By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
AEW Collision (Episode 134)
Taped February 25, in Denver, Colorado, at Mission Ballroom
Simulcast February 28, 2026, on TNT and HBO Max
[Hour One] No Collision opening this week. Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, and Nigel McGuinness checked in on commentary…
MJF’s music hit, and he stormed to the ring, yelling to cut his music. He said Collision wouldn’t start until Revolution was rectified. He added that he was the best professional wrestler and not a death match indy bum. He called out Tony Khan and said he wouldn’t participate in a Texas Death match at Revolution. Finally, he reiterated that Collision wouldn’t start until something gets done.
Kevin Knight came out. He spoke about getting things done, including his recent win streak and how he helped the baby faces stop MJF on Dynamite from using a double-sided coin. He said he looks better than Max, dresses better than Max, and would be a better world champion than Max. He concluded by saying he’s not the future, but the “here and now.”
MJF responded by calling Knight an “ignorant, arrogant child,” and asked him if he was telling “Big Hebrew” how to do his job. He added that since Knight calls himself the “Jet,” he should jet to El Paso, Texas, for Dynamite, where it will be MJF vs. Kevin Knight for the AEW World Championship. He concluded by saying that after the match, Knight won’t be in the “here and now,” but will be history before tossing the mic away.
Don’s Take: A good opening segment, but I couldn’t help but experience a slight disconnect. On the one hand, he’s trying to get out of defending his title against Hangman Page. In the same breath, he’s offering a title match on TV. He completely no-sold Knight’s promo and was laughing throughout it, so I can forgive this for the sake of the story they’re trying to tell with the overconfident champion.
A video previewed the ROH history between Tommaso Ciampa and Jay Lethal, which was a nice touch.
Ring announcer, Arkady Aura, introduced the opening match…
1. “The Callis Family” Josh Alexander, Lance Archer, Trent Beretta, and Rocky Romero vs. “The Death Riders” Pac, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Daniel Garcia (w/Marina Shafir) in an eight-man tag. Jon Moxley joined the commentary team. The crowd chanted “F— Don Callis, F— ICE too.” Tony Schiavone announced that Tony Khan had made the MJF vs. Kevin Knight match for the AEW World Championship official for Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Highlights from the opening minutes included evenly matched offense from both teams, the Callis Family trying to remove Yuta’s stocking cap to reveal his bald head, and Yuta diving onto both teams who were battling on the floor at ringside. Heading into the break, the Callis Family had the upper hand on Pac. [C]
The heels sustained the advantage throughout the commercial. Eventually, Pac made the hot tag to Castagnoli, who cleaned house. Highlights down the stretch included Castagnoli hitting Alexander with the big swing and then catching Beretta with a European uppercut as Beretta jumped off the top rope. The Callis Family continued to try to remove Yuta’s hat, causing Yuta to continually adjust it.
In one spot, Archer almost got the hat off, but Castagnoli grabbed a chair, causing the referee to be distracted. This allowed Shafir to apply a sleeper on Archer. Archer threw Shafir off but broke the hold. The Death Riders took turns hitting moves on Archer in the corner. The finish saw Yuta hit the busaiku knee on Romero for the win.
“The Death Riders” Pac, Claudio Castagnolu, Wheeler Yuta, and Daniel Garcia defeated “The Callis Family” Josh Alexander, Lance Archer, Trent Beretta, and Rocky Romero in 15:20.
After the match, Konosuke Takeshita came out with a microphone, but before he could say anything, the fight was on between him and Moxley, with both teams attempting to break up the pull-apart brawl. The fight went all the way up the ramp. [C]
Don’s Take: Another good altercation between the two factions that was well-received by the live crowd. But, as I said last week, aside from the upcoming match between Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita, I’m ready to move on from this program. Let’s get to an Anarchy Rules match and call it a day.
2. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jay Lethal (w/Blake Christian, Lee Johnson). Highlights of the first part of the match included a good chop battle between Ciampa and Lethal, Lethal distracting the referee so that Christian could clip Ciampa’s leg while Ciampa was in the rope, Ciampa thwarting attacks from both Christian and Johnson on the floor, and Lethal diving onto Ciampa on the floor, which caused him to fly over the announce table. [C]
During the second half, highlights included Lethal going for the flying elbow but getting caught in a back slide for a near fall, as well as an attempted Lethal Injection where Ciampa followed Lethal in and hit him with a dropkick to the face. Christian and Johnson attempted to interfere and were thrown out by Ciampa. This allowed Lethal to roll up Ciampa for a near fall. The finish saw Ciampa hit Lethal with a running knee for the pinfall.
Tommaso Ciampa defeated Jay Lethal in 9:12.
Don’s Take: Good to see Ciampa back and I look forward to seeing him re-enter more meaningful programs. Of note, Tony Schiavone said that the last time Lethal met Ciampa was in ROH in April 2015 – for those of you that like those kinds of historical factoids.
A video introduced The IInspiration – Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay. They challenged Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter, The Brawling Birds, to a match on Dynamite. [C]
A Clark Connors vignette aired….
3. “The Brawling Birds” Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor vs. Gypsy Mac and Tyra Russamee. As the match started, it was announced that Tony Khan had officially booked The Brawling Birds vs. The IInspiration for Dynamite. This was a complete squash match, with the Birds dominating Russamee and finishing her off with their “Two Birds, One Stone” finisher, which, if you go back far enough, is a variation of the Hart Foundation’s “Hart Attack” finisher.
“The Brawling Birds” Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor defeated Gypsy Mac and Tyra Russamee in 3.04.
Don’s Take: I still like the Hayter/Windsor pairing and look forward to seeing them elevated in the tag team division. A match with the IInspiration is a good start.
A video highlights a $200,000 four-way tag team match for next week’s Collision, featuring The Outrunners, Private Party, Rush/Dralistico, and Blake Christian/Lee Johnson.
4. Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher (w/Don Callis) vs. “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin (w/Christopher Daniels). Don Callis joined the commentary team. Both teams were evenly matched to start.
[Hour Two] Highlights included Okada delivering a DDT to Dante on the floor. [C]
Dante made the hot tag to Darius, who delivered a Spanish Fly to Okada and immediately turned around and dove onto Fletcher on the floor. Darius hit a fishermen’s suplex on Okada for a near fall. Down the stretch, Okada attacked Daniels on the floor. Fletcher hit a lariat on Darius and tagged in Okada. Okada missed the Rainmaker but hit his signature dropkick. He then hit the Rainmaker on the second attempt and tagged in Fletcher. Fletcher hit his brainbuster finisher for the win.
Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher defeated “Top Flight” Dante Martin and Darius Martin in 9:40.
After the match. Fletcher took the mic and told Denver to say his full name. He said that he and Okada were the two greatest champions and together they are unstoppable.
“JetSpeed” Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight came out. Bailey reminded us that he beat Fletcher in the Continental Classic and that Knight beat Okada. They laid the groundwork for several matches, including “JetSpeed” vs. Okada and Fletcher, Bailey vs. Fletcher for the TNT Title, Knight vs. Okada as Knight’s first defense if he wins the AEW World Championship, and “Jet Set Rodeo” (Bailey, Knight, and Hangman Page) vs. Okada, Fletcher, and “anyone else from the 12,000 members of the Don Callis Family.”
Don’s Take: A good match that further tells the story of the Okada/Fletcher partnership, likely leading to a breakup down the road once Konosuke Takeshita officially splits off from the Callis Family. I can see Fletcher turning with Takeshita, but we’ll see how that plays out. Knight is getting a lot of play tonight, which I like because it’s forcing him to get his promo reps in. I also like how they set the stage for several matches involving these four in the coming weeks.
Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy were backstage. Allin said the reason he doesn’t die is that he has so much to offer to life. He proclaimed that he and Cassidy would team up to meet “The Dogs” (Clark Connors and Gabe Kidd) and that it’s showtime.
5. Toni Storm (w/Luther) vs. Zayda Steel (w/Christopher Daniels). Steel got some quick offense in with a dive onto the floor, followed by a flying body press in the ring. Storm recovered and hit three German suplexes, followed by a hip attack in the corner and her Storm Zero finisher for the win.
Toni Storm defeated Zayda Steel in 3:30.
After the match, Marina Shafir attacked Storm. Storm recovered and got the upper hand. Wheeler Yuta came out and pulled Storm off of Shafir. Storm pulled off Yuta’s hat to reveal his bald head. [C]
Don’s Take: I continue to think that Steel has potential that will only get better with continued reps. Time will tell. The post-match was fine. I was kind of hoping they teased Yuta’s bald head reveal a bit longer, but this was fine.
Hook was backstage, walking around with Katsuyori Shibata running a camera and not seen. He asked an unnamed talent if he wanted to join the Opps. The talent said yes, and Hook said, “I bet you would.” He then ran into Anthony Bowens. Bowens said they were friends and that he always had Hook’s back. He ran down his accolades and offered to join the Opps. Hook said he would get back to him because the Opps are killers, and he’s not sure Bowens is the right fit.
6. Kris Statlander and Thunder Rosa vs. “The Sisters of Sin” Julia Hart and Skye Blue. The match was even to start with the heels working over Statlander heading into the commercial. [C]
Statlander made the hot tag to Rosa, who cleaned house. Down the stretch, Statlander hit Blue with a German suplex while Rosa threw Hart into the announce table. Rosa threw Hart into the ring, where Statlander hit her Saturday Night Fever tombstone piledriver, followed by Rosa hitting her Tijuana Bomb finisher for the win.
Kris Statlander and Thunder Rosa defeated “The Sisters of Sin” Julia Hart and Skye Blue in 10:17.
After the match, AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla came out and said if there’s one thing she hates, it’s ‘”two dumb bitches.” She told Statlander to tell Rosa how she made her bleed and cry and how she took the title from her. She said that she doesn’t fight to win, she fights to kill, and that Rosa needs to retire. She introduced Rosa as the past of the AEW women’s division because it now belongs to her. [C]
Don’s Take: Another good match. What Statlander lacks as a character, she makes up for in the ring. And it’s good that Rosa continues to get reps leading up to her eventual showdown with Thekla. That should be fun.
7. Andrade El Idolo (w/Don Callis) vs. Tomohiro Ishii. Don Callis joined the commentary team. Highlights of the first part of the match saw El Idolo hit a nice dropkick on Ishii and an attack on the floor where El Idolo rammed Ishii’s head several times into the announce table. El Idolo took a selfie with a fan at ringside. [C]
Down the stretch, we saw good back-and-forth action with the story being that Ishii would kick out of every attempt where El Idolo would try to put him down, including a running double knee in the corner and double back moonsault. El Idolo eventually got the win with his DM finisher.
Andrade El Idolo defeated Tomohiro Ishii in 14:06.
After the match, Bandido came off and offered El Idolo a handshake, which El Idolo declined. Tony Schiavone announced that Tony Khan has made Bandido vs. El Idolo official for Revolution as Collision concluded.
Don’s Take: The outcome was never in doubt as Ishii has been designated as a guy that will give a good effort, make his opponent look good, and ultimately lose. In addition, he’s still a crowd pleaser, and AEW does a decent job of utilizing its utility players. El Idolo vs. Bandido should be a fun one.
A decent edition of Collision, and I’m glad that Tony Khan didn’t phone it in with competition from the Elimination Chamber. Continue to make this show feel relevant, and the viewers will respond in kind. That’s all for me for tonight. Will Pruett’s great audio reviews of this show are available for Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons). I’ll be back in a couple of weeks. Until then, enjoy wrestling!
Be the first to comment