By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
AEW Collision (Episode 84)
Taped March 5, 2025 in Sacramento, California at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
Simulcast March 8, 2025 on TNT and Max
[Hour One] No Elton John opening tonight, so apparently this Saturday night is not alright for fighting. Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness checked in on commentary. Arkady Aura was the ring announcer as we went to the ring for the opening match…..
1. “The Opps” Hook, Katsuyori Shibata, and Samoa Joe vs. Starboy Charlie, Jack Banning, and Titus Alexander. This was a quick squash match with Alexander taking the majority of the punishment for his team. Each babyface got spots in with Shibata finishing Alexander off with his PK finisher.
“The Opps” Hook, Katsuyori Shibata, and Samoa Joe defeated Starboy Charlie, Jack Banning and Titus Alexander in 2:17.
Don’s Take: I suspect we’re going to get several of these type matches tonight considering the show was taped after Dynamite on Wednesday and we’re headed into Revolution, meaning several video packages and backstage segments. The Opps is a fun act without any real direction right now.
Cope cut a backstage promo noting that Jon Moxley was nervous and didn’t like guys that had more experience and paid more dues than he did. Cope said he was right to be nervous and that he hid behind the Death Riders because he was afraid to lose the AEW Title. He said with the title, we’d have to sit through Moxley’s word salad diatribe and go around in circles. But without it, Moxley had no use and his followers will realize that he’s a false martyr and a spin doctor.
Cope added that he took the Death Riders out and that Wheeler Yuta is finally doing some soul searching and is starting to realize that Moxley is a succubus. Cope said he needs the Jon Moxley that set the industry on fire and isn’t afraid to go toe to toe with him, not this coward. He said he needs the Moxley that isn’t afraid to suffer, because he will. Cope added that he knows he will suffer too but he’s a masochist and gets off on it.
He added that he’s had a lot of title matches in 32 years and realizes that time is running out so he has to make it count. He said that this may be his last chance but there’s no expiration on passion, grit or purpose. He added that this is the first time that he will face Moxley and that he has to do this. He closed by telling Moxley that he’ll see him soon.
Don’s Take: A nice go-home promo to sell the main event.
TBS Champion Mercedes Mone joined the commentary team…..
2. Momo Watanabe vs. Serena Deeb. Chain wrestling to start with Deeb maintaining most of the advantage with a ground-based submission attack. Mone was rooting for Deeb to take Watanabe apart “limb by limb.” Prior to the first break of the evening, Watanabe made a brief comeback, including an awkward looking dropkick in the corner. Deeb quickly took out the knee to regain the advantage followed by a neck breaker. [C]
It was back and forth down the stretch with Watanabe mounting a comeback with a series of suplexes and Deeb countering with a series of submission holds, as well as wicked looking clothesline for a near fall. Billie Starkz was shown looking on from backstage. In the end, each ran the other into the ropes and hit a clothesline against the rope but Watanabe ended up catching Deeb with a hook kick to the back of the head followed by her Heat Sunrise finisher for the win.
Momo Watanabe defeated Serena Deeb in 11:13.
After the match, Mone confronted Watanabe and pie faced her with the title. Watanabe delivered a hook kick to the head and a Meteora from the top rope… [C]
Don’s Take: This is the usual “rotating talent from outside AEW comes in and gets a win before challenging for one of the titles.” This was fine for what it was but I don’t see Watanabe as a threat to Mone and I continue to wish Deeb was booked better. As an aside, a potential Mone-Bille Starkz program is intriguing.
A video recapped the Don Callis Family attacking Will Ospreay on Dynamite…
Will Ospreay cut a backstage promo talking about how his physical pain did not equal the mental anguish he was going through. He talked about the United Empire and how he continued to wear the arm band in the hopes that Kyle Fletcher would come around. He spoke about the history of the group and how they were supposed to take over Japan. He added that he and Fletcher were supposed to take over AEW when he won the International Title. He then talked about the cage match and how he had to fight a man he loved. He promised Fletcher that he would stab him back with every knife Fletcher stabbed him with. He closed with his catchphrase of being on another level while having a pained look on his face.
Don’s Take: Another solid promo to promote the pay-per-view.
3. Harley Cameron vs. Tatevik Hunanyan. Hunanyan attacked at the bell and held the advantage for a bit until Cameron made the comeback and hit “her finishing move” for the win, in which she grabs her opponent’s arm and around the neck to take her down.
Harley Cameron defeated Tatevik in 2:10.
Don’s Take: Cameron is a work in progress in the ring despite being over as an act. She’s another example of an over act being caught in a spin cycle. She’s come off a loss to Mercedes Mone where she looked strong. I’m hoping they can find a decent program for her outside of the title picture as they continue to work to build her up.
Kyle Fletcher was backstage to respond to Will Ospreay’s promo. Fletcher was standing in front a steel cage-like fence. He spoke about enjoying dropping people on their head but enjoying it a little more looking like he does and when it’s Will Ospreay. He said Ospreay views Fletcher as a steppingstone but in reality, Ospreay is the one that’s in his way. He added that all of Ospreay’s accomplishments won’t mean anything and he’ll simply be known as Fletcher’s greatest rival. He said the United Empire was just a façade to stroke Ospreay’s ego and that in the cage, he will wipe the mat and the cage with Ospreay’s blood. He said that the pain that Ospreay inflicted on him, he will return a thousand-fold. He closed by saying that Ospreay asked for this and that we should call him by his full name.
4. “The Undisputed Kingdom” Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong vs. “The Infantry” Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean (w/Shane Taylor). O’Reilly dominated Bravo early until Bravo backed O’Reilly into the corner and the heels worked him over for several minutes. Strong made the hot tag and was cruising on offense as the show went to a break. [C]
Coming out of the break, the heels worked over Strong until he made the hot tag to O’Reilly who cleaned house. Down the stretch, it was O’Reilly attempting to get a submission out of Bravo only to be stopped by Dean. Eventually, O’Reilly disposed of Dean, leaving Bravo in the ring alone. Strong and O’Reilly performed their “sweep the leg” finisher for the win.
“The Undisputed Kingdom” Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong defeated “The Infantry” Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean in 8:40.
Don’s Take: Right now, this is a pointless mid card feud. If the goal is to build Shane Taylor Promotions into something credible, that’s fine. They did get some decent heat last week interrupting the TNT Title match between Adam Cole and Daniel Garcia. This seemed to offset that heat but I’m willing to let this play out and see where it goes.
Don Callis was backstage with Konosuke Takeshita. Callis said that since they’ve been together, life is good. He said that Kenny Omega used to be the “god of wrestling” but Takeshita is the new god. Callis said Takeshita is there every day defending the International Title while Omega is in a hospital with tubes in his stomach. Callis said he didn’t wish Kenny any ill health but wondered how long it would be before his guts exploded. He said that at Revolution, Takeshita wasn’t just going to beat Omega for the third time – he was going to end him.
A video recapped the history between Chris Jericho’s Learning Tree, Bandido and Gravity. It looks like a match between Chris Jericho and Gravity has been set up for the Revolution pre-show. [C]
Don’s Take: I mean, can an event even take place without Chris Jericho?
Jon Moxley was backstage and talked about how he and Adam Copeland had many things in common including coming up from poverty, fighting for everything they had and their continued desire to be world champion. He said he wanted to like Copeland but he doesn’t get him. He asked if he should show him mercy when he gets his hands on him since Copeland didn’t show the Death Riders mercy. He closed by saying that when the sounds of Copeland’s neck snapping and popping reverberates in his head, that’s when he will learn the meaning of respect.
[Hour Two]
5. Hologram vs. Dralistico. As expected, the early part of this match was full of flips and dives with Hologram establishing the early advantage. Dralistico regained the momentum heading into the break with a prolonged attack on the floor, which continued once back in the ring. [C]
The action as back on the floor as Hologram hit a Spanish Fly. The two exchanged blows and chops on the apron. Dralistico hit a Frankensteiner from the apron to the floor. The two battled back and forth once again on the floor. Back in the ring, Hologram hit a power bomb for a near fall. He followed up with another Spanish Fly but Dralistico responded with a crucifix bomb. In the end Dralistico hit a poisonrana and tried to cover with his feet on the ropes which was caught and stopped by referee Aubrey Edwards. Hologram responded with an airplane spin into a portal bomb for the win.
Hologram defeated Dralistico in 13:30.
After the match, the Beast Mortos attacked Hologram and tried to remove his mask. Komander came out with Alex Abrahantes. At first, Komander cleaned house but when he went to dive onto Dralistico on the floor, Dralistico attacked Abrahantes. Dralistico and Mortos laid out both babyfaces to end the segment.
Don’s Take: While the live crowd enjoyed this match, from a character standpoint, the initial novelty of Hologram has worn off. He’s flashy and does a lot of high spots. In AEW, that’s commonplace. What’s his back story? What’s his mission? Let’s get him into a storyline and see what we have. On the other side, Dralistico is in this dead-end faction with Rush and The Beast Mortos. I’m surprised Rush isn’t complaining more about this and at this point, I’d branch Rush off as a singles star. If you want to have Dralistico continue to team with Mortos, that’s fine.
A video recapped FTR vs. Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong from last week’s Collision…
FTR, Daniel Garcia, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Adam Cole were backstage. FTR apologized to O’Reilly and Strong for not shaking their hands last week. Harwood said that he apologizes for stooging himself off to the referee and that the best tag team in AEW should have won. O’Reilly said the best team did win which set up a rematch for next week’s Collision. Cole told Garcia that he deserved another shot at the TNT Title if Garcia is still champion. Garcia said we’ll see and he has a title to defend. Cole wished him luck. [C]
We’re joined by Lexy Nair for the first time tonight who is with The Hurt Syndicate. She asked about their match at Revolution with the Outrunners. MVP said that the Outrunners are entertaining and make the people feel good and make them laugh. He added that they are entertaining in a different way as they make they people cringe and gasp. He said that the people can relate to the Outrunners because they are the underdogs, but Lashley and Benjamin have always been top dogs. He added that Lashley and Benjamin would hurt the underdogs and when a dog suffers, they are put down.
6. “The Outrunners” Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd vs. “The Premier Athletes” Tony Nese and Ari Daivari (w/Mark Sterling). Sterling did his usual pre-match schtick. Tony Khan made the match between FTR, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong official for next week’s Collision. The Outrunners controlled the majority of the match prior to the break, with Nese and Daivari working over Magnum for a bit. The Outrunners cleaned house going into the break. [C]
The heels worked over Magnum coming out of the break. Eventually he made the hot tag to Floyd who cleaned house. The Outrunners hit their handshake into an elbow drop double team move and had Nese set up for Total Recall but The Hurt Syndicate came onto the stage and distracted the Outrunners. The Athletes regained the advantage briefly but Floyd hit a double clothesline on both Athletes allowing both Floyd and Magnum to hit Total Recall on Daivari for the win.
“The Outrunners” Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd defeated “The Premier Athletes” Tony Nese and Ari Daivari in 8:30.
Don’s Take: It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the Premier Athletes on AEW TV. I haven’t missed them and was reminded why I don’t. This was the expected outcome considering Nese and Daivari almost never win and the Outrunners are challenging for the tag team titles at Revolution.
Footage was shown of Toni Storm from the “Queen of the Ring” premiere. While being interviewed on the red carpet, she was attacked by Mariah May.
Tony Schiavone ran down the Revolution lineup…
A video recapped the history between MJF and Hangman Page…..[C]
We had comments from Johnny TV, the MxM Collection, Mark Briscoe and Orange Cassidy heading into their six-man tag team match on the pre-show at Revolution. “Big Boom” A.J. was not there but for some reason, Brian Cage and Lance Archer were with the heel team while Tyra Valkyrie was with Johnny TV.
7. Daniel Garcia vs. Lee Moriarty for the TNT Title. Shane Taylor joined Moriarty on the stage but returned to the back. Matt Menard joined the commentary team. This was an even match for the first several minutes. Garcia was on the second turnbuckle delivering the ten punches to Moriarty, but Moriarty dropped Garcia on the top turnbuckle. The action spilled to the outside with Garcia gaining the advantage heading into the final break of the evening. [C]
Moriarty was on offense coming out of the break. Garcia made the hot comeback, hitting a dropkick followed by a clothesline in the corner and the ten punches. Garcia hit a top rope super plex but Moriarty countered for a near fall. Both went into dueling pinning attempts for a series of one counts. The two exchanged blows. Moriarty locked in a cross face which Garcia countered with a sharpshooter. Moriarty raked the eyes to get out of the hold and locked in the cross face once again. Garcia got out of the hold and delivered a piledriver for the win.
Daniel Garcia defeated Lee Moriarty in 14:57 to retain the TNT Title.
After the match, the Infantry and Shane Taylor climbed the apron to attack Garcia but were run off by Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole and Roderick Strong…
Don’s Take: A fine television main event. I’m surprised that Garcia didn’t make the Revolution card as they could have run back the match with Adam Cole. It looks like it will be on a future Collision, but it’s a testament to how flat his title reign has been. AEW has started and stopped with him so many times, it’s getting harder and harder to make him credible. And continuing to associate with Matt Menard and Angelo Parker isn’t helping. As an aside, leaving Cole off the event shows how much he has been defined down. They both have talent but the audience has been conditioned not to care because of the booking.
Kenny Omega cut a promo on Konosuke Takeshita. He talked about training Takeshita in 2021 and how he answered all of his questions and gave him everything he asked for. He said it wasn’t enough. He asked Takeshita what would happen when he loses the International Title. Will Don Callis cast him aside like he did Omega and Will Ospreay? He said Ospreay opened his eyes but Takeshita still lives in a fantasy land. He said that Revolution is the chance to prove he’s the better wrestler one-on-one and that Takeshita is not facing the same man he beat twice, but will be facing the man that Don Callis once called the “god of wrestling.” He delivered his “goodbye and good night” line to end the promo.
Don’s Take: I enjoyed the promos tonight. Simple yet effective ways to potentially get some last-minute pay-per-view buys.
Another “fine if you saw, fine if you didn’t” edition from a match perspective but I was pleasantly surprised with how they used the time to insert last-minute promos for some of the major matches on the show. It’s the little things and in this area, they seem to be moving in the right direction.
That’s all for me for now. John Moore will have Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons) covered with the Collision audio review for this show while Will Pruett is off trying to discover the secrets of Lucha Libre. And of course, Jason will have you covered with a live review of Revolution, as well as a same-night audio review where he’ll be joined by the incomparable Jake Barnett. Until next time!
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