Posted on 3/08/126 by Bob Magee
Tonight seemed like the perfect time to make our debut in
Tucson, Arizona, for AEW Collision on TNT and streaming on
HBO Max! With AEW Revolution now just eight days away on
March 15 in Los Angeles, the pressure and tension continue
to mount where the best wrestle!
AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR took everything that The
Rascalz could throw at them, but Dax Harwood and Cash
Wheeler were able to retain their titles against Zachary
Wentz and Dezmond Xavier. Later, FTR watched as Tommaso
Ciampa viciously attacked Mark Briscoe after he
inadvertently got involved in Ciampa’s loss to Daniel
Garcia!
In the main event, Konosuke Takeshita battled through an
injured arm to outlast Claudio Castagnoli. After the match,
Takeshita and Jon Moxley exchanged words, but it turned into
a brawl when Hechicero and Castagnoli got involved!
Plus, “Timeless” Toni Storm will face Marina Shafir at
Revolution! Swerve Strickland made quick work of Gravity and
had some tough love for “The Jet” Kevin Knight. And Private
Party walked away with $200K after winning a 4-Way Tag
Match!
Check out everything that went down on a great Saturday
night of action from Tucson! Here are your complete
Collision results.
AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: FTR (Dax Harwood and
Cash Wheeler) with Big Stoke (c) def. The Rascalz (Zachary
Wentz and Dezmond Xavier)
We started hot with the AEW World Tag Team Championship
Match! Wentz and Wheeler started for their respective sides,
as Stokely jawed with Tony Schiavone, who was just trying to
do his job on commentary. Wheeler worked Wentz into the FTR
corner, and Harwood tagged in, but Wentz escaped back to his
corner before they could do any damage. Wentz worked Harwood
to the mat, so Harwood got back to his feet and pushed Wentz
into the corner to deliver a slap. Wentz came back with one
of his own, and Harwood bailed to the floor to regroup!
Xavier tagged in for the first time, but Harwood quickly got
him to the corner and unloaded with a pair of big strikes
until Xavier fought out of it. Harwood cut off the comeback
and tossed Xavier to the floor. While the referee was
preoccupied in the ring, Stokely choked Xavier from the
wheelchair. Xavier fought off both members of FTR until
Wentz came out of nowhere with a tornillo over the top to
the floor! After the two teams fought on the outside, Xavier
got Harwood back into the ring and remained in control until
he tagged in Wentz to come off the top onto Harwood’s arm.
FTR lured Wentz to the outside for a misdirection that put
him on the floor thanks to a massive clothesline! The champs
were in control!
FTR worked right out of their typical playbook by cutting
off the ring to keep Wentz away from a much-needed tag to
Xavier. Wentz started to fight off both members of FTR,
encouraged by the crowd, allowing him to get a couple of
surprise near-falls on Harwood. Wheeler came in, but Wentz
escaped FTR with some high-impact offense and finally tagged
Xavier! Xavier unloaded on both members of FTR, including a
stunner on Harwood and a big dropkick to send Wheeler to the
floor. Harwood recovered and delivered a three-strike combo
to put Xavier on the mat. Wentz returned to even the sides,
and they nearly pinned both members of FTR at once with
sunset flips! Wentz and Xavier hit stereo dives to Harwood
and Wheeler on the floor! They threw Harwood back in so
Xavier could come off the top with a frog splash, and Wentz
followed with a swanton bomb. 1-2-Harwood kicked out, and
the Rascalz were stunned!
Harwood escaped Wentz on the top rope and pulled him down on
the turnbuckle. Meanwhile, Wheeler knocked Xavier off the
top and then took him out with a dive to the outside! Back
in the ring, Harwood hit an avalanche back suplex, but this
time Wentz kicked out! Harwood and Wentz got back to their
feet and started slugging it out before switching to chops.
Wentz lit up Harwood and nearly took the match with a small
package. Harwood grabbed Wentz from behind, so Wheeler came
in, but Wentz back body dropped him and tagged Xavier. He
superkicked Harwood into a German suplex from Wentz, but
Harwood kicked out at the last moment! The Rascalz tried Hot
Fire Flame, but Harwood got his knees up and rolled Wentz
into a pinning predicament for a two-count. FTR picked up
Wentz for their version of the Young Bucks’ BTE Trigger and
connected! They tried to mock the Bucks again with a
flipping piledriver, but Xavier pulled Wheeler off the
apron. That allowed Wentz to roll Harwood up for a near-
fall. Harwood ran into Xavier on the apron, which allowed
Wentz to get another two-count on a rollup. Wentz nailed a
combo on Harwood, but turned his back to go to the ropes and
bounced right into a Shatter Machine! That was enough for
the three-count, and FTR retained the AEW World Tag Team
Titles!
As FTR made their exit, Mark Briscoe entered to do guest
commentary for the next match. The old rivals exchanged a
few words before going their separate ways.
Anthony Bowens Thinks He Can Be a Killer for The Opps
With Katsuyori Shibata manning the camera, HOOK continued
his recruitment backstage, but Anthony Bowens quickly
summoned him. Bowens said he thought a lot about what HOOK
said last week, and that HOOK can be a “killer” if HOOK lets
him show it. HOOK said that if Bowens wanted to show he
could be a killer, then he should grab the camera from
Shibata. Bowens questioned it until HOOK said to trust him.
Bowens grabbed the camera and followed HOOK and Shibata.
They went up to a random person and asked if he wrestled
(yes!) and wanted to be part of The Opps (yes again!). Then,
HOOK said, “Quick test. Show me how you get out of this.”
HOOK put REDRUM on the guy, and he went to sleep quickly.
Bowens asked if he should give the camera back to Shibata,
but HOOK said to follow them as they continued walking
backstage.
Daniel Garcia of the Death Riders def. “Psycho Killer”
Tommaso Ciampa
Former TNT Champion Mark Briscoe was on commentary for this
battle of two other former TNT Champions! Tucson was on fire
for this first-time match before the bell even rang!
Ciampa frustrated Garcia at the outset, so he bailed to the
outside. Garcia came back in and escaped an arm-wringer so
he could slap Ciampa. That was a poor decision, as Ciampa
whipped Garcia from corner to corner with chops, punctuating
each trip. Ciampa mounted Garcia for punches in the corner,
but stopped on the 10th punch to do Garcia’s old dance right
in his face!
Garcia didn’t like that, so he charged at Ciampa, but ran
right into a big right hand followed by a neckbreaker.
Garcia went to the apron, so Ciampa met him and tried a
suplex. Garcia blocked it and hit a dragon whip over the
ropes! Garcia pulled Ciampa to the corner and repeatedly
slammed his left knee into the steel post! Garcia continued
to target the knee with punishment all over the ringside
area.
Back in the ring, Garcia sat on the top turnbuckle and
pulled Ciampa up with a choke! He let him go and posed, but
when Garcia came off the top, Ciampa met him with a bicycle
knee! Ciampa avoided a pair of clotheslines and hit one of
his own before throwing Garcia to the floor. Garcia tried to
rush back in, so Ciampa met him on the apron with a knee
lift! With Garcia back on the floor, Ciampa went out after
him and slammed his head into the announce table multiple
times before slapping hands with an encouraging Briscoe.
Ciampa returned to the ring, but Garcia cut him off with a
kick. Ciampa tried to slap his way out of Garcia’s grasp,
but Garcia took him down with another dragon screw. Garcia
was locked in a half crab, so Ciampa kicked out of it, which
led to Garcia switching to a crossface. Ciampa bit Garcia to
get out of it! Garcia came flying back with a shotgun
dropkick and mounted Ciampa in the corner for punches. He
paused after the ninth to taunt the crowd, but it cost him,
as Ciampa grabbed him and nailed a huge Project Ciampa for a
near-fall!
As Ciampa hobbled to the outside, Garcia took his leg out on
the apron. With Ciampa down, Garcia jawed at Briscoe and
then pie-faced him! Garcia went back to the ring, but got
caught in a small package by Ciampa for a two-count! Briscoe
got on the apron, so Garcia reversed a whip and sent Ciampa
into Briscoe! Garcia caught Ciampa in a jackknife pin to get
the three-count out of nowhere for the win! Briscoe entered
the ring after the match, but Ciampa argued with him.
Briscoe extended a hand to squash the beef, only for Ciampa
to slap it away! As Briscoe went back up the ramp, FTR and
Stoke went by him on their way back to the ring. Harwood and
Wheeler got into a face-off with Ciampa, so Briscoe returned
to have Ciampa’s back. FTR tried to cool things down with
Briscoe as Ciampa left the ring. He got Briscoe to leave,
and the two went back up the ramp together. As they got to
the top, Ciampa grabbed Briscoe and ran him into the video
boards! He dropped his kneepad and ran across the stage to
put his knee across Briscoe’s head! Ciampa wiped Briscoe’s
bandana on his backside and threw it on his crumpled body.
FTR applauded what they saw from the ring.
Before they face off in the main event, we took a look back
at the last time Claudio Castagnoli and Konosuke Takeshita
met one-on-one, a time-limit draw in the Continental Classic
last December.
Swerve Strickland def. Gravity
Swerve controlled Gravity from the jump and quickly shut him
down with a big boot. Gravity got some separation and went
to the top, where he came off with an armdrag. That angered
Swerve more than anything, so he chopped Gravity to the mat.
Gravity backdropped out of Swerve’s grasp and kicked him in
the back! Gravity went into his moonwalk and rolled Swerve
into a near-fall. Gravity sent Swerve to the floor, so
Swerve jumped on the apron to cut off Gravity’s dive
attempt. Gravity slid under and tried a powerbomb, but
Swerve hung onto the ropes and stomped Gravity on the apron!
Swerve walked down the apron with a kick to Gravity! He went
to the floor and threw Gravity into the steel steps. Swerve
tried to add insult to injury by ripping at Gravity’s mask!
Swerve repeatedly slammed Gravity into the turnbuckles and
then came off the top with a Swerve Stomp! Swerve finished
Gravity off with a House Call for the pinfall victory!
Kris Statlander Wants Another Shot at Thekla
Former AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander spoke
after Dynamite last week and reminded Thekla that they have
each defeated the other. At Revolution, she wants to go to
battle again in a two-out-of-three falls match for the AEW
Women’s Championship! Statlander said Thekla’s killing is
coming…twice!
AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla Responds To Kris
Statlander
Thekla came out to the stage to repeatedly deny Statlander’s
idea of a two-out-of-three falls match at Revolution. Thekla
said she’s not listening to Statlander, and since when does
the challenger get to make the match? On second thought,
what makes Statlander think she can beat Thekla twice? All
of a sudden, Statlander wears sunglasses because she can’t
look Thekla in the eye? She wears leather like Thekla?
Thekla took out Thunder Rosa, but now Statlander should take
her own advice and be careful. Thekla draped herself over
the top rope in a frightening pose, delivering one last
chilling line.
“Everything you’re afraid of…IS EVERYTHING I AM!”
Preview of Close Up with Renee Paquette: AEW Continental
Champion Jon Moxley
Renee Paquette walked the streets with Jon Moxley and talked
about his no-time limit AEW Continental Championship match
with Konosuke Takeshita next Sunday at Revolution. Moxley
said you need opponents like Takeshita. He’s not scared, but
he knows Takeshita can beat him. But that’s not happening.
Moxley can’t see it any other way. The full interview will
be available this Tuesday on AEW’s YouTube channel!
$200K 4-Way Tag Match: Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq
Quen) def. The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum),
LFI (RUSH and Dralístico) and The Swirl (Blake Christian and
Lee Johnson)
Former ROH World Champion and the partner of Turbo Floyd and
Truth Magnum, Dalton Castle, joined commentary for this big-
money matchup! All four teams got involved in the opening
minutes. Still, the biggest impact came from RUSH, who beat
Private Party around the ringside area before sending
Kassidy back into the ring for Dralístico to continue the
punishment. The Swirl and LFI worked together on Kassidy and
then exchanged some pleasantries, but with $200K on the
line, they went after each other! RUSH and Dralístico took
control, but it didn’t last long, as the Outrunners finally
entered to slam everybody!
Floyd and Magnum met Christian on the top rope, where Floyd
superplexed Christian to the floor onto their other
opponents! Kassidy found his way back into the mix and
fought Dralístico on the apron. Dralístico took Kassidy to
the floor with a hurricanrana! RUSH and Dralístico double-
team Quen with a German suplex and dropkick combo. Floyd cut
off RUSH with a clothesline and started to fire up with
Magnum, but Christian and Johnson stopped them. Kassidy and
The Swirl exchanged kicks until Kassidy was hung in the tree
of woe. He was hit with a poisonrana by Johnson, followed by
an assisted destroyer, but Quen came in to break up the pin
attempt!
Kassidy fought out of the corner to hit Johnson with a
destroyer! He grabbed Christian for a neckbreaker as Quen
came off the top with a double stomp! Quen put Johnson on
his shoulders, and Kassidy came off the top with the
doomsday cutter! That was enough to get the three-count, and
Private Party won the $200K! They celebrated with their bag
of cash around the ring!
JetSpeed is Ready to Refocus, but Swerve has Questions for
Kevin Knight
Lexy Nair was with Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey and asked
Knight about losing two title matches on Dynamite. Knight
said he had MJF looking up at The Jet for 13 seconds, and
while he knows other opportunities will come, he feels like
he let his team down by losing the AEW World Trios Titles.
Bailey stopped him and said the team lost, and while they
appreciated “Hangman” Adam Page’s help, his situation with
MJF did complicate things a bit. But now, they’ll tag with
Mistico to try to win the AEW World Trios Titles back from
the Don Callis Family.
Nair asked if Bailey was ready to hold two championships,
since this Wednesday on Dynamite, he’ll face “The Protostar”
Kyle Fletcher for the TNT Championship. Bailey had no
concerns with two title matches in the same week and said
he’s beaten Fletcher before and can do it again. And then
he’ll take his “pretty pink TNT Championship.”
“Then why didn’t he?”
The voice we heard was Swerve Strickland, who walked up with
Prince Nana and told Nair to leave. Swerve asked Bailey why
Knight didn’t know what it took to win. He turned his
attention to Knight and asked why every time Knight seemed
to have hit a foot on the neck of his opponent, he didn’t
apply the pressure. He told Knight that if he wanted to
compete amongst killers, he had to become a killer.
The Babes of Wrath Attacked by Megan Bayne and Lena Kross
Earlier today, Renee Paquette tried to get a word with AEW
Women’s World Tag Team Champions, Harley Cameron and TBS
Champion Willow Nightingale, but Bayne and Kross attacked
them! While the Babes did their best to fight them off,
Bayne and Kross were too much and left the champions lying!
Tag Team Match: “Megasus” Megan Bayne & “Colossal” Lena
Kross def. Timeless Love Bombs (“Timeless” Toni Storm and
Mina Shirakawa)
Bayne and Shirakawa opened the match with Bayne getting
early control with her power. Kross tagged in, and they
tried to double-team Cameron, but Storm came in to save her
partner. Kross and Bayne snatched Storm and Shirakawa for
stereo fallaway slams! Kross took Shirakawa on a ride with a
tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. She tagged Bayne back in, but
Shirakawa was able to break free and tag Storm! She went
right to work on Bayne and put her down with a standing hip
attack. Kross tried to make the save, but was also sent to
the outside. Storm helped send Shirakawa to the top, then
down to the floor, onto Bayne and Kross with a crossbody!
Storm missed a hip attack to Bayne on the apron, so Kross
dropped Storm face-first on the apron! Bayne came flying out
of the ring to take out Storm, Shirakawa and Luther with a
huge dive!
Kross and Bayne did a fantastic job keeping Storm away from
Shirakawa for several minutes until Storm fought away to tag
Shirakawa! Shirakawa took Bayne down with a kick from the
top, followed by a DDT off the ropes to Kross! Shirakawa put
Bayne back down with headscissors, followed by a shotgun
dropkick! She tagged Storm, who dropped Shirakawa on Bayne
for an assisted tornillo. That got a two-count, and Bayne
fought right back to hit a fallaway slam/Samoan drop combo
on Storm and Shirakawa. Bayne went to the top, but Shirakawa
cut her off, and Storm recovered to help. However, it was
Kross who came in to assist the superplex to take everyone
down!
All four women exchanged huge shots until Storm and Bayne
were left. Storm nailed Bayne with a hip attack in the
corner and tagged Shirakawa, who came off the top with a
slingblade. Bayne kicked out at two! Shirakawa locked on the
figure four, but Bayne rolled it over to reverse the
pressure. Storm rolled it back for Mina. Kross rolled it
back for Bayne. Storm came back and rolled it back for Mina.
Kross came back and hit a senton splash on Mina!
While Storm waited in the corner, Marina Shafir came out of
nowhere and pulled her off the apron! She took Storm under
the ring! Meanwhile, Bayne floored Shirakawa with a flying
clothesline, and Kross finished Shirakawa with a jackhammer
to get the win!
Mark Briscoe Has a Challenge for Tommaso Ciampa and FTR
Briscoe said something has felt off about Ciampa since he
came to AEW, until tonight. Ciampa back-jumped him, and
that’s the Ciampa Briscoe remembered. Briscoe said shame on
him for letting his guard down. But shame on Ciampa for
being a coward. And now he’s aligned himself with FTR? Two
of the greatest rivals of the Briscoes? Well, now that the
numbers aren’t in Briscoe’s favor, he had to get on the
phone with another set of rivals. So how about this
Wednesday on Dynamite, Ciampa and FTR vs. DEM BUCKS!
Trios Match: The Dogs (“War Ready” Gabe Kidd, “100 Proof”
Clark Connors and David Finlay) def. Cosmo Orion, Gmo
Kaminari & Jaden Monroe
It seemed like Finley would start the match, but Kidd walked
right by him to knock Kaminari and Orion off the apron.
Connors speared Monroe, and Finlay followed with a
powerbomb. The Dogs absolutely decimated their three
opponents in what Schiavone called “a mugging.” Monroe ate a
brainbuster from Connors, a piledriver from Kidd and an
Overkill knee from Finlay before Finlay pinned him in a
dominant victory!
“Timeless” Toni Storm Wants Marina Shafir at Revolution
Before the main event, Storm appeared on stage and called
for Marina Shafir.
“All you do is talk about competition, so why is it that the
only one with a set of ovaries to fight alone is Jon bloody
Moxley? Marina, we are going to Hollywoodland, and this is
what I want: Everyone, EVERYONE, banned from ringside—just
you and me, and nobody to stop us. And then I want my AEW
Women’s World Championship back! Chin up, tits out, and I’ll
see you and only you at Revolution!”
Persephone Won the CMLL World Women’s Championship from
Mercedes Moné
We took a look at highlights from last night’s CMLL event,
where Mercedes Moné lost the CMLL World Women’s Championship
to Persephone. Now, Persephone will get her shot at the TBS
Championship against Willow Nightingale on Dynamite this
Wednesday!
NJPW World TV Champion “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita of the
Don Callis Family def. CMLL World Heavyweight Champion
Claudio Castagnoli of the Death Riders
With AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley on commentary, it
was time for our main event. After an initial feeling-out
process, Takeshita knocked Castagnoli to the outside with a
big dropkick. When Takeshita tried to go after him,
Castagnoli wrenched Takeshita’s arm over the top rope. Back
in the ring, the two exchanged shoulder blocks until
Castagnoli went after Takeshita’s arm and stomped on it!
Takeshita was able to turn things around and sent
Castagnoli’s head off the turnbuckle 10 times in two
different corners. Takeshita took a little too long to keep
the offense up and wrenched Takeshita’s arm over the rope
again to take the advantage back.
Takeshita tried to fight through the pain, but Castagnoli
stayed on the arm. Takeshita started to fight back with one
good arm! He caught Castagnoli with a forearm and followed
with a flying elbow! He continued the comeback with an
exploder and seemed to be feeding off the crowd! Castagnoli
blocked the Power Drive Knee by grabbing Takeshita for the
giant swing! He transitioned that into an extended arm
submission to stay on the damage he’s been focusing on all
match. Takeshita rolled out of it and got a two-count.
Takeshita tried to punch loose as Castagnoli kept slamming
his shoulder into Takeshita’s bad arm. Takeshita got out of
it with a blue thunder bomb out of nowhere! Castagnoli
kicked out at two!
Takeshita hit a rolling elbow, but Castagnoli came back with
a pop-up uppercut! This time, Takeshita kicked out at two! A
frustrated Castagnoli grabbed a chair and threw it in the
ring. He grabbed another and did the same. While the referee
removed the chairs from the ring, Castagnoli grabbed his
CMLL World Heavyweight Title, but when he went to bring it
into the ring, Hechicero stopped him! Takeshita came over
the top with a tope suicida! He threw Castagnoli back in and
nailed a Power Drive Knee! Castagnoli kicked out! Takeshita
went for another knee, but Castagnoli was ready for it and
hit an uppercut! He tried for a Neutralizer, so Takeshita
jumped out of it, but Castagnoli kept wrist control and lit
Takeshita up with more uppercuts. Takeshita wouldn’t go
down! Castagnoli hit multiple uppercuts in succession and
tried for a Ricola Bomb, but Takeshita rolled through and
came back with a Power Strike Knee! He picked up Castagnoli
for Raging Fire and hit it to get the pinfall in the main
event!
Takeshita called for Moxley, but went out to meet him in
front of the commentary desk. As they exchanged words,
Hechicero nailed Moxley from behind. Takeshita stepped in to
stop anything further, but neither saw Moxley come back to
attack! Castagnoli got in the fray, as he went after
Hechicero while Takeshita and Moxley brawled on the other
side of the ring. Referees couldn’t keep Moxley and
Takeshita apart as Collision came to a close!
Catch AEW Dynamite LIVE on Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on
TBS and HBO Max from San Jose Civic Center in San Jose,
California!
Tickets On Sale Now! – www.AEWTix.com
And remember… We are AEW—Where The Best Wrestle!