Collision Review – 04.16.26

Fresh off last night’s massive happenings on Dynamite, AEW recorded tonight’s episode of Collision after the Wednesday night show ended.

Tonight’s Collision comes to the TNT airwaves from Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, WA. The announcers for tonight’s episode are Excalibur, 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!

I’m glad footage like this will live forever on youtube because I have my doubts about the longevity of these careers. Well, one of them in particular, the other one is pretty much over.

“Welcome to Saturday Night” opens the show and well….it’s Thursday, but we’ll deal. It’s SPRING BREAKTHRU as Tony Schiavone screams at us. They had hail in Seattle the other day to really emphasize the Spring Breakiness of the whole deal.

“Metalingus” tinnily plays over the subpar PA system, and here’s Adam Copeland sporting a big shiner. Copeland mentions that Dynasty didn’t go their way and he’s got glue and staples in his forehead in addition to the black eye as a result. Apparently Christian is getting MRI’s on his forearm to see if it’s broken and FTR also TOOK HIS WATCH. You don’t mess with Christian’s watch, his wine, and his women in that order, according to Copeland. Copeland mentions FTR proclaiming that Copeland and Christian won’t get another title shot, but they have another thing coming if they think Cope and Cage are walking away. Copeland talks about both of them being retired for long stretches but both of them are back and are like dogs on a bone. Copeland promises to take a pound of flesh.

Here’s AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR with Big Stoke heading down to the ring, but instead Copeland gets jumped from behind by RPG Vice. The four on one beatdown commences, but here’s The Young Bucks charging down to the ring to send FTR packing with superkicks before disposing of RPG Vice as Copeland chips in with a stunner on Baretta. Copeland exits to his music as the Bucks stay in the ring.

Here’s AEW National Champion Jack Perry talking about defending his title at Dynasty. Perry defeated Mark Davis and he still has beef with Don Callis, and wants Callis’s “biggest goon” for next week’s Dynamite in Portland.

The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs The Rascalz (Zach Wentz and Myron Reed)

Dez Xavier accompanies Wentz and Reed. Rick Knox is the referee, so this will be typical Bucks tag action I’m assuming. It’s Matt and Wentz to start and they exchange a handshake. Nick gets a tag and they hit a rolling neckbreaker on Wentz before Reed charges in after a tag. The Bucks hit a double team German suplex on Reed and then mount him over a second turnbuckle. Wentz charges back in and the Bucks hit a mounted double stomp on him before dropping Reed with a Codebreaker in the other corner. Reed ends up on the floor and Matt tags back in. The Bucks get mashed together by Reed who then escapes a senton attempt to tag in Wentz. Wentz drops Matt with a German and then mashes Nick with some kicks. The Bucks go to the floor and the Rascalz hit them with stereo topes before Wentz gets launched by Reed for a giant cross-body. The Rascalz double team Nick and he eventually eats a thrust kick into a bridging German that gets two. We go to commercials.

Nick breaks out of a double team when the show returns and tags in Matt. Matt drops Wentz with the locomotion suplex sequence and then catches Reed to do it to both of the Rascalz. Matt hits a superkick on Reed and then drops Wentz with a DDT. Nick flies in for some strikes on Reed and then he and Nick hit stereo bulldogs on the Rascalz. The Bucks ascend for stereo top rope moves and Matt covers Wentz for two. Nick tags in they hit stereo sunset flips into Sharpshooters. Wentz makes the ropes to break everything up before Matt tags back in. The Bucks go into a Superkick Party but Reed breaks it up and drops Nick with a Stunner. Wentz hits a top rope cutter on Matt. Reed wallops Nick with an over the top rope cutter as Wentz hits a Sky Twister on Matt for two. Wentz and Reed want a double team move on Matt but Nick breaks it up. The Bucks hit the BTE Trigger on Reed but Wentz breaks it up at two. Wentz tags in and gets caught during a torneo. The Bucks hit the TK Driver on Wentz and Matt covers him for three.

The crowd, who had every right to be burnt out after the huge amount of energy they sent out after Darby Allin’s title win, stayed with this the whole way. I know the Rascalz are polarizing but they are perfect opponents for matches like this where the Bucks get to give a team some clever looking offense while never really being in danger of losing. If the crowd digs it, then so be it. I’m done complaining about the double teaming and lack of five counts, we’re way beyond all of that now. 3.5*

Winners – The Young Bucks (TK Driver on Wentz)

Post-match sees The Dogs fly in to attack the Bucks, specifically Connors and Finlay as Gabe Kidd is hurt. The Dogs also attack the Rascalz and leave them laying. Finlay grabs a mic and says that even though they’re a man down, you still have to kill them. Connors says the entire tag team division is about to get screwed. They leave as we go to commercials.

Here’s AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion in a pre-tape to say they captivate and dominate. Neat.

AEW World Trios Championship Eliminator: The Conglomeration (Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy) (C) vs Lethal Twist (Jay Lethal, Blake Christian and Lee Johnson)

Christian’s gear has an ice cream cone right at crotch level in case you needed a reminder of why wrestling is utterly stupid. It’s Lethal and O’Reilly to start and Lethal goes to work in a corner. O’Reilly comes back with some rights and a kick before twisting Lethal into a pretzel and getting two. Cassidy tags in and he and O’Reilly combine on some double team stuff that Lethal kicks out of at one. Cassidy thinks so much of this match that he hasn’t removed his glasses yet. Strong tags in and he brings in Johnson to smash him with chops, and here’s O’Reilly again. Lethal charges in for an O’Reilly knee drop, and then Cassidy absolutely murders Lethal with an elbow. Christian will not allow Cassidy to go to his pockets, so Cassidy puts Christian’s hands in there as a response. Cassidy finally goes to his pockets and hits an armdrag. Christian goes to the Greco-Roman double bird, so Cassidy responds with a Stundog Millionaire. Johnson comes in and the ref actually tries to prevent this for once, so Lethal uses that time to sneak around and wallop O’Reilly in the knee. WHAT A DICK. Strong gives chase and the suddenly Carl Lewis-like Lethal escapes to the floor so Christian can send Strong to the apron. Christian hits Strong with a leg scissors around his head while Johnson flies in with a dropkick. They smash Cassidy around as he’s tied in the Tree of Woe and then Christian hammers Strong with a moonsault. Cassidy gets mashed by a Christian flying lariat and then Lethal Twist do the Flair strut as we go to commercials.

Cassidy wants a tag but Christian is preventing it when the show returns. Cassidy finally just walks away from Christian to tag in Strong who absolutely murders all three of Lethal Twist. Strong hurls Cassidy into both Christian and Johnson before dropping Christian with a swinging suplex that gets two. Lethal tags in and Strong waffles him and Johnson with chops. Lethal flies to the floor and a recovered O’Reilly hammers him with a running knee. O’Reilly smashes Johnson around but Lethal flies in with a Dragon Screw leg whip. O’Reilly pulls Lethal’s Figure Four attempt into a small package for two. Christian and Johnson come in and hit a combo vertical suplex-kaman giri on O’Reilly that gets two. Lethal hits the Savage Elbow and covers O’Reilly for two as Cassidy makes the save. Christian mocks Cassidy’s kicks and Cassidy murders him with a superkick. Everyone is in the ring and Lethal puts the Figure Four on O’Reilly, but Strong breaks it up by using Christian as a battering ram. Johnson tags in and wallops O’Reilly with a running high boot, but O’Reilly slaps on the ankle lock. Cassidy and Strong dispose of Lethal and Christian and Johnson is forced to tap out.

Schiavone called it a “tremendous matchup” and I cannot say I agree with Tony’s detective work. Shoutout to the OC and neckbrace Roddy cosplayers in the front row, though. Listen, these multi mans have a certain ethos that will never change so you either get used to it or it’s simply not for you. I do enjoy Roddy, OC, and O’Reilly as a team and having them as Trios champs is a good use of all three of them considering their rather lengthy bump cards. In another universe, Christian and Johnson are much higher up the card because they can both go, but having Lethal around keeps them firmly in the lower mid-card. This was fine, I’m not sure what any of it is or was leading to, and you’ll forget about it by the weekend. 2.75*

Winners – The Conglomeration (O’Reilly ankle lock on Johnson)

Here’s HOOK who’s apparently been looking for Cameraman Shibata all day. Here’s Anthony Bowens to demand an answer about his Opps membership application, and HOOK tells him he’ll let him know next week because he’s the boss of the Opps and what he says goes. I CANNOT WAIT TO FIND OUT THE ANSWER.

Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida vs BIG ANNE and Danika Della Rouge

BIG ANNE has some big biceps, so you know, good for her. Statlander starts with Della Rouge and drops her immediately with a side suplex. Della Rouge fires up with some rights but Statlander catches her before catapulting her into the middle turnbuckle. BIG ANNE comes in as does Shida, so Statlander and Shida decide to smash both opponents around. Shida goes to the floor and hits a knee lift on a prone ANNE before mashing her with a Falcon Arrow. Statlander tags in and hits Staturday Night Fever on ANNE before covering and getting three.

The fans are treating this Shida/Stat pairing as babyfaces so all of Shida’s ACTING may be for nought if TK decides to feed them to Bayne and Kross. I guess we’ll see what happens. I thought maybe both of them would be going for Willow Nightingale as singles who team occasionally, but it seems that maybe that plan got scrapped. Who can tell, really. 1*

Winners – Shida/Statlander (Staturday Night Fever on BIG ANNE)

AEW Continental Championship Eliminator: Jon Moxley (C) vs Nick Wayne

Renee Paquette calls Moxley “The Ace” and I die a little. Mother Wayne is out with Wayne, but she stays behind as he makes his way to the ring. Wayne goes to the floor to chill with the fans after the bell as Moxley is unimpressed. Moxley and Wayne exchange go-behinds and Moxley drives Wayne to the mat with a hammerlock. Wayne reverses and Moxley trips him up before going to a wristlock. They go to the ropes and Wayne wallops Moxley with a forearm before snapping him over and kicking Moxley in the back. Moxley rises and crushes Wayne with a chop. Moxley chops Wayne in a corner before ascending for some rights and another huge chop. They run the ropes and Wayne hits an uppercut before snapmaring Moxley over for a couple of legdrops. Wayne decides a good course of action would be to back-kick Moxley in the face and pose for the crowd. Moxley goes to the floor to decide just how to murder Wayne before going back in. Moxley offers a handshake and Wayne stupidly takes it before being pulled into a pile driver. We go to commercials.

Moxley tosses Wayne around and gets two when the show returns. Moxley sugars Wayne around on the mat and then runs into Wayne’s boots and a dropkick when he charges. Wayne and Moxley exchange headbutts and forearms as we get the ten minute announcement. Wayne hits a Sliced Bread and covers for two. Wayne tries for a full nelson and Moxley reverses and mashes Wayne with a forearm. Moxley murders Wayne with a lariat after a short flurry, but Wayne fires up with a Code Red that gets two. Moxley ducks a roundhouse kick and snaps off a cutter on Wayne that gets two. Moxley goes to a neck crank and Wayne breaks it by using his pinky finger in Moxley’s eye. Moxley stomps away and Wayne hulks up with some forearms. Moxley bites Wayne on the face and Wayne spits at him in response. Wayne hits a roundhouse that sends Moxley to the floor. Wayne ascends for a moonsault to the floor, but when they go back in Moxley goes for a piledriver that Wayne turns into a roll up that gets two. Moxley has a cut on his eye and Wayne mashes him with another roundhouse kick. Wayne gets yanked into the Bulldog Choke and Moxley tosses him away as we get the fifteen minute announcement. Moxley pulls Wayne into the Death Rider and covers for three.

Moxley loves these fifteen to eighteen minute exhibitions where he gets to bully guys around while giving them some token offense. It’s getting kind of trite at this point from a television perspective. Wayne, as the hometown hero of sorts, did well in his cocky underdog dickhead role, but he was never getting out of here with any kind of decision. I’m not sure what’s next for Moxley and I still don’t exactly know if he’s a heel or a face, but if you like fifteen minutes plus with Nick Wayne, tonight was your night. 3*

Winner – Jon Moxley (Death Rider)

Lexy Nair is with Don Callis and AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada when the show returns from commercials. Nair asks Callis about his promise to Konosuke Takeshita that he would get a shot at Okada’s title at Double or Nothing. Callis says that because of Takeshita’s actions at Dynasty he will not be getting a title shot. Okada wants the match because he knows he can beat Takeshita who is NOT A CHAMPION. Callis and Okada leave and Nair winks at the camera knowingly. OOH CHEEKY.

PAC vs “Blackheart” Lio Rush

In keeping with tonight’s theme, this is the most random match I can possibly imagine at this point. Rush is still doing his Gollum tribute while PAC is serious as a heart attack, as usual. Daniel Garcia is out with PAC because surely PAC can’t beat Rush without help. Rush is chatting with the cameraman as PAC wants to get going. PAC has finally had enough and kicks Rush, who immediately stands up to frighten PAC. Rush wants a handshake so PAC fires off a reverse thrust kick. Rush starts screaming before trying a Thesz Press. PAC shakes it off and trucks Rush down. Rush fires up with some kicks that send PAC to the floor, and Rush goes to the eyes as PAC tries to recover. Rush goes to the floor and stalks PAC who runs away. Rush attacks Garcia and PAC uses that opportunity to mash Rush with a running boot. PAC stands on Rush’s neck before going back in, and Garcia adds some kicks as well. PAC yanks Rush up and piledrives him on the floor as we go to commercials.

PAC wallops Rush with an Exploder as the show returns. PAC ascends as Rush springs up for some voodoo screaming. Rush hits some strikes that sends PAC to the floor. Rush gallops around the ring and then hits a tope suicida before running PAC back in. Rush hits a springboard stunner that gets two. Rush puts on a rear naked choke, but PAC backs into a corner to shake him off. Rush hits a poison rana and covers PAC for two. Rush hits another stunner and Garcia goes to the apron to flick some water at him. PAC uses this to hit a couple of Germans and a huge running lariat. PAC slaps on the Brutalizer and Rush smiles as he passes out. The ref calls for the bell.

None of this entertained me. Not one bit of Lio Rush’s new thing is entertaining or funny or even compelling in the slightest. PAC gave it a go but this was ten minutes of my life I’ll never get back. 2*

Winner – PAC (Brutalizer)

Here’s a look at Bandido. He is the most wanted!

Brody King, Mistico, and Mascara Dorada vs Ricky Gibson, KC Riff, and Cole Rivera

Those might be the three most generic jobber names in history. Please let this be short, dear sweet baby Jesus. Riff attacks King prior to the bell, and he gets dumped. Gibson also gets mashed to the floor, so King brings in Rivera. The babyfaces smash Rivera around before sending him to the floor. Mistico hits a tope, Dorada hits a torneo, and King gets Riff tossed back in for the Ganzo Bomb. Shockingly, Rivera doesn’t find a way to kick out as Aubrey Edwards counts three.

I think this was an excuse to play Mistico’s incredible entrance theme music twice in one night. 1*

Winners – King/Mistico/Dorada (Ganzo Bomb on Riff)

Lexy Nair is with Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida, and Nair brings in Mina Shirakawa who apologizes to Statlander for wanting a word with Shida. Shirakawa accuses Shida when it comes to the Toni Storm attack, and they have words in Japanese. Shirakawa tells Statlander that she doesn’t trust Shida as we go to commercials.

Here’s a look back at Darby Allin winning the AEW Men’s World Championship from MJF on Dynamite. That was quite a scene, man.

AEW Women’s World Championship: Thekla (C) vs NJPW Women’s Strong Champion Alex Windsor

Thekla goes to the floor and Windsor goes out after, so Thekla attacks her when she follows back in. Windsor snaps Thekla over and fires off some rights before slapping her along the ropes. Thekla goes to the apron and pops Windsor with a forearm when she charges. Windsor runs Thekla over with a lariat and then yanks her over with a vertical suplex. Windsor hits a side Russian leg sweep and covers Thekla for two. Thekla goes to the ropes and out to the floor for a breather before dumping a charging Windsor to the apron. Thekla mashes Windsor with a running boot that sends her to the floor. Thekla ascends and hits Windsor with a top rope cross-body as we go to commercials.

Thekla has the spider hold on when the show returns. Thekla snapmares Windsor over and thrust kicks her in the head before covering and getting two. Thekla punches Windsor dead in the chest before firing off some forearms. Windsor reverses an irish whip and hits a couple of clotheslines. Windsor gets kicked off but manages to snap off a helicopter slam that gets two. Windsor eats a forearm and they go nose to nose. Thekla fires a right cross but eats a big headbutt from Windsor. Windsor puts on the Sharpshooter and sinks it in. Thekla crawls to the ropes and Windsor is forced to break. Thekla puts on an octopus and cranks on Windsor’s arm but Windsor makes the ropes to break it. Thekla hits a reverse thrust and they crash together with lariats. Windsor is up first and she ascends but Thekla catches her with a right before ascending herself. They slug it out and Thekla goes to the eyes. Thekla yanks out some brass knux but Windsor blocks it and smacks Thekla with a right. Windsor wants a sunset flip but Thekla mashes her with the knux before hitting her with a curb stomp that gets three.

This was a decent brawl between two of the better women brawlers in the company. Thekla’s stuff looks like it would hurt as does Windsor’s, so for a match with a fairly predictable outcome, this was fine in a vacuum. We’re getting to a point where Thekla doesn’t have a lot of top line challengers at this point though, and I’m not sure where she goes from here. Regardless, this was a fine Collision main event and the crowd even chanted for Thekla a bit before the end. 3.25*

Winner AND STILL AEW Women’s World Champion – Thekla (Curb Stomp)

Another recorded Collision, another collection of random-ass matches. I think avoiding Wrestlemania Saturday is a good idea, and given the energy the crowd expended during the Allin title win, this wasn’t too bad of a show overall. Now, I don’t like Lio Rush’s act at all, and two squashes don’t do a whole lot for me. The Young Bucks match was kind of fun, and the main was fine. There’s a lot on the horizon here and the announcement that we’re getting Okada-Takeshita is a very welcome development.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a good Friday.