AEW Collision: Grand Slam Review - September 28, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jamie Hayter def. Saraya in a Saraya's Rules Match

There was a belief among some fans that this could've been Saraya's sendoff from AEW as it was reported recently that her contract was expiring and she debuted at Grand Slam two years ago, so it would've been fitting if her final match with the company was at Grand Slam two years later. Well, Fightful confirmed the other day that she has in fact re-signed, so she's not going anywhere. Interestingly, this was one of the better matches she's had during her AEW run. It was on the shorter side, but they packed a lot in there. Essentially, "Saraya's Rules" meant that Saraya could do whatever she wanted and Hayter couldn't, so Hayter had the deck stacked against her. They ended up having a fun, well-worked brawl. There's no reason for the rivalry to continue with Hayter winning decisively here.

"The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho, Big Bill and Bryan Keith def. The Conglomeration (ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy and Kyle O'Reilly) in a Tornado Tag Team Match

I wouldn't be shocked if this dragged on for as long as Jericho's rivalry with Hook did and ultimately amounts to nothing where everyone is worse off afterward. They should've positioned this later in the show so it didn't have to follow the other hardcore match, which was the better one of the two. What we got was decent, but I truly don't care about any of this. Jericho pinning Briscoe likely indicates he'll challenge for the ROH World Championship soon. Why do we have to revisit that again?

Brody King def. Action Andretti

This was so random on a show stacked with matches that were actually advertised in advance. Granted, it was brief and gave King a dominant victory, but there was no setup and likely only existed to act as a comedown match following the first two matches. The post-match angle built toward Top Flight and Lio Rush vs. The Righteous and Lance Archer, presumably for a future episode of Collision.

AEW TNT Champion Jack Perry def. Minoru Suzuki by Count-Out

This was one of Perry's open challenges. Suzuki's not a regular member of the AEW roster, but he loses far more than he wins in AEW and thus it's difficult to buy into him as a threat to any title. He and Perry had a solid match tainted by the lame count-out finish. Katsuyori Shibata made the save for Suzuki afterward, so he'll likely be Perry's next challenger for the AEW TNT Championship.

AEW World Trios Champions Blackpool Combat Club (Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli and Pac) def. Private Party and Komander

Let's just assume Pac is officially a member of Blackpool Combat Club (I don't know if that's been clarified on AEW TV yet). This was the first time we've seen Yuta interact with Castagnoli and Pac since the beatdown of Bryan Danielson at All Out. I have no idea why Yuta would agree to team with Castagnoli and Pac considering what they did. The three of them being Trios champs makes matters more confusing and doesn't do the belts any favors. The match was fine, but even with Yuta not being on the same page as his teammates, there was zero chance Private Party and Komander were winning.

Hologram def. Dralistico and The Beast Mortos in a Three-Way Match

This was billed as a three-way lucha libre three-way match in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. In other words, there was no story and it was basically a spot-fest. But hey, it was a blast and the crowd enjoyed it as well. Hologram remains undefeated (I wasn't thrilled that he won with a roll-up after all the crazy moves we saw before that), but the focus was on Rush bringing Dralistico and Mortos together afterward to form a new La Faccion Ingobernable. That should be Hologram's first real feud.

The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn Crashed MxM Collection's Fashion Walk

I've largely been a fan of MxM Collection's AEW run so far, but this attempt at comedy didn't land for me and the crowd wasn't very responsive, either. It was painfully apparent where this was going before Gunn revealed himself and the segment felt like it'd never end. I appreciate them trying to tie this into New York Fashion Week, but I would've rather we gotten MxM Collection vs. The Acclaimed on this show and been done with it.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Jeff Jarrett in a Lumberjack Strap Match

Why are Page and Jarrett still feuding? I was willing to deal with it a few months ago, but Page should be on to bigger and better things at this point following his "win" (if you can call it that since it was technically unsanctioned) over Swerve Strickland at All Out. The production error in the middle was embarrassing, but the match itself was what it needed to be. Page will face Juice Robinson on Dynamite's five-year anniversary episode. Give me Page vs. Jay White and I'll be content.

AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada def. ROH World Tag Team Champion Sammy Guevara in an AEW Continental Championship Eliminator Match

Guevara said during a backstage interview on last week's Collision that he hoped to beat Okada here so he could challenge for the Continental title on the five-year anniversary of Dynamite since he wrestled on that very first episode. You had to know that wasn't going to happen, but to his credit, he had a strong showing in what was an entertaining outing. This shouldn't have been the main event, mind you, but at least they ended the night on a nice note.

Overall Show

Obviously, this was an above-average edition of Collision compared to what we normally get on Saturday nights from AEW, especially last week. There were multiple gimmick matches and quality action. The additional star power helped, too. Despite all of that, this didn't feel like an extension of Grand Slam from Wednesday but rather a "supplemental" version with matches that weren't as important. The crowd being dead by the end due to the lengthy taping also hindered the energy in the main event. I liked this show on the whole, but I have no doubt that Collision will go back to being inconsequential next week.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews