AEW Collision live results: Adam Copeland open challenge
Adam Copeland has issued an open challenge for tonight’s AEW Collision from Norfolk, Virginia.
Copeland is coming off a victory in an eight-man tag on Dynamite and a singles win over Griff Garrison on last week’s Collision.
New signee Deonna Purrazzo will make her Collision debut against Red Velvet who is also debuting on Collision.
Virginia native Hangman Page will be in a featured segment.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) & Brian Cage will put their titles on the line against the team of Lance Archer & The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch).
FTR & Daniel Garcia team will take on the House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews & Brody King).
AEW Battle of the Belts IX kicks off (in a new post) immediately after Collision as AEW Tag Team Champions Ricky Starks & Big Bill defend against Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara, International Champion Orange Cassidy defends against Preston Vance, and TBS Champion Julia Hart defends against Anna Jay.
No pre-roll promos, as Sir Elton John played us into this week’s Collision. Tony Schiavone, Kevin Kelly, & Nigel McGuinness were on the call as Adam Copeland made his way to the ring to start the show. Copeland thanked Norfolk for bringing the heat before asking for someone to answer his challenge. Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor made their way to the ring, with Taylor saying that they were here to take every opportunity. Taylor introduced a video package hyping Moriarty. Moriarty then took the mic and told Copeland that he would tap him out.
“Cope Open” Challenge – Adam Copeland defeated Lee Moriarty (w/ Shane Taylor)
Moriarty looked good here, as Copeland scores another fall with the Grindhouse submission on his road back to the TNT Title.
Copeland escaped Moriarty’s early mat takedown before ringing Copeland’s arm up on the apron before a commercial break. After the break, Copeland hit a full nelson slam to take down Moriarty. Copeland fired up, hitting a reverse DDT for a nearfall. Copeland went to the top rope, but Moriarty yanked him down with an armdrag for a nearfall. Moriarty immediately transitioned into the Border City Stretch, but Copeland got to the ropes.
Copeland knocked Moriarty down onto the top rope, then took him down with an avalanche fallaway slam. Copeland loaded up to hit the spear, but Taylor distracted him on the outside. Moriarty hit a Yakuza Kick, but Copeland avoided a springboard to slide outside and spear Taylor. Moriarty hit a dive onto Copeland, then countered Edge’s crossface attempt into another Border City Stretch.
Copeland swung his way out, laying in forearms to the back of Moriarty’s head. Copeland hit a big boot and a backbreaker before locking on the crossface – now called the Grindhouse – for the submission win. After the match, Copeland reminded everyone that his target was the TNT Champion Christian Cage.
After a video package of last week’s attack from the House of Black, FTR & Daniel Garcia were backstage with Lexy Nair. Harwood said that while he didn’t know if they would get along, they did all have the same mindset going into the match. Garcia said that he needed to be on Collision to grow as a wrestler, and that he would make the House of Black pay for attacking him and the people he cared about.
Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara were backstage with Lexy Nair, who reminded everyone that Sammy Guevara is the only man in AEW history to win a title at Battle of the Belts. They put over Ricky Starks & Big Bill, but they would take it to the streets and win the AEW World Tag Team Titles tonight on Battle of the Belts.
ROH World Six Man Tag Team Title Match – The Mogul Embassy (Bishop Kaun, Brian Cage & Toa Liona) (c) defeated Lance Archer & The Righteous (Dutch & Vincent) (w/ Jake Roberts)
The crowd was unsurprisingly cold on this match when it started, as the Righteous haven’t been highlighted on AEW TV in months. But the work got the crowd into it as these guys scrapped it out for the gold. A nice set-up match for the Mogul Embassy leading to their defense against Bullet Club Gold on Dynamite.
During the entrances, they showed how the miscommunication between Archer and the Embassy in an eight-man tag match on Dynamite led to this match. Cage took Archer over with a suplex, a headscissors, and a German suplex. Archer came back with a crossbody that took down both Cage and Kaun before tagging in Vincent, who dropped Kaun with a back elbow. Kaun and Liona isolated Vincent in their corner to take the advantage.
Both Dutch and Liona got involved from the apron, leading to a Pier Six brawl and a commercial break. Dutch dropped Kaun with a crossbody, but Kaun dropped Archer with a DDT reversal. Kaun fought out of the opponent’s corner, but Archer knocked his partners off the apron and hit a chokeslam. We got a move train that ended with Dutch hitting a dive to the Embassy on the floor.
Archer set up Kaun for the Blackout, but Nana held onto Kaun’s foot in the corner. Roberts laid out Nana with a punch before the Righteous hit a tandem move for a nearfall. The Embassy cut off Autumn Sunshine from the floor before Kaun sent Vincent into a Pounce. Kaun and Liona hit Open the Gates on Vincent for a nearfall that Archer broke up. Vincent and Kaun were left in the ring, and after several reversals, Kaun scored the win with a Pedigree.
After the match, Prince Nana proclaimed his men the greatest ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions of all time. Nana said that the Bullet Club Gold brought up wanting more gold, but their leader Jay White couldn’t even beat Swerve Strickland in the Continental Classic. Nana laid out the challenge for Dynamite: The Mogul Embassy vs. Bullet Club Gold for the ROH World Six-Man Titles.
Presten Vance was backstage with Lexy Nair ahead of his International Title match against Orange Cassidy at Battle of the Belts. He was quickly interrupted by Roderick Strong & The Kingdom. Vance brushed off Strong’s good luck, saying that after he won tonight, he would kick Strong’s ass any day of the week.
Dustin Rhodes defeated Willie Mack
This one came out of nowhere, but it was good to see these two out there.
Rhodes and Mack traded shots, with Rhodes getting a nearfall off of his kneeling punch. Mack came back with chops before hitting a running kick and a standing moonsault for a nearfall. Mack hit a big thrust kick, but Rhodes avoided a frog splash. Rhodes hit a Canadian Destroyer and a snap powerslam for a nearfall. After some back and forth, Rhodes hit the Cross Rhodes and the Final Cut for the win.
Bullet Club Gold was backstage, noting how comfortable people have gotten without the Collision Cowboys around to keep everyone in check. They accepted the challenge from the Mogul Embassy for Dynamite.
Hook was shown entering the building.
Dustin Rhodes was backstage with Renee Paquette. Rhodes was quickly interrupted by Christian Cage & The Patriarchy. Cage said that anyone who was friends of Adam Copeland was an enemy of his. Rhodes challenged Cage to a TNT Title match on Dynamite. Cage said that it was a nice dream that would have been nicer if Dustin’s father was alive to see it. Cage said that everyone referred to Dustin’s father as a legend, but no one used that word for Dustin. Dustin told Cage to get ready.
[A nice, quick build up for another title match for this Wednesday, in what’s becoming a stacked episode of Dynamite.]
Hangman Adam Page defeated JD Drake (w/ Anthony Henry)
An awesome TV match, as Hangman scores a hard-fought win on TV. I’ll note that Swerve Strickland got a win on Rampage last night as well, as their fortunes seem to be tied to one another at the moment. I sound like a broken record with this point, but the Workhorsemen continue to have these impressive performances on Collision.
Page laid in the shots to Drake as Tony Schiavone announced that Hook has asked for a match tonight ahead of his World Title match on Dynamite. They tagged each other with forearms in the corner before Page hit the ten punches in the corner. Page hit a moonsault to a standing Drake before hitting a running Shooting Star Press for a nearfall. Page dropkicked Drake off of the apron into Henry, but Henry pulled Drake out of the way of a dive. Drake drilled Page with a rebound forearm as we went to a commercial break.
After the break, we saw Henry hitting a leg lariat to Page on the floor as Drake distracted the referee. Page low-bridged Drake to the apron, then dropkicked him down and hit a tope. Page hit a high crossbody for a nearfall. Page clobbered Drake with multiple clotheslines before hitting a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall. Page couldn’t get Drake up for a Deadeye, but back body dropped him up and over.
Page took a swing at Henry on the apron, but that led to Drake hitting a Magnum-style belly-to-belly on Page. Drake hit a cannonball in the corner, but Page moved out of the way of a moonsault. Page dropped an interfering Henry with a moonsault off the apron before hitting the Buckshot Lariat for the win.
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Red Velvet
Purrazzo looked very impressive here. She has a real snap to her offense that stood out to me. Red Velvet was also quite good here, as she’s grown on me since her return from injury.
The two traded armdrags before coming to a standoff. Velvet took Purrazzo down with a leg lariat for a nearfall. Velvet took Purrazzo around with a step-up armdrag, but Purrazzo snatched her into an armbar that forced Velvet into the ropes. Purrazzo countered a Velvet strike into a quick Koji clutch that Velvet got out of with a pin reversal.
Velvet snapped Purrazzo’s arm over the ropes before working on the arm. Velvet peppered Purrazzo with body shots before Purrazzo traded boots with Velvet. Purrazzo hit a Side Russian Leg Sweep before locking on a Fujiwara armbar. Velvet tried to counter it into a rollup, but Purrazzo kicked out and locked on the Venus Di Milo double arm submission for the win.
Hook defeated Kevin Matthews
Hook felt like he cooled off, but the challenge to Samoa Joe has heated him right back up. The crowd was all the way with him for this squash match.
Matthews went for a sneak attack on Hook, but Hook moved, sending Matthews into the FTW Title belt. Hook sent Matthews flying with a suplex before following him to the floor and suplexing him on the ropes. Hook hit the crossface strikes and locked on Redrum to score the quick win.
The House Of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) defeated Daniel Garcia & FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood)
This was a hell of a main event. FTR have solidified themselves as the Collision marathon men, consistently in these high-level main event matches on TV. The established trio scoring the win here made sense, but the end segment made it clear that these teams aren’t done with each other yet.
Matt Menard joined commentary as Harwood and Matthews started in the ring. Matthews was isolated in the corner but slipped past Garcia to get the tag out to Black. Garcia ducked a head kick before landing cross-legged to taunt Black. The good guys cleared the ring before they all sat cross-legged to taunt their opponents.
After a commercial, Garcia sent Matthews over the top rope with a hip toss. Wheeler and King tagged in, with Wheeler running wild. Wheeler and Harwood hammered King with lariats before taking him down with high-low clothelines. King screamed through strikes from Harwood before dropping him with a tree slam for a nearfall.
Harwood was isolated in the House of Black corner up through the next commercial break, with Matthews and Black hitting the lifting knee strikes for a nearfall. Harwood dropped Matthews with a DDT, then nutmegged Black to get the tag out to Black. Garcia ran wild, sending Matthews and Black to the floor. King went to choke Garcia out, but Garcia used King’s bad hand to take him out of the ring.
After a Wheeler dive, Garcia hit a brainbuster on Black for a nearfall. Garcia caught King in a guillotine choke, but King herked him up and over. FTR helped Garcia hit a triple-team spike piledriver. We got a move train that ended with Black dropping Garcia with a head kick. The House set up triple superplexes, but everyone fought out. Garcia took Black on his shoulders, leading to Harwood hitting the Steiner Super Bulldog for a nearfall.
FTR went for the Powerplex, but after Wheeler got knocked down, Garcia went up to take his place. Harwood hit the superplex, but Black got his knees up on Garcia’s splash. Black snatched on a kneebar on Harwood, forcing Harwood to fight to the ropes. The House took out Garcia and Wheeler on the outside, leaving Harwood and Black in the ring.
Black moonsaulted onto Garcia, and Matthews hitting a double powerbomb for a nearfall that Harwood flipped into a pin for a nearfall. Harwood hit a piledriver for a nearfall. The numbers became too much for Harwood, as after a King distraction from the apron, Black hit the Black Mass on Harwood. Matthews hit a Curb Stomp to follow up and score the win. After the match, the House of Black attacked Matt Menard before FTR and Garcia came back with chairs. FTR and Garcia hit a triple-team Shatter Machine to leave King lying.
As Collision came to an end, we saw Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara brawling with Ricky Starks & Big Bill outside of the building.