AEW COLLISION HITS & MISSES (1/11): Jericho vs. Dax, Garcia vs. Shibata, Hangman-Daniels match stip, Cope vs. Redwood, Harley Cameron vs. Mariah May, more

AEW COLLISION – HITS & MISSES
JANUARY 11, 2025
ATHENS, GA.
AIRED LIVE ON TNT
BY DAVID BRYANT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuiness

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– Hey! Welcome back to another edition of my AEW Collision Hits & Misses column — the best place to find the worst takes!

COLD OPEN — MEGA-HIT

I’m basing this mega-hit on the Harely Cameron and Mariah May segment because I was too busy jumping around my living room in anticipation of their upcoming match to notice that The Learning Forest’s cold open had a good balance of dialogue from all participants and that Dax Harwood’s cold open featured a clever play on words that was bolstered by Cope managing to not sound like a juvenile Twitter troll.

COPE VS. REDWOOD — MINOR-HIT

From this point forward, and in the spirit of trying to lift up talent that deserves lifting up, I am going to refer to Big Bill (whose name would only make sense if he were in a tag team with Ruth Chris) as Redwood. Hopefully, it will catch on and save his career.

As for the match itself, this match was good, but it suffered from a couple of snafus.

First, there was a slight smattering of mistimed moments, such as when Redwood didn’t seem to realize that Cope (whose name only makes sense if he has no interest in having friends) was planning to run his head into the announce table multiple times and hesitated.

Second, the pacing of the match was too slow. Don’t get me wrong. I like mid-paced matches (Dax Harwood is excellent at them.), but there were points in this match that looked like both men missed their daily dose of Geritol.

Still, to quote one of the worst thought-out catchphrases in history: “This match, I think I’ll keep it.”

“HANGMAN” ADAM PAGE CUTS A PROMO — HIT

This promo gave AEW’s viewers a great explanation and motivation for Page’s many turns (not a book pun).

NEXT WEEK’S MATCH STIPULATION — MISS

Hangman’s promo also featured Hangman challenging Christopher Daniels to a Texas Death Match in Ohio next week, which makes total sense in the grand scheme of no.

PAC VS. KOMANDER — HIT

During this match, Nigel McGuinness noted that some of the wrestlers and fans had issues traveling to the venue, and I’m not surprised. I live in N.C. and we also shut down schools, airports, highways, and the bread section at the grocery store if someone so much as plays the song “Winter Wonderland” two decimals too loud.

This match was fast-paced, smooth, and the crowd was very into it. The only downside is that it was on the shorter end of things, but to be fair, they had to make time for at least fifty run-ins this week.

WHEELER YUTA & CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI VS. THE OUTRUNNERS — MINOR-HIT

This match would have been a full-blown “Hit” except that The Outrunners get on my every last nerve.

Also, watching Wheeler Yuta’s character act like a groveling “young boy” is pathetic; he is damn near thirty. I hope Yuta’s ridiculous subservience is leading somewhere at some point in time. I originally thought it was, and maybe it still is and we’ll find out about it when Tony Khan remembers to tell us in two years.

POWERHOUSE HOBBS CUTS A PROMO — HIT

Powerhouse Hobbs is a stellar promo, and I consider this promo a hit. However, had I been filming it, I’d have opted for a second take because Hobbs appeared to awkwardly hesitate after saying the line, “What are you going to do to me?” I think he was originally planning to continue that line by saying the words, “…that hasn’t already been done,” but instead, he skipped straight to the end of the promo.

Still, this was well executed on all other fronts except, and I consider it a hit.

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HOT GIRL GRAPS (NOW AN OFFICIALLY TRADEMARKED TERM) — MEGA-HIT

Mariah May and Harley Cameron gave us a fantastic match that was everything I had yearned for (except for five more minutes).

The audience was firmly behind Cameron, and I hope Tony Khan and the powers that be take notice of that because she is noticeably talented. She can sing, she can act, she’s a ventriloquist for some reason, and she can wrestle — something she seemed to struggle with at the beginning of her tenure in AEW and has seemingly overcome.

Also, May was a great opponent for Harley; their styles mixed well, and while I’m not a huge fan of objectifying people who aren’t Hook or Jack Perry, the Hot Girl Graps concept ended up working within this context. NGL, I wasn’t always sure that would be the case. However, I am pleased to report that none of my worst fears came to fruition and neither woman did anything degrading. In fact, this match was further evidence that AEW should continue to pay more attention to its women’s division.

For that matter, Collision would be a good place to focus on AEW’s women’s division without fear of losing your audience. (It’s not like there are many more viewers left to lose.). Plus, I am a huge mark for women’s wrestling, so I’d love to find myself writing about it every week. At one point, before I began doing this Hits or Misses column, I even thought about doing a column that focused on identifying that week’s “Best Women’s Match of the Week” from the four main Americentric companies: TNA, ROH, AEW, and WWE.

I truly think AEW is underestimating how many viewers would be interested in women’s wrestling if it were treated with the same gravitas as men’s wrestling. It’s not just female fans who would enjoy it. It would also be enjoyed by many of AEW’s male fans and 100 percent of its gay fans. (Seriously, just ask Cher, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and either Olivia Rodrigo or Sabrina Carpenter, but never both at the same time.)

BRODY KING vs. TREVOR BLACKWELL — HIT

In this blink-or-you-’ll-miss-it squash, Brody King made quick work of Jungle Boy’s stunt double.

BRODY KING CUTS A POST-MATCH PROMO — HIT

To the shock of everyone, Brody King’s promo was interrupted. This time by Cope (a name that requires Copium just to type). Cope wanted Brody King to know that he believes in him and that Malikai Black is definitely not returning to AEW.

Side Note: I vote we rename “The House of Black” to “The House of Hart” and start using red mist. If AEW renames it to “The House of Cope,” I may have to find out if that “copium” meme is real.

DANIEL GARCIA VS. SHIBATA — MEGA-HIT

OMG, this was good!

A travel-weary Daniel Garcia entered the ring looking like he’d been dragged behind a car beforehand, but the match itself was fantastic! As much as I like Dax Harwood, Chris Jericho, Mariah May, and Harley Cameron, this match should have been in the main event slot — at least, in hindsight.

Side Note: I shouldn’t be surprised to see AEW’s TNT Champion win cleanly, but I am happy they decided to take that route.

CHRIS JERICHO VS. DAX HARWOOD — MINOR-HIT

I never thought I’d review a Dax Harwood match that was anything less than a full-on “Hit,” but the ending of this match looked rough.

Here is what happened: With the referee distracted, Harwood went to the top rope to deliver a diving headbutt onto Chris Jericho. Jericho was supposed to pull his championship belt onto himself and cause Harwood to headbutt the belt which would cost Harwood the match. However, the referee stumbled in the wrong direction (or I think that is what happened), and Jericho had to redirect him in the right direction before grabbing the belt. Because of this, Jericho was unable to pull the belt onto his torso in time, and Harwood executed a normal flying headbutt.

Having to think on his feet, Harwood then told the referee not to turn back around (which didn’t look great) and walked right into a belt shot from Jericho (which also did not look great).

In my opinion, and having watched the ending of this match back three times, neither the wrestlers nor the referee were to blame for this. This was just one of those things that happens at live events, but I’m sure the Jericho haters out there will try to make it all about him. It is not.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This show was a better show than last week’s show, but it still suffered from a lack of meaningful storyline progressions and there were a couple of awkward moments in a couple of these matches. That said, we’ve all had awkward moments. My whole column is an awkward moment. Therefore, I can’t really judge — except that is my job.

Overall Match Grade: B+
Overall Storylines Grade: C-

SHOW GRADE: B-

• DAVID’S DODGY MATCH RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Match of the Night: DANIEL GARCIA vs. SHIBATA
• Second Best Match: MARIAH MAY vs. HARLEY CAMERON’
• Third Best Match: PAC vs. KOMANDER

Thank you all for reading. I truly appreciate it. And as always, I’m still working on my sign-off, but until next week, remember, mustard stains are hard to get out of carpets, so it is wise to keep a large stock of yellow paint next to your cleaning supplies.

(David Bryant’s bathroom-selfies can be found on his “Artist Formerly Known as Twitter” account @IamDavidBryant; a video of David doing a split can be found on his Instagram account @IamDavidBryant, and David Bryant’s Threads account is threadbare and also located @IamDavidBryant because David Bryant sucks at usernames. David is a published author, circus artist, drag promoter, male pageant winner, unrenowned musician, sloppy figure skater, and the inventor of the world’s first anti-attention deficit pill meant to cure people who take themselves too seriously. (It contains 7% Geritol, 13% Alcohol, and 80% Lobotomy). Less impressively, David studied screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.)