By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
AEW Collision (Episode 90)
Taped April 23, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana at Lakefront Arena
Simulcast April 26, 2025 on TNT and Max
[Hour One] The show started at approximately 8:48 PM ET. Elton John let us know that Saturday night was alright for fighting! Pyro was shot off from the stage. Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuiness checked in on commentary as Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana made their way to the ring. Arkady Aura was the ring announcer….
Strickland was about to address the audience when he was interrupted by Matthew and Nicholas Jackson, The Young Bucks. Nicholas told the audience to shut the eff up and show respect to the EVPs, the founding fathers. Matthew apologized for his brother and said he was a bit of a hothead. He also apologized to Strickland for interrupting him but said that the audience didn’t want to hear what he had to say anyway. Matthew added that he knew that Strickland had a match later tonight, but they pulled a few strings and the match was going to happen right now. He asked for a referee while Nicholas introduced Blake Christian, who came out with Lee Johnson.
1. Swerve Strickland (w/Prince Nana) vs. Blake Christian (w/Lee Johnson).The Young Bucks watched the match from the stage. Strickland, who wrestled with a shirt on, back elbowed Christian to start but was tripped up by Johnson to give Christian the early advantage. The action spilled to the floor with Christian hitting a dive onto Swerve and ramming him into the guardrail in the aisleway. Strickland quickly returned the favor. Christian then rammed Strickland shoulder first into the ring post.
Back in the ring, Strickland hit a neck breaker between the ropes. Christian hit his own neck breaker but missed a top rope dive and ate a jumping house kick. Strickland then hit his Big Pressure finisher for the win.
Swerve Strickland defeated Blake Christian in about 4:26.
After the match, the Bucks made their way down to the ring as Strickland challenged them to come into the ring. Johnson attacked a distracted Strickland from behind. Strickland turned the tide with a Flatliner but was immediately attacked by the Bucks, who laid out Strickland with an EVP Trigger.
They went for the spike tombstone piledriver but Kenny Omega came out. The Bucks got the advantage on him. Omega retaliated and hit two Snap Dragon suplexes on Nicholas. Omega went for the V-Trigger on Nicholas but Matthew pulled him to safety. Omega and Strickland fist-bumped in the ring.
Don’s Take: The match was fine and didn’t overstay its welcome. I’ll assume this will lead to some kind of Blood and Guts, Anarchy Rules or Stadium Stampede match.
Samoa Joe cut a promo on Jon Moxley saying that men like Moxley seem very complicated but have a very simple motivation to create chaos. He said that Moxley doesn’t like to face his problems but reminded him that he is not a problem that will be distracted and is not an issue that will go away when Moxley created chaos. He said he is coming for his AEW Championship and there is nothing that Moxley or the Death Riders can do.
Don’s Take: The match takes place on the Beach Break edition of Dynamite on Wednesday, May 14th from Chicago, IL.
2. AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm (w/Luther) vs. Queen Aminata in an eliminator match. Chain wrestling to start as Tony Schiavone announced another All-Star 8-man tag team match for Dynamite featuring Mark Briscoe, Kenny Omega, Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey against the Young Bucks, Ricochet and Kazuchika Okada.
Aminata was working a heel style, giving Storm the ten punches in the corner as well as a snap suplex and a head butt on the apron. On the apron she wrapped her legs around Storm’s head and rammed her into her ass. Storm went to the floor and Aminata kicked her in the head going into commercial. Storm appeared to be bleeding from the nose. [C]
The two traded blows. Storm hit a Lou Thesz press followed by a series of punches. Storm locked in an STF but Aminiata got to the ropes. Down the stretch, both hit a series of moves and near falls, including a spot on the floor where Aminata missed a charge at Storm against the guardrail and Storm ended up performing a drop toe hold onto a chair followed by a hip attack into the guardrail. At one point, Aminata hit her Beach Break finisher for a near fall.
The finish saw Aminata miss a dive from the top rope and walk right into a German suplex. Storm followed up with a hip attack in the corner and her Storm Zero piledriver for the win.
AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm defeated Queen Aminata in an eliminator match in 11:40.
Don’s Take: A physical match that might have gone on for about 3-4 minutes more than it should have. Storm seems to be in a holding pattern until All In. There’s a lot of time before then so I’m hoping they can find her something a bit more interesting to do.
Lexy Nair was backstage with Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, Jay Lethal and Satnam Singh. Nair said we haven’t seen the group in a while and Lethal said to ask Sonjay Dutt if he ever showed up. Dutt appeared and Lethal asked him where he was as they were ready to put in the work. Lethal said that Dutt was supposed to be the leader of the group. Jarrett said that he told Dutt he wanted championship gold and if Dutt was the leader, Jarrett was listening to the wrong people. Lethal said he had some ideas and the group walked away.
An ad for All In Texas aired…[C]
Max Caster was in the ring for his open challenge. He said that he was going to bring something to New Orleans that they weren’t used to…a playoff atmosphere. He then led the crowd in his chant and said it sounded weak but that was to be expected from a town whose streets smelled like horse urine. He asked for his opponent which led to….
3. Max Caster vs. Hologram.This was a total squash with Hologram hitting some flashy moves and winning with the Portal Bomb.
Hologram defeated Max Caster in about 1:58.
Don’s Take: The open challenge is a guilty pleasure of mine but if they’re not careful, they’re going to make Caster a babyface, which I don’t think is the intent. I noticed more fans than usual participated in the pre-match chant.
A video aired recapping Master P’s participation on Wednesday’s Dynamite….
4. “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin (w/Leila Grey) vs. “Cru” Lio Rush and Action Andretti in a tornado tag match.The four began brawling from the beginning. The theme of the early part of the match was Top Flight gaining the advantage and the Cru rolling to the floor. The first time they introduced kendo sticks to the match, and the second time they chased Grey on the floor. Top Flight was distracted allowing the heels to gain the advantage. Rush and Andretti placed a trash can over Darius’ head and hit it with a kendo stick.
Top Flight attacked the Cru with the trash can. The Cru bought a sack into the ring which they thought were thumbtacks but were actually New Orleans beads. Rush was slammed onto the beads for a near fall. In another spot, the Cru suplexed Darius onto a chair. The finish saw Grey stop Rush from using a chain and Andretti shoving Darius into her, knocking her off the apron. The Cru hit several aerial attacks on Darius for the win. [C]
Cru defeated Top Flight in about 11:05.
Don’s Take: A good finish to what will hopefully be the end of this feud. The division needs credible tag teams so it’s time to move on.
[Hour Two]
5. Anna Jay vs. Taylor Gainey.Another complete squash with Jay winning with the Gory Bomb.
Anna Jay defeated Taylor Gainey in about 0:57.
After the match, Penelope Ford came out an attacked Jay. Megan Bayne followed and hit Jay with Fate’s Descent.
Don’s Take: I’m guessing Jay will be next to be fed to Bayne in the coming weeks.
A video previewed the upcoming finals of the Owen Hart Cup Women’s Tournament between Mercedes Mone and Jamie Hayter…
6. Bandido vs. Dralistico for the ROH Championship.This was the usual flashy move fest you’d expect, with action in and out of the ring once Dralistico dove onto Bandido. The action was going back to the floor heading to commercial after both had exchanged chops on the apron [C]….
Bandido had the advantage diving onto Dralistico twice. Bandido hit a frog splash for a near fall. This set off a series of spots and near falls. The finish saw Dralisitco hit a flying Code Breaker for a near fall. Dralistico argued the count with referee Aubrey Edwards. This allowed Bandido to ram Dralistico into the top turnbuckle followed by the 21 Plex for the win.
Bandido defeated Dralistico in about 11:20.
Don’s Take: Fine from an in-ring standpoint, but nothing of importance unless you’re watching ROH. And even then….
Big Bill and Bryan Keith were backstage. Keith said they need to stop disappointing Chris Jericho while Bill said they need to start cracking skulls. Keith said it was two sides of the same coin. Bill said they could easily crack skulls but they wanted a challenge and called out the Gates of Agony for a match down the road…..[C]
7. AR Fox vs. Rush.Rush attacked at the bell. This was basically all Rush minus a brief comeback by Fox. Rush wins with Bull’s Horns double stomp finisher in the corner.
Rush defeated AR Fox in about 3:07.
Don’s Take: A quick filler match. No more, no less..
Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero were backstage. Beretta said that being underrated after 20 years was an insult. Romero said that it was an insult to be invited into the Conglomeration and not be on the T-Shirt. Romero started yelling off camera and the camera panned to Romero arguing with the Outrunners. Beretta and Romero attacked the Outrunners. Beretta said that from here on out, the fans will appreciate everything they’ve done for them….[C]
A video previewed Kyle Fletcher vs. Hangman Adam Page in the semifinals of the Owen Hart Cup Men’s Tournament which will take place on Wednesday’s Dynamite….
8. “FTR” Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler (w/Stokely Hathaway) vs. Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly. Fairly even to start until the babyfaces took over with a series of strikes and kicks. FTR was sent to the floor heading into commercial….[C]
Strong and O’Reilly held the advantage until Wheeler clotheslined O’Reilly off the apron. FTR dropkicked Strong’s leg which was wedged in the steel steps. O’Reilly was also rammed into the steps. The heels worked over O’Reilly for several minutes in the ring. At a couple of points, O’Reilly went to tag Strong but Strong was still selling a leg injury on the floor.
O’Reilly hit a burst of offense on both heels. Strong tried to get up but Wheeler dropped him knee first across the ring steps. O’Reilly locked in the Octopus on Harwood but it was broken up by Wheeler. The match headed into a second commercial break….[C]
Harwood and O’Reilly traded blows while Wheeler missed a dive on the floor. O’Reilly was finally able to tag Strong. Strong cleaned house but re-injured the leg after he attempted a back breaker on Wheeler. Harwood wrapped Strong’s leg around the ringpost and locked in the figure four around the post.
In the ring, Harwood locked in thefigure four that was broken up by O’Reilly. O’Reilly locked in a knee bar on Harwood which was broken up by Wheeler. FTR then hit O’Reilly with the spike piledriver for the win.
FTR defeated Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong in about 20:44.
After the match, Adam Cole came out to check on O’Reilly and Strong. Hathaway grabbed Cole’s leg allowing FTR to hit the Shatter Machine on Strong. FTR and Hathway cornered Cole until Daniel Garcia came out and cleared the heels from the ring. Garcia said FTR were the two biggest pieces of trash he’s ever seen and he’ll be after them every week until he gets his hands on them. FTR looked on from the aisle as Garcia shook Cole’s hand to end the show…
Don’s Take: A fine main event and I’m enjoying FTR as heels. I’m not sure Hathaway is the right fit but I’m willing to give it some time. I will say that I liked their previous matches better but this one was decent. FTR feuding with Garcia and Cole doesn’t do much for me so I am hoping they don’t drag it out.
This was an average Collision in the “fine if you saw it, fine if you didn’t category.” I suspect we’ll get a bunch of these over the next several weeks as they’re going to move it around to accommodate the NBA and NHL playoffs.
That’s all for me for now. Dot Net members should check out Will Pruett’s great audio review of this show. And I’ll be by in two weeks with my WWE Backlash predictions. Until next time!
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