The SmarK Rant for AEW Collision – 02.14.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Collision – 02.14.26

“Grand Slam Australia: Sydney”

Live from DOWN UNDER

Your hosts are Excalibur & Tony Schiavone

Continental title: Jon Moxley v. Konosuke Takeshita

The show is actually joined in progress here in Canada thanks to some kind of racing car deal, about 10 minutes into the show, so we pick this up with Takeshita hitting Moxley with a powerbomb out of the corner for two. They slug it out and Moxley catches him with a cutter, and then waits for him to bail to the apron and hits him with a curb stomp out there. Back in with another curb stomp from Mox and he goes to a bulldog choke and turns it into a rear naked, but Takeshita makes the ropes. They slug it out again and Takeshita absorbs that and makes the comeback with an exploder and knee strike for two. Takeshita loads up another one, but Moxley catches him in a sleeper and they reverse off that until Mox hits the Death Rider for two. They throw headbutts at each other with time running out , but Mox hits a lariat for one and Takeshita hits a lariat for one and time expires at 20:00, although as noted we only got 10:00 of it on USA Network. Interesting that in an eliminator match, the draw would be considered the same as a win, but in a title match, the draw is the same as a loss. Afterwards, Moxley decides to smack Takeshita around a bit, so Takeshita hits him with the Raging Fire and leaves him laying.

Women’s tag team title: The Babes of Wrath v. Penelope Ford & Megan Bayne

They brawl to start and the Babes hit them with stereo corner punches, but Harley gets double-teamed in the corner, but Willow comes in and cleans house on them. Willow with a senton on the floor and back in for a double dropkick in the ring, as we take a break. Back with Harley getting the hot tag and hitting the heels with kicks, but Ford rolls her up for two. Harley with a victory roll on Megan for two and she rolls into a half-crab, but Ford dropkicks her to break it up. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and Harley gets a destroyer on Megan for a double down. Babes with a backpack senton for two on Bayne. But then Ford hits Harley with the stunner and goes up, only to miss and fall victim to a backslide from Harley for the pin at 10:30. Well obviously we knew who was winning and who was getting pinned. Pretty average stuff. **1/2. Afterwards, this brings out Lena Kross to attack and she’s apparently part of the MegaBad Corporation now.

Andrade El Idolo v. Hangman Page

Winner gets the title shot at Revolution, of course. They trade reversals and Hangman immediately tries the Buckshot, but Andrade goes tranquilo to escape, and Page sends him to the floor. Andrade fights back with chops, but gets distracted by the ladies at ringside and stops for a photo, which allows Page to kick him in the face and do his own selfie. Back in the ring, Page with a shooting star for two. They fight to the top and Page comes down with a moonsault, before sending Andrade to the apron. Andrade reverses him into a legsweep off the middle rope, and that gets two as we take a break. Back with them slugging it out, before Page hits a lariat for a double down. Andrade tries for a rana and Page powerbombs him for two. They fight to the apron and Page clotheslines him to the floor. Back in, Hangman with a flying clothesline for two. Andrade comes back with the rolling suplexes and gets two off that. Andrade with the double moonsault, but Page gets the knees up, and Andrade still manages to cover for two. They head to the floor and Andrade tries a dive and gets caught and slammed into the railing. Back in the ring, Andrade blocks the Buckshot with a back elbow for two. Double knees in the corner sets up the DM, which gets two. Another try is countered into a cradle for Page, but they reverse off that and Hangman hits the Deadeye. Another Buckshot is counered with a kick to the gut, but Don Callis takes the ref and it backfires, with Hangman hitting his own low blow and finishing with the Buckshot Lariat at 16:36 to win the title shot. This was really good but not up to the level of Page’s big matches. ***1/2

Haircut match: Orange Cassidy & Toni Storm v. Wheeler Yuta & Marina Shafir

They brawl during the heel entrance and head into the crowd right away, where we get Yuta piledriving Toni into a pile of cases because he’s the worst. So that leaves Orange alone in the ring as we take a break. Back with Marina dancing with him as Toni makes the return and cleans house, hitting Marina with a pair of german suplexes to save her dance partner. Marina breaks up that happy moment with kicks to Toni, but Orange puts her down with a Beach Break for two before a horrified Yuta realizes what that would mean and makes the save. Orange hits him with the stunner and DDT, but Marina throws Yuta out to save him and offers to take the Orange Punch herself. But then she reverses and puts Orange in an anklelock, while Toni procures the chickenwing on Yuta, and Marina has to break that up. So the women slug it out, but Yuta hits Toni with the knee for two like a complete weasel. The heels double-team Orange, but Yuta hits Marina with the knee by mistake, and Orange sends her to the floor for a dive. And that leaves Toni to hit Yuta with the hip attack, and the Orange Punch sets up the Storm Zero to finish at 11:30. A wacky and entertaining end to Wheeler’s hair. ***1/2. Afterwards, Wheeler tries to renege on the deal, but Jon Moxley sends him back in to take it like a man, or whatever Yuta is. So Mina Shirakawa returns and gets some revenge with a lock of hair, before Orange wields the clippers and finishes the job, saying sorry before clarifying that he’s not actually sorry. Sadly they can’t actually finish the job with the dull-ass clippers. Paul Jones is probably rolling over in his grave seeing that.

TNT title, ladder match: Kyle Fletcher v. Mark Briscoe

Before the match, we get the formation of PROTOKADA, as Kyle makes him promise not to interfere. Briscoe tosses him and hits him with a dive right away as they brawl on the floor, and Fletcher hits him with a half and half suplex out there. Mark sets up a ladder and tries to climb for something presumably dangerous, but Kyle slams him onto the apron and moonsaults off the ladder as well. That replay looked like the bump on Mark’s shoulder SUCKED, but he keeps going and heads back in the ring for a comeback. Until Kyle spears him facefirst into a ladder in the corner to cut him off. So Briscoe is naturally busted open and they fight on top as we take a break. Back with Kyle trying to suplex him onto a ladder contraption outside, but Briscoe boots out of it and drops the froggy bow onto a ladder bridge. And that bridge DOES NOT budge. Back in the ring, Briscoe climbs and Kyle powerbombs him off, and through a ladder that DOES budge. So Fletcher sets up another ladder bridge, in the ring this time, but Brisco hits a Jay Driller as the crowd chants “Please Don’t Die”. So Mark gets to the top of the ladder off that, but Kyle cuts him off, and Mark slugs him down as the partisan crowd freaks out. And Kyle brings him down with a brainbuster from the top of the ladder and unsurprisingly, they’re both down. We get a ladder duel as they both climb for the belt, but Kyle pushes him over and retains the title at 16:29, also winning the feud for good. A crazy and incredible ladder match to end the feud with a bang. ****1/2

AEW World title: MJF v. Brody King

MJF wisely runs away to start, but tries some takedowns and gets put down with a lariat as a result. Brody beats on him with chops and a press slam, but misses the cannonball and that allows MJF to go to work on the knee. Brody fights up with a Ganzo Bomb attempt, but MJF clips the knee and brings back the KANGAROO KICK to send Brody to the floor. Back in the ring, Brody blocks a sunset flip, but MJF takes out the knee again and goes to a kneebar. Brody makes the ropes and we take a break. Back with Brody sending MJF to the floor and hitting a dive, but that hurts his own knee again. Back in the ring, MJF bails to the apron and Brody tries the sleeper, but Max bites the arm to escape and they slug it out on the floor. Brody hits the bodypress into the railing, and back in the ring for a successful cannonball this time, and that gets two. Ganzo Bomb is reversed to a sleeper and Brody is fading, but Bandido joins us at ringside to will Brody back up again. MJF bails to the floor and catches Brody with a DDT onto the apron, and Bandido wills him up again. MJF tries a dive and Brody catches him and slams him into a chair. Thankfully he’s able to toss MJF in to beat the count. Max finds the diamond ring in his trunks and the ref catches him, allowing Brody to slug him out to the apron for the sleeper. Back in the ring, Brody hits the Ganzo Bomb, but it only gets two. MJF goes for the knee again and pulls off the brace for extra punishment, fighting off the sleeper again before slamming Brody on the apron. Back in the ring with the Heatseeker to finish at 21:38 in an incredibly anticlimactic finish. Match was excellent leading up to it, but it felt like a waste of Brody’s momentum to just have him do a one-and-done job after the champ hits his finish one time. ****

This one absolutely delivered, another PPV quality show this week. Really the only match that wasn’t great was the women’s tag match, which makes this one well worth going out of your way to watch.