AEW Collision live results: Two title matches, Rated FTR vs. The Learning Tree
The first TNT/Max simulcast edition of AEW Collision airs live from Charlotte, North Carolina, with two title matches and Rated FTR looking for their second win in four days.
Fresh off strong showings in the Continental Classic, TNT Champion Daniel Garcia defends against former ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe in a tournament rematch.
After earning a shot with their win over Top Flight, Lio Rush & Action Andretti will challenge AEW Tag Team Champions Private Party for the titles.
After defeating the Death Riders in their first trios match, FTR & Cope will unite again to face Chris Jericho, Big Bill & Bryan Keith of the Learning Tree.
Former AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm will take on Deonna Purrazzo.
After announcing this will be his last run in the ring, Jeff Jarrett’s quest for an AEW World title shot begins tonight.
An appearance from the legendary Rock ‘n’ Roll Express rounds out the main card.
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Collision started with the cold open promos, featuring Mark Briscoe, Daniel Garcia, The Learning Tree, & Rated FTR. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting came back as the intro song, as Sir Elton John made his return after a suspension for a backstage scuffle. Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness were on the call as always.
AEW TNT Title Match – Daniel Garcia (c) defeated Mark Briscoe
(This was a fun start to the show. After entering the Continental Classic immediately after winning the title, Daniel Garcia’s TNT Title reign truly kicked off here. Charlotte was behind Briscoe on this night, and Garcia rolled with the punches and let Briscoe get a ton of shine here. I wouldn’t panic about the weaker reaction for Garcia, but they do need to give him something to sink his teeth into as TNT Champ moving forward.)
This is Garcia’s first defense of the title. Briscoe earned this title shot by beating Garcia in the Continental Classic, then challenged Garcia at the Worlds End Zero Hour. Matt Menard joined the commentary team as per usual for Daniel Garcia matches.
The 113th TNT Title match in company history began with champion and challenger fighting to a stalemate. Briscoe kept wanting Garcia to fight on the floor, but Garcia refused to leave the ring. Briscoe got in the ring and took the advantage over Garcia with chops, chopping him off of the top turnbuckle to the floor. Briscoe hit a blockbuster to send us to a commercial.
Both men jockeyed for position on a suplex attempt before Briscoe suplexed Garcia over the top rope, with both men tumbling to the floor. They beat the countout and traded strikes in the ring, with Briscoe laying out Garcia with a lariat. Briscoe scored with another lariat before getting a nearfall with a fisherman’s buster. Garcia wouldn’t allow a Jay Driller, so Briscoe hit a powerbomb instead for a nearfall.
More strikes were traded, with Garcia scoring with a shotgun dropkick. Garcia hit the ten punches in the corner before hitting a piledriver for a nearfall. Garcia fought out of the Jay Driller again, transitioning into the Dragon Tamer to force Briscoe to the ropes. The two fought to the top rope as the ring announcer announced 3 minutes remaining in the time limit.
Briscoe hit the Froggy Bow and the Jay Driller, but Garcia got his foot on the rope on the cover attempt. The 2 minute call came as Briscoe went for the Cut Throat Driver, but Garcia fought out and caught Briscoe with the jackknife pin to get the win and retain the title. After the match, Briscoe shook hands with Garcia, noting that he came just that close to beating him.
Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, & Marina Shafir were backstage. Yuta was upset at Jay White getting involved in their business and was ranting at him before Moxley hushed him and changed the subject to FTR. He considered their issues with FTR squared after their attack on them in December, but FTR came back with Adam Copeland on their side. Moxley warned Cope and FTR that if they kept walking this path, they would find nothing good.
We got a recap of Jeff Jarrett’s promo on Dynamite, where he stated his goal to become the AEW World Champion in 2025.
Jeff Jarrett defeated Aaron Solo
Jarrett made quick work of Solo, hitting him with two Strokes to win.
Lio Rush & Action Andretti were walking backstage ahead of their tag team title match tonight.
(Just a small gripe, I’m not sure what this shot accomplishes. We know there’s a tag title match tonight. Why do we need to see them walking?)
We got a recap of Ricochet’s attack on Swerve Strickland.
(I do enjoy Ricochet being the Carrie of AEW, getting bullied past the point of no return.)
AEW World Tag Team Title Match – Private Party (Quen & Zay) (c) defeated Action Andretti & Lio Rush
(A solid TV defense of the titles. Give Private Party a couple more of these nice little defenses and you’ll have something going with them. The Top Flight/Andretti & Rush story would benefit from ending soon and moving them around in the division.)
This is Private Party’s second defense of the titles.
Private Party had the advantage early, but the challengers cut off a Poetry In Motion attempt and double slammed Quen into the barricade. Zay was left to be double teamed through the commercial break before fighting to his corner for the tag. Quen ran wild on both challengers, scoring a nearfall by hitting a Death Valley Driver to Rush on top of Andretti.
Private Party went for Gin And Juice, but Quen’s back gave out before he could elevate for it. Andretti & Rush came back, with Andretti hitting a Spanish Fly on Quen. The challengers hit Gin and Juice on Quen for a nearfall before noticing Top Flight watching at ringside. They went to the top rope, but Private Party called them to the mat to throw fists.
After a quadruple down, Quen sent Rush to the floor to start a dive train. Quen hit a big Shooting Star Press onto Rush for a nearfall, broken up by an Andretti springboard 450. Andretti stuffed a sunset flip attempt and tried to hold onto Rush’s arms for a pin, but Dante Martin broke the grip and allowed Quen to reverse the roll-up for the win.
We get a recap of Darby Allin’s war with the Death Riders, ending with footage of them taking Allin out on the final Rampage in Hammerstein Ballroom.
Adam Copeland was backstage with Lexy Nair, who asked him about his issues with the Death Riders. Copeland said that his issues were because they attacked his friends and claimed that no one wanted to be AEW World Champion. Chris Jericho walked in and shouted about his accomplishments before Copeland told him that he already respected Jericho. Copeland ran down their history together, with Jericho claiming to remember none of it. Copeland called Jericho and a**hole, and Jericho called Cope a dope.
Toni Storm defeated Deonna Purrazzo (w/ Taya Valkyrie)
(This Toni Storm goofiness just doesn’t work for me. She’s been back for weeks, and instead of restarting her feud with Mariah May, she’s got amnesia. I get we need to kill time before the Australia show in February, but maybe don’t bring her back until we’re closer to the show? Or find another way to keep them apart? On another note, I don’t know what this Vendetta group is supposed to be accomplishing, other than giving these two pin eaters something to do on the weekends.)
The two fought on the mat before Purrazzo tagged Storm with a slap. She sent Storm to the floor, where a Valkyrie distraction led to a crossbody from Purrazzo to send the match to break. After the commercial, Storm made her comeback and locked on an STF. Storm went for a hip attack, but Valkyrie distracted her. Purrazzo put on a Fujiwara armbar, forcing Storm to the ropes. The two traded strikes before Storm hit a DDT for a two count. Storm clocked Valkyrie, then pinned Purrazzo with an inside cradle.
We got video from after Dynamite with Christopher Daniels trying to get through to Hangman Page. Daniels told Page that he could be World Champion if he could control himself, but Page rejected Daniels’ advice. He tore into Daniels, calling him an old man clinging to a sport that left him behind. He told Daniels that he should’ve retired five years ago when he still had a shred of dignity, then slapped him in the face. Page walked away before Daniels jumped him in a frenzy. Daniels got bloody and left Hangman lying, with Hangman muttering to himself as he pulled himself to his feet.
$100,000 High Speed Collision Four Way – Brian Cage defeated Dante Martin (w/ Leila Grey), Komander (w/ Alex Abrahantes), The Beast Mortos
(This was awesome. Just four guys going out there and fighting for some cash. Komander was spectacular here, as he had two great bases to work with in Cage and Mortos. The mercenary Cage gets the big check in the end.)
During Cage’s entrance, we got video of his Callis Family teammate Konosuke Takeshita’s NEVER Openweight Championship win at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 earlier today.
The action was fast and furious to start, with Martin and Komander flying onto the big guys to start. Those two got in a pinning predicament before Mortos broke it up, but Komander hit a triple-rotation headscissors to send him to the floor before hitting a double-jump corkscrew dive to Mortos and Cage on the floor. Martin hit his own double-jump dive to the floor before Lio Rush jumped Martin and sent him into the barricade as payback for earlier in the night.
Back in the ring, Mortos squished Komander with a pop-up Samoan Drop before Cage dropped Mortos with a spinny facebuster deal. Look, I don’t know every move name. After a commercial, Martin tried to fight his way back into the ring before Cage booted him down. We got a lot of minutes of a lot of moves, and Cage pinned Martin with a Weapon X.
FTR were backstage with The Rock N’ Roll Express, who brought up the angle from 2021 where FTR hit Ricky Morton with a spike piledriver. Harwood apologized for that before The Outrunners entered the frame, complaining about gas money they were owed from 1982. Morton apologized, and the Outrunners did the Predator handshake with the Rock N’ Rolls.
(The only way this could have been better is if it was in front of the crowd.)
Rated FTR (Cope, Cash Wheeler, & Dax Harwood) defeated The Learning Tree (Big Bill, Bryan Keith & Chris Jericho)
(A trademark Collision trios main event, as Adam Copeland fills in the role of FTR’s trios partner. I’m of the opinion that Big Bill has the tools to be a player in AEW, and I would spin him off as a singles and let Jericho & Keith stick around as a tag team. The post-match angles with the Death Riders continues to miss the mark, as them tying up the Rock N’ Roll Express just felt goofy instead of menacing.)
As someone who has to quickly write names down, I’m a fan of Cope. Cope and Jericho stared each other down to start the match, but Jericho tagged out before they fought. The first third of the match was Big Bill being just too damn big and handling FTR by himself. After a commercial, Jericho & Cope tagged in and faced off to a big reaction.
We got a lot of action, including a Big Bill powerbomb on Harwood, before Cope hit Jericho with the Impaler. Cope went for the spear but Jericho hit the Codebreaker for a nearfall. The Learning Tree isolated Cope in their corner for a while before he got a tag into Wheeler. Wheeler ran wild on Big Bill, finally taking him down with a tornado DDT.
Rated FTR hit Bill with a Double PowerPlex – well, a single Plex and a double Power. A triple Shatter machine got broken up, with Bill hitting a Bossman Slam. Jericho & Harwood had dual submissions on before Cope and Bill broke them up. Cope sent Bill to the floor and hit a big dive to the floor, with Harwood following with a big suicida. Harwood & Jericho were left, but as Harwood went up for a diving headbutt, Keith hit Harwood with the ROH Title for a long nearfall.
Harwood moved out of the way of a Lionsault, and FTR hit Jericho with a Shatter Machine. Cope followed up with a spear, and the good guys won. After the match, Jon Moxley appeared on the screen before revealing that he had The Rock N’ Roll Express tied up in the back. The Outrunners came to try and help before Wheeler Yuta & Marina Shafir laid them out. The Death Riders bailed out before Copeland and the Death Riders could catch them in the back.