Collision Review – 07.30.26

Hey y’all, go read SK’s coverage of a LONG and fairly consequential Dynamite. He also covered last weekend’s Redemption card as well.

Collision is LIVE on the TNT and HBO Max airwaves from the Masonic Temple in Detroit, MI. The announcing team for tonight’s show includes Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness, and Paul Wight on match calls and analysis, Arkady Aura on ring introductions, and Lexy Nair on news and interviews. We’re on the way to All In London and there’s a lot happening, so let’s watch some wrestling!

Sign in the crowd: “MOX FEARS DEODORANT”. Schiavone welcomes us to Night Two at the Masonic Temple and…

Here’s The Motor City Machine Guns making their AEW debut to a MONSTER pop. Wight says business has now picked up in the tag team division as Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley take in a “Motor City!” chant. Sabin and Shelley seem genuinely touched at the response and Sabin wonders if the crowd thought they wouldn’t be back in the Greatest City In The History Of Modern Civilization. Sabin mentions that this is where the best wrestle and Shelley says they are HOME in more ways than one. Shelley says it’s their immense pleasure to say that the Motor City Machine Guns are ALL ELITE. Cue the graphic on the video board, and here’s another big pop.

Schiavone says there’s a major announcement concerning All In coming up tonight.

AEW World Trios Championship: The Demand (Ricochet, Toa Liona, and Bishop Kaun) (C) vs The Rascalz (Myron Reed, Zach Wentz, and Desmond Xavier)

It’s Ricochet and Wentz to start and they exchange leg sweeps and covers. Wentz hits an armdrag and we reset. Ricochet drives Reed and Xavier off the apron before mashing Wentz back into the Demand corner. Liona tags in as Ricochet hits a tope con hilo on Reed and Xavier. Liona and Kaun take turns bashing Wentz and Kaun grabs a cover for two. Ricochet tags in and covers Wentz for one after trucking him down. Ricochet drives Wentz into a corner and then walks into a high boot. Wentz hits a torneo and Xavier tags in. Xavier drops Kaun and Liona off the apron before snapping off a rana on Ricochet. Reed tags in and he and Xavier combine on a lung blower-double stomp on Ricochet that sends him to the floor. The Rascalz triple-team Kaun ending in a double stomp by Reed. The Rascalz then take to the air one by one to crush the Demand group on the floor. There’s a huge pop as they celebrate and we take a break.

Ricochet is in control over Xavier when the show returns. Ricochet gets a roll up for two and then misses a Spirit Gun attempt. Reed tags in and runs wild on the Demand before yanking Ricochet up for a draping DDT. Liona trucks Reed but Reed snaps off a cutter in response. Reed hits a double stunner on Liona and Kaun. The Rascalz hit a triple team superkick on Ricochet and then combine on a 360 rolling dropkick. Reed covers and gets two. Wentz tags in and Liona wrecks all of them off the apron. Kaun yanks up Xavier for a brainbuster and and Ricochet and Kaun combine to destroy Wentz. Ricochet hits a top rope splash and Wentz kicks out at two. Wentz snaps off a DDT on Kaun and then drives a knee into a charging Liona. Xavier crushes Liona with a rolling Pele kick and Reed follows with his leaping RKO over the top rope onto Liona who falls on Ricochet and Kaun. (Friends, Myron Reed is awesome.) Wentz hits a swanton on Ricochet, Reed hits a 450, and Xavier meets Ricochet’s knees on his Phoenix Splash attempt. Liona and Kaun dispose of Wentz and Reed on the floor and Ricochet’s Spirit Gun attempt gets pulled into an Xavier crucifix that gets two. Kaun gets a blind tag as Ricochet murders Xavier with a knee strike. Liona and Kaun sandwich Xavier and then drive him down with a double chokeslam that finishes things.

Hey, this was a pretty fun opener and I hope they keep using the Trios belts on Collision. The Demand have a pretty polished heel act now and the Rascalz are a solid underdog babyface group, so this worked really well in terms of pace and action. The standard complaints would be here, very little in the way of tag structure or selling, but the action flowed well, the crowd was into it, and it felt like a fight. As mentioned above, Myron Reed was the standout for the babyfaces and I thought Ricochet had a solid outing for the heels. No major complaints with this as an opener. 3.5*

Winners AND STILL AEW World Trios Champions – The Demand (Liona-Kaun double chokeslam on Xavier)

Here’s Lexy Nair with Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly. Cassidy feels super bad about losing the Trios titles but all three announce they’ve entered the Continental Cup AND that they’re doing the ALS Ice Bucket challenge tonight. Schiavone talks about the Continental Cup and runs down the card for the rest of the show. We take a break.

When the show returns Schiavone runs down the parameters of the Continental Cup which will see the winner crowned as the Continental Champion at All In: London. It will be a 16 person tournament fought under Continental rules that will start next Saturday on Collision. Reigning champion Jon Moxley will be in the thing, and Schiavone sort of clumsily explains that every round will be drawn like the English FA Cup – what this means is that there won’t be brackets, and instead the matchups will be drawn presumably from a tumbler for each round. It’s an interesting way to run a tournament, anyway. McGuinness announces that he’s throwing his name in the Cup because as a British Lion, he loves the thought of being in a Cup final at Wembley.

Tommaso Ciampa vs Nick Comoroto

Ciampa is wearing a pretty enormous bandage on his forehead courtesy of THE PAINMAKER. Comoroto goes for the bandage and then headbutts Ciampa down. Ciampa bails and Comoroto gives chase which turns out poorly for him when they go back in. Ciampa stomps away on Comoroto and drops the kneepad. Ciampa murders Comoroto with the running knee and that ends things.

Did you know that cars are 100% banned from Michigan’s Mackinac Island? Well now you do. .25*

Winner – Tommaso Ciampa (running knee strike)

Here’s Hangman Adam Page backstage to mention that what happened last night was not what he expected, and here’s Brody King in to thank Page for helping out during Dynamite. King brings in Bandido who also shakes Page’s hand. Page says perhaps the three of them should team up to challenge for the Trios titles in Mexico next week. Bandido loves idea and proclaims their team “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” which prompts King to inquire which of them is the Ugly one. Bandido and Page leave as King continues to wonder.

Hazuki, Jamie Hayter, and Alex Windsor vs ROH Women’s Champion Athena, Billie Starkz, and Diamante

Hayter and Hazuki were stablemates in Oedo Tai in Stardom at one point and have apparently remained pals since then. Hayter starts with Athena and Diamante grabs a tag after some grappling. Diamante gets dragged to the babyface corner where Windsor tags in. (During this time a match graphic comes up for Grand Slam Mexico that shows that The Brawling Birds will team with new AEW Women’s World Champion Willow Nightingale to take on Mercedes Mone and AEW Women’s Tag Champions Divine Dominion.) Windsor pounds away and she and Hayter exchange tags and chops on Diamante. Starkz and Hazuki tag in and Hazuki immediately drives Starkz down with a backdrop suplex. Hazuki hits a running senton and then puts the boots to Starkz. Hazuki gets kicked away and she flies back in with a double sledge. Everyone comes in and a Pier Six erupts before everyone goes to the floor. Hayter meets an Athena knee strike as everyone else is fighting on the ramp. Windsor headbutts Starkz who topples off the ramp. Diamante yanks Windsor into a DDT, and Hazuki smashes Diamante down. We take a break with Athena and Hayter battling at ringside.

Hazuki smashes Starkz and Athena off the apron when the show returns before nailing Diamante with a shotgun dropkick. Hazuki ranas a charging Starkz and then mashes Starkz and Diamante in a corner. Hazuki drops Starkz with a Codebreaker and covers her for two. Athena breaks that up with a German, and a parade of Germans breaks out. Windsor ends that with a right to Starkz jaw before crushing Starkz with a German. Diamante hits a Chaos Theory suplex and covers Hazuki for two. Windsor gets officially tagged in and clubbers away on Diamante. Starkz charges into a Windsor headbutt. The heels get stacked in a corner and there’s a conveyor belt that ends with an assisted dropkick on Diamante. Diamante is fired into a clothesline that gets two as Athena breaks up the cover. Diamante hits an assisted Sliced Bread on Windsor that gets two. Hazuki squares off with Athena and their struggle ends with running strikes before Hauzki drives Athena down with a pump kick. Athena rises up with a thrust kick and Hazuki ducks a right and nails Athena with a release German. Diamante dumps Hazuki but gets immediately pulled into Two Birds, One Stone which finishes things.

Another fun trios match? Another fun trios match. It was utter chaos and I had no idea who was legal at any given time but the crowd was SHOCKINGLY into Hazuki and made the whole thing a lot more fun. Windsor and Hayter tempered some of their usual bluster and gave a fair amount of shine to the Minions in Athena’s crew, which really helped this along. There was some awkwardness with Hazuki and Diamante but their might have been comms issues there, it’s hard to tell. Regardless, this was fine for what it was. 3*

Winners – Hayter/Windsor/Hazuki (Two Birds, One Stone on Diamante)

Here’s AEW Women’s Tag Champions Megan Bayne and Lena Kross out to start fighting with Hayter and Windsor. Athena and Starkz assault Hazuki in the ring while Kross and Bayne destroy the Birds. There’s a double body slam on the ramp as Athena bullies Hazuki around in the ring. The tag champs music plays as they stand over the fallen Birds.

Here’s The Demand in the locker room to wonder who Brodido and Adam Page are to make challenges, but they’ll be happy to show them who’s in charge in Arena Mexico. The Lethal Twist are with them and Jay Lethal promises to end Komander’s dream of performing at Arena Mexico when they battle tonight.

Here’s the Ice Bucket Challenge being hosted by Lexy Nair. Orange Cassidy is flanked by Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong, and here’s Rhyno out to dump the ice. He’s joined by The Insane Clown Posse and after a countdown, the Conglomeration are doused. There’s a big Rebel chant as everyone shakes hands and goes to the back. We take a break.

The Death Riders (Claudio Castignoli, PAC, Wheeler Yuta, and AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley) vs The Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, and Ace Austin)

Marina Shafir is out with the Death Riders who appear to be fully heel tonight, if you’re keeping score at home. I’ll do my best with the Austins here, gang. It’s Austin Gunn and Yuta to start, and Gunn trips up Yuta to start firing off right hands at him. Colten tags in and they hit some double-team stuff as Robinson tags in. Robinson hits a standing senton and Yuta cuts off the flurry with a lifted knee. PAC tags in and runs right into a Robinson armdrag. Ace Austin tags in and hits a springboard double sledge on PAC’s arm. Austin nails PAC with a dropkick but runs into a PAC back elbow when he charges. Austin yanks up a charging Yuta and then hoists PAC on top of Yuta. Austin presses them both and then drops PAC and Yuta with a double fall-away slam. Austin covers PAC for two. Moxley and Castignoli have had enough and charge over to drop the faces off the apron while PAC takes control in the ring. There’s a Death Riders violence conveyor belt on Austin before he gets dumped by Castignoli. We go to a break.

Yuta is in control over Ace Austin when the show returns. Austin gets dropkicked into Castignoli’s arms and then double stomped by PAC. Austin gets rolled back in and Yuta covers him for two. Moxley tags in and continues to abuse Ace Austin. Austin breaks away from Moxley and tags in Colten Gunn. Gunn runs wild on the Death Riders before dropping PAC with a cutter. Gunn hits a uranage on Yuta and covers him for two. Gunn wants the Fameasser but Moxley distracts and Yuta grabs a handful of tights during his roll up that gets two. Yuta goes to the eyes and Robinson tags in. Robinson ascends for a top rope cross-body and covers Yuta for two. Castignoli wallops Robinson with a running Euro uppercut before nailing Austin Gunn with one as well. The Gunns gain the advantage and nail Castignoli with the 3:10 to Yuma but he bails before a cover can be made. PAC nails Austin Gunn with a release German but eats an immediate Fameasser from Colten Gunn in response. Moxley hits a shotgun dropkick and then crushes Colten with a tope suicida. Ace Austin nails Moxley with a running kick and then crushes Moxley with a tope. Yuta misses a charge and eats a ton of jabs from Robinson. Yuta bites Robinson’s forehead and then a series of roll-ups ends with Robinson on top and the ref counts three.

The finish kind of came out of nowhere and I fully did not expect the Death Riders to lose here. That’s a great win for the BBG quite frankly, but we’ll see if they can sustain any kind of momentum from this. I wouldn’t be inclined to say that this one was as fun as the trios matches on the show but there was some good stuff here if you sifted through things. 3*

Winners – The Bang Bang Gang (Robinson roll-up on Yuta)

Post-match sees the Death Riders attack but the Gunns clear them out. The Dogs charge out and dispose of the Gunns before potentially assaulting Robinson, but here’s The Motor City Machine Guns with chairs in hand to make the save. The Death Riders think about rejoining the fight but Moxley calls everyone off before the Gunns save the Guns (?!) from a Finlay shillelagh attack. There’s a chat between the Gang and the Guns before some handshakes.

Here’s Tommaso Ciampa backstage to say that he survived the Painmaker and everyone is on notice if they thought he was dead. Ciampa wants to be in the Casino Gauntlet at Wembley and he’ll face Andrade in a match that will determine the number one position in that Gauntlet match at Grand Slam Mexico.

Kris Statlander vs Aurora Teves

Statlander does an inset promo where she challenges Persephone for Grand Slam Mexico and promises that STATDADDY is back. Statlander eats some kicks but SWEEPS THE LEG in response. Statlander smashes Teves in a corner and then hauls her up for a long vertical suplex. Statlander nips up and crushes Teves with an uppercut and a knee. Statlander pulls Teves into Staturday Night Fever and that ends things.

Did you know that despite it’s name, Michigan hasn’t had a noted population of wolverines in over 200 years? Well now you do. .25*

Winner – Kris Statlander (Staturday Night Fever)

Here’s Lexy Nair with AEW International Champion Kyle Fletcher and his current challenger Speedball Mike Bailey. Fletcher says he’s got nothing to prove to Bailey and Bailey says Fletcher won’t be the best until he breaks from Don Callis. Bailey wants Fletcher out alone in Mexico and Fletcher blasts him with a kick in response. Fletcher continues beating on Bailey and they end up coming down the ramp. Fletcher dumps Bailey in to the ring and wants a belt shot, but Bailey ducks and nails Fletcher with a thrust kick. Fletcher responds with one of his own and then yanks Bailey up. Bailey rolls through and nails Fletcher with a running kick. Bailey hits his 360 double knee drop and Fletcher bails. Bailey finds the title belt and holds it in front of an apoplectic Fletcher. We go to a break.

Here’s AEW TNT Champion Kevin Knight backstage when the show returns. Knight is putting out a challenge for Grand Slam Mexico for someone to step to him, Kazuchika Okada, and Hechicero.

Jay Lethal vs Komander

Lethal ducks out of an offered handshake to do some strutting. There’s some grappling and Lethal works a wristlock. We reset and Lethal won’t give a clean break. They slug it out and Komander wants a tornado DDT, but Lethal sneaks out of it and wants a Figure Four. Komander grabs a roll up for two. and ascends for a rope-walk armdrag. Lethal bails to the floor and Komander ascends to run the ropes. Lethal sneaks back in so Komander drops down and smashes him with a right. Komander hits a rope-assisted handstand before yanking Lethal over the top rope to the floor. Komander hits a reverse springboard moonsault and we go to break.

Komander hits a series of kicks when the show returns. Komander hits an Area Code kick and a springboard cross-body before covering Lethal for two. Komander ducks a Lethal charge but turns right into a Lethal pump kick. Lethal drives Komander down over his knee and then ascends for the King’s Elbow. Lethal’s cover gets two. Lethal chases Komander around and gets caught in a 450 splash that gets two. Komander yanks Lethal up but Lethal drops him over the top rope to break up the flurry. Komander snaps off a rana and ascends for a rope walk moonsault that finishes things.

Komander was dealing with visa issues for a bit so it’s good to see him back and doing well on Collision. This was a solid outing and the crowd was into it, but it’s hard to see what this does for Komander moving forward. I guess we’ll see if there are plans for him. Jay Lethal is what he is at this point, a walking tribute act to his own career. 2.5*

Winner – Komander (rope-walk moonsault)

Post-match sees a match graphic pop up for Grand Slam Mexico that now shows that Komander has been inserted into the match with Tommsaso Ciampa and Andrade where the winner will get the number one spot in the Casino Gauntlet match at Wembley. We take a break.

Jon Moxley is flanked by Marina Shafir and joins commentary when the show returns.

Daniel Garcia vs Will Ospreay

Garcia is like a caged animal calling for the bell, and when it rings he ducks Ospreay’s charge and bails to the floor. Ospreay chases Garcia around and anticipates his attempt to attack after re-entering. Ospreay drags Garcia back out but Garcia continues to run like hell. Ospreay jumps out, Garcia jumps in. (I’m pretty sure they lifted this sequence move for move from Lawler-Gilbert.) The crowd calls Garcia a “chickenshit” as he dives out thinking Ospreay was coming back in. Ospreay nails Garcia with some chops while fist-bumping some fans. Ospreay pulls Garcia into the ring and crushes him with a high boot. Ospreay eats a double thrust and snaps off a rana in response that sends Garcia to the floor. Ospreay hits a rope-assisted cross-body to the floor before driving some elbows into Garcia’s skull. Ospreay fires off a forearm but Garcia catches him coming back over the barricade for a draping DDT. We go to a break.

Garcia is in control when the show returns while working Ospreay’s leg. Garcia starts firing down right hands but Ospreay rises up for a back handspring Pele kick that drops Garcia immediately. Ospreay hits a jawbreaker and a standing Sky Twister Press for two. (Moxley has clearly not been informed about the Continental Cup’s format as McGuinness points out that he could face Moxley in the first round to no response.) Ospray kicks Garcia in the face and then gets dumped to the apron. Ospreay hits a springboard forearm and covers Garcia for two. Garcia fires up with some slaps and runs into an Ospreay enziguri. Garcia slaps on a guillotine and flips it into a sleeper. Garcia piledrives Ospreay and covers him for two. Garcia barks at Ospreay and pie-faces him around. Ospreay wants Garcia to fire off his best shot, which he does, and Ospreay rises with a huge right that drops Garcia instantly. Garcia pulls a charging Ospreay into the Dragon Tamer and then transitions to the Bulldog Choke. Ospreay breaks out momentarily and then fully escapes. Ospreay’s OsCutter gets intercepted by Garcia’s Bulldog Choke again. Ospreay rolls out of it and crushes Garcia with the Hidden Blade which finishes things.

Ospreay gets a solid win here to build momentum off the big ending chat with AEW Men’s World Champion Kenny Omega at Dynamite. Garcia is fine to eat these kinds of losses because he’s just a body now. You can argue whether or not his move to the Death Riders has been successful or not, but when was the last time he challenged for any kind of singles title? It’s been a minute. This was solid, and Garcia did his part here as someone disdainful of Ospreay’s work while training with Moxley. 3.75*

Winner – Will Ospreay (Hidden Blade)

Post-match sees Schiavone run down a bunch of upcoming stuff as Ospreay acknowledges Garcia before absorbing some more chants from the crowd. Mark Davis emerges from the crowd to yank Ospreay into a sleeper and ramming him into an area of the arena. Ospreay fires up and mashes Davis, but here’s Rocky Romero and Trent Baretta attacking Ospreay as well. Davis yanks Ospreay into a piledriver on the floor and Romero and Baretta drag Ospreay into the ring. Davis brings in a chair and smashes Ospreay in the belly with it. Davis grabs a mic and tells Ospreay that there’s no one coming to save him. Ospreay fires up and drives everyone out of the ring while swinging the chair around. Ospreay grabs a mic and says that if Davis wanted to bring weapons into things all he had to do is ask. Ospreay says there’s no hesitation left for him now and next week will be a Mexico City Street Fight.

This was a decent episode of Collision tonight, gang. I caution you that this was not a high bar to climb lately, but still, this was a fairly breezy two hours and a lot of things were set up for Grand Slam Mexico next week. I have no major complaints with this other than to say that Tony Schiavone has 100% lost his fastball and I really wish they would work on getting another play-by-play voice going at some point when Excalibur isn’t doing Collision.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Y’all be cool.