By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
AEW Collision (Episode 88)
April 12, 2025 in Springfield, Massachusetts at MassMutual Center
Simulcast live on TNT and Max
[Hour One] Elton John let us know that Saturday night was alright for fighting! Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness checked in on commentary and ran down the lineup for tonight’s show…
FTR, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood, made their way to the ring as a video recapping their heel turn on Adam Copeland at Dynasty was shown. Wheeler said that what happened at Dynasty wasn’t an easy decision for him and it was not premeditated. He said that Copeland was his best friend and mentor for 15 years before he even met Harwood. He added that the more Harwood talked, the more sense it made and the more sense it made, the more it pissed him off. He wanted to be wrong but in watching Copeland backstage, he realized that Copeland only cared about himself. Copeland held down FTR’s career to lift up his own.
Wheeler said that when Copeland and Harwood were on the mat during Dynasty, it just clicked and he knew what had to happen and that he had to be the one to do it. Copeland may have helped him out when he was a kid, but he’s always been viewed as a helpless kid and he is not that kid anymore. Copeland didn’t respect him as a man and if you don’t respect him, you have to pay. FTR are living legends and they will be treated as such.
Harwood took the mic and said that he knows that it’s the cool thing to so that you feel like somebody and that you’re involved. In 2025, it’s cool to boo FTR. He added that the fans didn’t reach their dreams so now they make their own, congratulations. He talked about seeing a sign in the crowd last week that said “Why, FTR, Why?” and he thought to himself, why not? Instead of asking them why, the fans should be thanking them because they gave Adam Copeland everything he wanted. Adam Copeland was asking for relevancy in 2025 from the best tag team in the world and they gave it to him. He asked how he could sell out since he didn’t make any money off of this.
Harwood went on to say he was racking his brain trying to figure out what he could say to the fans that would justify their actions. And then it clicked. He doesn’t care if anyone agrees with them, what they did was right. And even though they don’t owe anyone an explanation, he said that they waited four months with nothing to do and they had become completely irrelevant. And the only thing planned for them was to be Adam Copeland’s new “Edge Heads.” They put their careers on hold so that Copeland could chase one more title and hold out a sliver of hope that he may still be the man. He said, “Adam, we’ve won ten world titles across seven global brands and you want us to take a backseat to you?”
Harwood called Copeland selfish and said he would have loved nothing more than for Copeland to end his career with FTR and ride off into the sunset but just like every other wrestler in his position, he’s too damn selfish. Harwood said that he knows there are people backstage who are not happy with them and that there are people in the arena not happy with them either.
Harwood called Tony Schiavone into the ring with McGuinness urged him not to go into the ring. Harwood said he just wanted to talk. He added that on Dynamite, Schiavone had some choice words for them when they were hundreds of miles away. He asked if Tony wanted to say them to their faces. Schiavone said that they were wrong and that when they first arrived, everyone loved them because they brought tag team wrestling back to the way it used to be. He added that in one fell swoop, they turned on the man that helped them in their careers.
Harwood cut him off and said that there was one other thing that Schiavone said that he thinks had something to do with his family. Schiavone acknowledged that he was talking about Harwood’s daughter who is a great kid, but Schiavone wondered what the other kids said on Monday when her dad turned on his best friend.
FTR grabbed Schiavone and set him up for the spike piledriver. McGuinness ran in to stop them and shielded Schiavone from them. As they approached McGuinness, Daniel Garcia ran into the ring. Harwood turned around shoved him to the mat and was immediately apologetic. FTR embraced Garcia and left the ring. Garcia and McGuinness checked on Schiavone with McGuinness saying. “if you ever do that again, I’ll kill you.”
Don’s Take: A good promo from FTR to explain their actions, using copious amounts of heel logic. In throwbacks to Jerry Lawler saving Jim Ross from Taz and Roddy Piper saving Gordon Solie from Don Muraco (if you’re old like me), I thought we were going to get another Nigel McGuinness match for a second, but now it looks like they’re pivoting to some sort of feud or partnership with Daniel Garcia.
The announce team showed the Owen Hart Cup Tournament women’s brackets and went backstage to “Timeless” Toni Storm and Luther. Storm cut an entertaining promo and said fighting Megan Bayne was like being mugged on Thanksgiving. She then addressed each competitor in the tournament and said she would bake the biggest batch of slop tarts the world has ever seen. She said that she would make a woman out of Billie Starkz and called her a “Johnny Come Lately.”
Regarding Harley Cameron, Storm said, “Call me Jim Henson, because I’ll put you on my wrist and make you sing Rainbow Connection.” They then showed a picture of Tony Schiavone and she said “Wrong picture.” For Mercedes Mone, she said CEO was an unfortunate name because she would drain her 401K and put her so deep into a recession she’ll have to drink her bathwater. For Kris Statlander, she said, “My God, what a woman!” For Athena, she said she may be the ROH Forever Champion but she’d last about two minutes with. And finally, for Jamie Hayter she offered advice that no money has ever been made from dressing like you’re from another era. Fun.
She added that she could watch the entire tournament from home eating veal parmigiana, but she’s not that kind of woman….yet. She said she will be at Double or Nothing watching and sweating and will always be timeless.
Arkady Aura was the ring announcer as we went to the ring for the opening match…
1. Jamie Hayter vs. Billie Starkz in an Owen Hart Foundation women’s tournament quarterfinal match. The match started fairly even until Starkz sent Hayter to the floor and attempted a dive only to be met with a forearm and she dove through the ropes. Hayter controlled the next several minutes of the match as we went to our first commercial…[C]
Don’s Take: Of note, Tony flubbed the date of Double or Nothing, saying May 23. The show is Sunday, May 25. It happens.
Hayter had Stark in a single-leg crab. Starkz made the big comeback with a series of moves including a German suplex for a near fall. Starkz grabbed a chin lock but Hayter rolled out and hit a running knee followed by a fireman’s carry into a backbreaker and her Hayterade clothesline finisher for a near fall. Starkz mounted another comeback with several near falls, but in the end, Hayter regained the advantage, chokeslamming Starkz across her knee followed by another Hayterade for the win.
Jamie Hayter defeated Billie Starkz in about 13:54.
An updated bracket was shown as Hayter will now face Kris Statlander in the semifinals.
Don’s Take: That was fun with the expected outcome. Starkz has something but could benefit from a little more character work since I’m going to guess that some if not many of the AEW regulars may not be familiar with her work in ROH.
The Death Riders were backstage. Claudio Castagnoli said that when they started this war, they knew there’d be casualties, referring to Pac’s injury. He said they accepted the challenge from the Opps as they do not concede territory. Jon Moxley said that there is a generation of young wrestlers that don’t want to come to work and there’s a lot of money to be made. He said he knows Samoa Joe and Katsuyori Shibata know that but asked what they were teaching Hook. He told Hook to relax and that it was the biggest match of his career. He told Hook not to worry because “chicks dig scars,” as Wheeler Yuta showed off his forehead….[C]
2. “The Gates of Agony” Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona vs. “Smash and Burn” Johnny and Ricky. This was a complete squash with Liona and Kaun choke slamming one wrestler onto the other for the win.
The Gates of Agony defeated Smash and Burn in about 1:06.
Don’s Take: I’m guessing the point of this was to build some buzz for ROH as it was noted that the Gates of Agony have had four straight wins on the brand. They’re a decent team but there’s been a lot of damage done.
Backstage, Lexy Nair tried to get a word with FTR who were leaving the building with their suitcases. They were confronted by Matt Menard and Angelo Parker. Menard and Parker said they wouldn’t let FTR do to Daniel Garcia what they did to Adam Copeland. This led to match arranged for later tonight with Garcia at ringside. Harwood said that Garcia was a big boy and could make up his own mind.
3. Anthony Bowens (w/Billy Gunn) vs. Blake Christian (w/Lee Johnson). The match was even from the beginning with Bowens having the advantage going into commercial…[C]
Don’s Take: Tony plugged next Thursday’s live Collision and explained that the show would not be on next Saturday due to the NBA playoffs. I also heard a rumor of another wrestling event taking place next weekend…that can’t be the reason for the move, can it? I kid and I get it, but got a chuckle out of it nonetheless.
Christian held the advantage and they showed Johnson distracting Bowens in front of the referee, which led to Christian taking over. Johnson was not ejected. Bowens hit a Grand Slam face plant for a near fall. Down the stretch, there were a couple of instances where Bowens would go for a pin only to be broken up by Johnson from the outside. Christian hit a series of offensive moves including an impressing 450 stomp from the top rope. In the end, Christian went for a springboard but was met with a thrust kick. Bowens knocked Johnson off the apron and Gunn took out Johnson on the floor. Bowens hit Christian with a rolling elbow for the win.
Anthony Bowens defeated Blake Christian in about 9:11.
Bowens took the mic and said this was a long time coming as he was AEW’s five-tool player and the pride of professional wrestling. He said he doesn’t need a government trademark to prove it as he will do so in the ring every week. He asked, “Who is next to be molly-whopped by the five-tool player?”….[C]
Don’s Take: I don’t know much about molly-whopping, Bowens has something. I don’t know about five tools, but he has at least two in that he can talk and he can work. A little seasoning and he could be more than just the filler match on Collision.
[Hour Two]
4. Megan Bayne (w/Penelope Ford) vs. LMK and Kelly Madan. LMK stands for Little Mean Kathleen but it didn’t mean much here as Bayne dominated both opponents and F5’d Madan onto LMK, before stacking and pinning them.
Megan Bayne defeated LMK and Kelly Madan in about 1:29.
After the match, Bayne held both opponents up by the hair, yelled, “Bow Down” and slammed their heads to the mat.
Don’s Take: A nice way to start to have Bayne bounce back and rebuild credibility after losing to Toni Storm at Dynasty.
A video recapped the men’s bracket of the Owen Hart Cup tournament thus far, focusing on Brody King vs. Konosuke Takeshita, with the winner meeting Will Ospreay in the semifinals. They also touched on Hangman Page meeting a wild card, with the winner meeting Kyle Fletcher.
5. Kevin Knight vs. AR Fox. Knight held the early advantage but Fox retaliated with a double stop to the chest on the right apron and a dive onto Knight on the floor….[C]
Lots and back and forth down the stretch. Knight hit a huracanrana off the second rope followed by a spike DDT and flying clothesline from the top rope for the win.
Kevin Knight defeated AR Fox in about 8:25.
Don’s Take: I’m wondering if the opening FTR segment ran long because there’s only about 45 minutes left in the show and there are three matches to go, including two that are Owen Hart Cup tournament matches. I’m wondering if FTR vs. Menard and Parker will actually turn out to be an angle. As for this match, fine for what it was.
The Gates of Agony were backstage and called out the Hurt Syndicate for Dynamite. Liona said, “You hurt people…we break people.”
Don’s Take: Ah, so it was the classic squash victory on Collision before getting fed to the champions on Dynamite.
6. “FTR” Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler vs. Matt Menard and Angelo Parker. Daniel Garcia made his way to ringside. As the bell rang, FTR immediately went on the attack on both Menard and Parker. Menard was busted wide open and got in little offense aside from some shots to Harwood. Parker tried to intervene but was met with Shatter Machine. FTR hit two spike piledrivers on Menard and went for a third one but was talked out of it by Garcia. Wheeler covered Menard for the win.
FTR defeated Matt Menard and Angelo Parker in about 3:32.
After the match, Garcia tended to Menard while FTR left the ring. When Garcia’s back was turned, FTR re-entered and attacked Garcia, hitting two spike piledrivers. They went for a third one but was stopped by security. They hit a couple of officers and the referee and went up again for a third spike piledriver. This time, they were interrupted by The Paragon (Adam Cole, Kyle’O’Reilly and Roderick Strong) who ran the heel team off…[C]
Don’s Take: This aggressive FTR is fun. It was a good segment to establish that and we’ve seen good matches between them, O’Reilly and Strong. I suspect these will be even better now that face and heel roles are clearly defined.
7. Harley Cameron vs. Athena in an Owen Hart Foundation women’s tournament quarterfinal match. Chain wrestling and pin attempts to start. That ended quickly as Athena became aggressive, slamming Cameron back first on the ring apron and then tossing her onto her back on the floor…[C]
Out of the break, Athena had Cameron in a bow and arrow. Cameron made the big babyface comeback for several near falls. At one point she attempted her finishing move but it was blocked. In the end, Athena hit a knee strike followed by the O Face finisher for the win….[C]
Athena defeated Harley Cameron in about 10:26.
Don’s Take: This was fun but I am surprised they are rushing into Mercedes Mone vs. Athena for TV without giving Athena some mic time which she has excelled at. The match should be good and they could always run it back…I just didn’t figure their first match would be on TV.
Mercedes Mone was backstage and apologized to Springfield for not being there but said that the Money Train would stop in Boston and she is only two stops away from All In in Texas. She mentioned Athena is one of the best ever, but she will find out why money changes everything. She said the best woman will win on Dynamite.
8. Brody King (w/Julia Hart) vs. Konosuke Takeshita in an Owen Hart Foundation men’s tournament quarterfinal match. Don Callis was notably absent here. King took the early lead until he missed a senton bomb and Takeshita hit one of his own. The action spilled to the floor when King hit a Death Valley Driver on the apron. He went for a follow up cannonball on the floor but was met with a knee strike, which allowed Takeshita to dive onto King from back inside the ring to the floor…. [C]
Coming out of the break, King had just hit Takeshita with a super plex from the top rope. King hit a cannonball in the corner for a near fall. The two traded blows. Takeshita hit a blue thunder bomb for a near fall. King hit a lariat and Dante’s Inferno, both for near falls. In the end, King kicked out of a lariat by Takeshita in addition to a knee strike. Takeshita then hit boomerang knee strikes for the win.
Konosuke Takeshita defeated Brody King in about 12:20.
Takeshita celebrated next to the trophy as Collision went off the air….
Don’s Take: The expected outcome to set up a big showdown between Takeshita and Will Ospreay. I continue to feel like King could be more but my opinion doesn’t seem to be shared.
Between the three Owen Hart Cup tournament matches and the FTR segments, this was a good and somewhat newsworthy episode of Collision. And it sets up next week’s shows nicely amid a lot of wrestling competing for the viewers’ time.
That’s all for me for now. Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons) should check out Will Pruett’s superb audio review of this show. And I’ll be by next week with my previews and predictions for both nights of WrestleMania, as well as NXT Stand and Deliver. Until next time!
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