Collision Review – 03.07.26

Here’s what happened on Dynamite this week.

Tonight’s Collision is LIVE on the TNT airwaves from the Tuscon Arena in Tuscon, AZ. The announcers for tonight’s show are Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness on match calls and analysis, Justin Roberts on ring introductions, and Lexy Nair on backstage interviews and breaking news segments. We’re one week out from Revolution, so let’s watch some wrestling!

I really miss AEW Dark just for titanic contests like THIS.

AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship: FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (C) vs The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz)

Stokely Hathaway accompanies FTR as usual, but sadly he remains wheelchair-bound. Myron Reed is out with the Rascalz. Wentz hits an armdrag on Wheeler as they start it out for their respective teams. Harwood tags in and fires Wentz over in a headlock. Harwood trucks Wentz and then after a series of rope running, Harwood slaps Wentz in the face in a corner. Wentz returns the favor and Harwood bails to the floor in anger. Xavier tags in and Harwood starts working him over in a neutral corner. Xavier fires up with some rights but Harwood cuts that off with a back elbow before dumping Xavier to the floor. Stokely pulls Xavier’s hair but Xavier fights his way out of that and Wentz hits a torneo tope con hilo on both members of FTR. Harwood gets dumped into the crowd and then Xavier runs him back in for a quick two. Wentz tags in and smashes Harwood’s arm with a double stomp before covering and getting two. Harwood tags in Wheeler who eats an immediate right from Wentz. Wentz runs into a Wheeler lariat after chasing Harwood around ringside. We go to commercials.

Wentz is duking it out with Harwood and grabs an inside cradle for two when the show returns. Wentz hits a backslide and gets another two. Wheeler comes in to help and Wentz smashes Harwood with an enziguri. Wentz makes it through an FTR gauntlet to tag in Xavier who starts waffling Harwood. Wheeler charges in and Xavier handles him as well. Harwood fires up with a right and a clothesline that levels Xavier. The Rascalz grab simultaneous roll ups for two counts and then hit simultaneous tope suicidas when FTR bail to the floor. Xavier dumps Harwood back in and he hits a frog splash. Wentz tags in an hits a swanton on Harwood for a long two. Wentz mounts Harwood in the Rascalz corner but Harwood sneaks out and crotches Wentz. Wheeler flies in to wallop Xavier with a tope suicida. Harwood hits an avalanche Saito suplex on Wentz for a long two. Wentz and Harwood start slugging it out once both rise to their feet. Wentz wins a slap battle and then grabs a roll up for two as Harwood barely kicks out. Wheeler comes in and gets dumped as Xavier gets a tag. Xavier hits a superkick and covers Harwood for two. Wentz tags in and he and Xavier tosses him on top of Harwood for two. FTR come in and hit the FTR trigger on Wentz but Xavier prevents Wheeler from anything else by pulling him to the floor. In the ring Wentz grabs another roll up on Harwood for two. Wentz hits an enzigrui on Harwood but runs into a Shatter Machine. Harwood covers Wentz and gets three.

This was a good hot opener and FTR gave the Rascalz all kinds of offense before putting them away. They tweaked their challengers at Revolution by using the double-team trigger move and were going for the Meltzer Driver-type thing when Wheeler got yanked to the floor. The Rascalz looked very good in defeat and the crowd loved this. In terms of the mechanics of the match, it was what it was. No one really thought the titles were changing hands here so at least this was solidly competitive even with a wildly predictable outcome. 3.5*

Winners AND STILL AEW Men’s World Tag Team Champions – FTR (Shatter Machine on Wentz)

Post-match sees Mark Briscoe come out and walk past FTR with some polite but wary hand-slaps happening. Briscoe will be on commentary for the the next match. We go to commercials.

Anthony Bowens meets up with Hook backstage and Bowens tells Hook he can be a killer per Hook’s question from last week. Hook tells Bowens to grab the camera from Katsuyori Shibata and they run into a goober backstage as Hook puts on a submission hold before dropping the guy. Hook tells Bowens to continue to follow along.

Daniel Garcia vs Tommaso Ciampa

Garcia emerges alone from the Death Riders lair, so we’ll see if that stays the same during the match. Ciampa waves at Briscoe prior to the bell, and then we’re off. Garcia bails to the apron so Ciampa invites him back in. Garcia comes back in on the other side of the ring and walks into a wristlock. Garcia breaks out of it and eats a big boot from Ciampa. Ciampa hits a couple of knife-edge chops and then mounts Garcia for ten right hands. Ciampa mocks Garcia’s shitty dance by grinding his crotch on Garcia’s face and then plants Garcia with a neckbreaker. Garcia goes to the apron and manages to snap off a Dragon Screw leg whip on Ciampa before crotching him on a corner post. Garcia whips Ciampa’s knee into the post as we go to commercials.

Garcia runs into a back elbow from Ciampa but he responds with a dropkick to cut off any flurry Ciampa might have had going. Garcia chokes Ciampa in a corner and then runs right into a Ciampa double knee lift with both guys ending up on the canvas. Ciampa ducks some chops and then wallops Garcia with a lariat. Ciampa pushes Garcia to the floor and then follows out to smash his head off the announce table. Ciampa turns and daps up Briscoe after running Garcia back in. Garcia gets hit with another back elbow and some slaps, but he fires up with another Dragon Screw and a half crab on Ciampa. Ciampa tries to kick out of it and Garcia turns it into an STF. Ciampa bites Garcia’s hand and that breaks it up, but Garcia responds with a running shotgun dropkick before mounting Ciampa for ten right hands. Ciampa grabs Garcia for a backstabber before covering and getting two. Garcia goes to the floor and dumps Ciampa on the apron when he comes out. Garcia puts the stink-mouth on Briscoe before pie-facing him. Garcia runs back into a Ciampa roll up that gets two. A pissed-off Briscoe accidently runs into Ciampa who gets immediately rolled up by Garcia for three.

They’re trying to tell some kind of story here with Ciampa and Briscoe, I guess. The match was technically sound and Garcia getting a win due to (I guess) babyface mis-communication is fine considering no other Death Riders were involved. If anyone can definitively tell me what side the Death Riders are on at this point I’d love to hear it because Garcia pretty much heeled it up especially during his interaction with Briscoe. Regardless, this was fine during the match, but this is a couple losses for Ciampa now and they better be careful about how many he eats here in the early going. 3*

Winner – Daniel Garcia (roll up)

Post-match sees Briscoe enter the ring to chat with Ciampa about what happened. Ciampa seems pissed and pushes Briscoe’s hand away when it’s offered. Briscoe leaves and tells Ciampa to cool down. FTR come back out to confront Ciampa but Briscoe jumps back in the ring to stand next to Ciampa. FTR seem to reconsider whatever they were planning but there’s still some verbals regardless. Ciampa leaves as Briscoe is still having words with FTR, and then Briscoe leaves with him as they finally dap it up. Ciampa then takes the opportunity to smash Briscoe into the video board before dropping his knee pad. Ciampa hits the Kill Shot running knee and then steals Briscoe’s bandana. Harwood applauds from the ring as Ciampa leaves a devastated Briscoe in a heap.

We go to a video package on the Moxley-Takeshita rivalry. Takeshita will take on Claudio Castignoli tonight in a non-title match.

Swerve Strickland vs Gravity

Swerve is accompanied by Prince Nana as usual, and McGuinness narrates highlights of Swerve choking out Brody King on Dynamite. Gravity is Bandido’s brother, as Bandido made the save for King on Wednesday. Swerve dumps Gravity over and then smashes him with a kick in the back. Gravity eats a knee lift and a huge running boot from Swerve. Swerve runs into a high boot and a back elbow before hitting an armdrag. Swerve shakes that off with a huge chop, but Gravity fires up with a kick to the spine. Gravity does some kind of strut and tries to put on a submission, but then rolls it over for a two count. Gravity tries for a powerbomb from the apron but Swerve shakes it off and hits the double stomp instead. Swerve runs Gravity into the ring steps and then goes for the mask. Swerve yanks Gravity up by the mask and then rams his head into a top turnbuckle. Swerve ascends and hits the Stomp from the top rope. Swerve lines up the House Call and it connects. Swerve gently covers and gets three.

Swerve didn’t sell anything here and worked like an emotionless killer. I wonder about this heel turn because he was so popular as a babyface, so we’ll see how this goes against King at Revolution. This match with Gravity was just an exhibition, really, with no major psychology or effort required from Swerve, but he did look like a wrecking machine, so in that sense it worked. 2*

Winner – Swerve Strickland (House Call)

Kris Statlander had some comments after Dynamite, and tells Thekla that their record is one and one against each other. It’s two out of three falls at Revolution and Thekla’s “killing” is coming twice. We go to commercials.

AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla emerges after the show returns. Thekla yells “no” in a bunch of different languages and wonders if she missed a meeting or something because since when does the challenger make the stipulation for a title match? Thekla says she’s not doing two out of three falls and Statlander can kiss her toxic ass. Thekla wonders what makes Statlander think she can beat her twice in a night and says that Statlander wears sunglasses now because she can’t look Thekla in the eye. Thekla says Statlander is right about one thing and that is that Thunder Rosa should have listened to her about how dangerous Thekla is. Thekla advises Statlander to quit while she’s alive because everything she’s afraid of is everything Thekla is. Apparently it’s still two out of three falls as the graphic for the match comes up.

Renee Paquette had an interview with her husband AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley who says Takeshita cannot and will not beat him at Revolution. The full interview is available on AEW’s youtube channel.

$200,000 Tag Team Battle: LFI (Rush and Dralistico) vs The Swirl (Blake Christian and Lee Johnson) vs The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum) vs Private Party (Isiah Cassidy and Marc Quen)

Dalton Castle is out with the Outrunners and joins commentary. Christian starts with Magnum, but then Johnson tags in almost immediately. Cassidy grabs a tag as does Dralistico. Dralistico trucks Cassidy over and then dumps him to the floor where Rush smashes him all over the place. Quen comes over and Rush waffles him as well. Rush runs Cassidy back in and LFI and the Swirl take turns smashing Cassidy around. They hit a four-way dropkick on Cassidy and then try to make friends, but Dralistico and Rush decide to end that rather quickly. The Swirl mount Rush in a corner and go to work with rights. Rush headbutts his way out of that and then Dralistico flies in with a rana on Christian. Rush drops Johnson face-first on the mat and then he and Dralistico hit their pose as we go to commercials.

Christian is battling with Cassidy when the show returns. Christian wipes out the Outrunners but Cassidy manages to tag in Floyd anyway. A Pier Six breaks out and the Outrunners clean house before flexing to a huge pop. The Outrunners hit a superplex on Christian to a big pile on the floor and then run him back in. The Outrunners want their elbow drop but LFI come in to end that. Cassidy hits an enziguri on Rush and then dumps Dralistico to the apron. Cassidy hits a springboard cutter but Dralistico shakes it off as they battle it out. Dralistico snaps off a rana that sends Cassidy to the floor. LFI hit a bunch of double team stuff on Quen that ends with a lungblower from Dralistico. Rush runs into a Floyd lariat and the Outrunners fire up, but then eat superkicks from The Swirl. Johnson mounts Quen in a corner and they smash him around as Christian hits a top rope Destroyer. Christian’s cover gets broken up at two by Cassidy. Cassidy hits a top rope Destroyer on Christian and then Quen mounts Johnson for a top rope cutter. Cassidy’s cover gets three.

I’m going to be as nice as I can here and say that this match entertained the fans in attendance. 1.5*

Winners – Private Party (Quen top rope cutter to Christian)

Highlights are shown of the Trios tag team title change on Dynamite. Lexy Nair is with Speedball Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight backstage. Knight says he got a thirteen second visual pin on MJF but he feels bad about losing that match and the Trios match as well. Bailey says he didn’t lose, they did, and he’s excited to team with Mistico at Revolution. Bailey says he’s got what it takes to beat Kyle Fletcher and will do so at Dynamite. Swerve Strickland comes in to berate Knight and says if Knight wants to walk amongst killers, he has to become one. Swerve and Nana leave as we go to commercials.

EARLIER TODAY Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron were attacked by Megan Bayne and Lena Kross. Security eventually breaks it up.

Megan Bayne and Lena Kross vs The Timeless Love Bombs (Toni Storm and Mina Shirakawa)

The Love Bombs have Luther in tow. It’s Shirakawa and Bayne to start and Bayne powers Shirakawa to the ropes. Shirakawa fires off a chop and then gets trucked by Bayne after running the ropes. Kross tags in and her and Bayne get jumped by Storm from behind. Bayne and Kross catch Shirakawa and Storm’s cross body attempts and dump them both over with fall away slams. Kross yanks up Shirakawa for a big forearm and then rams her into her corner for some boots. Kross hits a helicopter backbreaker for two, and then yanks up Shirakawa as Bayne tags in. Bayne puts the shoulder into Shirakawa and then hits a big chop. Bayne misses a big boot and Shirakawa tags in Storm. Storm hits some snapmare takeovers and then smashes Bayne with a shotgun dropkick that gets two. Bayne fires up with a right forearm and then gets dumped to the floor as Storm ducks her charge. Shirakawa rises and hits a big cross-body to the floor on Bayne and Kross. Storm misses a charge and Kross hoists her before dropping Storm face-first on the apron. Luther comes to check on Storm and everyone gets wiped out by a Bayne suicide dive. We go to commercials.

Kross is working over Storm when the show returns. Storm fights her way out of the corner and tags in Shirakawa who goes to work on Bayne. Bayne reverses an irish whip but misses a charge. Shirakawa hits a top rope roundhouse but Kross charges in and Shirakawa dumps her with a springboard DDT. Shirakawa pulls Bayne through a helicopter headscissors and then ascends to hit a second rope missile dropkick. Storm flies in and yanks Shirakawa up to dump her on top of Bayne. Storm’s cover gets two. Bayne yanks Storm up and then catches Shirakawa so she can hit a double fall-away slam. Bayne pulls Storm into position and then ascends, but Shirakawa recovers and her and Storm want a superplex. Kross charges over for the Tower of Doom spot and everyone is down. Luther tries to fire up the crowd as Bayne and Storm slug it out mid-ring. Bayne eats a Storm headbutt and this starts a whole sequence of everyone hitting moves that ends with a Storm DDT on Kross. Storm hits a Hip Attack on Bayne and Shirakawa flies off with a cross-body that gets a two count on Bayne. Shirakawa puts Bayne in the Figure Four and Bayne rolls it over only to see Storm fly in to roll her back. Kross rolls Bayne over, and Storm rolls her back. Kross has had enough of that and hits a senton on Shirakawa to break that up. Marina Shafir comes down to yank Storm off the apron and pull her under the ring. Bayne wipes out Shirakawa with a lariat and Kross hits a Jackhammer on Shirakawa that gets three.

If you can follow who is actually legal in an AEW tag match at any given moment, my hat is off to you. I’m so thoroughly annoyed by all of it but it’s useless to even say anything because this is their philosophy and it’s not going away. I understand that lucha is built on this kind of chaos but not one person in the history of commentary in this company has stated that every tag match is under lucha rules. I know Excal implied it some times at the company’s outset much to JR’s annoyance, but my GOD. Anyway, this was fine with a power team trying to fight off two wily babyface veterans. I think you could have had a clean finish without Shafir’s involvement and been just fine, but here we are. 2.5*

Winners – Bayne/Kross (Kross Jackhammer on Shirakawa)

Mark Briscoe is backstage and he’s fairly grumpy with Tommaso Ciampa. Briscoe says everything felt off about Ciampa’s arrival in AEW, and that’s the Ciampa he actually remembers. Briscoe says shame on him for letting his guard down, but shame on Ciampa for backjumping him and aligning himself with FTR. (We’re making a pretty big leap here because it’s not like Ciampa went down and celebrated or joined up with FTR. Whatever.) Briscoe talks about him and his brother’s rivals, and so on Dynamite it will be FTR and Ciampa vs Briscoe and “Dem Bucks”.

STANDBY MATCH: Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, and David Finlay vs ENHANCEMENT TALENTS

Kidd smashes two dudes off the apron, Connors mashes one with a spear. Kidd continues beating some poor dude up on the floor as Connors hits a powerslam in the ring. Kidd crushes a dude with a lariat and then wallops him with a brainbuster. Kidd hits a Gotch-style tombstone piledriver on this poor schmuck, and then Finlay crushes the guy with a knee lift facebreaker. Finlay covers and gets three.

1 cup of sliced raw yellow squash contains 32% of your recommended daily value of vitamin C to help heal wounds and to keep teeth and gums healthy and 8% of your recommended daily value of vitamin B6 to help maintain skin health. .5*

Winners – The Dogs (Pick a move)

Toni Storm emerges from the back after commercials and yells for Marina Shafir. There’s a production glitch but it comes back with Storm apparently wanting Shafir at Revolution and then will be coming for the AEW Women’s World Title. Storm bows to the crowd. We go to highlights of Mercedes Mone losing to Persephone at the CMLL event last night with Persephone becoming the new CMLL Women’s champ as a result. Persephone will get a shot at Willow Nightingale’s TBS title at some point assuming she holds on to it. Schiavone and McGuinness run down the Dynamite card.

CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Claudio Castignoli vs IWGP Television Champion Konosuke Takeshita

Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir are out with Castignoli, and Moxley joins commentary. Takeshita is out alone. Castignoli grabs a wristlock and Takeshita takes him down with a trip. Takeshita works Castignoli’s knee before Castignoli rolls him over for one. Castignoli gets bullied into a corner and there’s a clean break before Castignoli pops Takeshita with a right. Takeshita takes exception and wallops Castignoli with a running boot and some right hands, but Castignoli escapes and drops Takeshita face-first onto the top turnbuckle. Castignoli puts the boots to Takeshita. Takeshita fires up with a running dropkick and then succumbs to a Castignoli arm-yank over the top rope. Castignoli stomps on Takeshita’s arm and then they meet in the middle of the ring for running shoulder attempts. Castignoli rakes the eyes and then trucks Takeshita over before standing on Takeshita’s hand. Takeshita fires up with a second rope rana that sends Castignoli to the apron. Takeshita rams Castignoli’s head into various turnbuckles and then gets the bird from Shafir as he glares at Moxley. Castignoli takes advantage to twist Takeshita’s arm around a ring stanchion. We go to commercials.

They’re slugging it out mid-ring when the show returns. Castignoli slaps on a cross-armbreaker but Takeshita rolls over and gets a two count. Takeshita mashes Castignoli with a forearm when he flies off the ropes and then starts walloping him with rights when they both rise. Takeshita hits an Exploder and then wants the running knee, but Castignoli catches him and puts Takeshita in the GIANT SWING. Castignoli wants a submission with Takeshita tied up and Castignoli yanking on Takeshita’s left arm. Takeshita rolls it over and gets two, but Castignoli gets up and starts throwing shoulders into Takeshita. They slug it out a bit and Takeshita snaps Castignoli up for a Blue Thunder Bomb. Takeshita hits a rolling discus forearm but Castignoli shakes it off and crushes Takeshita with a lofted uppercut that gets two. Castignoli goes to the floor and grabs a couple of chairs that he tosses into the ring. Rick Knox disposes of the chair and Castignoli sneakily grabs the CMLL title belt. Hechicero joins the action to grab the belt from Castignoli, and Takeshita uses that distraction to smash Castignoli with a suicide dive. Takeshita tosses Castignoli in and hits a running knee for two. Takeshita drops his knee pad and when he charges Castignoli wallops him with an uppercut. Takeshita shakes it off and crushes Castignoli with a huge forearm. They slug it out again and Takeshita rolls out of a tackle and crushes Castignoli with a running knee and Raging Fire. Takeshita covers and gets three.

This was your match of the night by like eighteen miles. Claudio is awesome and always puts on a great show, and Takeshita, love him or not, knows how to work a long hoss fight like this. An excellent showcase for both guys, and even with a bit of gaga with the appearance of Hechicero, this still ended with a clean as a sheet pin in the middle of the ring. I can’t go the full monty here for a bit too much time on the floor and the outside stuff, but this was a hell of a match and you should find a way to watch it when you can. 4.5*

Winner – Konosuke Takeshita (Raging Fire)

Post-match sees Takeshita take a good long look at Moxley, who snaps his headset off and comes over for a face-to-face. Hechicero charges in and smashes Moxley, but Takeshita tells him to knock it off. Moxley flies in to start fighting both of them, and Castignoli then gets involved. Everyone is brawling at ringside and even Shafir is involved. Refs pour out but they cannot keep them apart, and Schiavone gets to yell “WE’RE OUT OF TIME” like it was Nitro in 1997.

So the first and last match and then the subsequent main event post-match stuff saved this show in a big way, because up until then, I was grumpy. Listen, I watch basically everything from AAA to TNA to WWE to NXT to AEW and I don’t have an agenda when it comes to these reviews. Tag matches with no psychology, tag rules, or selling drive me INSANE regardless of company, and AEW is just as guilty as anyone of putting them on. The modern fans have been conditioned to love this shit, but I don’t, and I’m going to tell you about it. You can choose to disagree and it’s fine, but it will literally never be my cup of tea ever. Then, you get an absolute classic like the main event and the attitude softens a bit because it’s two great professionals just going out and killing it for the fans who love stuff like that. Moxley was really good on commentary and the post-match angle was great in building heat for their match at Revolution. Thumbs go to the middle just for that match and the opener because otherwise it was very much not a great show at all.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.