AEW Collision Review – 07.26.25

The week in AEW has included: Dynamite | ROH

Collision once again comes to the screen from the Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL. The announce team is Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness on match calls, Arkady Aura on ring announcements, and Lexy Nair and Renee Paquette on backstage interviews.

AEW TNT Championship: Dustin Rhodes (C) vs Lee Moriarty

Moriarty is seconded by Shane Taylor. McGuinness points out that Moriarty is now the longest reigning ROH Pure champion in history.

The bell rings and Rhodes extends a hand, but Moriarty kicks it away. Rhodes works a hammerlock but Moriarty escapes it. They again work a wristlock and Moriarty goes behind and rolls up Rhodes for one. Rhodes fires up and runs Moriarty over with a shoulder before hitting a Steamboat-esque armdrag. Rhodes clotheslines Moriarty over the top rope and they both tumble to the floor. Moriarty recovers with a back thrust kick, but when he runs the apron his kick is blocked by Rhodes who then arm-whips Moriarty face-first on the apron. Rhodes tucks Moriarty’s arm behind his back and rams him into the barrier, then runs that same arm over the barrier. Rhodes rakes the back and then works the arm in the ring with another armdrag. Moriarty has had enough and hits Rhodes with a Euro uppercut that backs him off.

Moriarty pulls Rhodes into a Dragon Screw leg whip in the corner and then hits a knee-breaker for a one count. Rhodes bails to the floor to walk it off. Once back in the ring Moriarty trips Rhodes down and continues working the leg. Rhodes kicks Moriarty off but Moriarty slips a charge and hits another Dragon Screw on Rhodes. (The crowd is having trouble getting into this one.) Rhodes tries some chops but Moriarty just grabs the leg and hits yet another Dragon Screw. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Moriarty continues to work the leg. Moriarty clips Rhodes and covers for two. Moriarty goes back to working the leg. Rhodes manages to bail to the floor but Moriarty easily catches him and slams the hurt leg into the barrier.

Back to full-screen with Rhodes back in the ring and Moriarty poised in the corner. Moriarty flattens Rhodes with a clothesline and covers for two. The crowd fires up finally and Rhodes wants to as well, but Moriarty stops a short flurry and tries for a Figure Four. Rhodes boots him away so Moriarty comes flying back with two kicks to Rhodes’s knee. Rhodes again fires up with some rights but Moriarty slips a charge and drops Rhodes face-first on the second turnbuckle. Moriarty charges out of the corner and Rhodes catches him in his rolling powerslam as both guys are down.

They manage to get to their feet and start slugging it out. Rhodes gets the best of it with an atomic drop, but Moriarty fires a right that stops the momentum. Moriarty tries for a “bow and arrow of sorts” as McGuinness calls it, but he can’t lock it in so he just slams Rhodes’s knee into the mat. Rhodes fires up again and manages to hit a Canadian Destroyer on Moriarty out of nowhere. Rhodes hits CrossRhodes but Moriarty gets his foot on the rope at the count of two. Rhodes hits a kind of inverted back-breaker drop on Moriarty but his knee is still bothering him. Rhodes crawls over and covers Moriarty for two.

Moriarty recovers and hits a roundhouse kick to Rhodes head. Moriarty covers for two. Moriarty yanks Rhodes into the ankle lock on the bad leg. Rhodes finally makes the ropes and the hold is broken. Moriarty mocks Goldust and charges, but Rhodes slips it and he mounts Moriarty for Shattered Dreams. The ref stops it so Moriarty nails Rhodes with a kick and covers for one. They slug it out and Moriarty hits a suplex that gets a two count. Moriarty wants the Figure Four but Rhodes rolls him up and gets three.

Look, if twenty minute long Dustin Rhodes matches are your jam, you were in business tonight. It was long and slow and kind of boring, but it picked up as it went along and both guys did what they could do. Dustin really looks like he’s lost a step at this point but I guess Khan wanted to reward him for all that he does so here we are. I will say that Moriarty worked hard, had a plan to work the leg, and from that standpoint the match worked decently in a vacuum. 2.5*

Winner and STILL AEW TNT Champion – Dustin Rhodes (roll up)

Post-match sees Kyle Fletcher and Don Callis emerge from the back. Callis says Fletcher has something important to say. Fletcher tells Rhodes he didn’t come to fight and that he outclasses Rhodes in every single way. The crowd is unimpressed. Fletcher says he’s owed a one-on-one shot for the TNT title and he wants it next week. (Collision is live next Thursday night – make a note!). Rhodes says he’ll give Fletcher the shot next week but it’s going to be a Chicago Street Fight. Rhodes tells Fletcher he’s his huckleberry, bitch. I thought bitch was Okada’s thing. Anyway, Tony Khan makes it official.

Schiavone runs down the brackets of the tag team eliminator tournament and tonight’s portion of that will be Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn teaming up against Big Bill and Byran Keith. Robinson talks about the confrontation he and Bill had last week and he promises to put his foot up Bill’s “fat ass”. Gunn says that when one brother gets knocked down, referring to Colton Gunn’s knee injury last week, another one stands up. If you’re not down with that, they have two words for you.

Back at the desk and Schiavone talks about the passing of Hulk Hogan. Schiavone mentions specifically Hogan’s contributions to TNT and how he was the catalyst for the Monday Night Wars. Schiavone sends condolences to the Hogan family and says from everyone at AEW “RIP, brother”. (Schiavone looked legit emotional here and did a good job of holding it together.) We go to commercials.

Lexy Nair says she’s trying to get a word with AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm. Storm comes sprinting in yelling “ATHENA!”. Storm mentions Athena’s defense of the ROH Women’s title against Alex Windsor tonight and that despite their non-sexual relationship, she’d like to see Windsor win. Storm says she’s waiting for Athena to sign her title shot contract but Storm doesn’t think she “has the ovaries” to do it.

Tag Team Title Eliminator: Big Bill and Bryan Keith vs Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn

The winners of this match will face FTR in the semi-finals. The other half of the bracket has Young Bucks vs the Outrunners and Gates of Agony vs Brody King and Bandido. It will be Robinson and Keith to start as the bell rings.

They lock up to start and Robinson grabs a wristlock. Keith shakes off a headlock but Robinson runs him over with a shoulder tackle. Robinson gets an armdrag and tags in Gunn. They hit a double-team hiptoss on Keith and Gunn covers for two. There’s a series of misses before Keith wallops Gunn with a back thrust kick. Gunn slips a charge and hits Keith with a neckbreaker. Keith rolls to his corner and Bill tags in. Gunn and Bill lock up and Bill tosses Gunn down and taunts him. Bill tosses Gunn down again but Gunn fires up. Bill misses an elbow drop and Gunn pops him with jabs, but when Gunn charges Bill drops him with a big boot. Bill pushes Robinson off the apron to the floor and makes fun of Colton Gunn’s injured knee. Bill starts working Gunn’s knee and we go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Keith tags in and continues to work Gunn’s knee. Keith hits a knee-breaker and covers for two. Keith works a knee bar but Gunn slips out. Keith grabs a reverse chinlock and we go to full commercials.

Back live with Gunn and Keith still in the ring as a hurting Gunn slugs Bill who’s on the apron. Gunn slips a Keith charge but his knee gives out mid-ring. Gunn gets close but Keith pulls him back. Gunn kicks Keith off, so Keith charges and Gunn waffles him with a lariat as both are down. Keith bails to the floor, so Bill smartly tosses him back in so he can tag in. Bill charges across and wipes out Robinson before once again mocking Colton Gunn’s knee injury. Bill pushes Gunn into a neutral corner and pops him with a right. Gunn slips a charge as Bill’s head hits the ring post. Keith tags in as Gunn sends a charging Bill to the floor. Keith charges and eats an elbow, and when he charges again Gunn flips Keith over the top rope to land on Bill who’s on the floor. Gunn drags himself across the ring and finally tags in Robinson.

Robinson fires off right jabs and then nails Keith with a left. Robinson hits Bill on the apron but Bill no-sells it and tries to enter over the top rope. Of course, Robinson stops it by yanking up and down on the top rope causing Bill a BIT OF GROIN DISCOMFORT. Robinson wipes out Bill to the floor and then nails Keith with an inverted atomic drop. (I’m enjoying Robinson’s groin-focused offense very much). Robinson hits a side Russian leg sweep on Keith and then drops into a standing senton. Robinson drops Keith in the corner and hits a cannonball. Robinson covers for two. Keith recovers and trips Robinson so he’s draping over the bottom rope, so Bill comes flying in with a big boot to Robinson’s head. Keith crushes Robinson with a snap suplex and covers for two as Gunn flies in to break it up.

Bill tags in and fires Robinson into a Keith knee lift. Bill covers for two as Gunn again breaks it up. Keith dumps Gunn to the floor and tags in. As Bill and Keith try for a double team move Gunn leaps up and knocks Keith off the top turnbuckle into another BIT OF GROIN DISCOMFORT. Robinson fires Bill into Keith and then drops him with a right. Robinson hits a Frankensteiner on Keith in the corner and covers, so Keith rolls through, but then Gunn comes in and tips Robinson back into the pin cover and that gets three. The Bang Bang Gang will face FTR in the semifinals of the tag team eliminator tournament.

Standard tag wrestling 101 here. A long heat sequence followed by a hot tag and the babyfaces win relatively cleanly. I’m not saying it was a masterpiece by any means, but it was perfectly acceptable work by all concerned. Bill continues to shine in defeat as I wish he could get away from this Jericho mess and move on in singles, but I guess this is his lot in life now. 3*

Winners – Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn (Robinson roll up on Keith)

The Young Bucks and The Outrunners will face off on Dynamite this upcoming Wednesday in the next tag team eliminator match and I have to be honest, I’m actually really looking forward to it (I am an unabashed mark for the Outrunners whole deal, man).

Lexy Nair is with Shane Taylor and she wants his thoughts on Lee Moriarty’s loss to Dustin Rhodes. Don Callis walks in and says the Young Bucks will beat the Outrunners next Wednesday, but since Taylor has The Infantry in an eight man tag tonight against the Outrunners they might not even make it to Wednesday night. Callis says his guys (Lance Archer and Hechicero) will team up with the Infantry and when they win the $400K, it will be 300 for Callis and 100 for Taylor. Callis leaves before Taylor can object.

Schiavone shills Draft Kings and we go to commercials.

“Platinum” Max Caster is in the ring when we return. Caster says that all the Maximaniacs here in “the murder capital of the United States” want to do one thing and that’s chant his name. Caster is unimpressed and says that he knows they call Chicago the windy city but the fans definitely blow. It’s time for the Open Challenge and here’s Anthony Bowens with Billy Gunn.

Max Caster vs Anthony Bowens

Bowens starts whaling away as soon as the bell sounds. The ref pulls Bowens off, so he charges right back to the corner and starts chopping Caster. The fans do the Caster “best wrestler alive” chant as Bowens seems upset. Bowens goes back to the chops before beefing with the crowd. Bowens just clobbers Caster with a series of elbows and as he’s down, Bowens grabs Caster’s “best wrestler alive” plaque. Bowens breaks the plaque over his knee before berating a dazed Caster. Bowens hammers Caster with a couple of kicks and then wipes him out with a Fameasser. Caster eats a superkick and then Bowens hits the Mollywhop discus punch on Caster. It’s academic as Bowens gets three. Caster got all of two minutes and seven seconds here and got in zero offensive moves.

I said it last week and I’ll say it again, Caster is getting babyface reactions now. Bowens worked like a heel during the match and then the post-match stuff pretty much cemented some stuff. The match was a total nothing-burger but at least Bowens got a lot of heat. 1.5*

Winner – Anthony Bowens (Mollywhop discus punch)

Post-match sees Bowens hammering away at a helpless Caster before Billy Gunn comes in to stop it by tossing Bowens across the ring. Gunn is checking on Caster and Bowens seems super pissed about it, but he stops himself from attacking Gunn and exits to the floor.

Backstage Lexy Nair is with Nick Wayne, Kip Sabian and Mother Wayne. Nair asks if she should call them the Patriarchy and Mother says not now or ever again. Nick Wayne says he’s becoming the man of the house and here’s AR Fox to interrupt. Fox reminds Wayne he said he was done talking but he’s still here…talking. Fox wants a tag match against Sabian and Wayne tonight. Sabian thinks they should let Fox lose again, so it’s on. Fox winks at “Shayna” on his exit.

Here’s Don Callis with Lance Archer. Callis asks for quiet so you can imagine how that goes. Callis does his new introduction of Hechicero (I feel like he’s REALLY trying to do the Paul Heyman bit here and I don’t think it’s working as he might hope it does, but he gets heat so what do I know).

$400,000 Eight Man Tag Challenge: Hechicero, Lance Archer and The Infantry vs The Outrunners, Hologram, and Tomohiro Ishii

The Infantry are seconded by Trish Adora and Shane Taylor. Hologram’s graphic lists his record in AEW as 28-0 and I’m wondering why he’s not in any title pictures at this point. Bro might be lucha Goldberg, you don’t know. It’s Carlie Bravo and Ishii to start as the bell rings.

Bravo bullies Ishii into the corner and chops him three times, and after the third Ishii snaps and fires off a couple chops of his own. Bravo tries for a shoulder tackle but Ishii just runs him over. Hologram tags in and he and Ishii hit some double team offense that ends with an Ishii suplex and a Hologram standing shooting star press. Hologram covers for two. Bravo manages to tag in Hechicero, and he and Hologram get to work. Hechicero rolls Hologram up for two. Hologram hits a tilt-a-whirl armdrag on Hechicero but as he charges again Hechicero hoists him on to his shoulders. Hologram slips it and ranas Hechicero into the babyface corner. Magnum tags in, and then immediately tags in Floyd.

They double-team Hechicero and Floyd hits a swank backdrop suplex on Hechicero. The Infantry charge in and they each get dropkicks from the Outrunners, who then hit a double armdrag flip on Hechicero. Archer tags in and Magnum wants him so Floyd exits. Magnum works Archer over with punches and then irish whips him to the corner so he can splash Archer. The faces charge in and wipe out the heels off the apron. Ishii gets whipped into an Archer big boot, and then when Hologram charges Archer grabs him by the throat. The Outrunners charge in and clobber away at Archer, but he comes flying off of an irish whip and cross-bodies both of them. Hologram tries to rana Archer from the top rope but Archer catches him and tosses him onto the Outrunners. Archer tags in Shawn Dean as we go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Dean works Magnum over as Archer is beating up the other faces on the floor. Bravo chokes Magnum as Dean bickers with the referee. Magnum fires up but Dean stops it with a boot to the gut before waffling Magnum with a euro uppercut. The Infantry work Magnum over in the heel corner before the ref count stops it. Bravo and Dean continue the double-team stuff as the ref is clearly showing DISCRETION here. Bravo, who is now apparently legal, covers Magnum for two. Magnum again tries to fire up but Bravo whips him down. Bravo works a headlock.

Back to full screen as Magnum and Bravo run the ropes and wipe each other out with simultaneous clotheslines. Archer comes flying in to wipe out the babyfaces so Magnum can’t make a tag. As Archer turns, Magnum slips past him and tags the only face on the apron, Hologram. Hologram wipes out Dean with a spinning leg lariat but then walks into an Archer chokeslam. Ishii charges in and Archer clobbers him with a right. Archer wants a backdrop but Ishii reverses it to a huge pop from the crowd. Hechicero charges in and drops Ishii with a DDT. Hologram kicks a charging Hechicero before ascending. Hologram hits Hechicero with a double stomp from the top rope, but Dean comes in to break that up with a boot to Hologram. Bravo comes in and whips Hologram into a flying lariat from Dean.

Hologram slips through and tags in Floyd. Floyd hammers away at Dean and Bravo before scoop-slamming both. Floyd and Magnum work their double team bulldog-and-lariat combo. Floyd covers Dean for two as Hechicero breaks it up. Ishii charges in and he and Hechicero slug it out. Ishii nails Hechicero with a knee but when he charges, Hechicero slips out and hits Ishii with his own knee. Hechicero walks into a top rope rana from Hologram. Hologram fires off a tope suicida that damn near kills him and Hechicero. Back in the ring, the Outrunners hit the SONOFABITCH elbow drop on Bravo. Archer charges in and pushes both of them in the corner, wiping out the referee in the process. Shane Taylor gets involved with Hologram on the floor as this is turning into chaos.

Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong come sprinting out from the back and they chase Taylor out of the arena. The Infantry and the Outrunners are in the ring, and Magnum causes Bravo to tumble out. Magnum and Floyd hit their Total Recall finisher on Dean as the ref struggles over and counts three.

Another eight man party match on Collision, you can pretty much ink them in at this point. No real major storyline stuff here as The Outrunners get a win on their way to the showdown with the Young Bucks on Wednesday night. There was at least a decent heat sequence as Truth Magnum can always take a beating, but the rules were very flexible as they always are in these matches. 2.5*

Winners – The Outrunners, Hologram, and Tomohiro Ishii (Outrunners Total Recall finisher on Dean)

Schiavone throws to a video on Adam “Hangman” Page’s journey to becoming the AEW World Champion. Hangman saying “I’ll see you next week, dumbass.” to Moxley never fails to crack me up.

Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue vs Rachel Ellering, Mazzerati and Laynie Luck

Thekla, Hart and Blue are now known as Triangle of Madness, apparently. It’s Luck and Hart to start as the bell rings.

They slug it out and Hart starts waffling Luck with shoulders. Hart walks the top rope and drops a big fist on Luck. Blue tags in and Hart wipes out Luck from behind with a lariat. Blue comes flying and hits a vicious knee on Luck’s face. Blue tags in Thekla and she wipes out Luck with a right hand and a running kick to Luck’s head. Thekla covers but yanks Luck up at two. Thekla whips Luck into the heel corner and hits her with a running elbow. Blue tags in and does a cartwheel-into-right hand punch on Luck. Hart tags in and bullies Luck to the canvas but her attempted standing shooting star press is met by Luck’s knees. Luck rolls and tags in Ellering.

Ellering wipes out Hart with a tackle and then drops Blue and Thekla to the floor. Ellering clobbers Hart with a clothesline and then hits a running senton. Ellering hits some chops and then a bridging German and that gets two as Blue breaks it up. Blue dumps a charging Luck to the floor, and Thekla promptly spears her in half. Hart gets a superkick on Ellering that sends her back into her corner where Mazzerati tags in. Hart slips a punch and nails Mazzerati with a back kick. Blue tags in and she and Hart hit Mazzerati with a double-team rolling uranage. Thekla tags in and hits a curb stomp on Mazzerati and that gets three.

So the jobbers got some token offense and then lost clean. If that’s not the definition of a squash I don’t know what is. Ellering looked good in her short time in the ring and I hope they keep her around, she’s credible enough to be a low to mid-carder for them. The Triangle of Madness, a truly stupid name, will apparently be a new heel stable because by golly, we need ALL the heel stables. Also, beware of the name because the last trio in AEW that had Triangle in their name did not exactly turn out well in the end. 1.5*

Winners – Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue (Thekla curb stomp to Mazzerati)

Post-match and here’s Queen Aminata marching to the ring with a chair. Aminata’s eye is noticeably made up after Hart misted her. The heels bail to the floor and mock Aminata, and here’s Megan Bayne to wipe out Aminata from behind. Bayne hoists up a dazed Aminata and crushes her with a running sit-out powerbomb. Bayne leaves as THE TRIANGLE OF MADNESS stand over a fallen Aminata.

Lexy Nair is backstage with BIG STOKE who seems big mad. Stoke is upset that COPE had to hire a “bunch of goons” to do his dirty work. Stoke says COPE was supposed to be a hero and heroes fight their own battles against guys their own size. Stoke says FTR stood toe to toe with the Hurt Syndicate after a grueling match, and imagine what they would do at 100%. Stoke moves on and talks about how Austin Gunn shouldn’t be wrestling after his brother got hurt and now Juice Robinson is his “side piece”. Stoke lifts his crutch and says he’ll stand over their broken bodies next week and say TOP GUYS OUT. Nair says “Aren’t you injured?” so Stoke glares at her and leaves. (I love pissed off Stokely promos. He is kind of killing it as FTR’s mouthpiece right now.)

After commercials Lexy Nair is with Tomohiro Ishii and Hologram to congratulate them on the winners purse from the eight man tag. Kyle O’Reilly pops in to congratulate everyone as well before Roddy Strong bellows “KYLE!”. Strong wants to know if O’Reilly is done so O’Reilly pretends to hear Hologram say they should spend their winnings on Strong’s birthday celebration in Chicago (Roddy turned 42 on the 26th, congratulations and happy birthday!). O’Reilly is wildly excited to be Conglomeration’d up again.

AR Fox and Angelico vs Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian

Wayne and Sabian are seconded by Mother Wayne. It’s Wayne and Fox to start.

Wayne immediately drops Fox with a big boot and then puts the boots to him along the ropes. Sabian tags in and works Fox over in the corner. Wayne tags in and snaps off a kick to Fox’s ribs as Sabian holds Fox. Fox recovers and snaps off a rolling neckbreaker on Wayne. Angelico tags in and starts rifling lefts into Wayne’s jaw. Angelico hooks Wayne’s arm and then ties him up thoroughly before messing up Wayne’s hair. Angelico stops to bitch at Sabian who slaps him when he turns back to Wayne. This predictably allows Wayne to recover and nail Angelico with a flying uppercut. Wayne knocks Fox from the apron to the floor and poses for the crowd. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Sabian tags in and he and Wayne hit stereo elbows on Angelico. Sabian covers for one. Sabian works a side headlock. Angelico elbows his way out of it but as he charges Sabian rolls through and hits a double stomp on Angelico’s mid-section. Sabian covers for two. Wayne tags in and kicks Angelico in the ribs before starting to work him over in the corner. Sabian tags in after Wayne whips Angelico into the heel corner. Sabian starts clubbering (I wonder to myself if Kip Sabian has ever wrestled Chris Sabin and a quick check of Cagematch tells me they haven’t – I would NOT want to recap that match for obvious typo disaster reasons). We go to full commercials.

Back live with Angelico staggering Sabian with a right as both are down. Fox and Wayne tag in and Fox wipes Wayne out with two clotheslines before ducking a Wayne elbow attempt. Fox springs up and waffles Wayne with an enziguri before nailing him with a running lariat in the corner. Sabian charges in and eats and elbow, and then Fox skins the cat before crushing Wayne with a double stomp. Fox hits a cutter on Sabian and ducks a Wayne kick before leaping up and nailing Wayne with a cutter as well. Fox annihilates Sabian with a tope con hilo before ascending to crush Wayne with a swanton. Fox covers for a LONG two as the crowd is actually WAY into this with Fox’s flurry of offense.

Fox gets overzealous so Wayne double-thrusts him in the throat. Angelico tags in and hits Wayne with a kick after a series of misses from both. Sabian gets a blind tag and destroys Angelico with a top rope missile dropkick. Sabian hits a prone Angelico with a cannonball as Wayne moonsaults Fox on the floor. Sabian drops Angelico to the mat and Wayne insists on being tagged in. Wayne hits the Killswitch on Angelico and covers for three.

This was fine for what it was. AR Fox remains over with live crowds and his flurry of offense looked great and got the crowd going. I thought they were teasing something at the end with Wayne and Sabian but there didn’t seem to be any major beef after the three count. I wouldn’t call this a squash but the outcome really wasn’t in doubt. 2.5*

Winners – Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian (Wayne Killswitch on Angelico)

Backstage Renee Paquette is with Kris Statlander who says she has something to get off her chest. Paquette asks if it’s about “Willow” and Statlander congratulates Paquette on winning one hundred thousand dollars as she blows confetti of some sort at Paquette. Statlander knows Nightingale wants to move on but she thinks she’s owed some thanks for stepping in front of the Death Riders for Nightingale. Or perhaps being the best damn friend Nightingale has ever had. Statlander then thanks Nightingale for reminding her that she doesn’t need anyone because she’s strong, tough and athletic and thankful for being her. YOU CAN’T STOP STAT. We go to commercials.

Bobby Cruise is in the ring for the announcement of the main event.

ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena (C) vs Alex Windsor

Athena is seconded, as always, by Billie Starks. Athena sticks her hand out presumably so Windsor can kiss it, but Windsor merely grabs her fingers and sort of shakes Athena’s hand. The bell rings and we’re off.

They lock up and Windsor bullies Athena to a corner before a clean break. Some chain wrestling leads to Athena crushing Windsor with a forearm that sounded like a gunshot. Windsor manages to slip an Athena charge before hitting Athena with armdrag takedowns and a short shotgun dropkick. Windsor yanks up Athena and puts her in a side headlock as the crowd is strongly behind Athena in this one. Athena slips out and manages to yank Windsor down by the hair. Athena runs the ropes but Windsor catches her and beals her over. Windsor kicks Athena in the back and then runs the ropes to dropkick Athena in the chest. Windsor covers for one.

Windsor tries for some crowd support and then fires Athena down with a body slam. Windsor charges but Athena wraps her legs around Windsor’s head and fires her face-first into the second turnbuckle. (Schiavone mentions that Windsor started training at 15 and man, that seems really young to be doing that. Ah well.) Athena and Windsor trade heavy chops on the apron. Athena ducks a right hand and snatches Windsor up to drop her back-first on the apron. We go to picture-in-picture commercials.

During PIP Athena runs Windsor into the barrier twice before bellowing that it’s her show now. Athena dumps Windsor back in and puts a knee in her back while yanking back on Windsor’s chin. Athena gripes at the ref as a recovering Windsor belts her in the stomach. Athena stops that with a knee lift and then stomps on Windsor’s head. Athena pulls Windsor up and pounds her in the face. Windsor gets whipped into the corner and Athena follows with a running elbow and forearms that drop Windsor to the mat. Athena continues clubbering away.

Back to full-screen and Windsor has recovered to roll up Athena for one. They run the ropes and Windsor gets a big headbutt on Athena that drops her on the logo and both are down. Athena charges and Windsor slips it and runs Athena into the corner before whipping Athena to the opposite corner and following with a clothesline. They run the ropes again and Windsor waffles Athena with a flying lariat before nipping up to a pop. Windsor hits a side Russian leg sweep and a sitting lariat. Windsor covers for two.

Windsor has Athena poised for a powerbomb so Athena BITES HER LEG. Windsor charges and Athena ducks it and nails Windsor with a superkick. Athena flies into the Koji Clutch but Windsor rolls her over and gets a two count as Athena is forced to release the hold. Windsor charges in but Athena catches her in a backdrop driver and covers for two. Athena ascends and shoves off Windsor but Windsor recovers with a leaping headbutt to Athena’s jaw. Windsor hits a side sit-out powerbomb on Athena and that gets a LONG two.

Windsor tries for the Sharpshooter but Athena boots her way out of it as Windsor goes flying. Athena tries for a baseball slide but Windsor slips it and yanks Athena up to drop her face-first on the apron. (We’re going overtime as we’ve reached the two hour mark of this show). Windsor pulls up Athena to drop her face-first on the apron and then sits out to drop Athena on the floor. Windsor whips Athena back in and as the ref checks on Athena, Starks comes flying around to pull on Windsor’s leg. Windsor gets pissed and runs Starks into the ring steps. Athena hits a poor tope suicida on Windsor who nevertheless sells it like she’s been killed. Athena runs Windsor into the ring post and then nails her with a running shotgun dropkick as Windsor goes HARD into the barrier.

Athena pulls Windsor up as they both are on top of the barrier. They slug it out and Windsor’s final right sends Athena to the floor. Windsor loses her balance so Athena calmly powerbombs her to the floor. Athena whips Windsor back in the ring and ascends. Athena hits the O-Face and gets three.

Match of the night by a country mile. They clearly wanted to go out and do that too, because this was a hell of a battle. Athena has some sloppy moments but she’s a fully realized champ at this point. Windsor fought well and given the crowd’s enjoyment of Athena, still managed to babyface it up throughout the match. I enjoyed this a bunch.4*

Winner and STILL ROH Women’s World Champion – Athena (O-Face)

Post-match Starks puts the boots to the fallen Windsor before dumping her to the floor. Here’s AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm to intervene. Storm handles Starks on the ramp and dumps Athena into the ring. Storm hits a Thesz Press and starts throwing bombs to Athena’s head. Athena sits in a corner and predictably gets a Hip Attack from Storm. Storm locks in the chicken wing but Starks charges in to waffle Storm with the contract case. Windsor charges in to prevent an O-Face on Storm and the four start slugging it out. Storm and Windsor end up standing tall in the ring before shaking hands as AEW chants ring out. Windsor watches Storm gyrate on the logo with a grin on her face as Schiavone runs down the upcoming matches and we’re out.

Basically a one match show unless you feel strongly about Dustin Rhodes or The Outrunners picking up some momentum before the showdown with the Bucks on Wednesday. It’s Collision, it’s always the B-show and there’s always some weird and wild stuff that happens. It’s not bad, per se, it’s just the B show. Athena and Windsor was a hell of a battle for like twelve minutes and the post-match stuff had the crowd going nuts, and to me, whether I like something or not, if the live crowd is into it then it’s doing its job. This venue works well with the presentation and even though I am WILDLY tired of the endless Don Callis presence on this show, overall you can get through this easily and mostly painlessly. Thumbs in the middle leaning very slightly up for this week.

Thanks for reading and commenting, and let’s be safe out there today gang. Enjoy your Sunday as we get ready for another big week in the wrestling world.