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AEW COLLISION (PT. 2) – HITS & MISSES
MARCH 24, 2025
OMAHA, NEB.
AIRED ON TNT
BY AUGUST STRACHAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuiness
Well, hello dear readers! Once again, here for part 2 of PWTorch’s Hits & Misses for AEW Collision’s Slam Dunk Weekend.. It is me, August! I’m sure you remember me — that person that my extremely more talented fiancé David Bryant talks about sometimes. Thank you for joining me today as I attempt to recap my opinions, thoughts, and feelings on an entirely subjective form of art. Let’s get this started!
THE DEATH RIDERS (c) vs. TOP FLIGHT & AR FOX FOR THE WORLD TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP — MINOR HIT
The return of the Death Riders certainly was quicker than anticipated and reintroduced the AEW Trios Titles into the mix without having fixed any of the issues surrounding it. Part of me thought they would silently retire the Trios Titles whenever Moxley loses his AEW Championship and disbands the group, but it doesn’t look like that is the way things are headed.
The match itself was well put together and performed, but no one thought for a second that Top Flight & A.R. Fox had any real chance of taking home the titles. I hope to one day care about these titles again, just as I once did when they were held by The House of Black, but those days seem far behind us. AEW needs to make a decision on what to make of these titles.
UNDISPUTED KINGDOM INTERVIEW — MINOR HIT
Kyle. Kyle, are you okay? It sounded like you got possessed by Mark Briscoe for a second there. Do we need to hire a priest to “Exorcist” this, or would you start throwing up chickens and gnashing your teeth at random cameras?
Otherwise, this interview made the obvious rubber matches of the Undisputed Kingdom all the more… obvious and paved the path to a no-holds-barred match between Adam Cole and Daniel Garcia. I’m interested, intrigued, and quite possibly fascinated by this final match in the Undisputed Kingdom vs. FTR & Garcia series to see which way AEW decides to make this tower of Dominos fall.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
LEXI NAIR WITH KAZUCHIKA OKADA — MISS
This was a whole lot of nothing. Not much more to say on it, really. Lexi asked about Okada’s “big wins” so far in 2025, which Okada helpfully reminded us was only against wrestlers who have yet to win any singles championships at any point in their careers in AEW. Past that point, we got on to more nothing. No hint at the next challenger, no hint at Okada’s character development. None, zip, zilch, nada.
JOHNNY TV vs. BANDIDO — HIT
Apparently, Okada’s interview, revealing such grand things as nothing at all, took precedence over Johnny TV’s entrance.
Rude.
Clearly, however, Taya’s clairvoyance as to where the camera is can be sexually transmitted as Johnny never fails to find it, either.
These two performed a wonderfully athletic match with such highlights as Johnny TV doing a full extra 180-degree rotation from a reverse kneesies backstabber (I’m still learning; please don’t be mean to me) that was entirely unnecessary but wonderfully done.
THE DEBUT OF, AND SUBSEQUENT RETIREMENT, OF JAVITY — HIT
Hot on the heels of a victory, Bandido called out his rival Chris Jericho. Jericho, the ever-benevolent being he is, arrived with Gravity’s mask in tow. After some fun back and forth, Jericho donned Gravity’s mask himself, thus creating the hybrid character: Javity. From this point on, I just couldn’t take Jericho seriously. The ever-so-slight muffle on the microphone from the mask took the edge from Jericho quicker than a Titus O’Neil.
Moments later, Javity had his mask re-stolen, and thus, by the cultural standards of his character, retired.
Either way, soon after Bandido stole the mask back it became clear to me that he very will likely once again challenge for the ROH Title — hopefully at an ROH PPV.
MEGAN BAYNE PACKAGE — HIT
She finally speaks! And when she speaks, she speaks of ill tides approaching those who call themselves champions. I find myself heavily invested in Bayne’s current ascent, and with the right planning, this could be one hell of a good match at Dynasty and one in which I simply cannot make a guess as to who will come out the victor.
AEW please don’t do what you do so often and throw together a tag match involving the people in the PPV title match just to give the future loser some concept of credit. Anyway, I’m going to open AEW’s Instagram page for no reason at all now, and…
Son of a bi—
OMG! IT’S TONI STORM! SHUT THE HELL UP! IT’S TONI STORM! — MEGA-HIT
Pass the popcorn, dammit, the movie is on.
Cinema, absolute cinema.
We do love you Toni Storm, oh how we love you.
Who writes for her? Give them a raise! (Now, if it’s Toni Storm, then that’s great; Toni Storm deserves a raise. If it’s Tony Khan, then that’s great; Toni Storm deserves a raise.) I know the possibility of a babyface wrestler retaining the title for any considerable length of time is unlikely, but I swear I could watch decades of this Toni Storm as my women’s champion. She is the engine that AEW needs to affix to its wagon to and use to guide them to the promised land of success. Toni Storm, the Oscar goes to you.
HARLEY CAMERON IN ACTION — HIT
Oh, thank goodness Harley Cameron has been saved from the Harley-gram bit. The ball of fear I felt hit my stomach as I dreaded to see her come out with that mask on and the subsequent relief upon not seeing it was worse emotional whiplash than any roller coaster could give me, and yes, I do mean emotional; I have CRIED on roller coasters before.
This was a quick squash match, but just seeing Cameron taken even slightly seriously makes me extremely happy, so I hope it stays this way. Also, I hope Cameron can find herself cemented in a top storyline again soon.
DON CALLIS (DO I HAVE TO REPORT ON THIS? I DO? DAMMIT) — MEGA-HIT
Wait. It’s Kyle Fletcher! This segment is now a hit because it’s all about Kyle Fletcher! Oh, and it’s about how we’ll be seeing more Kyle Fletcher! This is definitely a hit. Major hit. No bias.
LOS TITANES DEL AIRE vs. THE BEAST MORTOS AND DRALISCTICO — MINOR-HIT
Harely Cameron is on commentary? We just keep winning!
Harley-gram appears? This is why we can’t have nice things!
Also, can someone check on the ropes? Last I checked, you’re at least supposed to give something aftercare after stepping on it that much.
This match was as high-flying as it possibly could’ve been.
Jokes aside (which includes you Jokey-gram; sit in the corner), I hope that, sooner rather than later, AEW starts the storyline between LFI and this newly named tag team between Hologram and Kommander; so far, they are just trading victories with no real stakes, and the moves they are pulling would weigh so much more if we had a reason to root for or hate either side.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I had no idea what to expect with this whole Slam Dunk Weekend business, but I can safely say I was pleasantly surprised. The women’s wrestling and storylines still prove to be far above the men’s in terms of how engaging and entertaining they are. Let’s hope AEW can keep this momentum swinging into this year’s Dynasty and beyond!
AUGUST’S DODGEY MATCH RECOMMENDATIONS:
- Match of the Night: The Death Riders vs. Top Flight & AR Fox
- Second Best Match: Johnny TV vs. Bandido
- Third Best Match: Harley Cameron vs. In Action
STORYLINE GRADE: C+
MATCH GRADE: B+
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B
Thank you all once again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it, till next time, tits out, guns up, and goodnight! Yeah, I’m never doing that sign-off again.
(August Strachan is a trained ballet dancer, sometimes model, always actor, and the inventor of the world’s first aerodynamic brick. Less impressively, August received his bachelor’s degree in Drama from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.)
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