AEW Collision live results: Christian Cage Father’s Day special
Christian Cage is celebrating Father’s Day as part of tonight’s AEW Collision from Youngstown, Ohio.
Cage and the rest of the Patriarchy will appear to celebrate the holiday a day early. Cage has been known to bring up people’s fathers, most often when they have passed on.
This week’s show will also feature an eight-man tag team match pitting the Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta) against the NJPW contingent of TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls), Lio Rush & Rocky Romero.
A no DQ match will see Thunder Rosa facing Deonna Purrazzo after weeks of back-and-forth attacks, while a TNT title ladder match qualifier for Forbidden Door will also be held pitting Dante Martin against Lee Moriarty.
We’ll also see Juice Robinson & The Gunns against the returning House of Black, CMLL’s Hechicero against Dalton Castle, and The Acclaimed will speak.
Our live coverage kicks off at 8 PM Eastern.
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Christian Cage started the show by welcoming people to Collision. It was a year ago that he won the TNT Championship and put this show on his back. It was actually Luchasaurus AKA Killswitch who beat Wardlow for the TNT Title on that show, but who’s counting? He said that Christian Cage’s Collision would end up being very special. Sir Elton John is vacationing for the anniversary, as the Blackpool Combat Club made their entrance. Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness were on the call.
Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta) defeated Lio Rush, Rocky Romero & TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)
A fun opener to start the show. It’s fitting that the New Japan guys were here because this felt like a New Japan undercard tag match right before intermission. A bit predictable, but high energy.
Rush started for team New Japan, using his speed to outmaneuver Danielson and Yuta. Romero tagged in and got into a strike battle with Romero before tagging in Castagnoli. Nicholls tagged in, but Castagnoli took both him and Haste down with a bulldog. Haste cut off Danielson with a back elbow, but walked into a LeBell Lock as a Pier Six brawl broke out.
Haste got to the ropes, but Danielson laid in the chest kicks as the brawl continued on the floor. Nicholls cut Danielson off from the floor, allowing Haste to take control of Danielson as we went to a break. After the commercial, Danielson took Romero off the top rope with a Manhattan Drop. Castagnoli made an excellent hot tag, taking out all of Team New Japan in and out of the ring.
Moxley tagged in and put Nicholls through the wringer, hitting a piledriver for a nearfall. After a double clothesline, Rush tagged in and hit the Rush Hour for a nearfall. Rush went for another one, but Moxley moved out of the way and hit a big boot. All aboard the Move Train, last stop: a Giant Swing to Romero. Castagnoli vaulted Rush into a Death Rider for the win.
Moxley took the mic after the match. Moxley said that he wasn’t coming to Forbidden Door to defend the IWGP Title against Tetsuya Naito, he was coming to put Naito in the ground. He made it clear that this was Naito’s last chance.
We got a hype video for MJF vs. Rush for Dynamite, which will start the show with no commercial interruption.
Tony Schiavone welcomed The Acclaimed to the ring. Max Caster said that they usually come out with raps and fun, but the Young Bucks fined Bowens $5,000 for disparaging comments toward them. Caster said that the Bucks were out of touch with the fans because the people wanted The Acclaimed to be the tag team champions. Bowens said that the Bucks shouldn’t focus on the petty things, they should focus on the fact that the Acclaimed are the winningest tag team in company history. They’ll do whatever they need to do to get the tag team titles again, even if it means beating the Young Bucks twice.
Caster went to rap, but Brandon Cutler cut him off. Cutler came to fine them more money, but Christopher Daniels came out to announce that Tony Khan had reversed the fine and given Bowens his money back. Cutler got in Daniels’ face, but Daniels smacked him with the clipboard he had and fed him to the Acclaimed. The Acclaimed hit the Scissor Me Timbers on Cutler to end the segment.
(A fine segment to build the Eliminator match for Wednesday. I’m not sure why there’s a power struggle between the Bucks and Tony Khan. The Bucks only had power when Khan wasn’t there. Now that he’s back, they should have no power again. But they still have a Blood & Guts match to run, I guess.)
No Disqualification Match – Deonna Purrazzo defeated Thunder Rosa
This was a solid conclusion to a solid midcard feud between these two. With two babyface women’s champions – at least I think Toni is a babyface now – Purrazzo winning the feud should set her up for a shot at one of them unless she enters the Owen Cup instead.
Purrazzo jumped Rosa during her entrance, but Rosa quickly came back with a high cross to the floor. Rosa got the plunder out, but Purrazzo moved out of the way of a dropkick. Purrazzo stuffed Rosa’s arm into the stairs and stomped the stairs. Rosa came back with a Death Valley Driver in the ring, but as she went to get a table, Purrazzo sent her flying with a dropkick into the table.
After a commercial, Rosa booted Purrazzo with a chair before dropping her with a Samoan Drop onto a flat table. Both women were in the corner when Purrazzo slipped down and hit a charging shoulder block in the corner for a nearfall. Rosa came back with a DDT onto a chair for a nearfall. Rosa stuffed Purrazzo into a trash can, then set the table up on one leg. Rosa then ran up the table like a ramp, hitting a hesitation dropkick for a nearfall.
Rosa set the table up, but Purrazzo came back with a piledriver for a nearfall. Purrazzo locked on the Venus Di Milo but chose to clubber on Rosa more. Purrazzo then hoofed a ringside photographer in the nuts and took his camera. This one didn’t throw a fireball, but it was effective all the same as Purrazzo clocked Rosa with it. Purrazzo tied up Rosa in the ropes, and the referee stopped the match.
We got a look back at the highlights of Collision’s first year on the air, set to Elton John. There was the faintest sight of CM Punk, along with highlights of Collision’s top moments and matches.
Hechicero (w/ The Gates of Agony) defeated Dalton Castle
Garcia and Hechicero is a matchup that fascinates me. I’d like to see it.
For some reason, The Outrunners were Boys this week. The Gates of Agony said on a recent episode of Rampage that they were impressed with Hechicero, so they decided to team up for Forbidden Door season. Hechicero caught Castle against the ropes with a choke before hitting a missile dropkick for a nearfall. Castle came back with a series of strikes ending with a DDT.
Castle went for a Bangarang, but Hechicero reversed it and launched Castle into a choke. Castle came back with a gutwrench throw, but Hechicero obliterated him with a rising knee in the corner. Hechicero won with a twisting leg drop. After the match, all three men beat down Castle. The Outrunner boys couldn’t do anything, but Daniel Garcia & Matt Menard – armed with chairs – did make the save for Castle.
Dante Martin & Top Flight were backstage with Arkady Aura. They hyped up Dante for his TNT Title qualifier. Lio Rush entered the frame to say hello to his short-time partner Dante, while exchanging hesitant hellos to his new partners. Rush wished Dante luck in his qualifier tonight.
Christian Cage’s Father’s Day Extravaganza
A fun bit to announce the Patriarchy going after the Trios Titles. It’s a good new direction for Christian while also getting Nick Wayne some ring time as well. Meanwhile, the Luchasaurus turn simmers on the back burner.
The Patriarchy was in the ring, as Mother Wayne introduced Christian Cage. Cage noted that today was the anniversary of Nick Wayne’s actual father – Buddy Wayne – passing away. Cage said that Nick’s father dying was the best thing that ever happened to him, as it led Nick to him. Nick gave Christian a crumpled-up Father’s Day card, a card that said that he would continue to prove his worth to him.
Killswitch then revealed a painting of Cage that he did himself, which Cage announced as…okay. Cage praised Wayne’s crappy little card as the crowd chanted Luchasaurus. Killswitch went to leave before Cage told him to get back in line for an announcement he wanted to hear. Cage said that there was alternate footage from his World Title match at Double or Nothing, footage that showed that his shoulder was up. He didn’t show the footage, as we would have to trust him on that, but he said that the road back to the World Title would start with The Patriarchy winning the Trios Titles.
Cage put himself over as the biggest signing in AEW history and said that he was Tony Khan’s father now. The Patriarchy were the faces of TNT, now and forever.
Bullet Club Gold were in the back. Juice Robinson said that he broke his back to make Collision what it was tonight. Colten Gunn told The Patriarchy to get in line. Austin Gunn said that tonight wasn’t about the titles, it was about seeing if the House of Black was worthy of getting a shot.
AEW TNT Title Forbidden Door Qualifying Match – Dante Martin defeated Lee Moriarty
A fine midcard match here, but there’s a lot of moving parts here. Shane Taylor Promotions have been complimentary of Action Andretti as of late, Dante’s old partner Lio Rush has entered the scene to the chagrin of Darius. Things seem to be shifting in the trios division here.
The first big move of the match was Martin landing on his feet after Moriarty dodged a dive attempt, then hitting a baseball slide through the turnbuckles. Moriarty quickly came back by cutting off a springboard dive as we went to a commercial. After the break, Martin got a nearfall with a double-jump reverse crossbody.
Moriarty got hold of Martin’s fingers and snapped them before flipping Martin into the Border City Stretch. Martin got to the ropes, but Moriarty hit a flipping slam for a nearfall. Martin fired up after a knee lift, hitting a Meteora and a big frog splash to score the win and the spot in the TNT Title Ladder match.
After the match, Shane Taylor Promotions jumped Martin. Darius Martin & Action Andretti came out, but STP laid them all out. Lio Rush came out and sent STP packing to big Lio chants. Rush had a tense staredown with Top Flight, but Dante looked appreciative.
We got a video package on Hikaru Shida, where Shida announced her entry into the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament. She ran down her bonafides before saying that Wembley needed Shida.
Kyle O’Reilly defeated Anthony Henry
Roderick Strong was on commentary as Schiavone announced Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, & Dante Martin vs. Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita, Roderick Strong, & Zack Sabre Jr. for Dynamite. The two men grappled before O’Reilly snatched on an armbar that forced Henry to the ropes. Strong called hit beatdowns of O’Reilly in the past “tough love” as Henry cranked on O’Reilly’s neck. O’Reilly fired up with strikes before suplexing Henry into an armbar for the quick tap.
We got a rundown of the card for Wednesday’s Dynamite, as well as the announcement of Chris Jericho & Big Bill vs. Private Party for next week’s Collision.
Non-Title Match – House Of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) defeated Bullet Club Gold (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn & Juice Robinson)
A good main event. House of Black worked face here and seems to be working face for the near future after the Patriarchy attack on Matthews. An odd choice story-wise after the Copeland feud, but the crowd had no issue getting behind them. Meanwhile, PAC got revenge for himself and Death Triangle in the finish. As I said earlier, there are a lot of moving parts in the trios scene right now.
Schiavone clarified that despite Jay White’s proclamation last week, Juice Robinson is not a Trios Champion and cannot defend the titles. The Freebirds never worked AEW, so I guess the Freebird Rule is irrelevant.
Robinson and Black started, with Robinson mocking Black by pretending to pee on him like a dog. Austin Gunn tagged in, then immediately tagged out to his brother when Brody King tagged in. King sent them all to the floor, kicking off a Pier Six brawl on the floor as we went to a commercial.
The House was working over Colten in the corner when he brought Black over to his side. The Bullet Club laid into Black in their corner for a few minutes. Black avoided a Robinson cannonball before sending the Gunns into each other and getting the tag into Matthews. Matthews ran wild on the Gunns, hitting a Jackhammer on Austin for a nearfall. Matthews hit a Meteora on Robinson for a nearfall but hurt his knee in the process before tagging King.
Officials helped Matthews to the back as we came back from the break. Bullet Club ganged up on King in their corner, stomping him out before Robinson hit a cannonball for a nearfall. King made a one-man comeback before tagging in Black, who ran wild on the Gunns with strikes before hitting a springboard moonsault to Robinson. Black hit a head kick and a German suplex for a nearfall.
Robinson hooked Black’s leg on the floor, allowing Colten to hit a jumping forearm for a nearfall. Robinson interjected from the floor again, allowing Austin to hit the Fameasser for a nearfall. The crowd chanted for the House of Black as King ran into a 3:10 To Yuma. Robinson went to the top rope, but PAC knocked him off the ropes, getting payback for Robinson’s interference in the past weeks. Black hit Austin with the Black Mass for the win. The announcers noted that this win earned the House of Black a title shot.
After the match, The Patriarchy appeared on the screen. Christian congratulated the House on the win and the trios title match before informing them that they weren’t a trio anymore. The camera panned down to a knocked-out Buddy Matthews, who seemingly got hit with a Con-Chair-To backstage. The House ran backstage to find their partner as the show went off the air.