AEW Collision: Maximum Carnage Review - January 18, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"Hangman "Adam Page def. Christopher Daniels in a Texas Death Match

Although I feel like this feud has been a massive waste of time for Page, I didn't mind it once I read the report that this was internally believed to be Daniels' in-ring retirement. I'm glad he got a proper sendoff, even if it wasn't officially billed as such. I'm also glad it wasn't a competitive contest. Page needed to dominate a majority of the match and that's exactly what happened. Now, it's high time he get back to doing something more meaningful.

Tony Schiavone Interviewed Toni Storm

Storm just became number one contender to the AEW Women's World Championship at Grand Slam by winning the women's Casino Gauntlet match on Wednesday's Dynamite. During this interview, she made no mention of her history with Mariah May, and I can't say that I'm shocked that she didn't because of her current character. As a result, this was a fairly basic promo. I hope she has some more development as we get closer to her rematch with May, whether that be her revealing her "amnesia" has been act the entire time or May making her remember.

Undisputed Kingdom (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong) def. Shane Taylor Promotions (The Infantry and ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty)

I guess O'Reilly embracing the rest of Undisputed Kingdom at Worlds End was intended to establish him as the newest member of the group. They were basically in Undisputed Era mode here, and although it was cool for the sake of nostalgia, the group has never been colder. This was a well-wrestled match, though. Why should I care about them facing Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard and Angelo Parker on next Saturday's Collision?

Murder Machines def. Top Flight

Brian Cage lost to Kenny Omega on Wednesday's Dynamite, so this felt like a way to have him rebound with a win. This was a total squash for him and Lance Archer. That was evident as soon as Top Flight didn't receive a televised entrance. By the way, Action Andretti and Lio Rush looked completely ridiculous wearing those stupid jackets during their post-match attack on Top Flight, but I suppose that was the point.

Anthony Bowens and Billy Gunn Cut Ties with Max Caster

The Acclaimed splitting up has been long overdue. Thank God it finally happened. That better include Bowens branching off on his own and not having Gunn with him, either. There really is no reason for Gunn to be a regular on television these days. The segment itself was whatever. What it led to was all I gave a shit about. I have zero faith Caster or Bowens will be utilized well as singles stars, but time will tell.

AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada def. Tomohiro Ishii

Perhaps I was in the minority on this one, but I wasn't excited for this match in the slightest coming into this show. It would've had more value a few years ago when Okada was consistently killing it in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ishii was more of an attraction. This had no setup and was therefore pretty pointless. There was nothing technically wrong with it, but there was nothing that stood out about it, either.

ROH World Tag Team Champion and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Dustin Rhodes def. Adm Priest

I know Rhodes appeared in a backstage segment on AEW TV recently where he talked about his aspirations for the future, but I don't remember what show it was on or what he said exactly. Rhodes can still go at this stage of his career, but with the roster AEW has, there are plenty of people I'd rather see showcased before him. I appreciate that this was short and sweet, but the crowd being as quiet as they were spoke volumes.

Julia Hart def. Harley Cameron

Another week, another loss for Cameron. I'm aware that most of AEW's audience is entertained by her shtick and that's fine, but surely she needs to win eventually, right? Otherwise, all of her matches are predictable and follow the same formula. This was decent while it lasted, but it seemed to only exist to give Hart another victory before she faces Jamie Hayter in a rematch next Wednesday on Dynamite.

Powerhouse Hobbs, The Outrunners and Rated FTR def. Bryan Keith, Big Bill, ROH World Champion "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho and The Death Riders (AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and AEW World Trios Champions Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta)

Tony Khan goes overboard with these "all-star" tag team matches. Thankfully, this wasn't advertised as one, but you know that was the idea behind it. It was beyond stupid for Death Riders, who initially claimed to be fighting against everything AEW now represents, to be teaming with Jericho's crew, especially given the history between Jericho and Moxley. The match was entertaining enough, but I could've done without all of the shenanigans down the stretch. Hobbs picking up the win for his team was cool, but the fact he was able to wrestle after being "injured" on Dynamite and then attacked backstage on this show defied logic.

Overall Show

I have no clue why the Maximum Carnage theme was used for this show. It made sense for Dynamite because that had some bigger matches, but that was not the case for Collision. Aside from the opener, this entire episode felt thrown together and nothing was truly accomplished. The Acclaimed went their separate ways, so at least there was that. This was your usual inconsequential edition of Collision and not worth the time.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews