exactly what you would expect from the Opps if Joe isn’t involved.

Overall Rating: B+. Any show with those first two matches is going to be a hit, even if the rest of the show was somewhat mediocre. This show felt like the usual Collision, but dang that Perry vs. Dorada match was awesome. The in-ring side of things have been on a roll lately in AEW and if they can get their stories close to that level, the place will be hard to stop. Check out the first two matches here, as they’re rather great.

Results
Death Riders/The Dogs b. Top Flight/Rascalz – Brutalizer to Darius
Jack Perry b. Mascara Dorada – Super hurricanrana
Conglomeration b. MxM TV – Top rope elbow to TV
Willow Nightingale b. Anna Jay – Babe With The Powerbomb
Bang Bang Gang b. Death Riders – Forward DDT to Garcia
Skye Blue b. Nixi XS – Descent Into Madness
Kevin Knight b. Hook – UFO Splash

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