AEW Collision Review - June 15, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Blackpool Combat Club (IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli and ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta) def. Lio Rush, Rocky Romero and IWGP Tag Team Champions and NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nichols)

It's great to have Blackpool Comat Club back in full force. They beat the CMLL crew a few weeks ago and they knocked off the New Japan Pro-Wrestling guys here. This match didn't serve much of a purpose other than previewing Forbidden Door, but it was well wrestled and all of the action was entertaining. Moxley addressed Tetsuya Naito in a post-match promo before they meet in a rematch for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at the pay-per-view.

Brandon Cutler Interrupted The Acclaimed

I'm glad The Acclaimed had a chance to address their upcoming Eliminator match with  The Young Bucks on Dynamite as well as acknowledge their history from a few years ago. I'm all for making The Acclaimed slightly more serious. However, the segment took a turn for the worse when that goof Cutler showed up. The Elite stuff is what it is, but Cutler absolutely does not need to be involved. Christopher Daniels overruled him and hit him with a clipboard. It was a segment that happened.

Deonna Purrazzo def. Thunder Rosa in a No Disqualification Match

I'm shocked AEW didn't label this a Lights Out match. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they didn't, but the stipulations are essentially the same. At any rate, this was a blast. The Rosa vs. Purrazzo program has largely flown under the radar on Rampage and Collision, but they've worked really well together and this was the easily the best bout of their three. I wish they received a little bit more time, but that's my only nitpick.

Hechicero def. Dalton Castle

I love whenever Castle pops up on AEW TV. Unfortunately, it's usually to do the job for someone and that was exactly the case here. It was a glorified squash. Hechicero is obviously talented and we've seen him do his thing on AEW TV before, but the attempt to make him feel like a threat rings hollow because it's clearly only for Forbidden Door season and I doubt we see him on AEW TV after that.

The Patriarchy Announced Their Intentions to Challenge for the Unified World Trios Championship

Christian Cage cutting a promo on Father's Day weekend was a brilliant idea. The man was a menace as always with the stuff he was saying. He mentioned wanting to get back in the hunt for the AEW World Championship, so why would he set his sights on the pointless trios titles instead of entering the men's Owen Hart Cup? Killswitch is probably about to split away from The Patriarchy and that's why they're going in this direction, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense from a storyline standpoint.

Dante Martin def. Lee Moriarty to Qualify for the AEW TNT Championship Ladder Match at Forbidden Door

Martin and Moriarty had the nice match you'd expect from them. Normally, I'd say this belonged on Rampage, but having stakes gave it more meaning and justified its spot on this show. Of course, Martin isn't winning the AEW TNT Championship, but he'll be a fitting addition to the Ladder match. Let's just hope he doesn't suffer another nasty-looking leg injury like he did in his last Ladder matchup.

Kyle O'Reilly def. Anthony Henry

O'Reilly didn't join The Undisputed Kingdom the first time, so now that Roderick Strong is scouting him again, I'm guessing he will now. What's funny is that the group is dead in the water at this point and it'd actually be a step backward for O'Reilly join. This was a simple showcase for O'Reilly to give him a necessary singles win while Strong sat in on commentary.

House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews) def. Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson and Unified World Trios Champions The Gunns)

Is Robinson considered a Unified World Trios Champion under the Freebird Rule or not? I thought he was, but apparently that hasn't been made official yet. I guess that's why this wasn't labeled an Eliminator, though AEW hasn't been consistent with that as of late, anyway. It was a well-worked main event, but putting two heel trios against each other was a weird call. Matthews left with an "injury" halfway through, but Pac aided House of Black to victory. Surely this would earn House of Black a title opportunity, right?

Overall Show

This was the big one-year anniversary edition of Collision and it felt slightly more special as a result. It was cool they aired a video package honoring all of the highlights from Collision's first year, and yes, CM Punk was featured early on. This wasn't an amazing episode by any means, but I enjoyed it on the whole and especially liked the No Disqualification match between Purrazzo and Rosa while it lasted.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews