Posted on 3/23/126 by Bob Magee
Two Collisions in the same weekend? That’s (March) madness!
We finished out a great week in Fresno, California, with
plenty of top-tier professional wrestling, including a big
title match in the main event, on a special Slam Dunk Sunday
edition of AEW Collision on TNT and streaming on HBO Max!
One week after winning the AEW World Trios Titles in their
first match as a team at AEW Revolution, the AEW World Trios
Champions, Místico and JetSpeed, came away victorious in
their first defense against the Don Callis Family’s El Clon,
Josh Alexander and “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita!
And in their first match since Roderick Strong declared them
a tag team, Strong and Orange Cassidy beat Lethal Twist’s
Lee Johnson and Jay Lethal. After the match, Strong
officially announced himself as a member of The
Conglomeration! The good feelings were quickly overshadowed
by The Dogs, who challenged Strong and Cassidy to a fight on
Dynamite!
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion made
quick work of their competition, but also received a rematch
challenge from the Babes of Wrath! Plus, Tommaso Ciampa
overcame a frightening approach from Lio Rush to get a win
in a hard-hitting affair.
It was a jam-packed Slam Dunk Sunday! Here are your complete
Collision results.
Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong of The Conglomeration (!!!)
def. Jay Lethal & Lee Johnson of Lethal Twist
Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong entered together! And
they had somewhat of a cohesive pose in the ring! What a way
to start Slam Dunk Sunday!
Lethal Twist caught OC’s jacket on the floor, so Johnson put
it on and got on the apron to start the match. Strong and
Lethal started the match with Strong repeatedly controlling
Lethal’s arm until the match descended into a battle of
strikes. Strong stopped Lethal with a leg lariat and tagged
Cassidy. Strong threw Cassidy into Lethal, and they
alternated varying levels of chops. Strong put Lethal over
his knee so that Cassidy could come off the top with an
elbow, but he lowered himself back down to the mat and
walked over to Lethal to drop the elbow! That was
devastating! So devastating, Lethal was able to gouge
Cassidy’s eyes and tag Johnson, who had since removed
Cassidy’s jacket.
Johnson kicked OC into a Russian leg sweep by Johnson for a
two-count. Cassidy and Johnson traded reversals, with
Johnson getting a near fall until the reversals continued
with a series of go-behinds. Johnson was locked in a full
nelson, but Cassidy got his hands in his pockets to back
Johnson into the corner and break the hold. Cassidy avoided
Johnson at every turn and sent Johnson to the floor with a
dropkick. Lethal caught a Cassidy dropkick, but Cassidy
kicked him through the ropes. Strong tried double boots
through the ropes, but Lethal moved, and Strong got
distracted by Blake Christian, which allowed Lethal to
clobber Strong from behind. Cassidy knocked Lethal off the
apron and tried to follow with a dive, but was walloped by
Johnson with a lariat to keep Cassidy in the ring. Johnson
hit a stalling vertical suplex on Cassidy for a two-count.
Lethal Twist continued to work over Cassidy and keep him
away from Strong, who was very anxious for a tag on the
apron.
Lethal hung Cassidy in the tree of woe, and with the referee
distracted, Christian ran in for a pendulum kick to Cassidy!
Lethal covered, but only got a two! Lethal tagged Johnson to
put Cassidy on the top turnbuckle, so he elbowed both off
him and kicked Christian away before he could attack.
Cassidy dove back in the ring and tried to make the tag, but
was stopped by Lethal repeatedly until Cassidy kicked him
into Johnson and tagged Strong!
Strong came in like a house of fire with a rising knee to
Johnson in the corner and a dropkick to Lethal. Strong
followed with a backbreaker across his knee to Johnson and
another rising knee to Lethal against the ropes. He followed
that with Cloud Nine to Lethal and stopped Johnson from a
sneak attack by cracking him with a boot to the face. A
fireman’s carry slam put Johnson down for a two-count, so
Strong tagged Cassidy, who went to the top. Johnson sent
Strong into Cassidy, who landed on the top turnbuckle.
Lethal dove through the ropes onto Strong on the floor.
Johnson blocked a Stundog Millionaire from Cassidy with a
dragon suplex, followed by a high boot in the corner.
Johnson connected with a brainbuster on Cassidy, and Lethal
dropped the King’s Elbow, but Strong came in to break up the
pin. Cassidy turned a Lethal suplex attempt into a Stundog
Millionaire. He hit Lethal with a pair of elbows and tossed
Christian into Strong for an assisted DDT. Christian tried
to go after Strong behind the referee’s back, so Cassidy
knocked him out with an Orange Punch! Strong hit Johnson
with a jumping high kick as Cassidy connected with a dive to
Lethal on the floor. Strong finished Johnson with End of
Heartache and threw Cassidy on top of him for the pinfall
victory!
After the match, Strong grabbed a microphone and addressed
everyone, including Orange Cassidy, because he felt they all
deserved an explanation. Strong said he was only around the
Conglomeration because of his buddy Kyle O’Reilly, but when
he left, Strong didn’t know what he was doing with them.
Strong said a change was needed, but it needed to happen
with him.
“I just want to say here, in Fresno…I am OFFICIALLY A MEMBER
OF THE CONGLOMERATION!”
Before everyone had a chance to rejoice, Clark Connors and
David Finlay of The Dogs appeared on the video boards.
Connors said last week they used every trick in the book to
pin him at Revolution. Finlay asked if they thought this was
over after just three seconds? The more you try to pick off
The Dogs, the more they fight together. Connors and Finlay
challenged Strong and Cassidy to fight them next week on
Dynamite!
TBS Champion Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron Challenge
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion
After a look back at the events of Revolution that saw The
Babes of Wrath lose the AEW Women’s World Tag Team
Championship to Divine Dominion, Nightingale and Cameron
sent a message to “Megasus” Megan Bayne and “Colossal” Lena
Kross. They wanted to be the first to congratulate them on
winning the titles. Cameron said it was like fighting two
dinosaurs. Nightingale said her shoulder was feeling better,
and her smile never left, so why don’t they run it back one
more time in a rematch?!
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Divine Dominion
(“Megasus” Megan Bayne and “Colossal” Lena Kross) def. Alex
Gracia & Vipress
Bayne flattened Vipress at the bell with a shoulder block,
followed by shoulder thrusts in the corner. She tagged
Kross, who nailed Vipress with a strike combo and tagged
Bayne. Kross charged Vipress from one corner while Bayne
came from the other side with a running big boot! Bayne
nailed a release German suplex and posed with Kross, who
yanked Gracia over the top rope. Bayne and Kross smashed
Gracia and Vipress together and hit stereo fallaway slams
before alternating charge attacks in the corner. They
whipped Gracia and Vipress into each other and then laid
them out with lariats. Gracia was tossed from the ring so
Divine Dominion could finish Vipress with a massive double
chokeslam for the pinfall victory!
“Psycho Killer” Tommaso Ciampa def. Lio Rush
Rush’s transformation was there for everyone to see during
his entrance, which can only be described as frightening.
Ciampa looked at Rush with bewilderment at the bell, as Rush
seemed to offer a handshake, which Ciampa kicked away.
Ciampa took a wild swipe at Rush, who ducked and then kept
changing directions to stay away from Ciampa until Ciampa
ended up on the apron. Rush used a handspring to knock
Ciampa to the floor and appeared to be psyching himself up
with a gallop around the ring before diving out to Ciampa!
Rush threw Ciampa into the barricade and tried to charge
after, but Ciampa moved a ringside crew member in the way,
which caused Rush to stop, and Ciampa cut him off. Ciampa
put Rush on the barricade and smashed him with a rising knee
to the chest.
Back in the ring, Rush tried a surprise rollup, but Ciampa
quickly kicked out. Rush brought Ciampa into the corner and
took him down with a hurricanrana. Rush followed with a
clothesline, sending Ciampa to the opposite corner. Ciampa
avoided a charge in the corner, which put Rush on the apron.
Ciampa sent Rush into the ring post with authority and
quickly followed with a bicycle kick to put Rush on the
floor, just as he did to eliminate him from the Blackjack
Battle Royale last weekend. Ciampa continued his assault on
Rush all over the ringside area.
Rush started to fight back in the ring with rapid-fire chops
and a spin kick to a downed Ciampa. Rush tried to rebound
off the bottom rope, but came right back into Ciampa’s
waiting knee to the back! Rush slipped out of Ciampa’s grasp
with a thrust kick and went back to the rebound again, but
this time connected with a stunner! He covered, but Ciampa
kicked out at two. Rush methodically made his way to the
top, so Ciampa rolled across the ring out of harm’s way.
Rush returned to the mat and went after Ciampa, who Rush
brought to a knee with a kick to the opposite leg. Ciampa
ducked a spin kick and nailed a low dropkick. Ciampa tried
for Project Ciampa, but Rush escaped and nailed a pair of
stunners followed by a spinning back suplex for a two-count!
Rush chewed on his fingers in frustration.
Ciampa and Rush exchanged strikes in the middle until Ciampa
bit Rush on the hand, so Rush did the same to Ciampa! They
went back to much heavier strikes until Rush nailed Ciampa
with a spin kick! Ciampa came back to launch Rush into the
corner and out of the ring with a hammer throw! He brought
Rush back in and immediately hit Project Ciampa, but Rush
kicked out in time! Ciampa went to the corner and dropped
the kneepad, then promptly delivered his knee across Rush’s
face and pinned him for the win!
Omega vs. Swerve 2; MJF Returns on Dynamite!
We took a look at the events that led to Kenny Omega putting
his EVP position on the line against Swerve Strickland, who
will in turn put his #1 contendership to the AEW World
Championship on the line this coming Wednesday on Dynamite.
Swerve beat Omega last month and viciously attacked him
after the match, igniting the issues between the two to new
levels.
Plus, AEW World Champion MJF will return to Dynamite for the
first time since he defeated “Hangman” Adam Page to
successfully defend the AEW World Title in a Texas Death
Match at Revolution!
AEW World Trios Champions JetSpeed (“The Jet” Kevin Knight
and “Speedball” Mike Bailey) & Místico (c) def. Don Callis
Family (“The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita, Josh Alexander and
El Clon)
Our main event gave us a great matchup to begin, with
Místico and El Clon first in the ring! As they circled each
other, Clon split off and knocked JetSpeed off the apron
while Takeshita and Alexander attacked Místico from behind!
All six men battled on the floor, with the Callis Family
gaining the advantage. Clon and Bailey battled it out in the
ring until Alexander grabbed Bailey and dropped him with a
suplex. Alexander caught Knight on a springboard clothesline
attempt, but Knight fought him off and tried to take on
Clon, as well. He was having success until Alexander slammed
him on Clon’s knees! Mistico came in to resume how the match
started with Clon and took him down twice. Místico nailed a
kick to Clon’s head from the apron, followed by a
hurricanrana from the top! Alexander and Takeshita came back
in, but Místico took them both down with a springboard
double elbow. Místico swung off Clon to take Takeshita down
with a head-scissors and then did the same to Clon. JetSpeed
joined Místico in the ring, and the AEW World Trios
Champions all connected with dives to the Callis Family on
the outside!
The champions kept Clon away from his corner and stayed in
control until Alexander made a blind tag. Bailey kicked him
in the chest, but landed on Alexander’s knees when he
attempted a standing moonsault. That allowed Alexander to
tag Takeshita, who swung things back in favor of the Callis
Family. Clon and Takeshita took turns punishing Bailey until
Bailey tried to match strikes with Takeshita and wound up
dropping him with a kick to the head! Knight tagged in and
ran across the ring to leap off the back of Takeshita to
knock Clon down on the apron. Knight and Takeshita did their
best to avoid each other’s big moves until Takeshita caught
Knight for a huge blue thunder bomb, but Knight kicked out,
as Takeshita wasn’t able to hold his shoulders down.
Knight avoided a Power Drive Knee, but Knight avoided it and
planted Takeshita with a DDT! Místico and Clon tagged in at
the same time, with Místico quickly taking Clon down only
for Clon to respond with a tilt-a-whirl backstabber for a
near-fall! Clon went to the apron, but Mísitico connected
with a kick to the head during Clon’s springboard attempt.
With Clon still woozy on the second rope, Místico came in
from the adjacent side to bring Clon back into the ring with
a springboard hurricanrana! Takeshita came in to break up
the pin!
Bailey took Takeshita back to the outside, while in the
ring, Clon missed a springboard moonsault. Místico sent Clon
to the outside and went to the top for a majestic crossbody
onto Clon and Takeshita. Místico got a two-count on Clon and
tagged Knight, who went right to the top rope and tried for
a UFO Splash, but Clon moved, so Knight adjusted in midair
and landed on his feet. Clon knocked Knight into the corner
with a lariat, and Knight tried to reverse Clon out, but he
put on the brakes and dropped back into a Pele kick to
Knight’s head!
Clon walked up the ropes for a moonsault, but Knight was
able to just barely kick out. Knight put Clon down with a
clothesline, only for Takeshita to attack from behind.
Takeshita tried to charge Knight in the corner, but he
avoided and connected on a strike to create some distance.
Knight launched himself from the apron to the ropes and onto
Takeshita with a flying clothesline! Takeshita smartly
rolled out of the ring.
Knight tagged Místico, who came off the top with a crossbody
to Clon, followed by La Mística, and Clon tapped
immediately! Místico and JetSpeed retained the AEW World
Trios Titles to bring Slam Dunk Sunday to a close!
Catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, LIVE at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT
on TBS and streaming on HBO Max, from Roy Wilkins Auditorium
in St. Paul, Minnesota!
Tickets On Sale Now! – www.AEWTix.com
And remember… We are AEW—Where The Best Wrestle!