AEW Collision Review - February 22, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mariah May Attacked AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm

This was a logical way to follow up on May losing the AEW Women's World Championship back to Storm at Grand Slam: Australia. She didn't crash her championship celebration on Wednesday's Dynamite, but she got her revenge here by attacking Storm backstage. Much like most stuff they've done throughout this storyline, this angle was really well done and set up their "Hollywood Ending" rubber match nicely for Revolution.

Hologram def. The Beast Mortos

This was Hologram's first AEW match since he got hurt at WrestleDream in October. He actually beat Mortos on that show, too. This was another enjoyable outing from them and that featured the usual lucha action you'd expect. Mortos attacked him afterward before Komander. Where was the rest of La Faccion Ingobernable to back up Mortos? Is Jake Roberts already done as their manager?

Lexy Nair Interviewed Harley Cameron

I'm glad Cameron was given a significant segment on the show so soon after losing to Mercedes Mone at Grand Slam, where she had her best bout to date. I maintain AEW made the right call by having Cameron lose, but what happens now will be the key to her future success. The crowd ate up her promo here, where she vowed to bounce back. Hopefully it isn't long before she settles into her next program so they can capitalize on the momentum she currently has.

NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd def. The Butcher (Non-Title)

Kidd is coming off an early Match of the Year candidate with Kenny Omega at the Wrestle Dynasty show in Japan last month. I don't know how much longer he's under contract to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but he'll be one to watch as I suspect it's inevitable he ends up in AEW full-time. This was a solid showcase for him in what was a hard-hitting affair with Butcher. I have to think this was designed to build him up for a big matchup he's going to have on Dynamite or Collision soon.

Julia Hart def. Queen Aminata

Hart lost the rematch she had against Jamie Hayter almost a month ago and I don't believe we've seen her on AEW TV since. In fact, have we seen either woman on AEW TV since? Their lack of direction is concerning, but at least Hart got back on the right track with win over Aminata here. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this, but they did get a decent amount of time.

The Murder Machines def. Local Athletes

Murder Machines were beating up their opponents as they made their entrance, so the "local athletes" were never announced by name. It hardly mattered since the match was over almost immediately, anyway. They called out The Hurt Syndicate afterward, which led to Hurt Syndicate emerging and telling them that they can get a shot at the AEW World Championship if they can beat an actual team on Wednesday's Dynamite. We later found out that team will be The Outrunners.

AEW World Trios Champions The Death Riders (Pac, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) def. "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard, "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker and AEW TNT Champion Daniel Garcia

Wait, we got a second AEW World Trios Championship match in under two weeks? Color me shocked! In all seriousness, this was a well-wrestled, quality contest. Undisputed Kingdom made the save for Garcia's trio afterward, allowing Cope to hit a con-chair-to on Pac. On a side note, there have been several teases for Garcia vs. Adam Cole. Will Revolution be where they go one-on-one for the AEW TNT Championship?

Brody King def. Max Caster

This was another one of Caster's open challenges. It appears his new gimmick is issuing open challenges and get the shit kicked out of him every time before losing. Hey, I'm not complaining. Buddy Matthews reportedly got hurt in his match against Kazuchika Okada at Grand Slam: Australia, so I'm all for King scoring some singles wins in his absence. This was exactly what it needed to be with King squashing Caster in short order.

ROH World Champion "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho def. Bandido

Jericho shouldn't be headlining any shows in 2025, but truthfully speaking, this was probably the correct choice to go on last, even though it would've worked better as a main event for an episode of ROH TV or a Ring of Honor pay-per-view. Their original encounter was one of my favorite Jericho matches in recent years, and although this didn't quite reach that same level, it was fun for what it was. Jericho winning the way he did protected Bandido in defeat and left the door open for a rematch if they want to go that route.

Overall Show

There was also a vignette that aired confirming that "Speedball" Mike Bailey is AEW bound soon. He feels like the perfect fit for AEW, so I'm looking forward to seeing how he'll be used. On the whole, this was another thumbs-up edition of Collision on the whole. I appreciate the renewed effort that the company has put into the show as of late to make it more worthwhile.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews