The SmarK Rant for AEW Collision – 03.22.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Collision – 03.22.25

SLAM DUNK SATURDAY!

Taped from Omaha, NE, no doubt home of the basketball champion Omaha team thanks to the Outrunners!

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Daddy Magic & Nigel McGuinness

TNT title: Daniel Garcia v. Adam Cole

Garcia rolls out of a wristlock attempt and stops to dance, so Cole goes for a hammerlock and they trade takedowns for the stalemate. They trade headlock takedowns and get nowhere with that either. Cole throws the first chop, so Daniel hits him with a dropkick and slugs away in the corner, which results in Cole dumping him to the floor. Nigel: “We’ve got fans of both guys tonight. There’s even some Tony Schiavone fans, although it took them a long time to get into the building with their walkers.” Garcia hurts his knee on the way down, so Cole goes to work on the knee in the ring with a leglock, and Garcia makes the ropes. Shining Wizard gets two. Cole goes back to the knee and works on that in the corner, but Garcia gets a cradle for two and we take a break. Back with Cole wrapping the knee around the post, but Garcia comes back with a swinging neckbreaker, and then follows with a draping DDT version of the neckbreaker, which gets two. Cole hits the knee to block a piledriver attempt and a neckbreaker gets two. Cole bails to the apron and Garcia hits him with an enzuigiri to send him to the floor, and then powers up and hits him with a body attack into the railing. But back in the ring, Cole catches him with another neckbreaker for two. Cole goes up and Garcia follows him up, but Cole comes down with the Panama Sunrise for two. Garcia bails to the floor to escape and makes another comeback with a piledriver in the ring for two. Cole fakes a superkick and hits another Panama Sunrise for two, and then right into the figure-four. But Garcia makes the ropes and rolls Cole into the Dragon Tamer, but Cole makes the ropes. They head to the apron and slug it out, before Adam hits the Panama Sunrise on the HARDEST PART OF THE RING. Back in the ring, he goes for the Boom, but Garcia delays it long enough for time to expire at 20:00. I guess they’re setting up for the rubber match at the PPV. Good opener and you can sense one of them getting ready to snap and cheat to win. ***1/4

Best Wrestler Alive Open Challenge: Max Caster v. Hook

Max tries the sneak attack but gets cocky and Hook chokes him out at 0:38.

Meanwhile, Serena Deeb interrupts Queen Aminata’s promo and presents her with a book containing ONE THOUSAND wrestling holds that can be used to win a match. I mean, not as impressive as 1008 holds, but that’s pretty good. Aminata doesn’t think she needs it, though.

Julia Hart v. Queen Aminata

Julia goes for the rollup and Aminata blocks for two, and they exchange cradles for a series of near-falls. Aminata with a slam on the apron and we take a break. Back with Julia hitting a series of elbows in the corner, but Aminata hits her with an Air Raid Crash for two. They fight to the top and Julia brings her down with a superplex and hangs onto the top rope, but misses the moonsault and the Queen headbutts her for two. Aminata misses a blind charge, however, and Julia cradles for the pin at 8:00. Pretty average match. **1/4

Meanwhile, Harley Cameron dodges the questions about whether she’s romantically involved with the Beast Mortos, and indeed who the mysterious HarleyGram even is. We’ll likely never know.

Powerhouse Hobbs, Mark Briscoe & Rocky Romero v. Konosuke Takeshita, Brian Cage & Lance Archer

Briscoe threatens Takeshita with some redneck kung fu, but goes up and gets chopped down. Everyone brawls on the floor and Hobbs beats on Takeshita while Callis calls Rocky Romero a “greasy little spot-picker”. But then Rocky tries to dive onto Cage and gets caught in a suplex, and powerbombed on the apron by Takeshita as we take a break. Back with Rocky hitting Takeshita with a tornado DDT and he makes the hot tag to Briscoe, who runs wild and hits Takeshita with a fisherman’s suplex for two. The heels isolate Briscoe and slug him down, however, and Takeshita gets two. Briscoe fights back and makes another hot tag to Hobbs and he throws down with the Murder Machines and hits them with Meaty clotheslines in the corners. Spinebuster on Takeshita, but Cage hits Hobbs with a german suplex. Over to Rocky and he gets wrecked immediately, as it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA. Briscoe with the exploder on Takeshita, but Archer lays him out with a lariat. Romero escapes the Blackout and rolls up Archer for two, but Lance smashes him and they hit him with the double team powerbomb to set up RAGING FIRE from Takeshita at 10:21. I mean, it was obvious who was there to get pinned as soon as the match was announced. **1/2

I mean, I’d call this less of a slam dunk episode and more of a solid single for a first down.