Collision – 10.31.26

SK reviewed Fright Night Dynamite.

Collision was recorded after Dynamite this week and comes to the TNT airwaves from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, MO. The announcers for tonight’s show are Smilin’ Paul Wight, Tony Schiavone, and Nigel McGuinness on match calls and analysis, Arkady Aura on ring introductions, and Renee Paquette on news and interviews. Blood and Guts is coming up next week, and we’re also on the road to Full Gear, so there’s a lot going on as usual. It’s time, so let’s watch some wrestling!

Tommaso Ciampa vs Matt Sydal

Sydal is accompanied by Christopher Daniels because goobers like SkyFlight definitely need a manager. Ciampa stepped right out of Gods of War with his gear, and Sydal ducks a chop in a corner. Schiavone announces Ciampa vs Andrade for the National Title on next week’s Collision which will be coming from the Jericho cruise. Ciampa bails after some grappling and Sydal allows him to return gracefully. Ciampa torques Sydal down and stomps on his ribs. Ciampa whales on Sydal with a chop and rams him into a top turnbuckle. Ciampa gets caught with a legdrop bulldog and Sydal covers for two. Sydal hits a standing moonsault for two and Ciampa bails. Sydal mashes Ciampa with a meteora from the apron and runs Ciampa back in. Sydal ascends and Ciampa rolls away from danger and back to the floor. Sydal sneaks out and rams Ciampa back in. Ciampa murders Sydal with a running knee and we go to commercials.

Sydal misses a charge and gets ruined with another lifted knee that gets two. Ciampa grabs a side headlock and Sydal manages to rise for an elbow. Sydal starts mashing Ciampa with kicks but Ciampa cuts it off with a right. Sydal fires off some lariats and catches Ciampa with a knee lift. Sydal hits a roundhouse kick and covers Ciampa for two. Sydal ascends and Ciampa again rolls away from danger. Sydal nails him with a top rope elbow to the floor and then rolls Ciampa back in. Ciampa catches Sydal ascendin and goes up with him for some clubbering. Ciampa wants the Air Raid Crash but Sydal slips down for a powerbomb that gets two. Sydal hits a draping DDT and wallops Ciampa with a running kick. Sydal ascends but his Shooting Star Press meets Ciampa’s knees. Ciampa’s cover gets two. Ciampa fires off a knee and Sydal sneaks in a roll up that gets two. Sydal smashes Ciampa with a kick to the head but runs right into Project Ciampa. Ciampa hits a knee strike and then lowers the pad for a second. Sydal can’t duck it and the ref counts three.

Sydal is from St. Louis so he got some hometown shine here, but like the rest of his Sky Flight brethren, was merely here to eat a pin. Ciampa now is part of this nebulous mid-card with Andrade and Ilja Dragunov, but I suppose there’s worse company to keep. This was fine for what it was.  3*

Winner – Tommaso Ciampa (running knee strike)

Post-match sees Ciampa sit on the announce table for a self-pat on the back, and puts himself over as the next National Champion.

Here’s a look back at Dynasty 2024 when Swerve Strickland captured the AEW world championship in this very building.

The Hurt Syndicate (Bob Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) vs Soloroto (Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solo)

MVP is with the Hurts, and Griff Garrison is with the jobbers. Solo and Comoroto attack prior to the bell, which proves to work for a brief period. Comoroto smashes Lashley in a corner but finally Lashley has had enough. Lashley destroys Comoroto and Benjamin tags in to wreck Solo. Benjamin blasts Solo with several Germans and Lashley wrecks Comoroto with a spear. MVP gets into it with Garrison who ends up eating a Benjamin German. Lashley spears Solo and the crowd wants one more sequence. Lashley comes back in for a second spear, poses a bunch, and covers Solo for three.

I don’t care for the Hurts at this point, but they remain over.  .5*

Winners – The Hurt Syndicate (Lashley spear on Solo x 2)

Here’s Gabe Kidd with the rest of the Death Riders for some banter on the Dogs turning on him. Kidd calls them “fake little bitches” and talks about how dangerous he can be. Kidd says the Riders are now down two men, as Claudio is missing, but things aren’t over until he says so. Kidd screams at the camera, before exiting. Jon Moxley: “Goodness gracious”. Moxley says if anyone actually understood them they would never say things like the Death Riders are outnumbered. Marina Shafir says the goal has always been to be a part of something bigger than this place. Shafir says there isn’t a man, woman, or army that will break their spirit. Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia will prove that the Riders are never outmatched at Anarchy in the Arena. We go to commercials.

AFTER DYNAMITE Persephone was apoplectic about losing her TBS title, and wants both her and the new champ Queen Aminata to be on the Women’s Blood and Guts teams.

Artist of Stardom Trios Championship: The Triangle of Madness (Thekla, Julia Hart, and Skye Blue) vs Trinity (Hazuki, Koguma, and Fuwa-chan)

It’s Hart and Fuwa-chan to start and Hart’s handshake offer is accepted, but leads into a Hart slap. Hart slams Fuwa-chan into the Triangle corner and Thekla tags in for a huge forearm. Thekla covers for one, and Blue tags in. Blue hoists Fuwa-chan up but she fights her way off and starts whaling on Blue with rights. Koguma and Hazuki fly in without tags for some violence on Blue, and then a Pier Six erupts. The joshi take control and send the Triangle to the floor. They drag Blue back in for some triple team violence and Fuwa-chan grabs a cover for two. Fuwa-chan hits a springboard dropkick and covers Blue for two. Hart kicks Fuwa-chan from the back and Thekla comes over to dump Fuwa-chan onto the floor for a double stomp. The Triangle pose as we take a commercial break.

Hazuki and Koguma hit dives to the floor when the show returns. Hazuki dumps Hart back in and Koguma just wrecks her with a spear and a choke/airplane spin thing. Koguma grabs a cover after a bridging suplex and gets two. Hart fires up and mashes Koguma with a standing moonsault that gets two. Thekla tags in and smashes Hazuki off the apron before turning to Koguma. Hazuki grabs a tag and her and Koguma combine on a dropkick/cross-body combo before Hazuki covers for two. Hazuki slaps on a cross-face and Thekla rolls her over and gets two. Thekla puts on an octopus, and Blue and Hart slap the same holds on Koguma and Fuwa-chan. Hazuki makes the ropes to break it up but Thekla blasts her with two running knees. Thekla wanders into a superkick but she fires off the ropes with a spear. Thekla’s cover is broken up at two by Koguma, and Hart comes in for a Koguma bulldog. Blue and Fuwa-chan get tags and they start slugging it out. Fuwa-chan puts the octopus on Blue and it ends when Blue crashes her into a corner. Hazuki prevents some damage from Blue with a forearm and yanks Blue over in a superplex. Fuwa-chan nails Blue with a Shining Wizard and Hart breaks up the cover at two. Thekla hits a double spear on Hazuki and Koguma and ascends for a triple cross-body. Thekla tosses Fuwa-chan back in and Blue grabs a La Magistral cradle for two. Hart sprays black mist into Fuwa-chan’s eyes and her and Blue hit their double-team Magic Kiler-esque finisher on a helpless Fuwa-chan for three.

Hey, any time you can fly people ten thousand miles to job to Julia Hart, you have to do it. This was fun and chaotic, and I would definitely like to see more of the joshi trio should they be available. Hart and Blue are what they are, and Thekla’s brand of chaos is very unique to the point where I think you either love her or hate her, there isn’t a lot of middle ground. I enjoyed this well enough, I suppose.  3.25*

Winners AND STILL Artist of Stardom Trios Champions – The Triangle of Madness (Blue/Hart finisher on Fuwa-chan)

Post-match sees Thekla continue to torment a blinded Fuwa-chan as a pissed Hazuki and Koguma come in to protect her.

Here’s The Opps with Samoa Joe talking about people barking too much at them. Joe puts it down to a failure in leadership, and then makes a pointed remark about HOOK’s job as leader while he was away. Joe says the perception of the Opps will change, or perhaps they’ll change the nature of the beast while giving HOOK a very long glance. We go to commercials.

The Beast Mortos vs Ilja Dragunov

Mortos swings and misses a chop, so Dragunov blasts him with a few of his own. Dragunov slaps on a side headlock and drags Mortos to the mat. They try each other with shoulders and chops and Dragunov tries a shoulder that gets met with an immediate trucking from Mortos. There’s more chops until Mortos yanks Dragunov up for a crucifix driver for two. Dragunov goes behind but Mortos slips out of it. Dragunov wastes Mortos with a discus lariat and ascends for a missile dropkick. Dragunov bellows at the crowd and we go to commercials.

Dragunov hits a German and drags Mortos up. Dragunov hoists Mortos into another German and holds on as the crowd chants “One more time!”. Mortos prevents it with elbows and Dragunov responds with a knee lift that gets two. Dragunov ascends and nails Mortos with a senton that gets two. Dragunov signals for the D-Bomb but Mortos kicks him away and yanks Dragunov up for a backbreaker. Mortos wallops Dragunov with a discus lariat that gets a LONG two. They slug it out and Mortos gets some licks in before dragging Dragunov up for a chop battle. Dragunov fires off some shotgun chops but Mortos drops him with a headbutt. Mortos yanks Dragunov up to a top turnbuckle and ascends. Dragunov fights him off and slips down. Dragunov completes the powerbomb and walks into another headbutt. Dragunov fires off Torpedo Moscow and nails Mortos with the D-Bomb to end things.

Dragunov wins and looks intense doing it, rinse, repeat. You should know that he’s never been a favorite of mine, and I’ll try to be fair with his match ratings in turn. I thought Mortos was game for a physical battle tonight and they definitely were throwing some major bombs at each other. Fine for what it was, I suppose. Dragunov wrestles every match like it’s Game 7, and if that’s your jam, so be it. 3*

Winner – Ilja Dragunov (D-Bomb)

Post-match sees Tommaso Ciampa out on the ramp to applaud Dragunov sarcastically. Dragunov says it’s his ring now and calls Ciampa a jackass.

Here’s highlights of Nick Wayne‘s victory celebration after beating Chris Jericho. Jericho apologized to Wayne as promised, and then warned him about effing up his future. Here’s Nick Wayne on social media walking around Miami telling everyone he beat Jericho and every time he says it, pyro goes off in the arena.

Darius Martin vs Speedball Mike Bailey

Christopher Daniels is out with Martin, while Bailey is alone. Bailey works an arm and Martin slaps on a neck vice in response. Bailey gets trucked and Martin flies off the ropes with an armdrag. Bailey breaks out and they run the ropes before Bailey drops Martin with a leg lariat. Bailey fires off some chops and kicks in a corner, and Martin delivers a right in response. Martin eats a rana and Martin bails. Bailey nails him with a plancha and drops Martin with a front kick. Daniels distracts and Martin nails Bailey with a running shotgun dropkick. Martin goes to gorund and pound on the floor and Daniels advises him to calm down a bit. Martin ignores that and crushes Bailey with a DDT on the floor. We take a break.

Bailey hits a missile dropkick when the show returns and starts firing off axe kicks at Martin’s chest. Bailey hits a running 450 splash and covers Martin for two. Bailey hits a superkick and tries his running spin kick but Martin blocks it. Martin fires off a Spanish Fly and gets two. Martin puts on an STF-type submission and Bailey rolls him over for two. Bailey waffles Martin with a triangle moonsault and both guys are down. Bailey sends Martin back in and ascends. His move misses as Martin slips it, and Martin rolls Bailey up for two. Bailey misses a couple moves but grabs a straightjacket roll up to end things.

I think they’re trying something with Darius that might be a heel turn, but I have no idea who that might appeal to at this point. This was fine but it’s every Speedball match you’ve ever seen, just with a very athletic opponent.  2.5*

Post-match sees a frustrated Martin smack the turnbuckles before shaking Bailey’s hand. Bailey shakes Daniels hand as Daniels comes in to comfort a distressed Martin.

Here’s AEW Men’s World Champion Will Ospreay cutting a voice-over promo regarding his upcoming title defense against Kyle Fletcher. Ospreay talks about seeing Fletcher in Blood and Guts and promises to make him and the Callis goons submit or surrender.

Divine Dominion (Megan Bayne and Lena Kross) vs Niki XS and Leila Feist

Shockingly, the Dominion ladies just utterly destroy XS and Feist on the floor. Bayne, who’s dressed with a Fred Flinstone-style gear, gets a “Yabba Dabba DOOOOOO” chant from the crowd. XS prevents something terrible happening to Feist only to get slammed. Kross and Bayne find Feist and slam her on top of XS to end things.

I don’t really know what you do with these two if they’re staying together as a team. .25*

Winners – Divine Dominion (slams Feist onto XS)

Willow Nightingale, Kris Statlander, Harley Cameron, and AEW TBS Champion Queen Aminata talk some shit about Blood and Guts and everyone seems fired up to whomp some ass next Wednesday night.

Adam Priest vs Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita has never lost a singles match on Collision. I have never lost on Collision either, Takeshita, so how about that?! There’s a quick handshake and some go-behinds are exchanged. They go to the mat and Takeshita grabs a side headlock. Takeshita wallops Priest with a flying forearm after some rope-running and Priest bails to the floor. Takeshita hits a plancha and drives Priest back in. Takeshita misses a charge and Priest fires off a chop. They slug it out and and Priest nails Takeshita with a dropkick that sends him to the floor. Priest exits to do floor damage and Takeshita takes it briefly before sending Priest into the barricade and blasting him with a DDT on the floor. We take a commercial break.

Takeshita hits a headbutt and fights with Priest along the apron. Priest flies in with a dropkick on Takeshita’s knee before ascending. Priest catches Takeshita with a tornado DDT and covers him for two. Takeshita yanks a charging Priest into a Blue Thunder Bomb and but Priest trucks him when he charges. Priest puts on a half-crab and Takeshita rolls through to escape. Takeshita blasts Priest with a headbutt but he can’t complete Raging Fire. Priest starts tossing forearms but Takeshita fires one back to drop Priest. Takeshita waffles Priest with a knee and a huge forearm. Takeshita yanks Priest into Raging Fire to end things.

It’s been a minute since Takeshita has worked singles on Collision so I was glad to see the big lug back on the show I’m responsible for covering. I have no idea what his current direction is since it’s B&G season and most of his normal DCF antagonists are tied up with other things, so we’ll see if anything happens with him soon around a feud. Priest is a game opponent who’s too tiny to ever be anything more than that.  2.5*

Winner – Konosuke Takeshita (Raging Fire)

Here’s Thekla complaining about so many BITCHES, and it turns out that the rest of the heel Women’s B&G team is surrounding her. Everyone has comments and Thekla ends it by saying “One cage, two rings, and three words – DIE BITCHES DIE”. Let’s take a break.

Here’s a look at the current feud between AEW Women’s World Champion Mercedes Mone and Marina Shafir. Shafir has been given a title shot at Full Gear.

The Cut (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) vs The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong)

Robinson starts with Strong and everyone comes in for some verbals. The faces get pushed back by the ref so the heels overwhelm Strong briefly. Robinson trucks Strong but runs into a Strong dropkick in response. O’Reilly tags in for some dropped rights in a corner and Strong tags back in for more of the same. Cassidy tags in and he also drops a bunch of rights on Robinson’s dome. Robinson staggers away and tags in Austin who immediately misses a charge. O’Reilly tags in and destroys Austin with a bunch of forearms. Cassidy tags in and he snaps Austin over before the Conglom come in to protect Cassidy from Colten and Robinson. O’Reilly mashes Austin in the Conglom corner and he takes tremendous abuse along the ropes. O’Reilly drops a knee and then disposes of a charging Colten. O’Reilly wants the ankle lock but Austin escapes and mashes him down. Robinson tags in and puts the boots to O’Reilly in the Cut corner. We go to commercials.

O’Reilly is fighting off both Gunns when the show return, but Colten cuts him off and grabs a cover for two. Colten and O’Reilly slug it out and O’Reilly’s knee drops Colten. Austin and Robinson charge over to prevent tags and Cassidy doesn’t make it back in time to help O’Reilly. The Cut prevent another tag attempt and Colten continues to abuse O’Reilly. O’Reilly fights his way out of the Cut corner and tags in Cassidy. Colten immediately leaps on Cassidy but Strong flies in with a knee lift to take control. Strong mashes everyone and smashes Robinson with a shotgun dropkick on the floor. Cassidy rolls up Colten for two. Cassidy hits a springboard senton on all three Cut guys before bringing Colten in for a helicopter DDT that gets two. Strong tags in and all the heels fly in. Strong yanks up Cassidy and uses hm as a weapon against Robinson and Austin. Colten snaps off a cutter on Cassidy before crashing into Strong with simultaneous clotheslines. O’Reilly and Robinson come in and start slugging it out. Robinson fires off a bunch of jabs but O’Reilly shoots the half and slaps on an ankle lock. Here’s Clark Connors and David Finlay down with Ace Austin leaping onto the apron to distract the ref. Robinson taps out visually during this, and here’s Jay White handing Robinson some brass knuckles. Robinson crushes O’Reilly with a knucks shot and rolls him over for three.

The crowd was kind of burnt by the end of this so there wasn’t quite the huge reaction to all the cheating that you might have expected. For once, commentary mentioned the lack of tags and knowing who was legal during all this, and I appreciate that. The Conglomeration are turning into high-class jobbers at this point but I guess the world needs plenty of bartenders, if you get my drift. The Cut continue to be a menace and we’ll see where all this takes them.  3.25*

Winners – The Cut (Robinson brass knuckles punch to O’Reilly)

Post-match sees Jay White berating the announcing team while the Cut attack en masse. Robinson slips the knucks back on and punches Cassidy right in the face with them. Strong is next for the knucks and White puts the badmouth on Cassidy while warning him to stay out of Cut business. The Cut stack the bodies and pose over top of them as their music plays. Schiavone wishes us all a happy Halloween, and we’re out with no overrun.

For a taped show, this wasn’t as horrible as some others have been. Everything is pointed towards Blood and Guts and then Full Gear, so a lot of things happened to put pieces together for those shows. I’m interested to see how things go with B&G this week because you’d have to think with a PPV very close to that show that everyone might have to take it a bit more carefully, but we’ll see if that’s the case. I’d say the highlights for me were the women’s trios match and the main event, but if you missed tonight you didn’t miss a show you couldn’t have understood from the spoilers.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your Sunday and enjoy Blood and Guts.