The PATH TO ALL IN: SUMMER SERIES starts tonight in Arlington, TX, the first event of our residency at the Esports Stadium that includes five COLLISION events, as well as Ring of Honor's annual DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR (www.rohtix.com) pay-per-view presentation on July 26th!
It's already been an exciting week in AEW action, we watched MJF escape DYNAMITE with the AEW International Championship in the final seconds of an hour long epic, learned that Darby Allin was joining Team AEW for Blood & Guts in Nashville on Wednesday, and that Chris Jericho will have to face Minoru Suzuki in an FTW Championship match with his branches banned from ringside! RAMPAGE gave us a tremendous Trios contest between The Undisputed Kingdom and The Conglomeration, as well as a sublime tag bout between Private Party and The Lucha Brothers, and now it's time for the Colliders!
Tonight in Texas fans will see the crowning of new AEW World Trios Champions as Christian Cage leads his Patriarchy into battle against the Bang Bang Gang of Juice Robinson and The Gunns! The Collision Cowboys want to bring the belts back to the fold, but Christian and his ilk are set on using them as Cage's stepping stone to even greater heights! Plus Thunder Rosa and Deonna Purrazzo look to settle their rivalry in a Lumberjack Match, Skye Blue faces Hikaru Shida in their first-ever singles bout, and Darby Allin returns to face The Beast Mortos!
The night begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT so head over to the official AEW YouTube channel to watch highlights from DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, previous episodes of COLLISION, and more! Then join us next week in Nashville for Blood & Guts, in Arlington for DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024, and at Wembley Stadium for ALL IN: LONDON 2024!
A RELENTLESS RETURN...
Darby Allin vs. The Beast Mortos
On Wednesday night fans witnessed Darby Allin borrow a page from “The Icon” Sting when he descended from the rafters of Simmons Bank Arena to join Team AEW in their brawl with The Elite. That moment cemented the former 2-Time TNT Champion's alliance for Blood & Guts in Nashville this Wednesday, and gave notice that Allin was ready for the fight! Darby looked ready to go in those closing moments of DYNAMITE, but tonight on COLLISION he has to prove it when he steps into the ring with The Beast Mortos!
This match will be Allin's first singles bout in four months, the last being the night he broke his foot fighting Jay White, and what a test it is going to be. The Beast Mortos gave Claudio Castagnoli a tremendous fight two weeks ago on COLLISION, showing the world a combination of speed, technique, and power that belies a man of his size, and when he's not in an AEW ring, Mortos has continued to hone his craft all around Mexico. He represents a monumental threat to Darby Allin's return to action, but fans have watched the former TNT Champion overcome one threat after another throughout his wrestling career, taking down men twice his size like Brody King and The Butcher, and fighting to the top of All Elite Wrestling. Darby celebrated his five-year anniversary with AEW on June 29th, and over the course of his elite journey he's come to represent the best of what AEW represents: the heart, the passion, the love for professional wrestling, and the appreciation for its fans. There may be no better man suited to stand alongside Team AEW, but before he gets there, he must survive The Beast!
UNDISPUTED WORLD TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, & Nick Wayne) vs.
Bang Bang Gang (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, & Juice Robinson)
A week ago The Bang Bang Gang were stripped of the Unified World Trios Championship after it was revealed that “Switchblade” Jay White sustained an injury at Christian Cage's hands that will prevent him from defending the titles. Clearly it's not a decision that sat well with The BBG, but as Christopher Daniels told them in the video embedded above, it was either that or suspend the lot of them for refusing to comply. AEW learned its lesson last year allowing MJF to have stand-in partners during his ROH World Tag Title reign, but at least with this outcome, the other three BBG members have an opportunity to bring the AEW world trios titles back home.
All they have to do is overcome the threat of Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne; while “The Patriarch” thought he and his “family” should've just been anointed the new Unified Trios Champions, the decision was made that they'd have to earn their way to championship status just as Juice Robinson wouldn't be allowed to simply slide into Jay White's spot and call himself champion. So what we've got tonight on COLLISION are two of the more devious trios in the game going head-to-head. Juice and the Gang are 6-1 as unit, The Patriarchy are 1-2, so the experience edge definitely tilts towards The Bang Bang Gang, but Christian Cage's time spent in the squared circle is greater than all three of his opponents combined, and he's learned more dirty tricks over his twenty-nine years than The BBG can fathom.
The main difference between the two groups is that The Bang Bang Gang want to be champions because they genuinely believe themselves to be the best trio in professional wrestling. Christian Cage, on the other hands, views holding trios gold as nothing more than a stepping stone in his aspirations to finally have the AEW World Championship around his waist. Whose will to win will be stronger? Who is more determined to achieve their goal tonight in Arlington? And just where is The House of Black in all this as they still owe a debt to The Patriarchy for what they did to Buddy Matthews...
LUMBERJACK MATCH...
“La Mera Mera” Thunder Rosa vs. “The Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo
The Age of The Virtuosa; that is what Deonna Purrazzo is aiming to create in All Elite Wrestling but there has been one person standing in her way of accomplishing this goal. For the last four months Thunder Rosa and “The Virtuosa” have been engaged in each other's lives, starting as reluctant allies in their mutual quest to become AEW Women's World Champion. It all fell apart in short order after both failed to dethrone “Timeless” Toni Storm and devolved into the two women at each other's throats.
It could've stayed as a competitive rivalry based on who is the better wrestler but Purrazzo turned it into something far more personal after “La Mera Mera” beat her on the April 27th edition of RAMPAGE. Deonna evened the score during the DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024: BUY-IN with a rope-leveraged pinfall, then managed another victory in their No Disqualification rematch on the COLLISION: ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY after cracking Rosa across the skull with a ringside photographer's camera and applying the Venus De Milo while Thunder was in the ropes.
The attack on Thunder Rosa and Rachael Ellering after Rosa's victory last week on RAMPAGE was the final straw, and that's led us to this Lumberjack Match tonight on COLLISION! A ring surrounded by some of the enemies Deonna Purrazzo has made in her time with All Elite Wrestling, making sure that there's no escape from facing the repercussions of all she's done to Thunder Rosa!
ONE-ON-ONE CHALLENGE...
Skye Blue vs. Hikaru Shida
Though Skye Blue may have walked onto the stage in Calgary with a new look, it was the same attitude she's had since aligning herself with Julia Hart. Long gone is the “happy to be here” attitude of the woman who earned the fan's love and respect at ALL OUT 2021, instead replaced with a haughtiness and self-importance so far removed from who she once was. It's not as if she hasn't earned respect from her work in All Elite Wrestling, in her nearly three years as a member of the locker room Skye has gone from relative unknown trying to earn her place to the second-most prolific competitor on the roster behind Nyla Rose. She's competed in 127 matches since her 4/12/21 debut, and for the longest time it wasn't about the wins and losses, more about gaining the experience against a variety of opponents in order to get better at her craft. Skye was willing to get in there with anyone on the roster, or looking to become part of the roster, just to improve at her chosen profession, and it absolutely benefited her on every level. In front of our very eyes Skye became more confident in her abilities, developed new maneuvers, and even took part in the Qualifying Round of the 2022 Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament. Over the course of those first two years one thing that alluded her though was championship opportunity, and she wouldn't earn her first title fight until BATTLE OF THE BELTS V when she failed to claim the TBS Championship.
That gave her the hunger though, the hunger to be more than just “happy to be here”, and to begin fighting for the wins, not just the experience garnered from the fight. In the month of June 2023 alone Skye would challenge Toni Storm three times for the AEW Women's Title, once in a Four Way and twice in singles matches, one of which she earned by beating Dr. Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, and Mercedes Martinez in another Four Way. She made it to the Semifinals of the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament, and even formed a bit of a bond with Hikaru Shida as they teamed up several times last summer, but somewhere along the line something broke. Perhaps it was just the mist from Julia Hart that caused the change, or perhaps that was just the catalyst to unlock a darker side that was already in there, either way Skye Blue slowly descended down this darker path she currently travels.
It's a path that took her directly into battles with Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale, particularly their wild Street Fight as well as the Manitoba Massacre that exposed the world to Skye's newfound love for violence. This evil that had been unlocked in Skye even led her to assaulting Mercedes Moné ahead of becoming the first challenger to the TBS Champion after her DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 title victory, a challenge that obviously did not go in Skye's favor.
That brings her to where she is today, looking to prove that she belongs in the conversation among the best competitors in All Elite Wrestling, and what better way to prove that than by challenging the woman many consider the best AEW Woman's Champion of all-time. Statistically speaking that's the truth; at 372 days Hikaru Shida still stands as the longest reigning title holder of all-time, and her eight championship defenses make her the most successful to date as well. With 74 wins in singles competition Shida stands atop the Women's Division, and with 100 victories overall, Shida is but one triumph behind Nyla Rose to tie “The Native Beast” for the most wins in the division. Last, but certainly not least, Shida is also one of the two 3-Time Women's World Champions in All Elite Wrestling with a cumulative 436 days atop the division.
If there was ever a woman in AEW to call out in order to prove your worth, it is absolutely Hikaru Shida, but did Skye Blue bite off more than she can chew with this first-ever bout? They've been allies on several occasions, never foes, but it's going down tonight on COLLISION in front of the eyes of the wrestling world!
ONE-ON-ONE...
“Big Time” Tomohiro Ishii vs. Roderick Strong
Next Friday night, July 26th, Roderick Strong will lock horns with ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe with that prestigious championship at stake at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024, but before that night comes to pass. Roddy has to revisit another old foe tonight on COLLISION!
Tomohiro Ishii, generally known as “The Stone Pitbull” but christened “Big Time” by Mark Briscoe, is quite familiar with Roddy Strong from their earlier ROH encounters. In fact Ishii was the man who ended Strong's second ROH World TV Title run back on February 19, 2016 inside the legendary Korakuen Hall and turned away his rematch challenge at ROH's 14TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW in Las Vegas one week later, albeit in a Three Way bout.
Tonight in Arlington marks the first singles clash between “The Messiah of Backbreaker” and “The Stone Pitbull” in more than eight years, but clearly from their engagement at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024: ZERO HOUR and on last week's RAMPAGE, neither has forgotten about their history. Will Roddy Strong be able to survive Ishii's onslaught before he heads into his title fight at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024, or will “Big Time” throw a monkey wrench into Roderick's plans tonight at the Esports Stadium?
ALSO SCHEDULED:
-We will hear from FTR!
-And.....
It's a big night in Arlington, TX tonight with the kickoff of off our PATH TO ALL IN: SUMMER SERIES! Fans at the Esports Stadium will bear witness to new AEW World Trios Champions being crowned when The Bang Bang Gang take on The Patriarchy for the vacant titles, as well as Deonna Purrazzo meeting former AEW Women's World Champion Thunder Rosa in a Lumberjack Match! We will also see Darby Allin compete in his first singles match since March when he faces The Beast Mortos, Hikaru Shida answer the challenge of Skye Blue, and so much more on tap!
COLLISION kicks off at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT so you've got time to drop by the official AEW YouTube channel to catch-up on highlights from DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, previous episodes of COLLISION, and more! Then join us in Nashville next Wednesday where Team AEW takes on The Elite inside Blood & Guts, before we head back to Arlington for Ring of Honor's DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2024 spectacular on the 26th and an all-new COLLISION on the 27th!