AEW Collision Review - August 23, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Hiromu Takahashi and SkyFlight (Scorpio Sky and Top Flight) def. The Don Callis Family (Rocky Romero, Lance Archer, Josh Alexander and Hechicero)

We've barely seen SkyFlight on AEW TV since they joined forces, so I keep forgetting they're a thing. The Don Callis Family was their biggest competition to date and I'm glad they won so they could maintain whatever momentum they have right now, even though it was Takahashi who picked up the victory for the team (which made sense considering he's challenging for the AEW TNT Championship at Forbidden Door). This was every eight-man tag team match you've ever seen on Collision.

Megan Bayne def. Isla Dawn

This show was taped the same night as Wednesday's Dynamite in Glasgow, so it's cool Scotland's own Dawn was able to make an appearance, even if it was in an enhancement role. Although I've personally never been a fan of her work, she's a good worker, so I wouldn't mind if they eventually brought her in for their women's division (most likely Ring of Honor because there's plenty of people we don't see on AEW TV as it is).

Queen Aminata and Willow Nightingale def. The Triangle of Madness (Skye Blue and Julia Hart)

We've pretty much every variation of this match for months now, so this was nothing new. Despite that, it was a well-worked tag team matchup. I would've given the win to Triangle of Madness to continue building them up, but I get wanting the babyfaces to get one over on them once in a while. We found out later on in the show that these women will be a part of an (stop me if you've heard this before) "all-star" tag team match on the Forbidden Door Zero Hour pre-show.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. def. Max Caster (Non-Title)

The crowd popped big when Sabre answered Caster's open challenge. He'll be defending his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Nigel McGuinness at Forbidden Door, so this was a logical way to give him a quick win before then. Anthony Bowens attacked Caster afterward and was heavily booed, so if his heel turn wasn't official before, it certainly is now.

Konosuke Takeshita def. Tomohiro Ishii

These two previously met at Wrestle Dynasty earlier this year. The outcome was no different this time around, nor should it have been. This the hard-hitting affair you'd expect from them. I have no idea what AEW is doing with Takeshita and where he's heading, but it really should be a program with Kazuchika Okada over the AEW Unified Championship. We were robbed of that one-on-one match last year. At least he just won New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Climax.

Big Bill def. Mark Andrews

Andrews is best known for the time he spent in TNA and most notably WWE as part of the NXT UK brand. He and Flash Morgan Webster disappeared from TNA sometime last year, but I'd like to see him somewhere because the guy can go. This was all about Bill and giving him a spotlight win. Bill was really over with the crowd when AEW was overseas last year for All In, yet Tony Khan has yet to pull the trigger on him. Ugh.

The Gates of Agony def. Grizzled Young Veterans

Grizzled Young Veterans joined AEW at last year's All In in London, lost their feud to FTR soon after and have largely been relegated to Ring of Honor since then. At least they were dusted off for this show and weren't straight-up squashed. Rather, it was a competitive contest, which I appreciated. This win should give Gates of Agony a bit of a credibility boost, but there's still plenty of rebuilding that needs to be done.

The Young Bucks def. Paragon (Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong)

This match felt like it was a few years too late. This would have been better when Undisputed Era was teasing tension with The Elite back in 2022 (when Bobby Fish was there instead of Strong), but I realize injuries were the reason why we didn't get until now. Nonetheless, it was a nice main event and the post-match angle furthered the feud between Okada and Swerve Strickland.

Overall Show

Although this was filmed in front of the same crowd that got Wednesday's Dynamite, it's worth noting that this was taped immediately afterward, so understandably, the crowd wasn't nearly as hot. As a result, it wasn't as fun of a show as Dynamite and there's nothing you need to seek out, but it was still solid on the whole as well as effective in building toward Forbidden Door on Sunday afternoon.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews