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

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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 9, 2026
Location: SoFi Center, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness

It’s a live with a golf theme, which is certainly a way to go. The show is also only an hour long this week as the first half took place after Dynamite. Much like Dynamite, the World Title is on the line here, with Darby Allin defending against Pac this week on his way to Double Or Nothing. Let’s get to it.

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

Well the venue is unique, with most of the arena taken up by a golf hole, complete with bunker.

National Title: Jack Perry vs. Mark Davis

Perry is defending and gets thrown out of the corner for daring to fire off some chops. Davis gets sent outside though and there’s the moonsault to take him down. That just earns Perry a toss onto the apron and a big clothesline drops him right back. They get back inside with Davis throwing him around as the golf green behind the ring is throwing me off. Davis knocks him outside again for a big crash and we take a break.

We come back with Perry’s running forearm staggering Davis and a sunset bomb getting two. They go to the apron, where Perry escapes a suplex attempt and snaps off a hurricanrana to the floor. A top rope elbow to the back gives Perry two and a running hurricanrana gets the same. Davis’ discus lariat into the piledriver gets two more so he takes Perry up top. The super piledriver is countered into a super hurricanrana. Don Callis gets on the apron so here is Ricochet with a golf club to Perry’s back. The piledriver gives Davis the pin and the title at 14:18.

Rating: B. It was a messy finish but what mattered the most here was Davis getting a win. He has turned into one of the more consistent stars in AEW and I can go with seeing him get some success. I’m not expecting him to be some all time champion, but he won it once and that’s all that matters at the moment. At the same time, how is Perry vs. Ricochet still going? It feels like it was long past done and yet here we seem to be again.

Nick Wayne will be in the Best Of The Super Juniors in New Japan for the second consecutive year.

Jack Perry is on the phone after his loss and wants to get his hands on Ricochet. Like say in Stadium Stampede, with the rest of the Elite. As in the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Assuming the Hurt Syndicate stay in, we could be in for a fourteen man match.

Don Callis is thrilled and of course the Family is in for Stadium Stampede. Ricochet approves.

Lena Kross/Megan Bayne vs. Ruthie Slay/Rachel Ley

Non-title with a five minute time limit. Kross shrugs off some kicks to the head and plants Ley down. It’s off to Bayne for the German suplex, followed by one from Kross and another from Bayne. A double German suplex sends both of them flying and the double chokeslam finishes Ley at 2:17.

We look at the Women’s Title picture in recent weeks, with the result being Thekla defending against Hikaru Shida, Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter at Double Or Nothing. That’s a bit of a surprise.

The Owen Hart Tournament brackets will be announced on Dynamite.

Don Callis says the winner of tonight’s World Title shot will be facing Konosuke Takeshita on Dynamite. That’s different from the announced Kazuchika Okada match, with Callis saying Okada had to go back to Japan on personal business. Takeshita comes in to say he’ll win.

We look at Kyle O’Reilly’s recent successes. Well kind of recent.

Mike Bailey vs. Kiran Grey

Grey shoves him before the bell to start so Bailey kicks Grey out to the floor. That means the middle rope moonsault to the floor can connect and Bailey goes up again. Grey tries to cut him off but gets knocked down, setting up the Ultimate Weapon to give Bailey the pin at 1:49.

Post match Kevin Knight gets in to say he and Bailey should go to the top of the company together.

Video on Pac vs. Darby Allin.

AEW World Title: Pac vs. Darby Allin

Allin is defending and there are no countouts. The bell rings and Allin bails to the floor to head up to the golf hole. Pac follows him and they slug it out with Allin blocking a suplex. Instead it’s a sunset bomb into the sand trap, followed by a running dropkick into another sand trap. Back up and Pac suplexes him into the sand trap and grabs the Brutalizer, with the referee breaking it up due to the lack of value. Or he just wants to get out of the sand. A gorilla press slam sends Allin into the sand again as we take a break.

We come back with Allin tied in the corner so Pac can kick him in the face a few times. Allin is right back up with a Scorpion Death Drop for two but Pac crotches him on top. A top rope Falcon Arrow gives Pac two and Allin rolls outside. Naturally that means it’s time for a table but the shooting star press misses, with Pac crashing hard. Back in and the Scorpion Deathlock goes on, with Pac crawling over to the rope. Pac knocks him down again and here are more Death Riders to load up a table.

A tombstone plants Allin onto the steps as the Death Riders are stacking up even more tables. Pac carries him towards the 2×2 tables and we take a break (already in the overrun). We come back with Allin fighting back in the balcony but getting thrown off through the pile of tables. That’s only good for two back inside and the Death Riders are stunned. The referee takes a chair away from Pac so he grabs the belt. That’s enough for Allin to get up, kick him low, and hit a belt shot. The Coffin Drop retains the title at 20:23.

Rating: B-. That was quite the long match, but the bigger issue here is how much Allin is surviving. It’s one thing to be a tough fighting champion, but someone kicking out of not only a tombstone onto the steps but also being thrown off a balcony and through four tables is a bit much. It reaches the point of I’m not buying Allin being in danger and that kind of defeats the purpose of the whole thing. The match was more good than bad, but it felt like a few matches tied together into one, with the sand stuff feeling like it was from something totally different.

Overall Rating: B. For what was basically a two match card, this worked out rather well, with a surprise title change to start and a good (albeit too long) main event. The venue was also very unique and that’s nice to see, as you can only have so many shows in the same kind of arenas. Trim the main event down a bit and the show is that much better, but what we got was solid enough.

Results
Mark Davis b. Jack Perry – Piledriver
Lena Kross/Megan Bayne b. Ruthie Slay/Rachel Ley – Double chokeslam to Ley
Mike Bailey b. Kiran Grey – Ultimate Weapon
Darby Allin b. Pac – 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:

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

This is one of those split shows as we’re getting the first half on Wednesday right after Dynamite and the second half on Saturday (with a golf theme, hopefully featuring Barry Darsow and Kerw….never mind). The main event is a ten man tag and yes it does indeed feature the Young Bucks. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

We open with Sting helping Darby Allin up after Allin retained the World Title in the Dynamite main event. Sting gives Kevin Knight a nod of respect before leaving…and here is MJF to interrupt. Everyone is sick of seeing Allin with the title. It’s been cute and all but give him the rematch already. Allin wants something on the line, so MJF offers his scarf and the Dynamite Diamond Ring but that’s not enough.

MJF throws in a million bucks but Allin doesn’t care about money. Allin wants MJF’s hair on the line, even revealing that MJF flew to Turkey for a hair transplant. MJF has until next week to sign the contract or he never gets a rematch. MJF can’t bring himself to say anything and leaves, so here is Kazuchika Okada to interrupt. Okada requests and received a title shot next week. Oh sweet. I was hoping we’d only have one champion get beaten on Dynamite this month.

Will Ospreay is told his neck is improving and if his MRI this week looks good, he’ll be medically cleared. Ospreay won’t really say what he’s doing with the Death Riders but it seems to be a means to an end.

Mike Bailey vs. AR Fox

They go to the mat a few times to start for a standoff so Bailey gives him the bouncing kicks to the floor. Bailey avoids a charge to send Fox outside, setting up a springboard corkscrew moonsault. Back in and a missile dropkick connects for Bailey and we take a break. We come back with a battle over a suplex until Fox DDTs him out of the corner.

A spinning suplex gives Fox two and he hits a big dive out to the floor. Back in and a Swanton gives Fox two but he has to avoid a Tornado Kick in the corner. Bailey misses the Ultimate Weapon as well and blocks Lo Mein Pain, meaning the Ultimate Weapon can connect for the pin at 7:33.

Rating: B-. As usual, Fox was entertaining in the ring and can do some very impressive stuff. Unfortunately at the same time, we are long past the point of believing that he has a real chance to win anything important. There are far worse choices to make others look good though and they had a nice, fast paced match.

Willow Nightingale issues another open challenge. How original.

Pac wants a shot at Darby Allin as he’s beaten him before. If Allin is so good, prove Pac wrong and yes, you can consider that an invitation.

Jamie Hayter vs. Skye Blue

Hayter elbows her in the face to start and boots her out to the floor. Back in and Blue gets in a snapmare, followed by a basement superkick for an early two. That’s shrugged off and a fall away slam sends Blue flying and Hayter hits a basement lariat for two of her own. Blue is back up with a Downward Spiral onto the apron and then sends her into the barricade.

We take a break and come back with Hayter suplexing her into the corner and then suplexing her right back out. They trade kicks to the head but Code Blue is blocked, meaning they get to trade headbutts for a double down. Hayter’s choke in the corner is cut off and they both go up for an exchange of slaps. With that not working, a super Hayterade knocks Blue silly for the pin at 9:21.

Rating: C+. It’s good to see Hayter getting a win, though I’m not sure what the endgame is supposed to be. She’s already lost the big title shot against Thekla and yet the feud seems to be continuing. Maybe they’ll run it back or do a triple threat or something, but for now it’s a weird way to go.

The rest of the Triangle Of Madness is in the crowd so Hayter beats Blue up some more.

Don Callis brags about his Family and all the gold they’re going to win. Konosuke Takeshita isn’t happy about Kazuchika Okada wanting the World Title and ignoring their upcoming match. On top of that, Andrade El Idolo wants the World Title as well and leaves. Calls seems to get annoyed but insists the team is going to win everything. Of note: Andrade has a new title on his shoulder which is never identified or even mentioned (yes I know what it is). While the last thing this company needs is more titles floating around, maybe tell us what we’re looking at?

Rush vs. Manny Lo

Bull’s Horns in 43 seconds. Rush’s post match catchphrase almost takes up a third of the match time.

Jack Perry is in his bus but gets out to climb a mountain. The hills are alive with the sounds of Baltimora.

The Dogs/Death Riders vs. Young Bucks/Bang Bang Gang

The brawl starts in the aisle and they get inside for an eight man suplex. The bad guys are almost whipped into each other but walk into a quadruple atomic drop. The Bucks clear the ring and Nick hits a big running dive. Austin’s dive is cut off though and Connors gives him a spear through the ropes.

The Riders stomp away on the floor and we take a break. We come back with Austin suplexing his way out of a chinlock but getting sent into the corner for a string of running clotheslines. Everything breaks down (I can’t believe it took that long) and Austin knocks Castagnoli away, allowing the tag back to Colten. House is cleaned but Colten gets caught in the Dragon Tamer/Stomp combination for two.

Matt comes back in to hit the rolling northern lights suplexes, even hitting two at once and getting a rollup for a near fall at the same time. The Bucks bulldog the Bucks down and it’s time to fire off the superkicks. The BTE Trigger hits Finlay for two and Castagnoli is back in with a double clothesline to the Bucks. A bunch of clotheslines leave everyone down until it’s Austin slugging it out with Yuta. Austin and the Bucks hit a triple superkick on Yuta and the Bucks nail stereo dives. The Fold gives Austin the pin on Yuta at 14:21.

Rating: B. This is pretty much all you would have expected and it felt very similar to all of the other versions of this kind of match AEW has done. It’s entertaining and had the dives and flips, but that’s kind of been done to death, especially with the Bucks. That’s a good enough main event for Collision though, especially one going on this late. I will however take Austin getting a win, as he’s starting to rack up some success around here. That’s rather promising.

The winners (and Juice Robinson) celebrate to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Yeah that’s Collision for you: basically a house show with people you do recognize showing up and having matches without much impact on anything. You had the MJF/Allin challenge (fair enough as that was important) Rush’s latest push continues, some matches were set up for Dynamite and…yeah that’s about it. The show was perfectly watchable as usual, but it’s very little that you really need to see.

Results
Mike Bailey b. AR Fox – Ultimate Weapon
Jamie Hayter b. Skye Blue – Super Hayterade
Rush b. Manny Lo – Bull’s Horns
Young Bucks/Bang Bang Gang b. The Dogs/Death Riders – Fold to Yuta

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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Dynasty 2026
Date: April 12, 2026
Location: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness

We’re back on pay per view for what doesn’t feel like the biggest show. That’s been the case before though and things have wound up going rather well so maybe they have another one up their sleeves here. The main event is MJF defending the World Title against Kenny Omega so let’s get to it.

Zero Hour: Alex Windsor vs. Marina Shafir

Windsor’s New Japan Strong Women’s Title isn’t on the line. They go right to the slugout to start with Windsor taking her down. Shafir can’t get the armbar all the way in but there’s enough damage to put Windsor in trouble. Another armbar on the ropes sends Windsor outside and Shafir sends her hard into the barricade. Back in and a judo throw takes Windsor down and Shafir steps on her face, which has the fans rather upset.

A whip into the corner has Windsor in more trouble but she manages to send Shafir outside for a breather. Shafir gets back inside and is shouldered down a few times but blocks a Sharpshooter attempt. Back up and another armbar has Windsor in trouble and they strike it out again. A kick to the face puts Windsor down and they get a double breather. Windsor tells her to bring it before grabbing….call it a t-bone DDT for the pin on Shafir at 8:42.

Rating: C+. This was almost a squash until Shafir came out of nowhere with the surprise pin. I do like Windsor winning here though, as Shafir is kind of locked into her spot as one of the Death Riders’ enforcers and doesn’t really need to win anything. On the other hand you have Windsor, who could be turned into a title contender pretty quickly if need be. I’m not sure why this was on the pre-show, as it had enough of a story to be a main roster match, but they got the result right.

Zero Hour: Kamille vs. Big Anne

So Kamille attacked Willow Nightingale and ruined the open challenge for the TBS Title so she gets this instead, ending her 500+ day hiatus from AEW. Kamille stomps away in the corner and hits a pump kick, followed by a torture rack powerbomb for the fast pin at 1:25 to complete the squash. Cool. Now do something with her.

Post match a taped up Nightingale comes in and gets beaten up again.

National Title: Mark Davis vs. Jack Perry

Perry is defending. Davis throws him down to start and knocks Perry’s flying shoulder out of the air. Back up and Perry dropkicks him to the floor but Davis grabs a dive out of the air. That’s escaped as well and Perry hits a quick 619 around the post. They get back inside, with Perry getting knocked back into the corner for a running elbow and backsplash to give Davis two. The chinlock goes on but Perry is right back up to low bridge him to the floor.

Perry grabs a Sliced Bread out of the corner but can’t grab a piledriver. Instead Davis sends him to the apron for a big running shoulder and a suplex slam drops him onto the apron. The piledriver is broken up back inside though, with Perry eventually swinging around into a DDT. Perry hits his own piledriver for two but Davis is back with an enziguri. A quick hurricanrana is enough for Perry to retain the title at 8:30.

Rating: B. I liked this one way more than I was expecting to, as they told a good story out there. It was Perry in over his head physically so he had to pick some shots where he could. That wound up working well, partially because Davis is becoming pretty awesome at being a powerhouse. Good stuff here and a rather nice surprise.

Zero Hour: Women’s Tag Team Titles: Hyan/Maya World vs. Megan Bayne/Lena Kross

Kross and Bayne are defending and Kross knocks World down to start. World pops right back up and brings in Hyan to face Bayne. A hurricanrana out of the corner takes Bayne down but she knocks both of them outside without much trouble. Bayne’s suplex sets up a basement crossbody for two and some running pump kicks in the corner drop Hyan for two. Hyan manages to low bridge Bayne to the floor but it’s still not enough for the tag.

Bayne misses a charge into the post though and it’s back to World to pick up the pace on Kross. Everything breaks down and a running knee into a neckbreaker drops Kross for two. That doesn’t last long as Kross kicks her way out of trouble and Bayne fall away slam/Samoan drops the challengers. The double chokeslam is broken up and World is back with a double DDT. Hyan dives onto the floor and World adds a moonsault onto both villains. A TKO gets two on Kross but Bayne boots World into a German suplex. The double chokeslam retains the titles at 10:38.

Rating: B-. The champs had to break a sweat here and I’ll take that as a nice surprise. Hyan and World aren’t a successful team and were little more than cannon fodder here but at least the action wound up being good. I’m not sure who is going to take the titles from Kross and Bayne, but this was closer than I was expecting.

And now, the show proper.

Konosuke Takeshita/Kazuchika Okada vs. Young Bucks

Don Callis is on commentary. Takeshita shoulders Nick down to start so it’s off to Okada, who shakes Takeshita’s hand on the way in. Okada’s slingshot hilo connects but Nick is up with the springboard wristdrag/armdrag combination. Matt comes in to sunset flip Nick, who German suplexes Takeshita at the same time. The TK Driver is loaded up but Nick headfakes Okada into missing a dropkick in a funny spot.

Matt gets knocked down and Takeshita grabs a chinlock, leaving Callis to call for getting Matt’s eye (he’s offering money). Callis goes after Matt’s eye on the floor and Okada is over to pull Nick to the floor, meaning there’s no tag. That lets Okada grab the Bucks’ gear for some posing (Callis: “What a fiery young babyface!”) but Matt manages to knock both of them down. Nick comes in to make the rapid fire comeback and the fans certainly approve.

The Bucks are sent to the apron but come back with stereo sunset flips into Sharpshooters. That leaves Okada and Takeshita facing each other and slapping one another in the face rather than tapping. They eventually make the ropes so the Bucks take them down with the superkicks. A top rope elbow and Swanton get a double near fall but Okada breaks up another TK Driver attempt. The Family hit a Tombstone each and Matt gets sent flying with an overhead release German superplex.

Nick is back in for the save and everyone is down again. Okada is up with his falling top rope elbow to Nick but it’s a sunset flip into a German suplex to put everyone down again. Takeshita’s running knee drops both Bucks but he can’t cover as the fans are rather enthused. Back up and they slug it out until Okada hits Takeshita and they forearm each other.

Matt gets between them and then sends them into each other so Takeshita’s running knee hits Okada. Takeshita breaks up the BTE Trigger but Okada Rainmakers him by mistake. The BTE Trigger gets two on Okada…and Takeshita leaves him to take the TK Driver for the pin at 20:12.

Rating: B+. This got rather good and they were doing a nice job of tying the story between Takeshita and Okada into the match. There was only so much of a reason for these teams to fight so having the Family fighting among themselves (again) was a good idea. If nothing else, we might finally gets the Takeshita vs. Okada grudge match, which has been built for…ever?

Post match Takeshita leaves and Callis is livid.

We recap Chris Jericho vs. Ricochet. Jericho returned, Ricochet didn’t like it, the match was set.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricochet

The Gates Of Agony are here with Ricochet. Jericho takes him down to start fast and mocks Ricochet a bit, followed by his stolen camera deal. Ricochet flips into his pose and gets chopped down, setting up Jericho’s running bulldog. The Lionsault is shoved off though and the Death Valley Driver plants Jericho on the apron. Jericho is sent shoulder first into the post and Ricochet nails his slingshot dropkick in the corner.

The bad arm is bent around the ropes, with Liona getting in some pulling of his own. Ricochet cranks on the arm but Jericho gets back up to avoid a dropkick. Now the Lionsault connects but the Walls attempt is countered. A kick to the back lets Jericho try it again, only for Liona to offer a distraction so Kaun can send him into the corner. Jericho fights up and they slug it out from their knees but Ricochet grabs the Detonation Kick.

Vertigo gets two so Ricochet goes up and gets crotched back down almost immediately. Ricochet kicks him away and tries the shooting star press but gets Codebreakered out of the air for two instead. The Walls go on so of course the Gates get involved for the save. Jericho dives onto all three of them and hits a Judas Effect on Kaun. That doesn’t get rid of Liona though, who is right there with a running clothesline. Back in and Ricochet hits a shooting star press for two, followed by a Spirit Gun. That’s not enough for a cover though, as Ricochet adds a Lionsault for the pin at 19:12.

Rating: B. This had its moments and I was a bit surprised by the result, but I’m more worried about this being the high point for Jericho’s return. There is a good chance that he goes to find some new lackeys to help him deal with the Gates and that’s not the best sign for his future. It was a nice return and the fans liked it, though I’m worried about how long those good feelings are going to last.

We recap Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo. Allin wants the World Title and MJF has paid the Don Callis Family to stop him. Therefore, if Allin wins here, he gets the title shot.

Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo

Idolo powers him into the corner to start so Allin comes back with a rather aggressive headlock. That’s broken up rather quickly and Idolo pulls him into a surfboard to have Allin in some early pain. Idolo is up with the Tranquilo pose in the ropes so Allin gets smart by knocking him to the floor. A woman at ringside inspires Idolo to fight back and grab a suplex while walking Allin up the steps.

Now it’s time to meet said woman, allowing Allin to take him out with a dive. They fight into the crowd and go up the steps, with Allin dropkicking him back down. Allin throws him back inside (after three minutes and fifteen seconds on the outside because countouts are a thing of the past) and gets caught in the Three Amigos, with the third sending him into the corner. Andrade’s running knees miss though and Allin grabs the flipping Stunner. They go up top with Allin grabbing…some kind of a flipping slam into a crossface, which sends Idolo into the ropes.

Idolo heads back outside and gets caught with a suicide dive, though Allin hits the announcers’ table instead. A bite to the head has Idolo in more trouble and they slowly get back inside. Andrade goes to the apron and suplexes Allin to the floor, because of course he’ll take that bump.

Back in and the running knees hit Allin in the corner for two so Idolo takes his (I’ll let you guess whose) pants off. The double moonsault gets two on Allin but he’s back up with a Scorpion Death Drop out of the corner. The Coffin Drop gets two, with Idolo having to grab the referee’s arm. Back up and the spinning elbow gives Idolo two but Allin grabs a quick Last Supper for the pin at 16:33.

Rating: B. Allin seems to be on his way to the main event scene and that’s pretty overdue. There are very few wrestlers who get the same kinds of reactions as Allin and it was nice to see him not do a bunch of stupid stuff. Allin has the wrestling abilities to make something like this work and he did rather well here, though Idolo loses something without the pants.

We recap FTR vs. Adam Copeland/Christian Cage for the former’s Tag Team Titles. Copeland and FTR were really close but FTR turned on him, even attacking his wife. Copeland left for a bit and came back with Cage to reform their famous team to get revenge. And the titles. FTR did attack Cage’s arm on Dynamite so he’s coming in banged up.

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

FTR, with Stokely, is defending. Copeland and Wheeler won’t shake hands to start so the four way brawl is on. The Canadians take over and it’s a side slam/reverse DDT combination to put Harwood down. We settle back down but FTR takes over on Copeland anyway, with Harwood grabbing a chinlock. Wheeler misses a charge in the corner though and it’s off to Cage, who puts both champions in the ropes.

Cage stands on their back and a low blow cuts Harwood off. FTR is sent outside for a big dive out to the floor, which sets up the Unprettier for two as Wheeler makes the save. Cage’s arm is wrapped around the post and slammed into the post, followed by the seated armbar. The piledriver is broken up and Cage blocks the PowerPlex. A Swan Dive hits Harwood and it’s back to Copeland for the top rope clothesline.

Copeland and Cage load up a PowerPlex of their own but Cage’s splash hits knees. Harwood’s does as well though and we get stereo crossfaces on FTR. Those are broken up so Wheeler tries to bring in a title, which knocks Copeland silly. A 3D gets two on Harwood as Copeland is busted open. Stokely’s distraction sends Copeland running into the Shatter Machine, with Cage shoving Stokely into the cover for the save.

Copeland is back up with a spear for two and Cage goes to grab a chair. That earns him a posting and a toss over the announcers’ table, leaving Copeland to slug it out with FTR. That’s reversed into FTR’s version of the Young Bucks’ kicks, only for Copeland to spear both of them down. Back up and Copeland charges into the Shatter Machine to retain the titles at 21:05.

Rating: B. The match had the good moments you would expect as Copeland and Cage still have their chemistry together but having them lose here is quite the surprise. It felt like a layup to change the titles in the big moment for the Canadian fans but they went the other way instead. Copeland was the big star here, which isn’t a surprise, though Cage did look good in his return. FTR is still a heck of a team, but I’m not sure who is supposed to take the belts. As long as this doesn’t lead to another ladder match (it probably will), it should work out.

We recap the TNT Title match. Kyle Fletcher is injured, Casino Gauntlet match, end of recap.

TNT Title: Casino Gauntlet

For the vacant title with random intervals, first fall wins (can happen at any time so there is no guarantee of how many entrants you’ll get) and Tommaso Ciampa in at #1 and Rush in at #2. They slug it out to start and seem to enjoy an exchange of chops. Rush gets the better of things and knocks him into the corner for the cocky kick to the face. Ciampa is back up with a running knee in the corner and it’s Bandido in at #3.

Bandido starts fast with a running clip dive to Ciampa and a frog splash hits Rush, with Ciampa making the save. Rush is back up to throw Bandido down and go for the mask as Mike Bailey is in at #4. As usual, that means Bailey gets to clean house, with a running shooting star press hitting Ciampa for two. Rush chops Bailey down and El Clon is in at #5. Clon gets to fire off some kicks but we’re already up to Pac in at #6.

Pac’s corkscrew moonsault to the floor takes out a bunch of people and we get a Pac vs. Bandido vs. Bailey showdown. Hurricanranas abound and it’s Daniel Garcia in at #7. Garcia tries some fast rollups but gets superkicked by Clon for two. Anthony Bowens is in at #8 and gives Clon the running Fameasser. The wind up DDT out of the corner drops Pac for two and it’s Kevin Knight in at #9.

Jet Speed gets the better of the fight against the Death Riders and knock them to the floor for the stereo dives. Rush is back in to unload on Bowens in the corner and Bandido’s 21 Plex hits Garcia for a VERY close two. Wheeler Yuta is in at #10 and joins the pile, with Ciampa superplexing Knight onto a bunch of people. Pac throws Bailey back inside but Garcia is back with the Dragontamer to Bailey. Knight breaks that up with the UFO Splash and pins Garcia for the title at 21:21.

Rating: B. I love the result as Knight has felt like he has been ready to jump up to the next level for a long time now. Having him hopefully break out on his own is a good idea as we get to see where he’s going. At the same time, the match was fun but these things haven’t nearly reached the heights of the first editions. There were no surprising names here and it felt more like a big scramble, which isn’t quite as fun. Thankfully we aren’t seeing them as often, but throw a few curve balls in there next time.

We recap Jamie Hayter challenging Thekla for the Women’s Title. Thekla attacked Hayter when she arrived and now Hayter wants revenge.

Alex Windsor wishes Jamie Hayter luck.

Women’s Title: Thekla vs. Jamie Hayter

Thekla, with the Sisters Of Sin, is defending. Hayter slugs her down to start and hammers away but Thekla hits a quick spear to send Hayter outside. They trade right hands against the barricade with Hayter getting the better of things and trying a rather delayed suplex on the ramp.

She also tries one off the ramp but Thekla fights out and knocks Hayter down the ramp in a heap. Thekla’s big dive to the floor connects and a slap to the face drops Hayter again. The Black Widow is broken up as Hayter gets over to the rope so Thekla kicks her hard in the face. Hayter manages a suplex on the ramp and fires off some running clotheslines in the corner.

A Liger Bomb gives Hayter two and a Tombstone connects for the same. Hayter catches her up top with the spider suplex, followed by a top rope double stomp to the back. Hayter’s chokebreaker looks to set up the Hayterade but Thekla reverses into a rollup, while grabbing the rope, for the pin at 16:33.

Rating: B-. Another good one here, with Hayter feeling like just enough of a threat to take the title. That’s all this needed to be, as Hayter was little more than a filler on the way to the next really big challenger. I’m not sure who that is going to be, but Hayter is being built up rather well with these title defenses.

Post match Alex Windsor runs out and protests the rope hold but gets nowhere.

We recap Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley for the latter’s Continental Title. Moxley and the Death Riders hurt Ospreay’s neck so it’s time for more revenge.

Continental Title: Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley is defending. The bell rings and Ospreay hits the Hidden Blade about a second later but doesn’t cover. Another Hidden Blade puts Moxley on the floor so Ospreay follows him for a hanging neckbreaker from the apron. Back in and Moxley tries a triangle choke, which is countered into a powerbomb. They head back outside with Ospreay loading up the steps but missing a running knee. Moxley snaps off a sleeper suplex back inside and things slow down a bit.

Back up and they slug it out before heading to the apron, where Ospreay takes over. Ospreay’s springboard is knocked out of the air though and they chop it out again. Ospreay tries a Spanish Fly but gets pulled into the bulldog choke. That’s broken up as well and Ospreay flips out of a belly to belly superplex. Some kicks to the face rock Moxley, who grabs a Paradigm Shift, only to get Hidden Bladed for a double down.

The referee almost gets bumped before Ospreay grabs a Styles Clash into a bulldog choke of his own. That’s broken up but Ospreay hits a third Hidden Blade, only to come out with his arm banged up. They head outside again, where Moxley hits a piledriver onto the steps. Ospreay beats the count so Moxley hits a Stomp and two Paradigm Shifts…for two. The Death Rider retains the title 18:12.

Rating: B. That ending is a bit of a surprise, but I’m assuming the idea here is that Ospreay was going too far after revenge and his body couldn’t hold up. That feels like more of a long term story, though it’s quite the move to have Ospreay lose here. Moxley is being built back up into the evil Superman and I’m not sure who is supposed to take the title from him. Either way, another good match.

Darby Allin is getting his World Title shot on Dynamite.

The Dogs won the Trios Titles last night on Collision. Now the Conglomeration wants the titles and have a mystery partner to come after them.

Trios Titles: Conglomeration/??? vs. The Dogs

The Dogs are defending but we cut to a Conglomeration sitcom set. Roderick Strong comes in (Orange Cassidy wants more sleep) but Kyle O’Reilly pop in to be the mystery partner. Makes sense. The Dogs break down the set and do various unpleasant things to the couch. O’Reilly takes Finlay down to start and sends him into the corner for the rapid fire kicks. Everything breaks down and the Conglomeration sends them outside to hit some dives.

The Dogs take over again and Cassidy gets sent into the corner as we settle down a bit. That doesn’t last long as Cassidy fights up and brings Strong in to clean house. Strong gets double teamed to put him in trouble but hang on as Kidd seems to be injured. The medics check on him as Strong fights up and hands it off to O’Reilly for the real comeback. The kicks abound and an ankle lock makes Connors tap the titles away at 9:50.

Rating: C+. This was fine and O’Reilly was a nice bonus (not the biggest surprise but that’s ok), though Kidd’s injury might have cut things short. Hopefully he’s ok as you never want to see someone get hurt, especially when the Dogs were finally starting to win a bit. The Conglomeration are fine as the new champions, as they’re certainly popular enough to hold the titles.

We recap MJF vs. Kenny Omega for the former’s World Title. MJF is the rather cocky champion and Omega wants the title back. Let’s go.

AEW World Title: Kenny Omega vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Omega is challenging. They circle each other for a bit to start before MJF tries an early Salt Of The Earth. That’s reversed into a rollup for two and Omega scares him out to the floor (oh yeah they’re going long). Back in and Omega snaps off a hurricanrana to send MJF outside again, this time for a slingshot dive. MJF drops him onto the barricade but Omega moonsaults off of it for the knockdown. A table is stomped onto MJF but Omega takes too long setting up the table.

That lets MJF get in a knockdown and the chinlock goes on back inside. An Alabama slam gives MJF two so he fakes a knee injury and grabs a piledriver for two on Omega. MJF’s V Trigger misses and Omega grabs a snapdragon, setting up the Fameasser from behind of two. MJF bails outside again and gets taken out by the big running flip dive. Back in and MJF bites in the corner but can’t hit a super Tombstone. Instead Omega fights back..but gets caught with a poisonrana.

Omega pops up with a running knee for two and they’re both down. The Heatseeker is blocked so MJF settles for the slingshot cutter for two instead. Omega breaks up You Can’t Escape and hits a V Trigger for two of his own. MJF escapes You Can’t Escape but gets hurricanranaed out to the floor. The means a moonsault from Omega and they both need a breather on the floor. Back in and MJF goes after the stomach before stereo crossbodies leave them both down again.

Omega’s dropkick gets two…and a super One Winged Angel knocks MJF silly. Omega can’t cover due to the stomach though and MJF manages to roll outside. Back in and another snapdragon gives Omega two so he tries another One Winged Angel. That’s reversed into a Cross Rhodes and a package piledriver for a rather near fall and MJF is ticked off. MJF slowly strikes away but Omega gets mad and beats him down in the corner, setting up a heck of a V Trigger.

The One Winged Angel is broken up though and the referee gets bumped. A low blow puts Omega down and MJF finds the Dynamite Diamond. The big shot misses and it’s another One Winged Angel…and another referee comes in to count two. That counts as kicking out of it for the first time, though it should have an asterisk. They go to the apron where MJF hits him in the stomach with the ring. A Tombstone through the table sets up the Heatseeker to retain at 38:50.

Rating: B+. It did feel like this big epic struggle and MJF beating Omega is going to be a big deal for him. The match probably went a bit longer than necessary, but the result was the right call as Omega can come back and win the title later. MJF gets to continue to establish himself as this big villain and it’s working well so far. Omega might not be as great as he was before, but he can still put on a heck of a performance. Great main event here, which isn’t a surprise.

MJF poses on his throne to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was another very good show, with the main event and a lot of other things delivering. At the same time, it was another show where I was just wanting it to be over with about an hour and a half to go. That’s par for the course for AEW, along with having a bunch of rather awesome matches. On on top of that, the villains won most of the top matches, which is quite the choice for a show like this. It’s a show worth a look, though as usual you might want to watch it in shifts, which isn’t the greatest feeling.

Results
Alex Windsor b. Marina Shafir – T-bone DDT
Kamille b. Big Anne – Torture rack powerbomb
Jack Perry b. Mark Davis – Hurricanrana
Megan Bayne/Lena Kross b. Hyan/Maya World – Double chokeslam to Hyan
Young Bucks b. Don Callis Family – TK Driver to Okada
Ricochet b. Chris Jericho – Lionsault
Darby Allin b. Andrade El Idolo – Last Supper
FTR b. Adam Copeland/Christian Cage – Shatter Machine to Copeland
Kevin Knight won the Casino Battle Royal – UFO Splash to Garcia
Thekla b. Jamie Hayter – Rollup while holding the rope
Jon Moxley b. Will Ospreay – Death Rider
Conglomeration/Kyle O’Reilly b. The Dogs – Ankle lock to Connors
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Kenny Omega – Heatseeker

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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It feels like we just had Revolution as AEW doesn’t often do such quick turnarounds. As a result, this show doesn’t feel quite as big as others, though the main event does seem important. So far there aren’t a ton of matches on the card and that gives me some hope, though I have no reason to believe that will last. There is some interesting stuff on the card thus far though so let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Alex Windsor vs. Marina Shafir

Here we have the seconds for Will Ospreay and Jon Moxley having a match, which isn’t an awful idea. Windsor has been built up in recent weeks, though that has been as part of a tag team. At the same time, she’s coming off as tough enough to give Shafir a fight, which is hopefully what we’ll be seeing. At the same time, Shafir has been doing a bit more as a singles star in her own right so this could be trouble for Windsor.

It’s a singles match with a tag wrestler so I’ll go with Shafir to win here. It makes more sense for her to get the win as Ospreay can get the real win later. If nothing else, this could set up Shafir getting a partner to face the Brawling Birds. I’m not sure if this is the right choice for a Kickoff Show match, but at least it is set up rather than just a thrown together fight between slightly associated people.

Kickoff Show: Women’s Tag Team Titles: Megan Bayne/Lena Kross(c) vs. Hyan/Maya World

This was set up on Collision as Hyan and World (combined AEW record as a team: 0-5) just announced they were coming for the titles. As usual, winning and losing matches means pretty much nothing around here so this is what we’re getting. I’m fine with Bayne and Kross getting a title defense in, but even an open challenge would have been better than a team with no actual wins together getting the shot.

Of course I’ll take the champions to retain, as Hyan and World’s two match winning streak in Ring Of Honor (it only took them two and a half months) isn’t enough to make me think they’ll pull the upset. Hyan and World are hardly a bad team, but they’re not ready for this kind of a match no matter what they do. I’m not sure why they’re getting the shot, but just go with it and let the champs win a squash.

Kickoff Show: National Title: Jack Perry(c) vs. Mark Davis

This was thrown onto the card on Collision and it doesn’t have much of a build. That’s not a terrible thing as the title is little more than AEW’s version of the TV Title, which is perfect for a random title match. At the same time, Davis has been doing well enough as of late so throwing him out there for the shot is perfectly logical. If nothing else, Perry could use a title win after Ricochet’s time with the title was kind of a mess.

I’ll take Perry to retain here, as there is no reason to believe that Davis is going to get the title so out of nowhere. Perry getting to beat a big powerhouse should work well as he did that for a long time as Jungle Boy. Davis has that rather good looking piledriver and it’s enough of a weapon to make it feel like Perry is in jeopardy. Either way, Perry retains here in what could be a good match.

Women’s Title: Thekla(c) vs. Jamie Hayter

They’re in a weird spot here, as Hayter feels like she is mainly there as a replacement for Toni Storm. At the same time, Hayter is a former Women’s Champion and has the power game to be a perfectly acceptable challenger. Much like Windsor though, she’s mainly been doing tag stuff in recent months and that doesn’t give her the greatest momentum coming into the match.

I’ll take Thekla to retain here, as she’s doing rather well as champion thus far and it’s hard to imagine her dropping the title so soon. She’s also fresh off a feud with a powerhouse in Kris Statlander and I can’t quite imagine her dropping the title to a wrestler that similar to the one she beat for the title. It’s not a total guarantee that Thekla will win, but it’s what winds up happening.

Trios Title: The Dogs(c) vs. Conglomeration/???

The Dogs won the suddenly hot potatoing titles on Collision, which doesn’t quite make sense given their win/loss record but it’s not like these titles have the most logical history in the first place. After the match, the Conglomeration popped up on screen for the challenge, suggesting they’ll have a third man. Since this division isn’t a thing, that’s enough to set up a title match.

While the titles have been bouncing all over the place in recent weeks, I’ll still go with the new champions retaining. I’m assuming that it’s going to be the returning Kyle O’Reilly as the third man so it wouldn’t be the most out of nowhere pairing, but the Dogs need the win a lot more than the Conglomeration. If nothing else, I could go for the titles actually being successfully defended for more than 18 seconds.

Andrade El Idolo vs. Darby Allin

If there is some sanity around here, this should be wrestling 101. Allin is someone the fans have been behind since AEW started and it makes sense for him to want to go after the World Title. If he beats Idolo here, he gets the title shot, which is something that makes all the sense in the world. It’s an idea that has been done for years, but AEW doesn’t always do things that traditional way.

In this case, I’ll take AEW to do the right thing and have Allin win. While I’m sick of all of his antics and “hey look at me get hurt again!” stuff, he’s about as over of a face as there is in AEW. He has a connection with the fans and putting someone like that in the World Title picture writes itself. Hopefully it winds up working out, but it starts out by having Allin beat Idolo here in what could be a heck of a match.

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

This is a thing and yes the show is taking place in Canada, which should be the big telling point of the whole match. Cage had his arm Pillmanized on Dynamite though and that isn’t going to make things any easier. At the end of the day, this feels like one of the biggest layups on the entire card and in this case, it feels like something that we’re actually going to be seeing.

So yes, I’ll take what feels obvious and go with Copeland and Cage winning the Tag Team Titles. FTR is long established as one of the best teams in AEW history so it’s not like a loss here is going to hurt them. I’m not sure I want to see what feels like the upcoming Copeland/Cage vs. Young Bucks match that has been teased, but for now we’ll at least get step one with new champions.

Young Bucks vs. Konosuke Takeshita/Kazuchika Okada

We might as well get the Bucks out of the way here too. This is more about Takeshita/Okada, as the two of them have been teasing having a big fight for the better part of ever but have only had the Continental Classic match back in December. They’re certainly taking their time here, but it seems that they get to fight each other at Double Or Nothing if they win here.

That being said, I can’t imagine the Bucks losing to a team who can’t get along (talent aside) and the loss can further Okada vs. Takeshita. The match has to happen sooner or later one way or another and this seems to be the catalyst for making it happen. The Bucks can win here and the other two can fight later on while the Bucks likely move back into the title picture. Because of course.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricochet

Yes he’s back and no the fans don’t seem interested. Jericho being back for the first time in about a year is quite the big moment, though having him as a good guy for a change is a big change. I’m not sure where that’s going, but you can almost guarantee Jericho will have a stable around him sooner rather than later. He needs a match to get him going again though and that’s what we have here.

At the end of the day, there is pretty much no reason to believe that Jericho will lose…and that gives me pause. It would make sense for Jericho to win here but he has a history of going in the opposite direction every so often. I just don’t think they’ll do that here though and I’ll take Jericho to win. It’s not really interesting in any way, but it’s the right move for this situation.

TNT Title: Casino Gauntlet Match

Right now, we only have two participants announced so it’s hard to guess about who will really win. The good thing is that AEW is certainly not lacking in talent to go after the title so this could be a rather stacked match. Hopefully we get some surprises in there as well, as those are the kinds of things that make the match that much more fun. The title is vacant coming in though, and that leaves the door wide open.

There are only so many realistic options to pick from and I’ll go with Tommaso Ciampa, as he has been on a roll since he came in to AEW. Hopefully he gets to keep that going and gets Silvie back, as that’s way too good of a name to not let him keep using it. This is one of those matches that could go in a bunch of directions though and I have no idea who will be involved, but I’ll hope for Ciampa, who has made me a fan in a short time.

Continental Title: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Will Ospreay

This is one of those simple ideas that AEW seems to understand rather well. Moxley is back to being a full on villain and Ospreay is the definition of a superhero in wrestling. In this case, Ospreay wants to get some revenge of his own and that should make for a heck of a fight. Moxley can bring it on the big stage and I could go for seeing what he can bring out of Ospreay here.

The match is all about Ospreay wanting to get his hands on Moxley for his injuries last year, but that might get him in trouble here. While I don’t think Ospreay is going to get disqualified, I don’t think he’s going to get the title. I’ll even say this goes to a time limit draw, with Moxley keeping the title and Ospreay gets a rematch for more revenge in a bigger match. For now though, Moxley keeps the belt but takes a beating in the process.

AEW World Title: Maxwell Jacob Friedman(c) vs. Kenny Omega

The idea here is that Omega’s health isn’t holding up and he isn’t what he was before. At the same time, even a diminished Omega is not someone who should be sweating MJF. The thing is, that has been the case with MJF since he won the title the first time and it’s where he tends to thrive. What matters the most is that this feels like a pay per view main event and they should be able to deliver on it.

As much as I think Omega is going to wind up with the title again one day, I don’t think it happens here. While Omega probably doesn’t have much time left in the ring, I’m not seeing the reason to take the title off of MJF so soon. That is going to be a huge moment for someone and Omega isn’t in need for that kind of a win. MJF retains here and gets to soak in the hatred of the Canadian fans.

Overall Thoughts

This card doesn’t feel like some blow away show, but it has the potential to do some good stuff. If they can live up to the usual hype, they’re going to be fine as a few of these matches could steal the show. Then again there is always the chance that more stuff will be added to the card (future edit: yep) to water it down, but at least the version of the show coming into the weekend looks pretty good.

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: February 7, 2026
Location: Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

It’s another title match tonight as the new TNT Champion Tommaso Ciampa is defending in a three way match against Claudio Castagnoli and Roderick Strong. Other than that, the Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Eddie Kingston/Ortiz continues (for some reason) in an eight man parking lot brawl. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Young Bucks vs. Gates Of Agony

The winners are in a three way #1 contenders match on Dynamite. Liona shoves Matt down to start so Nick comes in and charges into a slam from Kaun. Everything breaks down and the Bucks take over by sending the Gates outside. The stereo dives are pulled out of the air and it’s off to a double nerve hold on Matt back inside.

The Gates hit each other by mistake but Nick’s running flip dive is cut off as well. That means the Bucks can be rammed into each other and a headbutt drops Matt as we take a break. We come back with Matt sliding between Kaun’s legs and making the tag off to Nick to clean house. A high crossbody gets two and everything breaks down (meaning the referee gets to just stand there) as the Bucks take over.

The Bucks come off the top at the same time for stereo near falls but Liona is back with a double Samoan drop. The Gates hit their own dives onto the floor (because they can do that), followed by a wheelbarrow cutter for two on Matt. Nick is back in to help with the BTE Trigger for two, with Kaun making the save. The TK Driver finishes Kaun at 13:56.

Rating: B. It’s a good match, though the idea of getting anywhere closer to the Bucks vs. FTR again makes my head hurt. The Bucks got to do their usual stuff so it was entertaining enough, though I still don’t see much of a reason to get interested in them. It’s a good example of match quality not making the biggest impact, as they continue to just be there, often in a prominent spot.

Post match FTR and Stokely Hathaway pop up on screen. Hathaway can’t believe that in the year of our lord Beyonce Knowles, the Elite still wants to hold all of the gold like in the good old says. Dax Harwood says that’s the problem with the good old days: they’re not here anymore, unlike FTR, who are the top guys. And they’re out.

Video on the TNT Title triple threat.

Brody King is ready to win the World Title next week.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Here is Kris Statlander to announce the stipulation for her rematch with Thekla. Cue Thekla to spear her down though, with the Triangle Of Madness holding Statlander to the mat. Thekla whips her with the belt and promises to make things toxic no matter what. The villains go to leave but Statlander calls Thekla a stupid b**** and makes it a strap match.

Kyle Fletcher wants the TNT Title back and here is Kazuchika Okada for a quick pep talk.

Scorpio Sky vs. Kevin Knight

Christopher Daniels, Leila Grey and Mike Bailey are here too. They stare at each other to start and we get an SCU chant, which doesn’t impress Knight. The fight over a lockup goes around the ropes but doesn’t get either very far. A test of strength lets Sky shoulder him down and they exchange nipups. Knight makes fun of Sky’s lack of hair and gets chopped into the corner but Knight sends him outside.

The big dive drops Sky on the ramp and we take a break. We come back with Sky planting him down for two but Knight’s small package gets the same. A DDT gives Knight two more but Sky catches him on top with a superplex. Knight is right back with a springboard clothesline, followed by the UFO Splash for the pin at 11:44.

Rating: C+. This was kind of a weird one, as it felt like they were having something of a personal issue, despite the two of them not having any important interactions in a good while. I do like Knight winning a match on his own though, as he’s quite fun to watch. At the same time, given that most of the team wrestles in singles matches at the moment, I have no idea why Knight/Bailey/Hangman Page are the Trios Champions. Then again, the Opps barely ever defended them anyway so this does at least continue the tradition.

Hook says Samoa Joe is out injured so in the time being, he’s the new captain of the Opps. Sure. I completely believe that this will be the thing that gets Hook over after years of trying.

Mina Shirakawa vs. Viva Van

Shirakawa works on the arm to start but Van flips away and does Shirakawa’s dance. Some knees to the face put Shirakawa down and Van snapmares her into a chinlock. That’s broken up and Shirakawa starts firing off the kicks. A Stunner to the leg over the rope sets up a slingshot dive but Van blocks the Figure Four. Back up and Van’s flipping kick to the head gets two but Shirakawa is back with the top rope Sling Blade. They trade strikes to the head until the Figure Four finishes Van off at 5:42.

Rating: C-. This was a bit of a disappointment, as it felt like Van was wrestling in slow motion and not exactly working smoothly. It doesn’t help that Shirakawa is just kind of floating around at the moment while her partner teams with Orange Cassidy. She needs something to do, and a five minute match on Collision isn’t exactly much to see.

Death Riders vs. Sky Flight

Jon Moxley is on commentary. It’s a brawl to start with the men going outside while Shafir easily wrestles Steel down. The leglock is reversed into a quick choke and Steel gets two off a small package. A distraction from the floor lets Shafir get in another knockdown but it’s off to Dante Martin to take over. That lasts all of ten seconds before Yuta pulls him down into a chinlock and we take a break.

We come back with Yuta holding Martin up top and raking his back. One heck of a chop puts Yuta down though and the top rope flip dive connects. Yuta is back with a bridging German suplex into the elbows to the head but Martin fights up again. Steel comes in to take over on Shafir and even gets in a shot to Yuta on the apron. Shafir pulls Steel out of the air though and Mother’s Milk (with Shafir yelling at the camera and treating Steel like an afterthought in a nice touch) finishes at 9:21.

Rating: B-. This was basically a warmup for the Riders before their big hair vs. hair match next week and naturally Steel needed to take the loss. That’s all she’s done since showing up around here, which is apparently the new favorite way to debut stars. At the same time, Martin (and Sky Flight in general) feel even less important than ever, which is quite the feat.

Post match the Riders go for Steel’s hair but Toni Storm and Orange Cassidy make the save.

A man hits on Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter, earning himself a beating. They dub themselves the Brawling Birds.

After Dynamite, MJF went nuts and ranted about all the people coming for his title, which he’ll keep. He’s at his most dangerous when his back is against the wall and that will be the case next week.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Thekla vs. Brittnie Brooks

Thekla knocks her down to start and finishes with the spear at 28 seconds.

Post match Thekla whips Brooks with the strap and…no one makes the save.

Video on Jon Moxley vs. Konosuke Takeshita next week for the Continental Title.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Eddie Kingston/Ortiz/Rascalz vs. Grizzled Young Veterans/Big Bill/Ortiz

Parking Lot Brawl. Kingston throws in a trashcan full of weapons and charges in as the brawl is on with a fast start. A missed shot breaks a car window and Bill kicks a side view mirror off. We settle down to general chaos until the Rascalz hit Hot Fire Flame off the top of a car. Bill takes over again with the heavy forearms before tossing Xavier over the top of a car for a big crash.

We take a break and come back with Keith and Xavier fighting over a hammer until Wentz and Xavier fight into the back of the limo. Kingston cleans house with a stick and Xavier shooting stars off the limo roof. Bill is up again to start wrecking everyone and Wentz is chokeslammed through a windshield (with a camera suddenly inside the car). Some double teaming drops Bill on the concrete and a double suplex drops Keith on the top of the limo.

The Veterans get in a slugout with Kingston and Ortiz, with Kingston getting choked. Ortiz is up with a cable of some kind but Isla Dawn pops up to hit Ortiz in the head with a sheet. Myron Reed (the third Rascal) pops up with a flip dive off a car before stealing Dawn. Kingston DDTs Gibson onto the car for the pin at 12:31.

Rating: C+. Ok then. I mean what else am I supposed to think here? Kingston has destroyed the Veterans for the entirety of their feud and he did it again with this match. I’m not sure why this match needed to exist, as it felt like AEW wanted to do another parking lot brawl and then put the feud into the match as a result. It was your usual good carnage, but I had no reason to care about any of these people.

Post match Schiavone has trouble remembering how many people were in the match.

Roderick Strong says he needs to change things around here but Mark Briscoe interrupts. Briscoe thinks Strong has what it takes to win the title, but he wants a title shot against the winner. Strong appreciates that, though he’s not in the Conglomeration.

TNT Title: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Roderick Strong vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Only Ciampa is defending. Castagnoli is knocked outside to start fast and the other two are left to strike it out. Strong is sent flying over the top, with Castagnoli easily catching him to show off a bit. Back in and Ciampa kicks Castagnoli in the face but Strong is back with a jumping knee to Ciampa. Castagnoli hits his running shots in the corner but Ciampa grabs a Downward Spiral/DDT to drop both of them.

A double suplex drops Castagnoli and the other two get to strike it out a bit. They all head outside with Strong chopping away against the barricade and a charging Castagnoli is sent into said barricade. Naturally Castagnoli is fine enough to drop Ciampa face first onto the announcers’ table as we take a break. We come back with Castagnoli striking Ciampa down again and muscling him up top.

Strong pulls Castagnoli down though and dropkicks Ciampa out of the air. A backbreaker sets up the Stronghold, with Castagnoli making the save. Castagnoli gets to show off a bit with a double suplex but Ciampa is right back with a DDT. The Fairy Tale Ending gets two on Castagnoli but the running knee is cut off. Castagnoli’s Swing is broken up as well and an uppercut hits Strong for two. Strong’s jumping knee drops Castagnoli but Ciampa’s running knee knocks Strong silly to retain at 11:43.

Rating: B. So this was the match designed to prove that Ciampa’s win last week wasn’t a fluke. That’s a fine way to go as Ciampa was more than good enough to hang in there. It made for a strong main event with Castagnoli getting to show off the insane power. Strong can work well with anyone as well and that made Ciampa look even better retaining. Odds are he loses it to a big name soon, but at least they’re starting somewhere.

Post match Kyle Fletcher comes out to hold the title, which he hands back to Ciampa. Fletcher asks how it feels to know that Ciampa will never fill his shoes. He wants the title match next week and it seems to be set for Dynamite (I’m assuming Ciampa kissing him on the cheek counts) to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was the run of the mill Collision, with good action but little that felt important. The opener and main event both felt big enough that it made for a good show, though as usual, it’s not exactly a show you need to see. At least next week is Grand Slam so things should feel bigger. The show looked good on paper and lived up to the hype, though it had its usual Collision issues.

Results
Young Bucks b. Gates Of Agony – TK Driver to Kaun
Kevin Knight b. Scorpio Sky – UFO Splash
Mina Shirakawa b. Viva Van – Figure Four
Death Riders b. Sky Flight – Mother’s Milk to Steel
Thekla b. Brittnie Brooks – Spear
Eddie Kingston/Ortiz/Rascalz b. Grizzled Young Veterans/Big Bill/Ortiz – DDT onto a car to Gibson
Tommaso Ciampa b. Roderick Strong and Claudio Castagnoli – Running knee to Strong

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

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So we wrap up the AEW year with this one, which is more or less the end of the Continental Classic, the World Title match, and a bunch of other stuff that happens to be taking place on the show. The tournament has taken over the company (as it always does) and while it has gone well (as it always does), it has made quite a bit around here feel a lot less important. For now though, we should be in for some solid action so let’s get to it.

Zero Hour: Zack Gibson vs. Eddie Kingston

This was added on this week’s Ring Of Honor as the Grizzled Young Veterans attacked Kingston. I’m not sure how much of a build this match really needs, but at least it’s something that gets Kingston in the ring. The fans are going to respond to him rather well and it helps him get back into the groove of things, which he has been needing since his return from injury.

There’s no reason to believe that Kingston is going to lose here so I’ll take the obvious with Kingston getting the win. He’s fighting half of a low level tag team in a match that shouldn’t go much longer than about five minutes. In this case, AEW might even stick to the time frame, as Kingston has mainly been wrestling shorter matches. He’ll get another win here, as he should.

Zero Hour: Sisters Of Sin vs. Hyan/Maya World

Here we have another match where it doesn’t feel like there is much to doubt as the Zero Hour continues to feel like a glorified episode of Rampage. I’m still not sure why we need to have the Sisters get a featured match here, but maybe they’re next in line to come after the Women’s Tag Team Titles. If nothing else, they’re already an established team so there are far worse ideas out there.

Of course I’ll take the Sisters to win, as while the division needs some fresh blood, there is no reason to think that the Sisters should lose here. They’re a fairly featured team and it would make sense for them to get a win here, especially if they might be coming for the titles soon. Hyan and Worlds continue to get time in the ring and I’ve heard worse ideas, even if there is a chance that it’s just to spite Miranda Alize and Nixon Newell.

Death Riders vs. Conglomeration/Roderick Strong/Toni Storm

So this is a thing and yes it is indeed called the Mixed Nuts Mayhem match, because if there’s one thing that you need for a Death Riders match, it’s a funny moniker. It’s likely going to be a wild brawl with some interesting bits, though I’m still completely good with not seeing Daniel Garcia and/or Wheeler Yuta for a long time. Throw in Claudio Castagnoli going from a dark horse to win the Continental Classic to this and it’s a bit of a downgrade.

I’ll take the heroes to win here, just for the sake of not having Storm lose again. Mark Briscoe could use a win of his own and the fans will always respond to Orange Cassidy, so it makes a bit of sense to get them on the card. Hopefully the match winds up being more goofy fun than anything else, as that’s probably the best way to feature most of them. Either that or Yuta and/or Garcia being beaten up rather badly.

Darby Allin vs. Gabe Kidd

This is kind of a weird story, as Allin was gone for most of the tournament but he’s able to be back to face Kidd in this match. I’m not sure how much I need to see Allin get beaten up again, but it’s pretty much his standard operating procedure. That’s probably what we’re going to be seeing in this one, though it’s a bit weird as Kidd just showed up again after being gone for months and is facing Allin again.

I’m not sure where to go here, though I’ll take Allin, as he could use a win after quite a long stretch of nothing good. Granted it also depends on if Kidd is sticking around, as he could use a nice victory of his own. Given what we know at the moment though, I’ll take Allin to get the come from behind win, as it’s easy to get behind him fighting a bully and that’s what we’re getting here.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Babes Of Wrath(c) vs. Athena/Mercedes Mone

This one has me intrigued, as the Babes are the new team and the inaugural champions, though it’s almost hard to imagine Mone or Athena losing again. Mone is already on a losing streak but there isn’t much value in beating her without a title on the line. At the same time you have Athena, who hasn’t done much in Ring Of Honor as of late but doesn’t have the best history in AEW.

I’ll go with the champions to retain here, as it would be something of a stretch to have them lose the titles so soon after they started. Hopefully it winds up being a good match, as the Babes have gone from newly formed to a rather nice team in short order. They need some time to establish themselves a bit better before dropping the titles though and that can be done when they win here.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Tag Team Titles: FTR(c) vs. Bang Bang Gang

It’s a street fight and a rematch from a few weeks ago when FTR beat the Gang to retain the titles. That doesn’t make for the best reason to do the match again, but it isn’t like FTR has anything else to do at the moment. With so many people involved in the tournament, there are some tag teams who are more than a bit busy. Hopefully that changes shortly after the tournament, but this is what we have for now.

Much like when they fought a few weeks ago, I see no reason to believe that FTR is going to lose to the leftovers of the Bang Bang Gang so we’ll go with FTR retaining. I like the Gang for the most part, but they’re only going to get so far with one of the Gunns and Juice Robinson going for the titles. FTR wins here, in what should at least be an entertaining match.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

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

The title is on the line here, but it only feels so important. The Women’s Title hasn’t felt overly important in a good while, which is at least partially due to how much else is going on in the women’s division. Statlander is still going well, but she needs to do something that makes her stand out a bit more. I’m just not sure that’s what we’re going to be seeing here.

While I’m not sure it’s going to work out, I’ll take Statlander to retain here. As much as she doesn’t seem to be doing much at the moment, Hayter is hardly doing that much better. Either of them could be fine as champion, but they’re going to need to step up it up. The tag division, plus whatever Toni Storm is doing, both feel more important and that needs to change. For now though, I’ll take Statlander in a coin flip.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Semifinals: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada

I’m not even going to begin to try to make sense of the title situation here, if nothing else due to how ridiculous it’s been. This has been built up as a big time match for a good while now and that should make things all the more interesting. It’s nice to have a match that feels like it’s taking place more due to people having issues rather than a schedule saying they’re fighting. Or at least it’s close enough.

I’ll take….geez I guess Okada here, as all of the hype about him being the GREATEST TOURNAMENT WRESTLER OF ALL TIME all but guarantees him a spot in the finals. At the same time, it’s hard to fathom the IWGP World Champion being allowed to lose, especially around a week before Wrestle Kingdom. I’ll go with Okada winning here, though it doesn’t feel like anything close to a lock.

Continental Classic Semifinals: Jon Moxley vs. Kyle Fletcher

This is the kind of thing that could go either way, but it feels more like a way to get Moxley back on track. He’s been having all kinds of issues as of late and it would be nice to see him at least get to the finals. At the same time, Fletcher is in a place where it wouldn’t be insane to see him beat Moxley. That’s quite the accomplishment, and it’s nice to have a match which could go either way.

I think I’ll go with Moxley winning here, as his attempts to get back on track feel like a better story at the moment. At the same time, it’s a bit hard to fathom an all Don Callis Family final, as it would feel fairly cold outside of Okada vs. Takeshita. Moxley wins here and sets up a pretty big final, though we’ll get to that later, as it should probably headline the show.

AEW World Title: Samoa Joe(c) vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

I’m not sure what it means that I keep forgetting Joe is the World Champion but that has happened multiple times in a fairly short reign. Joe is already a two time World Champion and he still feels like something of a forgotten part of the match. Maybe it’s due to being part of the Trios Champions or facing a two man team of heroes or maybe it’s MJF feeling like such a big deal, but it might be time to get the title off of Joe.

At the end of the day, it’s almost hard to fathom anyone but MJF leaving as champion here. He returned a few weeks ago and immediately stood out and it would make sense to put the title back on him (assuming he’s sticking around full time). MJF hasn’t been champion in a good while now and he’s already feeling like one of the top names in AEW. Give him the title back and see what he can do with it.

Continental Classic Finals: Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada

Again, I’m not even going to try to figure out how the title situation works (and for the love of all things good and holy, please don’t explain it to me), but it seems that Okada leaves with a title one way or another. That gives him quite the out in possibly losing here and it’s not like him losing the Continental Title is going to hurt in any meaningful way. He’s been champion pretty much forever so it’s time to get it off of him.

As you can probably guess, I’m going with Moxley winning here, as it splits up some titles and hopefully clarifies things a bit. If nothing else, I could go for getting rid of the whole Unified Title or whatever happens here, as there are FAR too many titles in AEW already. Moxley needs the win anyway and it could be a big step in what feels like the start of a face turn for him anyway, because that’s what the world is waiting to see.

Overall Thoughts

It’s pretty clear that the Continental Classic has been carrying the show for the last month or so, if nothing else due to the amount of talent involved. At the same time, it hasn’t exactly done much good for everything else in the company. The top of the card feels big enough, but they’re going to need someone to step up to bolster the undercard. Thankfully that’s where AEW tends to thrive so I’m cautiously optimistic about this one.

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: December 25, 2025
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Tony Schiavone

It’s the last night of the Continental Classic, or at least the league stage, and that means we should be in for something interesting. There is a six way tie in the Gold League so something is going to have to give as we move on to Saturday. We also have an extended show this week, because AEW loves content. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

The opening video looks at the Continental Classic, as you probably expected.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kyle Fletcher (6 points) vs. Jack Perry (6 points)

They circle each other a bit to start with Fletcher avoiding a dropkick but not being able to get anywhere with a grab of the (previously injured) leg. Instead Fletcher stomps on the leg and grabs a half crab. That’s broken up and Perry avoids a charge in the corner to send Fletcher outside. Fletcher cuts off a hurricanrana and powerbombs him onto the apron before slamming Perry into the corner.

With Perry down, Fletcher starts taking off Perry’s boot. Referee: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Fletcher: “I’M TAKING HIS BOOT OFF!” A big stomp onto the apron onto the step has Perry in more trouble as we take a break. We come back with Perry hitting a dropkick but hurting his ankle again. Perry knocks him outside and hits a sitout bulldog on the floor. Fletcher is able to hit a brainbuster on the floor, followed by a Michinoku Driver for two. Perry fights out of trouble on top and hits a super sunset bomb.

The running knee is countered into another half crab, but Perry reverses that into the Snare Trap, leaving Fletcher panicking. One finger on the rope gets Fletcher out of trouble and he knocks Perry back again. The sitout powerbomb is countered into a Code Red, setting up a piledriver for two. Perry knocks him off the top but gets caught with a running boot to the face. The brainbuster finishes Perry at 19:20.

Rating: B+. Heck of a match here with Perry trying to fight from underneath with the leg injury. It made Fletcher look like that much more of a killer as he was going after the damaged Perry, who managed to make it more than interesting. I liked this more than I was expecting as Fletcher likely moves on to the next round.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kevin Knight – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Pac – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Kyle O’Reilly tries to tell Roderick Strong to lean on the Conglomeration and to never give up. Strong seems encouraged.

Continental Classic Blue League: Konosuke Takeshita (10 points) vs. Mascara Dorada (6 points)

Dorada works on the arm to start before grabbing a rollup for two. Takeshita stomps him down in the corner and knees him in the face but Dorada is back with a springboard wristdrag. The big dive to the floor only hits barricade though and we’re back with Dorada grabbing a rather spinning headscissors.

Another springboard is countered into a Blue Thunder Bomb to give Takeshita two. Dorada’s charge is cut off with a clothesline but he’s able to grab a super hurricanrana. They trade rollups for two each before Dorada’s running shooting star press gets two more. Takeshita is back with a running knee and the Raging Fire finishes Dorada off at 11:39.

Rating: B-. It was hard to imagine Dorada being a major threat to Takeshita here, which is kind of a shame as Dorada has been showcasing himself rather well in recent months. He’s someone who could be quite the star if he’s given a chance, but Takeshita is going to be a favorite to win the whole tournament. Let him look strong going into the semifinals this weekend.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (1 match remaining)

Continental Classic Blue League: Claudio Castagnoli (7 points) vs. Roderick Strong (0 points)

Castagnoli hits a running uppercut for an early two and Strong rolls him up for the same. Another uppercut sends Strong outside and Castagnoli dumps him over the barricade. Back in and Strong grabs an Angle Slam, followed by some jumping knees for the VERY quick pin at 3:22.

Rating: B-. Well ok. During this match I was thinking that I really didn’t need to see a long match between two people who have no realistic chance to win the tournament and they didn’t give me one. Well done on throwing in a curve ball there, as you do not see short matches like this in the tournament at all.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 3 points (0 matches remaining)

Post match the Death Riders run in to beat down Strong but Mark Briscoe runs in for the save. Toni Storm comes in to go after Marina Shafir and gets a kiss on the hand from Briscoe, leaving Storm with the vapors.

The Bang Bang Gang wants a rematch from FTR, with Stokley Hathaway accepting for Worlds End.

Worlds End rundown.

Video on Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kevin Knight (6 points) vs. Pac (6 points)

Pac takes him up against the ropes to start so Knight grabs a wristlock. A running shoulder puts Knight down but he sends Pac outside for a breather. Back in and they chop it out until Knight sends him outside again. Knight hurricanranas him on the floor, setting up a springboard clothesline. A sliding forearm gives Knight two and we take a break.

We come back with Fletcher charging into an overhead belly to belly suplex to send him crashing over the top for a scary landing. An overhead belly to belly superplex gives Pac two but Knight is back up with a missile dropkick. Pac German suplexes him on the floor though and, after flipping off the crowd, wants the countout.

Knight beats the count back inside and jumps to the top for a top rope superplex. They forearm it out and Knight dropkicks him down, setting up the Coast To Coast. Knight’s UFO Splash hits raised knees though and Pac rolls him up. The Black Arrow hits raised knees and Knight rolls him up a few times, only to get pulled into the Brutalizer…as time expires for the draw at 20:00.

Rating: B. They have something with Knight who is athletic, has some size, and has momentum right now. That is worth a look, and hopefully it happens rather than seeing more with Mike Bailey. Pac getting aggressive (ok more aggressive) as time ran out was great, but Knight survived in a cool moment,. Nice job here.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kevin Knight – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Pac – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Here is Gabe Kidd, who talks about hearing Darby Allin’s body bouncing down the steps. He said Allin isn’t indestructible and now Allin is in the ICU. Cue Allin (of course) with a baseball bat to chase Kidd off. The match is set for Worlds End.

Video on Mercedes Mone/Athena challenging the Babes Of Wrath for the Women’s Tag Team Titles.

Babes Of Wrath vs. Maya World/Hyan

Non-title. Hyan gets elbowed and side slammed for two to start. Nightingale drops Cameron onto Hyan for two more and everything breaks down. The running flip dive off the apron drops Hyan and World as we take a break. We come back with Nightingale suplexing both of them down and giving World a backbreaker. Everything breaks down and Soul Food into a swinging neckbreaker finishes Hyan at 7:01.

Rating: C. This was just a long squash and odds are that was the case due to the extended run time this week. Thankfully the Babes didn’t have any trouble here, which is a good way to go before they have their big title defense on Saturday. The team is still relatively new and they need some more reps so this wasn’t a bad idea.

Post match the Babes talk about being in New York, including going to Eddie Kingston’s mother’s house. They met Santa Claus and talked about wanting peace, except for in Chicago, because they’re going to hurt Mercedes Mone and Athena.

Continental Classic Blue League: Orange Cassidy (6 points) vs. Jon Moxley (6 points)

They fight over a piledriver/Beach Break to start before crashing out to the floor. Moxley wins a slugout but gets hammered in the corner back inside. Cassidy gets knocked outside and his elbow is banged into the barricade. Moxley is right on him with a whip into the steps but a Stundog Millionaire gives Cassidy a breather back inside. A top rope DDT drops Moxley back inside and we take a break.

We come back with Cassidy actually winning an exchange of forearms, setting up the Orange Punch. Moxley is sent outside for a suicide dive and they go onto the barricade, where Cassidy DDTs him through a table. They barely beat the count and Cassidy nails an Orange Punch. Moxley grabs the Gotch style piledriver for two but he comes up favoring his leg. Cassidy grabs a half crab but Moxley is quickly out, only to get caught with a running DDT. The Beach Break gets two and Cassidy goes for the leg, which is reversed into a small package to give Moxley the pin at 17:06.

Rating: B. These two do have chemistry together and it feels like something of an accomplishment for Moxley to beat Cassidy in a bigger match. At the same time, it’s interesting to see Cassidy just kind of floating around lately. He hasn’t had much to do in recent months and I’m not sure what changes that.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Jon Moxley – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 3 points (0 matches remaining)

Video on the World Title match at Worlds End.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kazuchika Okada (6 points) vs. Mike Bailey (6 points)

They take turns backing each other up against the ropes and Okada has to avoid a tornado kick. Bailey sends him to the floor and hits a triangle moonsault, only to charge into a flapjack back inside. Instead a missile dropkick connects for Bailey, who walks into the neckbreaker onto the knee. Okada’s top rope elbow connects and he flips off the fans and they strike it out until we take a break.

We come back with Bailey winning a strike off (doesn’t seem too bright for Okada) but getting sunset flipped for two. The moonsault knees miss for Bailey but he avoids a charge and hits a springboard corkscrew moonsault to the floor. They go to the ramp where Bailey hits the moonsault knees to the chest and a kick to the face gets two back inside.

The Ultimate Weapon connects but Okada rolls outside before the cover. Back in and Okada hits a Rainmaker but another is cut off with a superkick. The Ultimate Weapon gets two so Bailey loads up the Flamingo Driver. That’s reversed as well but Okada misses the Rainmaker, only to grab the rollup for the pin at 16:08.

Rating: B. They had another good match here with Bailey feeling like a long shot at best to win the thing. Okada gets to move on to the next stage, because he is THE BEST TOURNAMENT WRESTLER EVER and since that is apparently a thing, he can survive to fight another day. It wraps up a pretty awesome group stage of the tournament and it worked well with a good match.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kevin Knight – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Pac – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (0 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Konosuke Takeshita comes out to stare Okada (his opponent at Worlds End) to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was a rather good show with a bunch of solid wrestling and a bit of drama as there were a few options for who might advance. This show was almost all about the Continental Classic, which makes sense as it has dominated the last month or so. They were focusing on the wrestling here and that is one of the best things AEW can do, though I’m almost scared of what comes next for them.

Results
Kyle Fletcher b. Jack Perry – Brainbuster
Konosuke Takeshita b. Mascara Dorada – Raging Fire
Roderick Strong b. Claudio Castagnoli – Jumping knee
Kevin Knight vs. Pac went to a time limit draw
Babes Of Wrath b. Hyan/Maya World – Swinging neckbreaker to Hyan
Jon Moxley b. Orange Cassidy – Small package
Kazuchika Okada b. Mike Bailey – Rollup

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

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Dynamite
Date: December 24, 2025
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Bryan Danielson

It’s Christmas Eve and naturally that means it’s time to do more in the Continental Classic. The next two nights will determine the final four at Worlds End this weekend and that that should make for an interesting double header. Other than that, we need to build towards the rest of the pay per view, which will likely take place this week. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Blue League: Orange Cassidy (6 points) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (7 points)

Cassidy rolls him up to start and he spins out of a Blue Thunder Bomb attempt. A crucifix gets a very close two and they go outside, with Takeshita sending him into the barricade. Cassidy comes back with a slingshot DDT into a tornado DDT for two of his own. The lazy kicks have their usual effect, followed by a hands in the pockets middle rope hurricanrana. Takeshita is right back up with a Blue Thunder Bomb and we take a break.

We come back with Cassidy reversing a super Raging Fire into a Stundog Millionaire. Takeshita rolls outside but gets caught with a diving DDT for two back inside. A wheelbarrow suplex drops Cassidy, who comes right back with an Orange Punch. They head to the apron where Cassidy grabs a Beach Break, followed by another Orange Punch into the crowd. Takeshita dives back in and reverses a small package into the Raging Fire for the pin at 15:26.

Rating: B. This was the serious Cassidy (for the most part) and he did well before being taken out in the end. That’s how it should have gone as Takeshita turning on the jets to beat someone like Cassidy makes sense. Takeshita is all but guaranteed (if not entirely guaranteed) a spot in the final four and now we get to see where that goes.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 10 points (1 match remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 3 points (2 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (2 matches remaining)

Gabe Kidd wants revenge on Darby Allin, who he has already sent down the steps and lit on fire.

The Bang Bang Gang wants a Chicago street fight with FTR.

Continental Classic Blue League: Roderick Strong (0 points) vs. Mascara Dorada (3 points)

They both go technical to start and fight over wrist control, with Strong bailing over to the ropes. Strong can’t get a cross armbreaker, instead being pulled into a surfboard. They head outside, with Strong dropping him onto the apron as we take a break. We come back with Dorada armdragging him on the floor, followed by a Swanton for two back inside. Strong’s Sick Kick gives him two of his own but Dorada kicks him down. The shooting star press gives Dorada the pin at 9:23.

Rating: B-. They didn’t have as much time as some of the tournament matches have received but it was still a good enough match. Dorada wins to keep himself alive while Strong can only play spoiler. It’s a bit more interesting when you see some of the people eliminated and things tightening up somewhat, which is the point we’ve finally reached.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 10 points (1 match remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (1 matches remaining)

AEW won a bunch of Sports Illustrated awards.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Here are Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander for a face to face stat. Statlander tells her to let it go with her sob story about having everything taken away from her. Don’t pity her for what she was, but fear her for what she’s become. They’re both ready to win.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Dustin Waller

A running knee, a slap, a lifting DDT and the Salt Of The Earth finish for MJF at 1:12.

Post match MJF gets the mic and the fans greet him with a HAPPY HANUKKAH chant. Cue Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland in the crowd to stare at him though, with Page saying the no physicality thing was left in England. Page tells MJF to cut another 90s style promo insulting them, but Page comes to the ring, where he and Swerve take out the Opps Dojo members.

Samoa Joe pops up on the screen to say he’s coming for all of them one by one and promises to retain the title at Worlds End. Page and Swerve lay MJF out and choke him with a chain, leaving Swerve to say MJF is more of a Diddy than he’ll ever be. Swerve talks about a bunch of the people MJF has used, such as Wardlow, the Pinnacle and Adam Cole. The reality is Swerve always works to make himself better while MJF just uses them. We hit the catchphrase to wrap it up.

The Babes Of Wrath are ready for their upcoming matches and praise each other quite a bit.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite Diamond: Bandido vs. Ricochet

For the vacant ring (and a World Title shot in January) and neither title is on the line. Feeling out process to start with neither being able to get anywhere so it’s another standoff. Bandido connects with a headscissors into a dropkick but Ricochet manages a toss out to the apron.

Ricochet tries the Macarena but gets slapped in the back of the head, followed by the one armed gorilla press. Bandido throws him outside and we take a break. We come back with Ricochet rolling some suplexes, including one on the apron. Bandido rolls through that for a suplex of his own on the floor and they both get back inside. The referee almost gets crushed in the corner and Ricochet uses the distraction to hit Vertigo for two.

The Spirit Gun is blocked but Ricochet flips out of the 21 Plex. A Styles Clash is loaded up but instead Bandido jumps down into a sitout powerbomb (that was cool) for two more. The X Knee looks to set up the 21 Plex again but cue Kaun to make the save. Ricochet kicks him low and tries the Spirit Gun, which is reversed into a cradle for the pin at 12:27.

Rating: B. I’m a bit surprised Ricochet lost here, though either champion losing a singles match doesn’t feel like a good idea. If nothing else, this should set Bandido up for a National Title shot, which would go nicely with his ring. I still don’t know why this has to remain a thing, but it was nice to see it wrapped up this fast.

Post match Ricochet and the Gates Of Agony go after Bandido, with Brody King running in for the save.

Darby Allin isn’t worried about Gabe Kidd, who shows up and throws him down the steps.

Marina Shafir vs. Mina Shirakawa

Shirakawa fires off the kicks in the corner to start and snaps the leg over the middle rope. A missile dropkick gives Shirakawa two but Shafir counters a kick to the head with a powerbomb. We take a break and come back with Shirakawa hitting a top rope clothesline for two. The Figure Four goes on but Shafir fights out and grabs Mother’s Milk for the rather quick win at 7:20.

Rating: C+. This didn’t have a ton of time with the commercial in the middle taking up so much of the match. At the same time, Shirakawa basically squashed her until Shafir got in a few shots to win with the choke. Maybe this sets up Storm to come after Shafir, but for now it’s rather surprising that Shafir would win while looking fairly week for the most part.

Post match the choke goes on again but Toni Storm runs in for the save…and gets laid out just as fast.

The Young Bucks reveal that they are officially not cleared to return to the ring for the rest of the year. Kenny Omega has something to do while they’re out.

Jon Moxley wants to fight more in the Continental Classic.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Gold League: Pac (6 points) vs. Jack Perry (3 points)

Pac works on the arm to start and they go to the mat, with Perry grabbing a hammerlock. A running hurricanrana sends Pac outside and Perry takes him down with a suicide dive. Back in and a top rope standing elbow gives Perry two and they head back outside. Pac hits a quick suplex of his own, with Perry banging up his ankle and we take a break.

We come back with Pac getting two off a missile dropkick before they slug it out. Perry belly to back suplexes him down but the leg is giving him trouble. A DDT gives Perry two but he charges into a suplex into the corner. Pac belly to belly superplexes him for two so Perry comes back with a poisonrana. One heck of a rebound lariat drops Pac again but Pac pulls him into the Brutalizer. That’s broken up so Pac goes with another hard clothesline into the Brutalizer…which is reversed into a cradle to give Perry the upset pin at 14:26.

Rating: B. Another good one here, with Perry getting a big win and making the Gold League VERY interesting. That’s one of the best things that can happen with this kind of a tournament and I’m curious to see where it goes. Hopefully they have some kind of a clever way out of things, though it’s getting into some uncharted territory. At least Perry is getting something out of the tournament rather than just being a doormat.

Gold League Standings

Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kyle Fletcher – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kevin Knight – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Pac – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (1 match remaining)

Post match Luchasaurus brings out mile and cookies for Perry. And of course a Santa hat.

Overall Rating: B. The tournament stuff was working well here, though the rest of the show was only so good. The Dynamite Diamond stopped being interesting years ago and hopefully it isn’t anything more than something that we hear about from time to time. I’m almost scared of what is going to happen to a lot of these people when the tournament is over. Hopefully that includes some of these matches being followed up on, which should also be the case with Bandido pinning Ricochet. Either way, good enough show here, even on a fairly busy day.

Results
Konosuke Takeshita b. Orange Cassidy – Raging Fire
Mascara Dorada b. Roderick Strong – Shooting star press
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Dustin Waller – Salt Of The Earth
Bandido b. Ricochet – 21 Plex
Marina Shafir b. Mina Shirakawa – Mother’s Milk
Jack Perry b. Pac – Rollup

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

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