AEW Collision: Playoff Palooza Review - April 25, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR Challenged Adam Copeland and Christian Cage to an "I Quit" Match at Double or Nothing

It was already established that Copeland and Christian vs. FTR at Double or Nothing would be a Street Fight for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but now they're making it an "I Quit" match instead. Uhm, sure, I guess. A Street Fight would have sufficed, and "I Quit" matches aren't always the most exciting, but if they want the stipulation to fit the feud, then it makes sense. This was solid stuff from FTR.

AEW World Trios Champions The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly) def. The Don Callis Family (Lance Archer, Andrade El Idolo and CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Hechicero)

I would say The Don Callis Family had no chance of taking the titles here since The Conglomeration just captured the belts at Dynasty, but the titles have changed hands so many times this year that I wouldn't have been shocked. Archer, Idolo and Hechicero were a rather random trio to represent the group, and I would rather Idolo not be involved in throwaway matches like this if he's not going to win, but it was a fun, fast-paced opener for what it was worth.

The Dogs (Clark Connors and David Finlay) and The Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta) def. The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz, Myron Reed and Dezmond Xavier) and The Young Bucks

This felt like an extension of the previous match in that it was all action, expect it was more of a spot-fest. The Bucks and The Rascalz teaming up was cool, and although it's difficult to care about either The Dogs or Death Riders at this point, they're talented teams/stables as well. My only question is, what purpose was this supposed to serve other than to showcase the tag team division?

Kris Statlander def. B3CCA

I'm familiar with B3CCA from the time she spent in MLW, but that was a while ago and I assume she's just been grinding on the independent scene since then. Personally, I've never been impressed, so I can't say I thought it was a good idea to have her score as much offense against Statlander as she did unless the idea is to sign her. At least the match didn't overstay its welcome.

Rush def. Adam Priest

Priest gets quite a bit of exposure over on ROH TV as part of his team with Tommy Billington and he even challenged Kazuchika Okada for the AEW International Championship at one point recently, but he was total fodder for Rush here as he should have been. I have no idea why this needed to last as long as it did, though, since the outcome was never in doubt. I'm ready for a real push for Rush, but we'll see if that's what this is leading to.

Triangle of Madness (Skye Blue and AEW Women's World Champion Thekla) def. CMLL World Women's Champion Persephone and NJPW Strong Women's Champion Alex Windsor

I must have missed the explanation for why Jamie Hayter wasn't there and why Windsor teamed with Persephone instead. That said, Persephone is a star on the rise, so no complaints. I thought this was designed to set up Persephone facing Thekla for the AEW Women's World Championship next, but in an interesting twist, Blue pinned Persephone. Does that make Blue number one contender to the CMLL World Women's Championship? It should. At any rate, this was a well-worked tag team match.

AEW National Champion "Jungle" Jack Perry def. El Clon

I'm all for Perry being a defending champion, but El Clon? Come on, man. I know he's skilled in the ring, but a little justification for why he of all people would be getting a title shot would've been appreciated. Nonetheless, it was a quality contest. Being AEW National champ has proven to be a perfectly fine spot for Perry to be in while Luchasaurus is out injured.

The Demand (Ricochet and GOA) def. Jericho and The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin)

It didn't dawn on me until now that Jericho and Lashley have never really crossed paths before. Whenever one of them was in WWE, the other one wasn't. They've both been in AEW since late 2024, but I believe this marked their first interaction of any kind, which is crazy when you consider how long both guys have been around for. This was a decent main event, but Ricochet pinning Jericho again was certainly surprising.

Overall Show

This felt like your average edition of Collision. The show has featured far less filler this year, but this was one of those episodes where the two hours were enjoyable yet you didn't miss much if you didn't tune in. Having some star power sprinkled in never hurts so it's not just meaningless matches the entire time. There was a ton of tag team wrestling, but I can't complain since it feels like tag team wrestling is basically dead these days over in WWE.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews