AEW Collision - March 9, 2024
by Doc Allen
On tape delay from the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia. WrestleTix estimates attendance at 2,166. Tony Shiavone and Nigel McGuinness are on commentary.
Bryan Danielson vs. Shane Taylor (with Lee Moriarty)
There's a bit of a backstory with Shane Taylor Promotions having friction with the Blackpool Combat Club. Taylor has the size and strength advantage, but Bryan has speed, craftiness, and a love of violence. They spar until Taylor clocks Bryan in the jaw. They exchange stiff kicks and chops until Bryan starts illegally using the ropes to target and hyperextend Taylor's knee. Taylor unceremoniously dumps Bryan outside. Back from commercials, Taylor is in total control and is allowed to take his sweet time hitting a guillotine leg drop. Bryan backflips over Taylor and sprints into a dropkick to the bad knee. Taylor misses a corner splash, so Bryan rams his knee around the post. Shotgun dropkick by Bryan fails to knock Taylor over, so he dishes more kicks at the injured leg. Bryan hits some YES kicks but Taylor kicks out at 1! Taylor answers with a standing lariat for 2. Uranage by Taylor, followed by a big splash, but Bryan kicks out! Taylor blocks the Busaiku knee, but Bryan recovers with roundhouse kicks. The Busaiku Knee connects and Bryan pins Taylor at 13:59. Entertaining match designed to make Taylor look strong in defeat. Bryan might be a cheater but the fans love him, ***¼.Winner: Bryan Danielson
Will Ospreay happily interrupts Bryan's in-ring celebration. The fans give Will a soccer chant while he gushes about how awesome Bryan is. Unfortunately, Bryan is a cheeky little bug for interrupting him on Dynamite, so he'd better get to the point. Bryan welcomes Will to AEW and puts over his debut at Revolution. Bryan issues the challenge for the Dynasty PPV, Ospreay accepts with a handshake. That will hopefully sell some tickets.
The New Elite (Nicholas Jackson, Matthew Jackson, and Kazuchika Okada) vs. Adrian Alanis, Jon Cruz, and Liam Grey
Okada has joined forces with the Bucks because he loves money, and has effortlessly slipped into Kenny Omega's old role. Nicholas is ready to start, but Okada insists on a tag. The fans cheer for Okada while he plays with his food, patting Cruz on the head. Alanis enters with some forearm shots, but Okada casually knocks him down with a dropkick. Grey tries his luck, but eats a Rainmaker and gets pinned at 2:04. Cool way to debut Okada without doing the usual squash match.Winners: The New Elite
Eddie Kingston tries an ill-advised ambush and suffers a 3 on 1 beatdown. Penta El Zero Miedo runs in to help but suffers Okada's patented neckbreaker. Fans chant for Okada again. Okada hoists Eddie's Continental Championship, which prompts the arrival of Pac, who clears the ring to confront Okada. Fans chant "holy sh!t" while they slug it out. Pac hits a release German suplex before the Bucks pull Okada to safety. Cool angle, but I think I'd have saved this for another show and just let the New Elite stand tall tonight. They all agree to a trios tag match in Boston.
Darby Allin video promo. He's a glutton for punishment and is treating every match like his last, which might be wise considering he just jumped off a ladder though a glass window at Revolution. He's got Jay White next.
Mariah May vs. Trish Adora
Mariah is cosplaying as old-school Toni Storm. And by "old school" I mean 2018. Yes, that's old school now, deal with it. Trish gets the jobber entrance but holds her own trading holds with May. Trish controls a knuckle lock and delivers a pair of takedowns. Trish looks smug, so May unleashes a flurry of offense. Back from commercials, Trish mounts a comeback, hitting a pump kick and senton splash for 2. Adora hits a German with a bridge but May kicks out. Head butt, running knee, and Michinoku Driver by May to win at 6:16. About 2 good minutes of action on both sides of the break.Winner: Mariah May
AEW Women's Champion Toni Storm appears on the stage to present the first ever "Toni Award". The only nominee is Mariah May, so she wins after a dramatic pause, I was convinced that Toni was going to give it to herself. Deonna Purrazzo runs in to spoil the moment, but falls victim to greater numbers. May gives Deonna a DDT on the ramp and finally gets her award, which is one of Toni's shoes. This was wacky, I liked it.
Video recap of Riho defeating Kris Statlander after Kris refused to use a chain as a weapon. This opens the door for Willow Nightingale to move ahead of Statlander in the pecking order.
Nick Wayne (with The Patriarchy) vs. Adam Priest
Fans chant for Priest at the bell. Wayne takes him down and flexes. Rana by Wayne, followed by a spinning uppercut. Priest fights back with some token jobber offense, so Wayne throws him outside. Wayne gets distracted looking for Christian's approval and Priest scores a chop, so Killswitch steps in to buy some time. Wayne knocks Priest off the apron with a back handspring tackle and then hits a fisherman suplex. Wayne's World finishes it at 3:11. Good showcase for Wayne, highlighting not just his moveset but his toxic relationship with Christian.Winner: Nick Wayne
Christian gets attacked by a masked man in the front row. Surprise, surprise, it's Adam Copeland. He steals Christian's TNT title and pulls out a mysterious box. Christian seems to know what's in the box and doesn't want any part of it.
Backstage interview with Jeff Jarrett's wacky unnamed stable of odd members. They're facing the House of Black in a street fight, and Jeff will do anything to win. Jay Lethal and Mark Briscoe trust Jarrett, which is historically not a smart idea, and are ready to fight.
Lionheart Chris Jericho vs. Titan
Jericho's midlife crisis crusade of defeating every member of the CMLL roster in competitive midcard matches continues. Jericho's CMLL debut was against the original Titan, so don't go thinking this match is completely random. Fans chant “Lucha Libre” at the bell. Jericho starts hot with a waistlock takedown and bow and arrow stretch. Titan flips around to escape a wristlock. They exchange knife edge chops. Titan uses his youthful agility to fluster Jericho and hit a tightrope walk springboard rana. Jericho knees a timeout and Titan capitalizes with a tope suicida. Fans chant “Let's go, Titan” but Jericho counters with an avalanche bulldog. Back from commercials, Jericho can't hit his springboard dropkick and Titan kips up for a Pele kick. Soaring plancha by Titan seems to hurt him as much as Jericho. Slingshot double stomp by Titan gets 2. Butterfly backbreaker by Jericho gets 2. DVD by Jericho, but the Lionsault misses. Tornado DDT by Titan gets 2. Flying double stomp to the gut by Titan but Jericho kicks out! Titan showboats too much while setting up a Death Lock, Jericho reverses. Titan springboards into a Codebreaker for a good nearfall. The Judas Effect misses, Titan hits a spinning DVD for a close 2 count. Titan tries another springboard rana, but this time Jericho reverses into a Liontamer! Titan taps at 12:00. Jericho was huffing and puffing and stumbling his way through this, but they had a great gameplan, ***.Winner: Chris Jericho
The Gates of Agony attack Jericho for reasons I'm not aware of. Hook marches in with a kendo stick and saves the day.
Tony Shiavone hosts FTR in the ring to discuss the upcoming tournament to fill the vacant AEW Tag Team Championship. They suffered a big loss at Revolution, but that's life, so they're moving forward. Dax Harwood isn't sure they even deserve to be in the tournament, but they are anyway, so Top Guys Out. The Infantry crash the public party to tout their resume of being cool and handsome. They claim to respect FTR and offer handshakes, but they're coming for their spots. Maybe offer a... "Revival?" Dax says The Revival is dead, and if they meet in the tourney, so are The Infantry. What are the chances they WON'T meet in the tourney?
Hype video for Big Business in Boston, which they're treating like a free-per-view.
Mistico vs. Angelico (with Serpentico)
No jobber entrance for Angelico, Tony must like him these days. Serpentico once made fun of Da Wrestling Site, so I hate him. Mistico is rebuilding his career after a disastrous WWE run over a decade ago, before that he was a legitimate box office draw in Mexico. Mistico and Angelico flip around for a stalemate. Mistico controls the restart, so Angelico begs for a timeout. Back handspring elbow by Mistico sets up a commercial break. They return with Mistico making some kind of comeback and finding time to dive onto Serpentico. Mistico hits Angelico with a flying rana outside. Slingshot splash by Mistico gets 2. Swanton Bomb by Mistico gets a somewhat silly nearfall. Mistico misses a moonsault but lands on his feet, Angelico rolls him up for a near steal. They exchange roundhouse kicks and go down, the fans miss the cue for an ovation. They get back up awfully quick, and trade quick counters into Mistico wins with an armbar at 9:47. Good match, but I'm not sure that Mistico has any real future in AEW, ***.Winner: Mistico
Serpentico doesn't want Angelico to shake hands with Mistico, but he does anyway. Serpentico gets over it and celebrates the three star match with the guys.
Atlanta Street Fight:
The House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews, and Brodie King) vs. The Island of Misfit Toys (Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe, with Satnam Singh, Sonjay Dutt, and Karen Jarrett)The Misfits get a hot start and clear the ring with dives and flying attacks. Tables and chairs quickly come into play. Lethal leaps off a chair, but King blocks and puts him through a propped table. Meanwhile, Matthews and Mark fight on the top rope until King interrupts to shove Mark onto a pile of chairs at ringside! Back from commercials, the HoB are ready to put Jarrett through a table, but Buddy insists on pouring lighter fluid first. Dutt tries to stop it but runs away, only to get stopped by Julia Hart. They pour gasoline on Dutt, who begs for mercy. Karen sneaks up on Buddy for a low blow, and Dutt shoves Buddy through a table. Julia low blows Sonjay and sprays black mist into Karen's eyes. Meanwhile, Lethal and Jarrett regain the upper hand in the ring. King and Lethal slug it out until Lethal passes out to a sleeper. Jarrett cracks a guitar over King's head and he collapses through a table. Black surprises Jarrett with Black Mass, the fans chant “This is Awesome!” Black tries to stab Mark with a metal spike, instead eats a J-Driller! Julia grabs Mark's ankle, but he escapes to leap off a chair, but the HoB catch him for a tandem powerbomb onto the ring frame! The HoB set a table on fire and powerbomb Mark through it! Black pins Mark at 12:48! Bell to bell action with more insane spots than this low rated Saturday night show probably deserves. I'd like to see this big win for the House of Black lead to something interesting, ***½.
Winners: The House of Black
Final Thoughts: The in-ring action was good-to-great all night long and they provided enough angles and storyline advancement to make this episode feel necessary to appreciating the bigger picture of the AEW saga. I recommend this breezy 2 hour event to anyone already invested in AEW, but if you're on the outside looking in, you'd probably be better starting with the recent Revolution PPV or follow up Dynamite.
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