Collision Slam Dunk Saturday Review – 03.21.26

You didn’t miss it, surely, but go give SK’s Dynamite review a second look so you’re caught up for tonight’s show.

Collision is split into two parts this weekend and tonight’s Part One was recorded after Dynamite ended on March 18th at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, CA. The announcing team for tonight’s show include Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness on match calls and analysis, Arkady Aura on ring introductions, and Lexy Nair on backstage interviews and breaking news segments. Let’s watch some wrestling!

In a long history of violent and brutal confrontations in AEW, this one might be the most savage ever recorded.

AEW TNT Championship Open Challenge: Kyle Fletcher (C) vs Robbie Eagles

Eagles is one of Fletcher’s trainers and a member of the TMDK stable in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Fletcher slams Eagles down and poses for the crowd. Fletcher bullies Eagles to a corner but offers a clean break. Eagles works a wristlock before Fletcher reverses. Eagles flips out of it and offers a clean break to Fletcher. Eagles tries for a side Russian but Fletcher just scoops him up and slams Eagles to the mat. Fletcher gets monkey-flipped before Eagles catches him in a rana. Eagles hits Fletcher with a Pele kick and then works low kicks to Fletcher’s hamstring. Eagles tries another rana but Fletcher catches him and smashes Eagles with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a full nelson side slam. We go to commercials.

Fletcher smashes Eagles down with a clubbering forearm, but Eagles fires up with a basement dropkick that sends Fletcher to the mat. Eagles hits some YES kicks but Fletcher the last one and wallops Eagles with a kick of his own. Eagles fires up with a leg lariat and a running kick to Fletcher’s chest. Eagles hits a Meteora but Fletcher catches his second attempt at it. Fletcher gets caught by a Sliced Bread and Eagles covers for two. Eagles works some more hamstring kicks but Fletcher kicks him away when Eagles tries for a Figure Four. Eagles hits some more kicks and ascends. Fletcher slips away from Eagles 450 splash attempt and yanks him into a Michinoku Driver that gets two. Fletcher bullies Eagles with soft kicks that start getting harder. Eagles fires up with some forearms and an uppercut, and Fletcher quickly tires of that and drops Eagles with a half-and-half suplex. Fletcher misses a charge and Eagles snaps off some more low kicks and a springboard dropkick. Eagles puts on a reverse Figure Four and Fletcher barely makes the ropes. Eagles continues to pummel Fletcher’s hamstring before hitting a tope suicida on a limping Fletcher. They head back in and ascend in a corner but Fletcher slips off during his brainbuster attempt. Eagles responds with an Exploder and a 450 splash. Fletcher snatches Eagles into a roll up for two, and then Eagles snaps off a poison rana. Eagles hits a couple of thrust kicks and follows with a Pele kick. Fletcher has had enough of that and waffles a charging Eagles with a lariat. Fletcher tosses Eagles into a buckle bomb and then destroys Eagles with a running high boot. Fletcher hoists Eagles for the sheer drop brainbuster and that’s enough to get three.

Fletcher showed his trainer a lot of respect here by giving him a ton of offense, so full credit for that. I’m not an Open Challenge fan at this point but this was a good exhibition and Fletcher fought cleanly and without all the nonsense that typically comes with a full on Don Callis Family extravaganza. Almost everything stayed in the ring, Eagles had a plan to work Fletcher’s leg, Fletcher had to work hard to overcome a very game opponent, and the finish made total sense. No complaints whatsoever about this one, but Fletcher seems to be in a bit of a holding pattern here. 4*

Winner AND STILL AEW TNT Champion – Kyle Fletcher (Sheer Drop Brainbuster)

Here’s Jon Moxley flanked by PAC to chat about Will Ospreay’s return. Moxley questions Ospreay claiming that he’ll break Moxley’s neck with his bare hands, and says nothing like that will be happening. Moxley says he hopes Ospreay can stay out of trouble, but if he’s determined to go back into the hospital Moxley will oblige. PAC is upset about being attacked by Ospreay as he wasn’t even there when Ospreay was sidelined. PAC says from the moment he shook Ospreay’s hand he knew he was a prick. PAC says all Ospreay has to do is ask and PAC will be happy to put his grubby little mitts around Ospreay’s neck.

Short, effective, and to the point. I guess the Death Riders are back in the heel column as a unit, finally. What a long strange trip that entire Winter was, then.

La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush, Dralistico and The Beast Mortos) vs Dom Kubrick, Lucas Riley and Alpha Zo

Mortos is hilariously wearing sunglasses over his mask. Dralistico starts with Riley and he smacks Riley around with chops and then trucks him with a running tackle. Mortos tags in and he smacks Riley before tagging in Rush. Rush, Mortos, and Dralistico triple team Riley and crush him with simultaneous low dropkicks. Rush yanks in Kubrick and Zo so he can smash them around, and then Dralistico hits a tope con hilo on both of them. Rush hits THE HORNS on Riley, and Mortos follow with a torneo splash that gets three on poor Riley.

I think LFI’s entrance took longer than this match did, but they’re being positioned as challengers for Jet Speed and Mistico’s Trios titles so this showcase squash was important, I guess. Not much to rate here for obvious reasons. 1*

Winners – LFI (Mortos torneo splash on Riley)

Lexy Nair is backstage with AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla after commercials. Nair wonders about the attack on Toni Storm and Thekla offers up thoughts and prayers for Storm before giggling and claiming full responsibility for what happened. Thekla claims Storm staged the whole thing because she was scared of Thekla. Thekla has advice for the whole locker room and it’s to fake their own deaths because reality is so much worse.

The Sisters of Sin (Skye Blue and Julia Hart) vs The Brawling Birds (Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter)

It’s Hayter and Hart to start and I think the crowd may have reached its limit. Hart tries for an octopus but Hayter hits a backbreaker and tags in Windsor. Windsor smashes Blue off the apron and then hits Hart with a neckbreaker. Hayter tags in and she and Windsor truck a charging Blue before slamming her into the Sisters corner to work over Blue and Hart together. They hit simultaneous double sledges and Windsor covers Hart for two. Blue tags in and she and Windsor start chopping it out mid-ring. Blue rakes the eyes so Windsor yanks her down by the hair. Hart sneaks in a back kick when Windsor tries to run the ropes and then yanks Windsor by the neck as Blue flies in with a back kick of her own. Blue drops Hayter off the apron with a forearm and we go to commercials.

Hayter gets caught by a Hart drop double-stomp when the show returns. Windsor charges in and eats a low thrust kick from Blue. Windsor fires up and smacks Hart and Blue together before firing off some kicks that level Hart. Blue lifts a knee that stops Windsor’s flurry, and a recovered Hayter smashes Blue with a backbreaker as everyone is down. Windsor tags in and she and Hayter try for the Hart Attack but Hart cuts that off with a dropkick to Hayter and a thrust kick to Windsor. Hart and Blue drop Windsor with a facebreaker and dropkicks, and then they send Hayter to the floor. Hart hits a rolling tackle on Hayter while Blue crushes Windsor with a running knee that gets a LONG two. Blue slaps Windsor around but eats a Windsor headbutt in response. Windsor mounts Blue on a top turnbuckle but Blue responds with a right. Blue ascends and leaps off to hit Windsor with an avalanche powerbomb. Hayter cuts off the cover at two and Hart charges in to dump Hayter to the floor. Hart and Blue try for a double team move on Windsor but she fights out of it and tags in Hayter. Hayter waffles Hart with a lariat and then she and Windsor yank Hart up for a Hart Attack (Two Birds, One Stone as Schiavone calls it). Hayter covers Hart and gets three.

This wasn’t too bad after some early awkwardness. Hayter and Windsor are a solid team but they don’t seem too keen on selling for very long. In a vacuum, I guess that’s not a huge issue but it’s not like the women’s tag division is loaded up at this point. I would assume they would be decent challengers for Bayne/Kross should we get there at some point. Regardless, this was decent. 3*

Winners – The Brawling Birds (Two Birds, One Stone on Hart)

Lexy Nair is with Brody King who thanks Kenny Omega for having his back at Revolution. King says he’s still hunting championship gold. We go to commercials.

There’s a highlights package centered around the AEW World Title Texas Death Match. MJF will be in St. Paul for Dynamite this week.

Komander and Mascara Dorada vs Claudio Castignoli and Daniel Garcia

Marina Shafir is out with the Death Riders and Castignoli is without his CMLL title belt having lost it Friday night (this was recorded Wednesday so poor Claudio must have gotten the booking sheet early – congratulations to Hechicero for claiming that title!)

Komander starts with Garcia and Garcia barks at Komander after driving him down. There’s some standing swtiches and Garcia rides Komander’s back before wiping his boots in Komander’s direction. Garcia yanks Komander down by the mask and Komander fires up with some rights. Garcia gets a “culero” chant and then gets waffled by a Komander dropkick. Dorada tags in and he and Komander combine for a running dropkick from Dorada that gets one. Castignoli gets a tag and eats a high boot from Dorada followed by a couple of roundhouse kicks and a double dropkick from Dorada and Komander. Garcia tags in and Komander makes the bold decision to try to hit a suicida on Castignoli who clobbers him with an uppercut. Dorada hits a reverse thrust on Dorada and then gets caught by Castignoli during a tope con hilo. Castignoli slams Dorada on the announce table and then yanks him back up for a running knee from Garcia. We go to commercials.

Garcia and Komander are battling when the show returns. Garcia mounts Komander and drops a bunch of rights on his head. Castignoli flies in with a running uppercut and then hits another after he and Garcia dance a bit. Castignoli puts on a rear chinlock but he slips out and starts kicking Castignoli in the hamstrings. Komander hits a roundhouse kick and tries for a rana, but transitions it into a facebuster after Castignoli cuts it off. Komander yanks Castignoli into a DDT and then finally tags in Dorada. Garcia tags in and Dorada snaps off a rana that sends Garcia to the floor. Dorada and Komander rope walk together and hit double moonsaults on Castignoli and Garcia. Dorada misses a top rope dive but he catches Garcia in a facebuster off of a Gory Special. Dorada’s cover gets two. Komander tags in and he and Dorada combine on a thrust kick and a shooting star press as Castignoli charges in to break up Komander’s cover at two. Castignoli and Garcia combine for a roll up-running uppercut and Castignoli’s cover gets two. Castignoli yanks up Komander for some chops but Komander fires up with one of his own. Dorada hits a suicide dive on Garcia and Komander takes that opportunity to roll up Castignoli for two. Castignoli catches Komander’s springboard and waffles him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before pulling Komander into the Giant Swing. Castignoli hits the Neutralizer and covers Komander for three.

It was pretty obvious who was going to get pinned in this one assuming no one booked an upset win. Castignoli and Garcia are a decent sub-unit of the Death Riders so if Castignoli isn’t staying with singles, they might be fun to watch against FTR, the Young Bucks, et al. Dorada was good in this one, Komander was fine, and even with a lot of floor gaga, the match flowed decently. The crowd is burnt at this point (and there’s still another hour coming tomorrow evening after basketball – yikes for those matches) so there wasn’t a ton of interaction but the match itself was functionally fine. 3*

Winners – The Death Riders (Castignoli Neutralizer on Komander)

Schiavone shouts out a bunch of matches for tomorrow and Dynamite, the credits roll, and we’re out for tonight’s effort.

For an hour, they packed a lot in as they usually do for Collision. I really enjoyed the Fletcher-Eagles match and I’m not the biggest Fletcher fan by any means. The women’s tag match was decent as was the main event tag, so we’ll call this portion of Collision thumbs up and see what tomorrow’s effort brings.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Enjoy your Sunday, and I’ll be back on Monday morning with the other half of this show.