Collision – 08.29.26

Dynamite was kind of understated for a go-home show. Read SK’s report right here.

Collision was recorded on Wednesday night after Dynamite ended, and comes to the TNT/HBO Max airwaves from The Hydro Arena in Glasgow, Scotland. The announcers for the show tonight are Exacalibur and Tony Schiavone on match calls and analysis, Arkady Aura on ring introductions, and Renee Paquette and Lexy Nair on interviews and news segments. ALL IN WEMBLEY is less than 24 hours away, so let’s see if there are any last minute developments around that card. Let’s watch some wrestling!

Mercedes Mone vs Isla Dawn

Dawn gets a huge pop coming out and she decides to give Mone a little bit of grief before the bell rings. Mone misses a couple of rights and eats a couple of Dawn kicks, so Mone whips Dawn around for a backstabber. Mone bullies Dawn along the ropes and drops an armbreaker before blasting Dawn with a kick. Mone hits a shotgun Meteora and covers for two. Mone continues to work the left arm and then yanks Dawn down by her hair. Mone pisses Dawn off enough that she fires off a knee lift and some lariats to take control. Dawn hits a running knee and then she drops Mone with a belly to back suplex that gets two. Dawn eats some Mone knees before Mone hits a sunset flip buckle bomb. Mone hits another Meteora and drops her with the Mone Maker. Mone slaps on the Statement Maker and that ends things.

Mone wasn’t messing around here, and was also trying to get through this as quickly as possible so she wouldn’t sustain any major damage prior to Wembley. 2*

Winner – Mercedes Mone (Statement Maker)

Post-match sees AEW Women’s World Champion Willow Nightingale march down to the ring as Mone quickly bails. Nightingale grabs a mic and tells Mone that she’ll be damned before Mone takes the title from her. Nightingale tells Mone that she’s the champ and at Wembley she’s walking in with the title and her smile, and is walking out AND STILL champion and still smiling.

Here’s Jon Moxley with Marina Shafir to chat about Nigel McGuinness and his march through the tournament. Moxley says McGuinness is three seconds away from making his childhood dreams come true. Moxley says he’d watch the movie they would make from McGuinness winning because he likes happy movies, but the real world will show that Moxley would actually dismember McGuinness in front of his family. Moxley vows he’ll get McGuinness before McGuinness gets him. Moxley mentions that man is not truly free until he has nothing left to prove. Moxley wants to know who that describes between him and McGuinness. Moxley promises his hands will not be shaking.

Tommaso Ciampa, Mark Davis, and Nick Wayne vs Speedball Mike Bailey, Komander, and Chris Jericho

Don Callis is out with Davis and he joins Schiavone and Excal at the desk. This just in, people still really like singing along with “Judas”. The story here is that all of these guys will be in the Casino Gauntlet match tomorrow assuming Max doesn’t pin Andrade in 13 seconds.

Callis calls Bailey an “ugly loser” as it will be Jericho and Ciampa to start. Everyone comes in to bark at each other and a Pier Six erupts. They all spill to the floor and Ciampa takes control briefly before Jericho nails him with a sliding dropkick. Komander and Bailey hit big moves and we go to a commercial break.

Jericho yanks Wayne over in for a backdrop suplex. Jericho tags Bailey in and he mashes Wayne and Ciampa around before booting Davis off the apron. Bailey mashes Wayne with kicks and hits his running Shooting Star Press on Wayne for two. Another Pier Six starts and the babyface team all start dropping right hands in various corners. Three ranas drop the heels to the mat and Bailey ducks out to bring Wayne back in. Bailey hits a Falcon Arrow on Wayne and ascends for another Shooting Star Press that gets two. Wayne fires off a forearm in response and pounds away on Bailey’s head. Wayne dumps Bailey and Ciampa pounds away for a minute before tossing him back in for a Wayne cover that gets two. Ciampa gets a tag and he works Bailey’s ankle with kicks. Davis tags in and we go to more commercials.

Davis is whaling on Bailey when the show returns, but Bailey fires up with a dropkick. Ciampa and Wayne prevent a tag but start beefing with each other. Davis tries to make peace and Bailey of course escapes in hilarious fashion to tag in Komander. Komander runs wild for a bit and drops Davis with a ropewalk rana. Komander nails Ciampa with a DDT before smashing him with a left. the faces all charge in and drop the heels to the floor with corner dropkicks. Everyone goes to the floor and Komander hits a ropewalk Shooting Star Press. Komander hits a splash on Ciampa’s back and gets two. Jericho tags in and drops a charging Davis into the Walls. Bailey and Komander slap on the Walls as well and the heels make the ropes to get a break. Davis drops Jericho with a dropkick. Bailey gets a tag and nails Davis with his double knee drop. Davis yanks Bailey over for a suplex, and Ciampa tags in for a knee strike on Bailey. Jericho breaks the cover up at two. Ciampa whales Wayne with an inadvertant forearm and Jericho plants Ciampa with the Judas Effect. Wayne gets pulled into an inside cradle and Bailey gets two. Bailey yanks Wayne over in a rolling powerslam and that finishes things.

Holy crap that was long and boring. Like, I appreciate the efforts but this was just a giant sprawling mess with zero psychology or selling. Does anyone care if Ciampa and Wayne can’t seem to work together? Neither one is winning this Casino match at Wembley, but I guess maybe someone is going babyface out of it? Who can tell. If you like this, I’m happy for you. This stuff is not for me. 1.5*

Winners – Komander/Bailey/Jericho (Bailey pins Wayne)

Here’s a look at AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion. The Brawling Birds promise to end their reign in Wembley. We go to commercials.

The Dogs (Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd, and David Finlay) vs Ronan King, Judas Grey, and Landon Riley

Shockingly, the Dogs murder these three goofs right after the bell with Kidd in particular dropping one dude with a sheer drop brainbuster on the floor. Finlay tosses one of them into a ring post and the three of them end things with a Kidd piledriver and a Finlay Last Chapter on Riley.

Did you know that Scotland is home to the tallest waterfall in Europe? Well now you do. .25*

Winners – The Dogs (Finlay pins Riley)

Post-match sees Kidd piledrive another goof before we go to a highlights package on the Mone-Nightingale feud. We go to commercials.

Here’s Nigel McGuinness in a stairway singing to himself about COMING HOME. McGuinness can’t believe he’s made it to Wembley but knows that if he fails it will haunt him forever. McGuinness admits that Moxley is the favorite but he’s battled the odds and made it all the way to the finals. McGuinness says he’s leaving with the gold.

The Lethal Twist (Jay Lethal, Blake Christian, and Lee Johnson) and The Demand (Bishop Kaun, Toa Liona, and Ricochet) vs The Bang Bang Gang (Jay White, Austin and Colten Gunn) and AEW World Trios Champions Brodido (Brody King and Bandido) and Hangman Adam Page

There’s a giant fight to start and Bandido and Johnson are left alone in the ring. Bandido takes the advantage with a knee lift and thrust kick and White tags in. The BBG take turns working over Johnson and Austin covers Johnson for two. The heels get the advantage and Christian and Lethal drop Austin with a cutter. Lethal does the Flair strut which really turns out to be a bad idea. King tags in and he and his partners wreck Lethal. King drops all of his teammates on Lethal one after the other and the Macarena breaks out. White doesn’t like it and wants everyone to focus, but Page manages to talk White into it and there’s a brief six way Macarena before the heels break it up. King and Kaun square off and Liona wrecks King on the floor. Liona destroys everyone and the heels all descend on King to kick him around as we go to commercials.

The heels are still in control on a prone King when the show returns. Liona destroys King with a rope-assisted splash and gets two. Kaun slaps on a rear chinlock as Ricochet berates Schiavone at the desk. King finally fires up and tags in Page. Page runs wild and botches a corner lariat. Page hits a fall-away slam on Christian and then propels himself to the floor with a splash on the Lethal Twist guys. Page hits a Liger Bomb on Christian for two. There’s another giant fight and the heels gain the advantage. Page gets tossed into a Kaun cutter and Christian’s 450 splash on Page gets two as the faces break it up en masse. King and Bandido hit topes on a bunch of guys. Page hits the Buckshot Lariat and White follows with the Blade Runner on Lethal to end things.

Yeah, I mean, this is more of the same. No selling, no real tag psychology, just move spamming and chaos. Also, this got really sloppy at times and Johnson took a very nasty bump to the floor where it looked like his neck got caught on the bottom rope. This is what the sickos want, I guess. Again, it’s not for me. 1.5*

Winners – BBG/Brodido/Page (White Blade Runner on Lethal)

Post-match sees the Dogs fly in to attack the babyfaces with the rest of the heels, and then PAC, Wheeler Yuta, and Claudio Castignoli join them. This brings out Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly in to even up the odds. The fight is still going as Excal throws to commercials.

Here’s a look at the Will Ospreay-Kenny Omega feud. They will meet in the main event at Wembley for the AEW Men’s World Championship.

Artist of Stardom Champion Skye Blue vs Harley Cameron

Cameron takes control with some knees but runs into a Blue high boot. Blue goes to ground and pound and bullies Cameron along the ropes. Blue gets caught by a Cameron lariat and running splash. Cameron drops a bunch of rights on Blue’s head in a corner and and then wants a single leg. Blue escapes from that but eats a big knee from Cameron. Cameron hits a between the ropes dropkick and mashes Blue’s head off the apron. Cameron misses a charge and Blue rams her into the ring steps. We go to a commercial break.

Cameron hits a running corner splash when the show returns. Cameron yanks Blue onto a top turnbuckle and wants a superplex but Blue fights out of it and slips down to crush Cameron with a kick. Blue hits a sit-out powerbomb for two. Blue wants a running knee but Cameron prevents it and starts whaling on Blue with rights. Blue ends that flurry with a with a superkick. They slug it out and Cameron fires off a crucifix bomb, but Blue immediately answers with a knee. We reset and Julia Hart sneaks out and fires Blue’s Stardom belt into the ring. Hart has another belt and Blue uses that to mash Cameron in the head before covering for three.

Match of the night so far, but that was not a high bar to clear. It was good to see Cameron back and she did well for herself here before succumbing to the numbers game. WHERE THE HELL IS THEKLA? 2.5*

Winner – Skye Blue (Belt shot on Cameron)

Here’s a promo from TBS Champion Maya World who challenges Persephone for the Buy In, and it’s official.

Don Callis introduces TNT Champion Kevin Knight. Rocky Romero, Jake Doyle, and Brian Cage accompany Knight and Callis to the ring. They all go to the ring and Callis tells Knight he was watching as Knight “barbecued” Darby Allin last week. Knight is pleased and he says he will go all the way to keep his title. Knight chides Glasgow for being sympathetic to Allin, and a “Darby” chant breaks out. Knight wants to know where Allin is because he’s sent him to the ER three separate times, and Wembley won’t be any different. A hooded figure sneaks in and drops Knight, but it turns out to be Steven Borden. Callis calls off Doyle and Cage and identifies Borden to the crowd. Callis wants to talk to Borden and mentions he’s interested in Borden as a potential member of the Family. Callis says Borden will never be great if he continues to listen to the “little puke” Darby Allin. Callis puts over Borden’s athletic career and says he’s been scouting him. Callis calls his Family a “star factory” and says he breeds champions out of his guys. Callis says he thinks Borden actually came out to join the Family because he knows that Borden isn’t stupid enough to want an asskicking. Borden says he came out to tell Callis and Knight that Allin is taking the title in Wembley. Knight doesn’t like this and he bashes Borden with the title belt. Knight poses over top of the fallen Borden and the Family leaves.

As the Family back up the ramp, AEW International Champion Kyle Fletcher enters to join the commentary team as we go to commercials.

The Beast Mortos vs Konosuke Takeshita

Fletcher mentions Takeshita’s selfishness behind the scenes as the reason he got turfed out of the Family. They trade shoulder tackle attempts and then come together with simultaneous lariats. Takeshita hits a high boot and then crushes Mortos with a flying lariat. Mortos gets tossed to a corner and Takeshita drops a bunch of rights on his head. Mortos fires up with a sling blade and yanks up Takeshita for a big slap. Takeshita gets dumped to the apron and sent to the floor by a Mortos headbutt. Mortos wipes out Takeshita with a torneo and tosses him back in. We go to commercials.

Both guys are down when the show returns and Takeshita is first to his feet to put the badmouth on Fletcher. Mortos mashes Takeshita with a headbutt, but Takeshita sends him to the floor with a flipping body-drop. Takeshita hits a tope con hilo and gets right in Fletcher’s face. Takeshita backs off and runs Mortos back in. Takeshita fires off a running knee and then wallops Mortos with an Exploder for two. Takeshita fires a huge elbow and then drops Mortos with a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Takeshita misses a charge and Mortos drops him with a spear. Takeshita hits a charging Mortos with a knee and we reset with both guys down. Takeshita is first up and he whips Mortos for a corner. Mortos fires up with some kicks and a headbutt before waffling Takeshita with a crucifix bomb. Takeshita hits one of his own and then drops Mortos with Raging Fire to end things.

If anyone would sell for longer than a couple of seconds, this would have been tremendous. As it was, they were at the end of a long night in Glasgow and I’m assuming Khan wanted to come in right at two hours for this so things were what they were. This was still the best match on the Collision portion of things and I thought Takeshita and Fletcher did a good job of quietly sizing each other up as it was going along. 3*

Winner – Konosuke Takeshita (Raging Fire)

Post-match sees Fletcher sneak in for a belt shot on Takeshita from behind. Fletcher goes to ground and pound while screaming at Takeshita about how much he hates him. Fletcher pulls Takeshita slowly up and hits a sheer drop brainbuster on the title belt. Fletcher puts his shoe on top of Takeshita’s chest and stands over him holding his belt up for the crowd. Excal runs down the All In card as the credits roll and we’re out.

I’m sure All In will be a tremendous show and people will really be raving about it afterwards, because AEW pay per views are typically very good. This show probably got some folks excited for a few of these matches and if so, good for them. As a show in and of itself, I wasn’t impressed. I’m still pretty shocked that Kenny Omega did not make an appearance in Glasgow, but choices are made and we go with it. You didn’t miss much if you didn’t see this show, and as I mentioned, I think tomorrow will be a solid show.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Enjoy All In.