AEW Collision Review - January 11, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cope def. Big Bill

Bill's been compared to Cope for a long time (at least in terms of looks), so this was a cool match to do for Cope's first singles bout back since Double or Nothing. They had an enjoyable opener and I appreciated that Bill was made to look credible in defeat. Bill really should've broken away from Chris Jericho a while ago and I unfortunately doubt it's happening anytime soon.

AEW World Trios Champion Pac def. ROH World Television Champion Komander (Non-Title)

Komander's upset win over Claudio Castagnoli at the end of the Continental Classic prevented Castagnoli from advancing, so this was a logical match to do with Pac getting revenge on Castagnoli's behalf (even though Castagnoli could've gotten revenge himself, but oh well). Pac and Komander had a nice match and Pac winning was the obvious outcome. Unsurprisingly, Komander being the ROH World Television Champion hasn't really changed how he's portrayed on AEW TV.

AEW World Trios Champions The Death Riders (Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli) def. The Outrunners

The Outrunners made the save for Komander following his loss to Pac. They were riding a wave of momentum late last year and put together a string of wins, but AEW hasn't done much with them since. I'm glad they weren't straight-up squashed here, but it is questionable that it would take Death Riders (the top heel faction in the company) as long as it did to defeat a comedy team. It's been many months since the AEW World Trios Championship belts were last defended, by the way.

AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May def. Harley Cameron (Non-Title)

On Wednesday's Dynamite, these two agreed to a match that they called "hot girl graps." That's pretty much all the buildup this received, but it was better than nothing. Cameron has gradually been getting over with the fans, but the last time I checked, she was still a heel, so this had an odd dynamic (though Cameron was the babyface by default). Cameron continues to improve and the match was decent.

Brody King def. Trevor Blackwell

The timing of this match was interesting because we just saw King's House of Black stablemate Buddy Matthews have an impressive outing against Will Ospreay on Wednesday's Dynamite. This was total domination from King as it should have been. In a post-match backstage segment, Cope confronted King and praised him, telling him to "take the reins and run." With it being reported on Wednesday that Malakai Black is apparently on his way out of AEW, it sounds like King might be the new leader going forward, unless they're all going their separate ways (which I also wouldn't mind).

AEW TNT Champion Daniel Garcia def. Katsuyori Shibata

I understand Mark Briscoe getting an AEW TNT Championship opportunity last week because he beat Garcia during the Continental Classic, but what did Shibata do to earn an opportunity, especially when Kyle Fletcher has yet to get a shot (which is probably being saved for another time)? Nonetheless, this was the well-wrestled affair you'd expect from these two. Garcia should've won a bit more decisively, but this was good stuff otherwise.

ROH World Champion "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho def. Dax Harwood (Non-Title)

Harwood had some strong singles matches a few years back and I was always excited to see him in action around that time. This was not one of them. Jericho isn't completely incapable of delivering quality matches at this stage of his career, but these two simply did not click at all and it made for a boring main event. There was one sequence down the stretch with Jericho trying to use the ROH World Championship belt to attack Harwood and it looked awful. The post-match chaos was fine as it saw Powerhouse Hobbs (who will challenge Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship on next Wednesday's Dynamite) stand tall to close the show.

Overall Show

This was quite the inconsequential edition of Collision. I know stars such as Cope and Jericho wrestled, but I just don't care about those two feuding or having meaningless matches. Blackpool Combat Club once again had a presence on the program, but it's not like their storyline is lighting the world on fire, either. Even the TNT title match wasn't anything you'll remember a week from now. This wasn't a terrible show by any means, but it was rather forgettable.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews