AEW Collision Revew – 12.20.25

Let’s catch up on everything that has happened in Manchester thus far: Dynamite | Collision Part One

Tonight’s episode of Collision: Holiday Bash PART TWO comes to the TNT airwaves from the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, England. The presenters of tonight’s broadcast are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Nigel McGuinness on match calls and analysis, Arkady Aura on ring announcements, and Lexy Nair on backstage interviews and breaking news segments. Let’s watch some wrestling!

I have no idea how to describe this, but here’s the Rizzler deciding who should be Santa in AEW.

Continental Classic Gold League: Jack Perry (0 Points) vs Speedball Mike Bailey (6 points)

“Tarzan Boy” is very much over with the Manchester crowd. There’s a show of sportsmanship to start and off we go. There’s some acrobatics and Perry comes up hobbling a bit on a previously injured ankle. There’s a series of reversals that leads to a quick Bailey cover for one. Perry gets Bailey in a corner and hits some chops and a suplex before covering and getting one. Bailey goes to his rapid-fire low kicks and Perry ends up on the floor. Perry yanks Bailey out and whales him with a forearm. Perry misses a charge and Bailey waffles him with a springboard moonsault. Bailey ascends and Perry bails back to the floor. Perry dumps Bailey back-first on the ring steps as we go to commercials.

Bailey hits a shotgun dropkick from the second rope as the show returns. Bailey hits a series of kicks and drops Perry to the mat. Bailey hits a running shooting star press and that gets two. Bailey hits a sit-out powerbomb and ascends but he misses his move. Perry avoids another charge and they start duking it out with Perry on the apron. Bailey misses his reverse double knee drop and it leads to Perry hitting a destroyer on the apron sending both of them to the floor. Perry runs Bailey back in and ascends. Perry misses a stomp and Bailey hits a high boot. Perry runs out and waffles Bailey with an Exploder and a bridging back suplex gets a two count. Bailey hits a thrust kick and Perry escapes from Perry’s suplex attempt. Perry locks in the Snare Trap but Bailey worms his way out of it to roll up Perry for two. Bailey’s second double knee drop attempt meets Perry’s raised knees and both guys are down. Bailey hits more kicks and goes to the second rope, but he misses again and Perry catches his thrust kick attempt while BITING Bailey’s toes. Perry hits a backdrop suplex and covers Bailey for three.

Perry wasn’t finishing this tournament on zero points, so this is probably his token win. Bailey had some momentum coming off his win over his tag partner but this stopped that in its tracks. Neither one of these guys will be in the finals so it was fine for what it was. 3*

Winner – Jack Perry (3 points) (Backdrop Suplex)

Post-match sees Luchasaurus emerge in a Santa hat to hand out some presents, including one for Bailey. Bailey and Perry embrace as we go to commercials.

Eddie Kingston vs Nathan Cruz

The Grizzled Young Veterans meet Kingston in the aisle and after he flips them off they attack Kingston from behind. Kingston heads in after disposing of GYV and runs into a Cruz slingshot back suplex. Cruz bullies Kingston along the ropes, and Gibson of GYV sneaks in a cheap shot. Cruz misses a charge and Kingston drops him with a right and a running splash. Kingston hits some massive chops before rolling Cruz into a neckbreaker. Cruz grabs a quick roll-up for two, but Kingston immediately responds with an Exploder and a DDT before covering Cruz and getting three.

A quick showcase for some British talent, although given that GYV are from Liverpool and this match is in Manchester I’m surprised they didn’t get booed out of the building. Kingston looks a little sharper these days in terms of ring awareness and match fitness, and a quick squash like this is probably good for him mentally as well. Get in, get out, get the business done. Not much to it but the crowd ate it up. 2*

Winner – Eddie Kingston (Exploder/DDT)

There’s a quick recap of where things stand in the Continental Classic and a review of the C2 matches that happened in Manchester.

RevPro Women’s Title Open Challenge: Mercedes Mone (C) vs Alex Windsor

Windsor really likes to yell her last name a LOT. Windsor hits a dropkick to start and then pounds away on Mone in a corner. Mone kicks Windsor away but then runs into a Windsor lariat. Windsor snaps Mone down and smashes her with a low clothesline that gets a one count. Windsor puts Mone in a Sharpshooter but Mone makes the apron to escape. Mone wallops Windsor with a knee before smashing her with a Meteora. Windsor rolls through and puts the Sharpshooter back on. They both go to the floor and Windsor tosses Mone down with a powerbomb. They go back in and Windsor’s cover gets two. Windsor runs into a Mone backstabber and then Mone smashes Windsor with a kick to the head. We go to commercials.

Mone hits two of the Three Amigos but Windsor fights out of the third one. Mone and Windsor crack heads and both are down. Windsor twists Mone into a neckbreaker and then smashes Mone with a draping DDT. Windsor gets rolled up by Mone for two and Mone slaps on the Banks Statement. Windsor fights out of it and hoists Mone up but Mone connects with a crucifix bomb. Mone hits another Meteora and covers Windsor for two. Mone wants a tornado DDT but Windsor fights out of it and they duke it out on the top turnbuckle. Windsor snaps off a Blue Thunder Bomb and covers Mone for two. Mone fires up with another backstabber and then goes back to the Banks Statement. Windsor rolls over and through and there’s a series of reversals and counters. Windsor cinches up Mone in a crucifix and gets three.

Well, that was unexpected, but kind of fun despite the sloppiness of the whole thing. Windsor gets the British-based title and I guess she’ll defend it both in AEW/ROH and RevPro assuming they’re cool with that. Mone loses another one of her pile of belts so we’ll see how she reacts to that going into World’s End next weekend and the big tag title match with the Babes of Wrath. The crowd liked this but it was very sloppy at times. 2.5*

Winner AND NEW RevPro Women’s Champion – Alex Windsor (Crucifix roll-up)

Post-match sees an utterly shocked Mone stare on in horror while clutching her TBS title. Windsor’s son jumps in the ring for a kiss. We go to commercials.

There’s a highlights package of the Men’s World Title contract signing including the return of MJF and his subsequent entrance into the match due to his title shot contract.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kevin Knight (3 points) vs Kazuchika Okada (6 points)

Don Callis once again subverts the rules of the C2 by joining the announce team, the dirty subverter. Okada gets a very big pop from the Manchester crowd. There’s some standing switches to start and Okada grabs a side headlock. Okada trucks Knight down, and then there’s a quick series of moves that ends with simultaneous dropkicks that don’t hit. Okada gives Knight a clean break off the ropes and Knight fires the bird at Okada. Okada gets dumped to the floor and they start a strong style striking battle. They go back in at nine and start it again mid-ring. Okada finally drops Knight with a huge forearm. Knight slips a Rainmaker attempt and after some more reversals they start firing forearms at each other again. They both go to the apron but Okada fakes out Knight and guffaws on the apron. Knight has had enough and drops Okada to the floor with a dropkick and then hits a huge springboard clothesline along the announce table.. We go to commercials.

Okada is working a rear chinlock when the show returns. Knight tries to break out but Okada clobbers him with a double sledge. Okada mounts Knight but Knight fights him off with a boot before smashing Okada with a cross-body. Knight fires some uppercuts and then waffles Okada with a flying lariat. Knight hits a powerslam and a standing splash before covering and getting two. Okada dumps Knight to the apron and then pushes Rick Knox into the ropes to break up Knight’s springboard attempt. Okada hits a neckbreaker on his knee and then slams Knight down. Okada ascends and drops a massive elbow to Knight’s mid-section. Okada gives the crowd the bird and then pulls Knight to his feet. Knight fires up with a Sky High and gets two. Knight ascends and his UFO splash attempt meets Okada’s knees. Okada smashes Knight with a short Rainmaker and then pulls Knight back up. Okada hits his incredible dropkick but Knight ducks the Rainmaker before landing a dropkick of his own. Knight hits a DDT and ascends to hit a springboard lariat before covering and getting two. Knight wants the coast-to-coast but Okada was playing possum and wallops Knight with a dropkick. Okada hits a wheelbarrow German and pulls Knight up, but Knight slips the Rainmaker and rolls Okada up for three!

Well, that’s a MONSTER upset in this tournament. Okada, not shockingly, kind of went through this match at low speed and energy but he hit the spots he was supposed to and lost clean as a sheet. If nothing else, Knight gets a signature win he can brag about for a LONG time. The crowd, who were probably pretty burnt at this point, were still into this and were utterly shocked at the upset. It got better after the break but Knight kind of carried the whole thing, quite frankly. 3.75*

Winner – Kevin Knight (6 points) (roll-up)

Post-match sees a stunned Don Callis look on in disbelief as Speedball Mike Bailey charges down to congratulate his tag partner. The standings now show a five way tie at the top of the Gold League with everyone at six points, and Jack Perry with three. The credits roll and we’re out.

It was an eventful show, if nothing else. I fully expected Okada to win that C2 match as it’s felt like all along it’s him and Takeshita in the finals but perhaps there’s another plan here. I guess we’ll have to see how it plays out. The Perry-Bailey match was fine but it felt like it didn’t matter at all, and the Kingston match was just a showcase for Eddie and the British wrestlers. Mercedes losing was also kind of unexpected but at least they’re doing something with her that isn’t just “Mercedes wins LOL”. Thumbs in the middle leaning up for this part of the card, and I’d say that overall the Manchester show was a big success for the company.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a great rest of the weekend and hug your people.