The SmarK Rant for AEW Collision – 02.22.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Collision – 02.22.25

Taped from Phoenix AZ on 02.19.25

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Excalibur & Jim Ross

Toni Storm is coming out for a cold open, but Mariah May attacks in the back and drags her to the stage for a Storm Zero on the ramp, setting up the rematch for the World title at the PPV. It’s actually pretty rare for Tony to book rematches after title changes so that’s interesting.

Kazuchika Okada wants us to know that Buddy Matthews is still a bitch and he’ll put down any further bitches who want to challenge him.

Hologram v. The Beast Mortos

Mortos immediately smashes Hologram and tosses him into the corner, but Hologram evades him in the ropes and hits Mortos with a bodypress before launching himself off with a spinning headscissors to put Mortos out on the floor. Could there be any better base for this guy than Mortos? Ropewalk rana to the floor and back in for another try at a flying move, but Mortos pounces him to the floor this time. We get a FLYING BEAST as we take a break. Back with them fighting on the top, where Mortos brings him down with a press slam from the top, for two. Back to the top again, but Hologram brings him down with a spinning headscissors this time and superkicks Mortos to the floor again. Hologram with another dive, nearly flying right into the front row himself. They fight to the ramp and this time Mortos hits him with a crucifix bomb, and back in for two. That ramp clearly has some padding to it, which is awesome. Back to the ramp and Mortos tries a press slam, but Hologram reverses him into a Code Red and then ropewalks back into the ring with his own crucifix bomb for two. Mortos catches him with a samoan drop for two, and a backbreaker sets up a powerbomb, but Hologram flips out of that. Hologram with the Spanish fly, but Mortos knocks him out of the air with a clothesline. Back to the top, but Hologram counters the press slam again and finishes with a sunset flip at 13:20. They got a little sloppy at the end but this was an AWESOME opener and literally non-stop action. ****. A Mortos beatdown appears to follow, but Komander makes the save and they double-team Mortos to get rid of him.

Meanwhile, SPEEDBALL is coming. Oh yeah he’s gonna fit in just fine.

Harley Cameron joins us to a hero’s welcome from the crowd, as she deserves. Harley tells us a story about a girl from Australia with big…dreams…and puppets. And she dreamed of going to the US and becoming a wrestler. And that girl was her neighbor, Suzette Dickinson, but she doesn’t know what happened to her, so she’s living that dream instead. Harley is the hero we all need but probably don’t deserve.

Gabe Kidd v. The Butcher

Gabe beats on the Butcher in the corner and Butcher soaks it up and asks for more. So they exchange chops and Kidd hits him with a back suplex and they continue beating on each other to the floor. Butcher telegraphs a clothesline and Kidd hits him with a suplex as a result and then follows with a clothesline to put him down again. Back in the ring, Butcher goes back to beating on him with chops, but Kidd hits him with a lariat and finishes with a piledriver at 3:40. Basically a hard-hitting squash match. *1/2. But DAMN that hand print left on Kidd’s chest from the chops. They weren’t playing here.

Meanwhile, Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher accept the cage match challenge for Revolution.

Julia Hart v. Queen Aminata

They trade wristlocks to start and Aminata takes her down with a headlock, but Julia rolls her over for two. Rollup gets two for Julia. Aminata with a running kick and chops in the corner, but Julia takes her down with an STO for two. We take a break and return with Aminata hitting a snap suplex, followed by a Broski boot in the corner for two. Excalibur calls her the “first athlete from Guinea to compete on a global stage”, which is weird phrasing. Julia with a superkick and she goes up for the moonsault, but it hits Aminata’s feet and the Queen makes a comeback. She tries a backbreaker and Julia spins her into an Octopus hold and taps her out at 9:22 in a cool finish. I like when you can get out of nowhere finishes like that but they still make sense. **1/2

The Murder Machines v. Local Geeks

They quickly destroy the victims with the Blackout and a combo german suplex and big boot, and then finish with a double powerbomb at 1:23. Afterwards, the Hurt Syndicate could like to see them beat someone with a bit more cred before they discuss a title shot. That’s fair.

Meanwhile, Action and Lio finally have a team name: CRU. Well that’s a start.

Meanwhile, they cut the Thunder Rosa run-in down to something watchable via video package and Stat and Rosa forge an alliance out of it.

World Trios title: The Death Riders v. Daniel Garcia & 2.0

Parker hits a quick suplex on Yuta, but Claudio hits him with a forearm for two. Picky note, as Tony calls Pac the first International champion, but it was the All Atlantic title at the time. Parker gets worked over by the Death Riders and run into the corner by Pac. Yuta with chops in the corner as the crowd expresses their hatred for him, but Daddy Magic gets a hot and hits Pac with a cutter for two. Claudio comes in to try to take care of business, but 2.0 double-teams him and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA with a triple suplex on the Riders. We get triple punches in the corners and we take a break. Back with Yuta holding a chinlock on Menard, and then the Riders destroy him with running elbows in the corner and Claudio slams him for two. Pac with a side headlock to keep Menard down and he goes up, and headfakes Menard into trying a dropkick that gets nothing. But Matt powerbombs him anyway and it’s hot tag Garcia, who hits everyone with backdrop drivers to clean house. Neckbreaker on Yuta gets two. Garcia with the Dragontamer , but Pac kicks him in the face to break it up and Claudio follows with a jackhammer. Garcia and Yuta slug it out, but Claudio comes in with a lariat for two. Giant Swing into a Pac dropkick gets two. Pac goes up to finish, but Parker brings him down with a superplex for two. Menard and Parker do some double-teaming, but inevitably Parker gets Brutalized and taps out at 16:23 because he’s basically useless and just there to take the fall. 2.0 are competent wrestlers but they had no chance here. ***. This brings out Undisputed for a brawl and I’m guessing this sets up the three-way title match at the PPV, even though both challengers have already lost clean. Moxley comes out to express his opinion, but COPE makes it to the ring first and gives Pac a Conchairto, thus living up to his promise to destroy all the Death Riders one by one. And also creates a meme with Mox’s reaction. The Death Riders thing is immediately more bearable because they’re showing weakness now.

Meanwhile, the Vendetta sends Harley Cameron to the back of the line. YOU LEAVE HARLEY CAMERON ALONE!

Best Wrestler Alive Open Challenge: Max Caster v. Brody King

I don’t like Max’s chances here. So Max makes sure that King shakes his hand and gives him adequate time to prepare, which allows Max to take Brody down with a devastating headlock. Brody reverses to a headscissors and Max tries a fancy escape and can’t actually pull it off, which is a funny twist on that spot. And then Brody smashes him with the cannonball and pins him at 1:41. Luckily Max still has his certificate, though.

Meanwhile, the Outrunners are riding high on the Australia victory, and they bump into the Hurt Syndicate and challenge the Murder Machines for the #1 contender spot. But there’s good news and bad news, and both things are that if they win, they get an AEW World tag team title shot against the Hurt Syndicate. “Those are both the same thing, we can’t lose!” Wait a minute, does this mean that Los Outrunners were actually The Outrunners then? HUGE IF TRUE. Also can they wrestle in Mexico now that they’ve been effectively unmasked? Seems unclear.

ROH World title: Chris Jericho v. Bandido

Another picky note, as Tony notes that Bandido was never beaten for the ROH World title, but he actually was. Jonathan Gresham beat him to unify the interim versions of the belts at the first AEW/ROH PPV. Bandido chases Jericho out and dives on him, but then springboards in and lands in a codebreaker as Jericho takes over. They head to the top and Jericho takes him down with a rana, and they fight to the apron, where Bandido takes him to the floor with a rana as we take a break. Back with Jericho in control and throwing chops, but Bandido fights back with a superkick and they both go down. This leads to a SHOWDOWN, as they do the five paces to the corners and this time Bandido wins. But Jericho takes him down into the Walls, and Bandido makes the ropes. Jericho charges and Bandido catches him with the one-armed press and goes up with a frog splash for two. Jericho dropkicks him to the apron, but he tries the springboard dropkick and Bandido counters him with a powerbomb for two. Jericho with the Lionsault for two, but Bandido cradles for two. Jericho with a flying headscissors for two, which is apparently called “The Hi Spot”. Waka waka. Back to the top rope, where Bandido brings him down with a flipping fallaway slam for two. Bandido with a GTS to set up the 21 Plex, but Jericho counters with a cradle for the pin at 16:50 to retain. Bandido is really hot right now and I would have personally switched the title here. I don’t really see the argument for keeping it on Jericho at this point unless they’re waiting for the Big Bill turn or something. Really good main event regardless. ***1/2

Much like Dynamite, this wasn’t an all time great episode or anything but it was a lot of fun, with a hot crowd, and most of all it felt IMPORTANT. Killing off Rampage has low key been a huge factor in the turnaround of the promotion in 2025 so far.