AEW Collision live results: Blackpool Combat Club vs. Don Callis Family
The Blackpool Combat Club and the Don Callis Family will clash on tonight’s AEW Collision from Highland Heights, Kentucky, as Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli will take on Powerhouse Hobbs & ROH TV Champion Kyle Fletcher.
The match comes before next weekend’s AEW Dynasty where Danielson is set to face another Callis Family member, Will Ospreay.
Katsuyori Shibata will take on Lee Moriarty. Shibata teamed with Chris Jericho & Hook on Wednesday’s Dynamite in a losing effort against Shane Taylor, Moriarty & Anthony Ogogo. Moriarty got the pin on Shibata to put this into motion.
An AEW Women’s title eliminator match will take place as champion Toni Storm will take on Stardom’s AZM while The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews) will face Top Flight (Darius & Dante Martin) and Action Andretti in a trios match.
Tonight’s Collision will be immediately followed by AEW Battle of the Belts X.
Sir Elton John played us into this week’s Collision, live from Highland Heights, Kentucky. Tony Schiavone and Matt Menard were on the call and threw to footage from last night’s NJPW Windy City Riot event in Chicago, where Jon Moxley defeated Tetsuya Naito to become the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. They announced that Moxley would return to AEW on Wednesday’s edition of Dynamite from Indianapolis.
Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli were backstage. Danielson talked about Moxley’s win before talking about the BCC’s upcoming schedule. They mocked Don Callis’s instructions to his team, saying that it would be much easier to beat them than it would be to hurt them. Castagnoli said that the hard work they put in when the cameras were off made them tougher and better. Danielson said that they couldn’t be hurt, and they wouldn’t be beat tonight.
House Of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) defeated Action Andretti, Dante Martin & Matt Sydal
Fun trios action to start the show. Not to gripe about it, but these are the type of matches that the Trios Titles should be centered around.
The commentary noted that Darius Martin of Top Flight was getting his pilot’s license today. Living the gimmick, it would seem. Andretti and Matthews started off as Daniel Garcia vs. Angelico was announced for later tonight. Matthews sent Andretti to the floor as Sydal tagged in. Black tagged in and fought off a double team before King tagged in and ran through all three of their opponents.
After some time on the back foot, Andretti got a tag out to Sydal, who ran wild on the House for a short period before Matthews dropped him across Black’s knees with a powerbomb. After a commercial, Sydal made his way to the corner and tagged Martin. Martin ran wild on Black, ducking a kick from Black and hitting a Pele Kick for a nearfall. Black sent Martin flying with a rising knee, where Andretti tagged in.
Andretti took Matthews out with a dive, but Black landed a moonsault to the floor. Black hammered Andretti with a kick. The House set up Dante’s Inferno, but the flyers hit triple superkicks. All aboard the Move Train, the last stop being Martin breaking up a King pin with a frog splash. Andretti hit a springboard 450 splash, but King kicked out at one. King caught Sydal on a Meteora attempt and crushed him in the corner. The House hit a triple-team corner attack to win, with King scoring the pin over Sydal.
We got a recap of Wednesday’s issues in the women’s division, with Toni Storm’s attack on Thunder Rosa, and Mina Shirakawa’s debut at the aid of her protégé Mariah May. Storm and May were with Lexi Nair in the back. Storm said that she would give her opponent tonight AZM a beating that would be seen in fetish magazines all over the world. I couldn’t make that up if I tried.
We got a recap of the issues between Chris Jericho, Hook, & Katsuyori Shibata that cost them a match against Shane Taylor Promotions on Dynamite. Jericho brought a camera with him after Dynamite to talk to Taz. Jericho asked Taz to put a good word to Hook and tell him that Jericho meant well. Taz said that he would try, and we found out that Taz would facilitate a meeting between the two on Dynamite.
Katsuyori Shibata defeated Lee Moriarty (w/ Shane Taylor & Anthony Ogogo)
Anthony Ogogo joined the commentary team as Shibata and Moriarty grappled on the mat. Moriarty escaped a Figure Four and rolled to the floor, where Ogogo laid a body shot into Shibata as Taylor had the referee’s attention. Shibata rolled into the ring and kicked out of a quick cover but got worked on by Moriarty as we went to a commercial.
After the break, Shibata walked into Moriarty’s chops before drilling him with a forearm. Shibata chopped Moriarty to the mat before hitting a hesitation dropkick in the corner. Ogogo was back on commentary and corrected Schiavone when he brought up his interference – it was a left hook he hit Shibata with, not a jab. The two men traded boots until Shibata countered the Fang with a ripcord slap. Shibata then hit the Penalty Kick for the pin and the win.
Shane Taylor attacked Shibata after the match, bringing out his opponent for Battle of the Belts tonight, Hook. Hook dropped Moriarty with a suplex before Taylor left the ring.
We got a recap of Athena’s most recent ROH Women’s Title defense against Hikaru Shida at Supercard of Honor, as well as a recap of Athena’s protégé Billie Starkz becoming the inaugural ROH Women’s Television Champion. Athena and Starkz were in the back with their friend Lexy Nair. Athena promised to make an example out of Red Velvet tonight and show the world what they had been missing.
Roderick Strong & The Kingdom were backstage with Lexy Nair. Strong took offense to Nair giving credit to Wardlow for their recent success. Strong said he would give Rocky Romero the beating of a lifetime on Battle of the Belts.
Daniel Garcia defeated Angelico (w/ Serpentico)
I’m enjoying seeing Garcia work solid matches like this every week. It’s reminiscent of Bret Hart having solid, quality TV matches as he rose up the card.
Angelico caught an early advantage with a high kick and a La Magistral cradle for a nearfall. Garcia countered an Angelico submission attempt with a Figure Four, which turns into a Boo/Yay sequence as both men reversed the pressure on the hold. They rolled into the ropes before Angelico popped Garcia with a right hand. Garcia hit a neckbreaker as he favored his knee.
Garcia fired up with the ten punches in the corner before hitting a back suplex. Garcia locked on a leg lace submission to score the tap out win.
PAC was backstage, thanking Kazuchika Okada for hitting him with a chair on Wednesday. He now has a perpetual headache that reminds him of Okada. PAC said that while he wasn’t tall, handsome, or the flavor of the month, he was better than Okada and couldn’t wait to prove it at Dynasty.
AEW Women’s World Title Eliminator Match – Toni Storm (w/ Mariah May & Luther) defeated AZM (w/ Anna Jay)
The best Timeless Toni match to date and a fantastic debut for AZM.
The announcers noted AZM’s stats, noting her 450+ day reign as STARDOM High Speed Champion and that she started wrestling at age 11. AZM and Jay came together on Rampage, as they both agreed that Storm and May were stupid. As good of a reason to team as any other. AZM got some chants after a speedy opening exchange that saw her lay out Storm with running kicks. Storm cut AZM off on the apron and sent her flying with a hip attack. May and Jay got into a brawl on the floor that took them to the back. AZM booted Storm from the apron as we went to a commercial.
Storm taunted AZM as we came back from break, with AZM fighting back with forearms. Storm landed a headbutt, but AZM came back with La Mistica and a head kick. AZM hit a leg-trap German suplex as the crowd chanted for both women. AZM drilled Storm with a top rope double stomp for a nearfall. Storm snatched AZM up with a Tree Slam with a nearfall.
AZM caught Storm with a flash pin for a nearfall before Storm dumped her on her head with a German suplex. Storm hit the hip attack and the Storm Zero for the win. After the match, May celebrated with Storm with champagne and cuddling.
Red Velvet was backstage with Lexy Nair. Velvet said she wasn’t scared of Athena and that she would lay Athena out in the Battle of the Belts main event.
Mark Briscoe was backstage. He understood what the House of Black was all about: intimidation. The violent take it by force, and Briscoe, Eddie Kingston, & Adam Copeland were violent people. He told the House of Black to be very afraid.
Tony Schiavone welcomed Thunder Rosa to the stage. Rosa thanked the fans for making her comeback so special and for making AEW what it is today. Rosa told Deonna Purrazzo that she didn’t need her help to win the Women’s Title. She didn’t need help to get her degree, earn her citizenship, or win the title the first time. She thought that Toni Storm was like her, but she’s lost her mind. A part of her died when she had to vacate the title, but she would break every bone in her body to get it back for her people. She told Storm to kiss her clone goodbye because she was going to drag her soul to hell.
(One of the better promos I’ve ever heard Thunder Rosa cut. It really got you on her side and built some much-needed heat for their title match.)
Deonna Purrazzo was backstage. She wouldn’t help Rosa, but she staked her claim for the title because she felt that Toni Storm didn’t embody what it meant to be a World Champion. Purrazzo said that if she couldn’t get one Toni Storm, she might as well get the other. She challenged Mariah May to a match next week and threatened to break her arm.
From the desk, Tony Schiavone announced that the AEW World Tag Team Title match at Dynasty between FTR & The Young Bucks would now be a ladder match.
Kyle Fletcher & Powerhouse Hobbs were backstage. Fletcher said that Will Ospreay would make easy work of Claudio Castagnoli & Bryan Danielson over the next week, while Hobbs made clear that they were ready to pay the fines for what they were going to do to them tonight.
Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli) defeated The Don Callis Family (Kyle Fletcher & Powerhouse Hobbs)
What a main event. These four guys went hell-for-leather for the better part of twenty minutes, making for an exciting and fantastic main event for Collision. This is everything I want wrestling to be, just four dudes going out and beating the hell out of each other. Fletcher & Hobbs may not have won the match, but with the help of Takeshita, their mission of hurting Danielson ahead of Dynasty was accomplished. A must-watch match.
Fletcher & Hobbs got a jump start on Danielson & Castagnoli, leading to a Pier Six brawl around the ring. Hobbs and Castagnoli made their way into the ring and traded shots as commentary announced The Elite vs. PAC, Penta El Zero Miedo, & Daniel Garcia and Mariah May vs. Deonna Purrazzo for Dynamite. Danielson tagged in and worked over Hobbs’s legs, but Hobbs scored on a suplex on Castagnoli before tagging out to Fletcher. Fletcher sent Castagnoli to the floor with a leg lariat, where Hobbs dropped him with a body block.
After a commercial, Castagnoli was fighting for a tag as Fletcher had a rear naked choke on. Castagnoli muscled Fletcher around into a gutwrench suplex before getting the tag to Danielson. Danielson ran wild until he tried to dive on Hobbs, who caught him and slammed him into the apron repeatedly. Danielson countered a powerslam by sending Hobbs into the post. Danielson hit a running knee off the apron before Fletcher leveled him with a flying kick. Castagnoli then flew in with a running uppercut to Fletcher as the crowd went wild. The four men went brawling into the crowd as we went to another commercial.
After the commercial, Fletcher teased a powerbomb on the concrete but Danielson countered with a back body drop. Back in the ring, Danielson countered a superplex attempt by crotching Fletcher on the top buckle. Hobbs took Danielson on his shoulders, but Castagnoli fought Hobbs to the floor. Back on the top rope, Danielson hit the avalanche belly-to-back suplex for a nearfall. Danielson locked on the LeBell Lock, but Hobbs broke it up and tagged in.
They set Danielson up for Ragnarock, but Danielson shoved Hobbs into Fletcher and tagged in Castagnoli. Castagnoli fired off European uppercuts to both men before snatching Hobbs in the Giant Swing. Castagnoli locked on the Sharpshooter and held onto it after some kicks from Fletcher. Fletcher superkicked an interfering Danielson but took a Swiss Death uppercut from Castagnoli. Hobbs caught Castagnoli with a main event spinebuster – in the main event, no less – for a nearfall.
The four men brawled to their feet before Danielson dumped Fletcher to the floor and followed him with a dive. Castagnoli hit a Death Valley Driver for a nearfall. Hobbs shrugged off a clothesline, but a big lariat scored a nearfall for Castagnoli. Fletcher tripped up a running Castagnoli, leading to Hobbs hitting a World’s Strongest Slam, but Danielson broke up the pin.
Hobbs went to hit Danielson with a chair, but the referee took it away. Fletcher dove onto Danielson and cleared the announce table, but Castagnoli took both men out on the floor. Castagnoli hit Fletcher with a Neutralizer in the ring to score the win. After the match, Konosuke Takeshita jumped both men and helped his Callis Family members lay out the BCC. Takeshita laid out Danielson with a brainbuster on the ramp before Castagnoli backed them off with a chair.