Posted on 9/14/125 by Bob Magee
It was another jam-packed Saturday night in South
Philadelphia, as we were back in the 2300 Arena one more
time on the final night of our residency for AEW Collision!
In the main event, Daniel Garcia and Jon Moxley teamed
together for the first time as the Death Riders took on
Paragon’s Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong. The AEW Unified
Championship Tournament got underway with Konosuke Takeshita
defeating Anthony Bowens and Kazuchika Okada beating Michael
Oku to defend the AEW Unified Championship. We would see
Bowens again later in the night, but surprisingly alongside
Max Caster and Jerry Lynn.
Mark Briscoe had a surprise for MJF in addition to creating
a Tables ‘n’ Thumbtacks Match as the stipulation for their
battle next week at All Out in Toronto. Half a million
dollars was won by Megan Bayne, Penelope Ford, and Triangle
of Madness, but it was the AEW Women’s World Champion
“Timeless” Toni Storm who laughed last. Plus, FTR faced Adam
Priest and “Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington in a rematch, and
Big Bill set a date with Eddie Kingston!
Mark Briscoe Delivers the Stipulations to MJF
Ian Riccoboni welcomed us to AEW Collision from the middle
of the ring, as he was tasked with introducing “The man who
will accept any stipulation Mark Briscoe sets for All Out.
The Casino Gauntlet Contract Holder, the CMLL World
Champion, and the longest reigning AEW Champion ever,
Maxwell Jacob Friedman, MJF.”
MJF immediately got in Riccaboni’s face and told him he was
going to stand there and be his little mic stand.
After throwing a couple of insults to the Philadelphia crowd
about their intelligence, MJF turned his attention to
Briscoe. He said what he did last week was an eye for an
eye; because Briscoe cost him the AEW World Title at
Forbidden Door, he cost Briscoe his chance.
We got a reminder of how big of a star MJF is both in and
out of the ring: “I was born better. It’s in my blood. You
were born broke. Mediocrity is in yours.”
He ran down Briscoe’s blue collar work ethic that makes him
a folk hero, and then reminded Briscoe of some selective
truth: “Blue collar will bust and white collar will win.”
We then heard Mark Briscoe’s voice from somewhere in the
2300 Arena: “Max! Look at you, Max, you pathetic little
man.”
Briscoe thanked MJF for allowing him to feel an excitement
he hadn’t felt since he was a little boy waiting for Santa
Claus. That’s because MJF allowed him to pick the
stipulation for their match at All Out. But there’s been so
many thoughts and ideas in his head, and it’s been hard to
land on anything because everything sounded so good.
Briscoe rhetorically asked Philly if they knew anything
about tables? He saw Sabu put at least 100-some-odd people
through tables in this very building! But that wasn’t
enough.
“Hey Max, you’re a generational prick, so how about tables
and thumbtacks?”
Briscoe said he was talking about hundreds of thousands of
thumbtacks: "T ‘N’ T match, tables, thumbtacks, all in a no
disqualification environment where of course anything and
everything could go down. But Max, I think that’ll be
sufficient for the ass-whooping you been-had comin’!”
Briscoe then suggested MJF’s new wife should have done
something similar when he left her the night after their
wedding to sneak attack Briscoe in the main event of last
week’s AEW Collision. And then Briscoe remembered, he hadn’t
given MJF his wedding gift.
“Turn around, dumbass!”
Back in the ring, MJF turned around right into a tackle from
Briscoe!
Briscoe beat MJF down and revealed a bag of tacks! After
spreading hundreds of tacks all over the mat, Briscoe nearly
dropped MJF onto all of them with a Jay Driller, but Max was
able to escape up the ramp.
How Daniel Garcia Joined the Death Riders
We went back to the post-match melee from the main event of
AEW Dynamite when it looked like Darby Allin was about to
strike a dangerous blow to Jon Moxley only to be attacked by
a hooded individual who revealed himself to be Daniel
Garcia. With Moxley barking out orders, Garcia continued the
beatdown of Allin, stomping his face on a chair in hideous
fashion before exiting the 2300 Arena alongside Moxley and
Marina Shafir.
Paragon and Hologram Interrupted by Clon?
Before Lexy Nair could ask any questions to Kyle O’Reilly,
Roderick Strong, and Hologram, the screen flashed to
familiar red-tinted code that keeps mentioning the
mysterious Clon. Just as quickly as it appeared, it
disappeared, and we were back to the original interview.
O’Reilly and Strong addressed the actions of Garcia on
Dynamite, wondering what happened to him and why he accepted
the offer from Jon Moxley to become part of the Death
Riders. Strong promised to beat both of their asses in the
tag match later tonight. O’Reilly touched Hologram to make
sure he was real before walking off.
AEW Unified Championship Tournament: “The Alpha” Konosuke
Takeshita def. Anthony Bowens
In the opening minutes, neither Takeshita nor Bowens was
able to strike an advantage until the speed of Takeshita was
put on full display with a leaping clothesline that looked
like he jumped across the entire ring!
On commentary, Don Callis tried to quiet any concerns of his
having both Takeshita and Okada in the Family and their
potential matchup in the 3-Way Match. Meanwhile, Bowens
turned things around by hitting a floatover DDT followed by
a neckbreaker for an early two-count!
Bowens stayed on the attack in the corner with a targeted
effort on Takeshita’s left leg only to inflict even more
damage with a post-to-post whip sending Takeshita’s shoulder
clanging off the metal before crashing to the floor. Giving
his opponent no chance to recover, Bowens quickly scaled the
ropes and delivered a huge crossbody to the floor!
A determined Bowens stayed on the attack, and while he
couldn’t keep Takeshita down, the damage started to add up.
That was until Takeshita turned a reversal into a jaw-jacker
to finally show some signs of life.
Takeshita and Bowens began trading shots in the middle of
the ring, but it was Bowens who impressively got the best of
Takeshita with his Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot combo, yet
Takeshita managed to kick out.
Bowens went for a Fame-Asser, but Takeshita was ready for it
and turned it into a poisonrana! Somehow Bowens fought
through it to hit the jumping Fame-Asser on the second
attempt! Because of the exhaustion, Bowens couldn’t get over
for the pin in due time and Takeshita kicked out once again.
Takeshita had Bowens set up for a superplex, yet Bowens
showed off all of his skills by escaping to the mat, taking
Takeshita off the ropes with a kick, and finishing it off
with an innovative draping neckbreaker. And still Takeshita
kicked out at two!
Another exchange of strikes went in Takeshita’s favor this
time, and he initially had the advantage with a big fallway
slam. Bowens immediately bounced back with an urange slam
only for Takeshita to turn the pin attempt into one of his
own. Bowens escaped and knocked Takeshita out of the ring
with The Mollywhop!
After getting Takeshita back in the ring, Bowens was unable
to capitalize on a second Mollywhop attempt, as Takeshita
turned it into a Blue Thunder Bomb. A big knee to the jaw
followed and sensing victory, Takeshita finished Bowens off
with the Raging Fire to advance to the 3-way finals of the
AEW Unified Championship Tournament at All Out in Toronto
next Saturday!
Máscara Dorada is Ready for The Beast Mortos
Máscara Dorada knows the road to All Out and the AEW Unified
Championship Eliminator Finals won’t be easy and he’ll have
to go through The Beast Mortos this Wednesday on AEW
September to Remember. And he’ll do whatever it takes to be
the Mexican to represent Lucha Libre at All Out.
$500K 10-Woman Tag: Megan Bayne & Triangle of Madness
(Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue) def. Kris Statlander,
Harley Cameron, Jamie Hayter, Tay Melo & Anna Jay (with
“Timeless” Toni Storm on commentary)
With half a million dollars went up for grabs, we were
graced by the presence of AEW Women’s World Champion
“Timeless” Toni Storm, who joined Tony Schiavone and Nigel
McGuinness on commentary. She closely inspected the money to
confirm it was legal tender.
Earlier today, Lexy Nair caught up with Kris Statlander,
Harley Cameron, Tay Melo, Anna Jay, and Jamie Hayter ahead
of their Collision with $500K on the line, noting the
tension that existed between Statlander and Hayter with
their upcoming AEW Women’s Championship 4-Way Match just one
week away. Harley tried to cut that tension with her
trademark personality, even acknowledging most of them have
tagged together before. Anna Jay made it clear she wanted
nothing to do with the Death Riders. Statlander quickly
denied any affiliation with them and then reminded Hayter
she took her head off on Dynamite. Tensions were clearly
high between the teammates.
As the two teams were about to face off, Wheeler Yuta
appeared on the apron and once again shared some words with
Statlander. It looked like Megan Bayne would start things
off with Statlander, but Hayter tagged a very annoyed
Statlander on the back.
Hayter and Bayne both tried to use their power, but to no
avail, so it was a trade of big boots that finally caused
some damage. Cameron made the tag in to resume her rivalry
with Bayne, as Storm offered up some comments about Harley
and Jim Henson that only the AEW Women’s World Champion
could conjure up.
TayJay went to work on Ford with some fluid tandem offense,
and while Melo rained down blows on Ford, the rest of her
team came in with everyone pairing off in a corner for a 10-
count (50-count?) of punches! Thekla and company turned the
tables by getting their own shots in and the advantage began
to swing in their favor.
Melo was in trouble for some time until Statlander made the
tag to briefly get her team back into the match only for
Hart to chop block her knee. Statlander had a chance to tag
back out, but her entire team was taken out by the opposite
corner.
Bayne and Ford smelled blood in the water, as they picked
apart Statlander with a combo powerslam and moonsault,
although she was able to kick out. Then it was time for Blue
and Hart to get their tag team offense, or at least that was
their plan until Statlander ran through them both with
clotheslines.
And here comes Jamie Hayter!
Hayter went right to work on Hart and Blue and quickly
reversed a suplex into a double version of her own. With
Hayter unaware that Bayne had tagged in, she swung Blue into
a big spinebuster only to turn right into a Falcon Arrow
from Bayne. Statlander made the save for Bayne, clearly
willing to forgive the shot she got from Bayne just days ago
on Dynamite.
Ford and Bayne hit some more tandem offense, but were slowed
by TayJay. Then, Hart and Blue took control back, albeit
briefly, with stereo kicks, until Statlander and Cameron hit
their pendulum facebreaker on Hart. All 10 women went at it,
with the ring finally clearing for Hayter and Bayne. They
traded big shots in the middle of the ring only to drop each
other with a clothesline. Jay and Thekla tagged in, and
Thekla used her signature spider pose to duck under a blow
from Jay before cutting her in half with a spear and the
win. That makes Triangle of Madness, Bayne, and Ford $500K
richer!
After the match, all hell broke loose outside the ring and
the chaos only continued when Mina Shirakawa ran down with a
cooler and Queen Aminata followed with a spatula. As the fan
favorite allies started to turn things around, Storm jumped
up on the commentary desk and yelled, “Let’s brawl,
bitches!” And with that Storm dove off the desk!
Back in the ring, Hayter and Statlander took each other out
with dueling crossbodies. Thekla got an advantage on Storm,
just as she did on Dynamite, but this time Storm turned the
spear attempt into a Storm Zero! She celebrated her
performance over one of her fallen challengers ahead of her
4-Way AEW Women’s World Championship defense next week at
All Out.
Max Caster Open Challenge: Big Bill def. Max Caster
There was no time for fanfare from Caster tonight, as he
went right to the clock and it was time to find out Who Can
Survive The Best Wrestler Alive™? With five minutes on the
clock, it was time to find out who would step up to Max
tonight.
Big Bill made his way to the ring with Bryan Keith, and
Caster didn’t look thrilled. With 3:07 left on the clock,
Bill put Caster away with his patented sidewalk slam. After
the match, Bill called out Eddie Kingston once again, just
as he did last week.
“Eddie, these people love you because you look like you do
and you represent them. And these people hate me because I
look like I do…and I’m sick of it!”
Bill said he doesn’t give a damn about Japanese wrestling,
Eddie Kingston, or the audience in attendance in
Philadelphia.
In a post on Threads responding to the original challenge,
Kingston asked for the location. Bill answered by saying,
“Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Next Saturday at All Out!”
Jerry Lynn Attempts to Reunite Max Caster and Anthony Bowens
Jerry Lynn reminded Anthony Bowens about his comments from
last week, noting that instead of having Bowens look in the
mirror to figure out what’s missing, he should have said
who’s missing. Before Bowens could respond, Max Caster came
through the curtain, accidentally bumping into Bowens. That
set Bowens off and he started attacking Caster!
The two fought back down the aisle, with Bowens throwing
Caster into the guardrail as they continued to move towards
the ring. Caster threw a desperate shot that connected and
dropped Bowens. Bowens began to recover and got back on
Caster until Lynn came into the ring to stop him. Bowens
stopped short of hitting Lynn, but then had to listen.
Lynn questioned both Caster and Bowens, reminding them he
was in Tony Khan’s office when they became a tag team. Then,
he reminded them of their lack of success since breaking up.
Bowens started to exit, but we heard the voice of Blake
Christian, who was with Lee Johnson, the team known as The
Swirl.
Christian began running down Lynn, a legend who made his
debut in the 2300 Arena, and said he should be concentrating
on The Swirl, not Caster and Bowens. With that, Christian
and Johnson hit the ring to attack Lynn when he demanded
they show him what he was missing. Lynn held his own for a
few brief moments until The Swirl was too much for him.
Caster returned to his feet to even the odds, but it still
wasn’t enough. As Bowens struggled with what to do, the
Philadelphia crowd erupted when he got back in the ring to
help Lynn and Caster! The three cleared the ring of
Christian and Johnson with Caster and Bowens finishing the
job with a double clothesline!
Lynn raised both of their hands to huge applause, although
there was clearly some pause about the whole situation on
the faces of both Caster and Bowens, as they exited on
opposite sides of the ring.
MJF Meets Místico in the Parking Lot
Lexy Nair attempted to get a word with Místico ahead of his
match with MJF this Friday at Arena México for CMLL’s 92nd
Aniversário with Místico’s mask on the line. Just then, MJF
showed up with his CMLL World Title and Jon Cruz, who was
wearing an Abe Lincoln-style stovepipe hat. MJF said he’d be
removing Místico’s mask once again, just like he’s done many
times before. And then he’s going to Toronto to beat up Mark
Briscoe. MJF exited, but Cruz remained to talk some trash to
Místico and didn’t realize he was alone. Místico slapped him
to the ground and told MJF he’d see him next week in “his
house”.
FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) def. “Dynamite Kid” Tommy
Billington & Adam Priest
For the second straight week, we were treated to Dax Harwood
and Cash Wheeler getting another strong challenge from
“Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington and Adam Priest.
Billington started things off with Harwood, but one arm drag
from Billington caused Harwood to tag out to Wheeler.
Billington got the better of Wheeler for a quick exchange,
so Cash decided to tag back in.
Priest tagged in and found himself trapped in the corner by
Harwood, who kept it basic and brutal with punches and
chops. Priest escaped to the outside and Harwood made a
mistake with a chop that only connected with the ring post.
Cash smartly got within striking distance of his own corner
and hit a belly-to-back suplex from the top rope on
Billington to take total control.
After taking quite a beating, Billington finally tagged
Priest back in, and he went to work on both Harwood and
Wheeler before getting low-bridged over the top, which sent
him crashing to the floor.
This time it was Priest getting picked apart by FTR, as they
verbally berated him. Priest kept fighting back and nearly
had a tag, but Harwood ran to the opposite apron to cut it
off. Billington chopped Harwood from the top rope and
Billington followed by clotheslining Harwood to the outside.
Priest cut off Wheeler by running up the turnbuckles to hit
one of the most innovative tornado DDTs you will see, with
Wheeler going head first into the apron!
Priest and Billington hit stereo diving headbutts from the
top onto Harwood, but Wheeler got in to make the save.
Billington locked Cash in a crossface while Priest subdued
Wheeler in the ropes, although in the confusion, Wheeler was
able to pull the bottom turnbuckle cover off.
Harwood escaped the crossface while Wheeler sent Priest into
an outside pillar with a slingshot. Back in the ring,
Harwood made Billington go face-first into the exposed
buckle before hitting an almost lazy powerbomb which
Billington immediately turned into a pin attempt for a two!
But ultimately, Billington walked into a Spike Piledriver
from FTR, and they picked up the win.
AEW World Tag Team Championship 4-Way Ladder Match Set for
All Out
AEW World Tag Team Champions Brodido will defend their
titles at All Out in a 4-Way Ladder Match, but first we’ll
see Top Flight take on Josh Alexander and Hechicero next
week to see who will move onto that match. Joining them will
be the winners of JetSpeed vs. Killswitch and Kip Sabian and
Bang Bang Gang vs. Young Bucks.
AEW Unified Championship Match: “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika
Okada (c) def. Michael Oku
It was time to see who would be joining Konosuke Takeshita
in the finals of the AEW Unified Championship Tournament 3-
Way Match at All Out. With the AEW Unified Championship on
the line, Kazuchika Okada was set to face Michael Oku.
Okada tried to get some separation on the outside early on,
but Oku followed him with a flop dive to the outside. Oku
got Okada back in the ring and looked to capitalize on his
hot start, but Okada dropkicked him from the top rope all
the way to the floor! On commentary, Don Callis called for
the meat wagon. It was that ugly of a fall.
The neck of Oku became the focus of Okada’s attack, and the
effects were obvious. A big elbow from the top put Oku in a
bad spot, yet he was able to block a Rainmaker attempt and
fought his way back into the match. He even snuck in a
standing moonsault for a two-count.
Okada was reeling and Oku knew it, so he quickly locked in a
half crab to cut the champion down to size. Okada was able
to escape and hit his patented dropkick once again, catching
Oku with it out of mid-air. Oku blocked another Rainmaker,
but he couldn’t stop a Tombstone Piledriver after Okada
blocked the roll-up attempt. The champion finally connected
with the Rainmaker, and Okada retained the AEW Unified
Championship to advance to the AEW Unified Championship
Tournament 3-Way Match at All Out.
One of his opponents and fellow Don Callis Family member
Konosuke Takeshita made his way down the aisle and gestured
for the title. Could the gold come between the Family?
We saw a package recapping Kyle Fletcher’s challenge of AEW
World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page, with Fletcher saying
that Page already had his fairy tale ending. Fletcher is
ready to recreate AEW in his image.
Jon Moxley & Daniel Garcia of the Death Riders def. Paragon
(Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong)
Daniel Garcia made his first entrance as a member of the
Death Riders alongside Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir. We saw
a different look to Garcia’s ring gear, as he switched to
black shorts, black kneepads, and short black wrestling
boots. In fact, there were certainly some similarities to
some of Moxley’s previous gear in what Garcia was wearing.
Daddy Magic was on commentary, yet he couldn’t offer much
insight on what had happened to Garcia.
Garcia started things off and seemed to have a different
level of focus. And his actions in the ring backed it up, as
he had no issues taking it to O’Reilly and Strong. Moxley
looked from the apron with approval, but it was Garcia who
really had things in control for the Death Riders.
At one point, Garcia went down on the outside, and Shafir
showed a willingness to help Garcia off the ground, much
like she did the last time Garcia faced Moxley. However,
this time, Garcia seemed to appreciate the gesture, as the
camaraderie was already apparent just days after Garcia
officially joined the group.
Moxley and Garcia continued to grind down O’Reilly in their
corner until Strong finally made the tag and unloaded on
both Garcia and Moxley. Strong isolated Moxley in the ring
and hit a superplex, yet he didn’t have a chance to do
anything else since Moxley rolled it into a guillotine. That
brought O’Reilly and Garcia back into the ring and all four
men took each other out!
Moxley locked the Bulldog Choke on Strong while Garcia had a
kneebar on O’Reilly, but it was O’Reilly who broke the
choke, allowing Strong to roll up Mox for a two-count.
O’Reilly hit a running knee to a seated Mox on the outside,
but he was saved from further damage by Shafir. Back in the
ring, O’Reilly trapped Garcia in an armbar until Moxley
broke it up with a violent stomp. Garcia immediately locked
in the Dragontamer and O’Reilly tapped out. A win for the
Death Riders ended the night, but not before Daddy Magic had
words for Garcia, with Shafir and Moxley watching on. Garcia
ignored the pleas and shouts, and the Death Riders left
through the crowd without incident.
And that will do it from Philadelphia for a wonderful and
perfectly chaotic three-week residency!
Catch AEW September to Remember at 8/7c on TBS and streaming
on HBO Max from Canada Life Place in London, Ontario!
Tickets On Sale Now! – www.AEWTix.com
And remember… We are AEW—Where The Best Wrestle!