AEW Collision live results: Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong, MJF in action
The quarterfinal round of the men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament will conclude on tonight’s AEW Rampage from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
In the main event, Samoa Joe will resume his Ring of Honor rivalry with Roderick Strong for the opportunity to move on and face CM Punk in the semifinals. Punk will be on commentary for the match.
On the other side of the bracket, Ricky Starks will take on Juice Robinson and Dustin Rhodes will face Powerhouse Hobbs with the winners clashing in the semifinals.
For the first time, AEW World Champion MJF will make his Collision in-ring debut against an opponent to be named.
After returning on the debut episode of Collision, Miro will be in action once again against an opponent to be named.
TBS Champion Kris Statlander will look to continue her early run as titleholder as she defends against Lady Frost.
Our live coverage begins at 8 PM Eastern.
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Taped in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
I hear Saturday nights are alright for fighting.
Backstage promos from Powerhouse Hobbs, Roderick Strong, and Samoa Joe were the cold open for the show.
Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were ringside for commentary.
AEW World Champion MJF defeated Kip Morris in a non-title match (0:28)
MJF jumped Ontario native Kip Morris before the bell, hit the Heat Seeker, and then tapped him out with a crossface. MJF was dressed in red, white, and blue to agitate the Canadian crowd.
After the match, MJF got the mic and started running down everyone from Canada, and offered to defend the title against anyone from Hamilton. A rather large journeyman performer slowly made his way to the ring, but was outpaced by Hamilton native Ethan Page. Page slapped the mic out of MJF’s hand and ran down his family’s history in Hamilton. Page cut a great babyface promo and accepted the challenge from Friedman, a “bare minimum b*tch.”
MJF defeated Ethan Page to retain the AEW World Championship (10:58)
Page went for the crucifix powerbomb early, but MJF escaped and clipped Page’s knee. Friedman worked over Page’s knee and ankle. Page fought his way out of a leg lace and shocked Page with a jawbreaker. MJF caught Page coming out of the corner with an Alabama Slam, then slapped on a half-crab to continue to work over Page’s bad wheel. Page tried several different means of escape, but MJF was able to counter them and keep the hold on until Page finally made the bottom rope. On breaking the hold, MJF sold his own exhaustion for the effort it took to keep Page in the hold which was a great little touch.
Back from a split screen break, Page caught MJF with a cutter. MJF tried to kick Page’s knee to cut off his comeback, but Page fought through the pain and hit a series of clotheslines and a rana to maintain control. Page hit an Iconoclasm into a vertical powerslam to get a near fall. Page went for the Ego’s Edge, but MJF escaped and walked right into a Twist of Fate.
Page went to the top, but Page was unsteady, and MJF crotched him. MJF set up a superplex, but Page fought out and powerslammed MJF from the middle rope for another near fall. Page went for the Ego’s Edge a third time, but Page’s legs gave out under the weight of MJF. MJF caught Page with a dragon screw leg whip in the ropes, then dropped Page with the Heat Seeker to get the pinfall. Tremendous psychology throughout this one, and I hope this was a permanent face-turn for Ethan Page.
Powerhouse Hobbs (w/ QT Marshall and Harley Cameron) defeated Dustin Rhodes in a Quarter Final match to advance in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament (10:06 aired)
Sadly, Marshall and Cameron were still hanging around with Hobbs for this match.
Rhodes escaped a press-slam attempt from Hobbs, but Marshall tripped up Rhodes. This distraction allowed Hobbs to send Rhodes to the floor with a body block. On the floor, Marshall ran Rhodes headfirst into the ringpost while Hobbs distracted referee Aubrey Edwards. As a result, Rhodes was busted open, and Hobbs worked on the cut into a split-screen break.
Back from the break, Hobbs got a near fall. Rhodes started to fight back with right hands and a pair of lariats. Hobbs blocked a spinning powerslam from Rhodes, but Rhodes blocked whatever Hobbs was going for and turned it into a Cross Rhodes! Rhodes followed up with a piledriver for a near fall.
Rhodes hit a sloppy Code Red for another near fall (he couldn’t get his legs under Hobbs shoulders). Marshall tried to interfere and got waylaid with an uppercut, but it was still enough of a distraction for Hobbs to hit an avalanche and a spinebuster… for a one count. Rhodes hit the spinning powerslam for a near fall. Rhodes went for a figure-four, but Hobbs kicked out of it and sent Rhodes into a right hand from Marshall. Hobbs then hit the spinebuster and got the pinfall to advance to the semi-final. His opponent for the next round will be determined later in the show. This was a very good match.
Miro defeated Anthony Henry (3:09)
Miro has taken another step up the jobber ladder with the Workhorsmen’s Anthony Henry, who isn’t quite a no-name, although he’s more of a tag team competitor with JD Drake.
Henry actually caught Miro charging with a boot and came off the top with a stomp. Henry hit an enziguri and a series of forearms. Miro body blocked Henry against the ropes, then slammed him to the mat with an enziguri. A big machka kick and the Game Over got the submission victory for Miro.
– Tony Schiavone interviewed The Bullet Club Gold members, which now include the Gunn Club. For a crowd that didn’t seem to react to much on Wednesday, Jay White and the Bullet Club got a good amount of heat. The Gunns joined up with the Bullet Club because White and Robinson have experience all over the world. The Gunns started running down all the people they’ve beaten recently, including CM Punk, which actually got a bit of a “CM Punk!” chant from the crowd. Schiavone then announced that all the other members of the Bullet Club would be barred from the ring during Robinson’s tournament match later. White took the mic and barred Schinvone from talking for the rest of the interview, and called out Punk for bringing his red bag out a few weeks ago. He didn’t seem too interested in Punk’s bag, but White did challenge FTR for the AEW Tag Team Titles (with Juice Robinson as his partner).
This led to a promo from Punk’s crew in the back. Punk called MJF’s belt a replica from ShopAEW.com, and FTR accepted Jay White’s challenge. This whole segment ran a little long, but Jay White was great. A feud with Punk should establish Jay White as a top-tier player.
Ricky Starks defeated Juice Robinson in a Quarter Final match to advance in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament (15:19)
Dueling chants for Starks and Robinson to start, while they exchanged arm-ringers, headlocks, and hip-tosses. Robinson tripped up Starks on a drop-down, and Starks flopped awkwardly face-first on the middle rope. Robinson worked over Starks’s leg and slammedStarks into the ropes legs-first.
After a split-screen break, Robinson hit a cannonball in the corner for a near fall. Robinson has been so dominant through the break that McGuinness started channeling Bobby Heenan on commentary and insisted Robinson just be given the victory. And almost on cue, Starks mounted a comeback. Starks hit a DDT, but couldn’t quite land a kip up. Starks with the Snake Eyes and a tornado DDT for another near fall. Robinson countered a hanging DDT with a hot shot, then hit a leg lariat for a near fall.
Robinson locked on the Texas Cloverleaf. Starks got out of the hold with a rope break. Robinson almost got the pin with a rollup and a handful of tights. Starks hit a high-angle back suplex for a near fall. After not reacting for much of the match, the crowd started a weak chant for Starks.
Robinson went for a hurricanrana off the top, but Starks blocked it by holding onto the ropes. Starks missed a dive off the top and Robinson hit a spear for a near fall. Robinson went for his inverted DDT finish, but Starks countered and hit a spear. Starks tried for the roshambeaux, and while Robinson escaped, Starks rolled him up with a jackknife cover for the pin. This match felt about five minutes too long.
After the match, the rest of the Bulle Club surrounded the ring to attack Starks, but CM Punk and FTR ran in (to jeers for Punk, as noted by McGuinness) to chase them off.
– Lexi Nair’s interview with Christian Cage is interrupted by Shawn Spears, who wants a shot at the TNT Champion, Luchasaurus.
Kris Statlander defeated Lady Frost to retain the AEW TBS Championship (6:40 aired)
Lady Frost’s grandfather was a tag team partner of Bruno Sammartino. Frost did a lot of pointless flipping around throughout the match. She flipped into a forearm from Statlander and got suplexed out of a casadora attempt.
After a break, Frost ducked a kick from Statlander and got a German suplex. She countered a tombstone attempt with a spinning DDT for a near fall. Frost tried some more flippy stuff, which almost immediately backfired and Statlander floored her with a clothesline. Statlander finished off Frost with the Saturday Night Fever and got the pinfall. This wasn’t a great match.
– Lexi Nair interviewed Andrade El Idolo. Last week, The House of Black stole Andrade’s mask and he wants it back. The House of Black appeared on the monitor backstage and Malakai Black promised to give the mast back all in good time. El Idolo didn’t react like he was planning on being very patient.
For Collision next week: FTR will face Juice Robinson & Jay White in a title eliminator. Athena and Willow Nightingale square off in the Owen Hart Women’s Tournament semi-final match. Both of the men’s semi-final matches will also take place next week, Ricky Starks versus Powerhouse Hobbs and CM Punk versus the winner of the next match.
Samoa Joe defeated Roderick Strong via ref stoppage in a Quarter Final match to advance in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament (13:27)
CM Punk came out to a fairly mixed reaction to join the commentary team. This reaction became more favorable as the match went on.
Roddy gave Joe four of five shots, but it only took one forearm from Joe to put Strong down. Strong leveraged Joe out to the floor and hit him with a dropkick. On the floor, it was more of the same where Joe took three or four shots from Strong, then leveled him with one hard forearm.
Back in the ring, Strong got Joe down and worked a chinlock. Joe escaped the chilock and dropped Strong with a back elbow. Strong charged at Joe in the corner, but got caught with a uranage for a near fall.
Joe dominated for most of the split-screen break, but Strong hit a high knee for a near fall coming out of the commercial. Strong went for a side backbreaker, but Joe forearmed his way out of that. Joe hit a reverse atomic drop, running boot and a senton for a near fall. On commentary, Punk called the fans of Collision “Colliders,” and apparently the Colliders want to see Punk fight Samoa Joe.
Joe wore down Strong with a neck vice, but missed a second senton. Strong started to make a comeback while the crowd chanted for CM Punk. Strong hit three flying clotheslines that didn’t take Joe off his feet. Finally, a dropkick knocked Joe down. Strong caught Joe running and gave him a side backbreaker, then hit a running boot for a near fall.
Strong came off the middle ropes with a dropkick for a near fall, then followed up with an Olympic Slam for a near fall. Strong caught Joe with a jumping knee. Strong went for a suplex, but Joe countered into the Coquina Clutch and choked Strong out. Joe won via ref stoppage.
This sets up CM Punk v. Samoa Joe in the other semi-final for the Owen Hart tournament. On commentary, McGuinness pointed out that Punk has never beat Joe in a one-on-one match.
After the match, Punk and Joe exchanged dirty looks. Joe grabbed a chair , and a gaggle of referees and security were out to keep Punk and Joe separated. Joe slid back in the ring and dropped Strong on the chair. Adam Cole ran out to check on Strong, and the medical team put a cervical collar on Strong and loaded him onto a backboard. The medical staff helped Strong onto a stretcher and took him to the back as the show ended.
Final Thoughts:
Kevin Kelly and Nigel McGuinness were fantastic on commentary. The crowd seemed more enthusiastic for parts of this show than Dynamite on Wednesday, even though it was essentially the same crowd. Punk/Joe and Starks/Hobbs should both be very good matches next week. It seems at least on this show some of the heat on Punk died down a little bit.
Overall, this was a pretty fun show.