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AEW FAIRWAY TO HELL REPORT
MAY 9, 2026
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA. AT SOFI CENTER
AIRED ON TNT & HBO MAX
REPORT BY JOSHUA WHITE, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness
Ring Announcer: Arkady Aura
Attendance: WrestleTix reported 897 tickets distributed. The arena has a capacity of 1,500 spectators when configured for golf.
Tony Schiavone welcomed everyone live to the show, with the camera roving the very interesting golf layout before running down the evening’s matches.
(1) “JUNGLE” JACK PERRY vs. MARK DAVIS (w/Don Callis) – AEW National Championship match
“Tarzan Boy” played and Jack came down a long green hallway before making his way to the ring. They cut to Renee at ringside where she relayed that Mark Davis was embarrassed to have lost to Perry a few weeks ago, and promised Callis he’d bring the title to the family. Some music played, presumably Mark’s, because he and Davis came down the hallway and out to the ring. The bell rang to start the match 4 minutes into the show.
Davis tossed Perry into the corner, but he turned it around and chopped Davis before Davis slung him back across the ring. Perry rebounded and set up ten punches, but Davis lifted him up into a powerbomb, but Perry countered it with a hurricanrana. Perry went for a moonsault from the top rope, but Davis rolled out of the way. Perry landed on his feet and Davis rolled to the outside, so Perry executed a moonsault from the top rope onto Davis on the floor.
Perry tried to swing around the ringpost for a dropkick, but Davis caught him and rammed him into the apron before knocking Perry to the floor with a shoulder block. Davis broke the count and returned to ringside to deliver a big chop before rolling Perry back into the ring. Davis cranked Perry’s head in the ropes as the crowd chanted for Perry.
Perry tried to fire back with some chops, but Davis returned a big chop that dropped Perry to the mat. Davis rammed Perry into the corner and tossed hima cross the ring with a big biel throw. Perry slid under Davis and landed a jawbreaker. Perry dodged Davis in the corner and landed a forearm, but Davis rocked him with a forearm in return. Davis hit the ropes and shoulder blocked Perry off the apron and to the floor as they went to commercial. [c]
Back from break, Perry came off the ropes and landed a clothesline that bounced right off of Davis. Perry ducked a clothesline and landed a flying forearm that brought Davis to a single knee. Perry charged into a back elbow, and Davis easily set him on the top turnbuckle. Davis climbed up for a superplex, but Perry fought out with punches and a bite. Perry jumped out of the actual ringpost into a sunset flip powerbomb. Perry made the cover, but Davis kicked out at two.
Perry countered a suplex on the apron and hit Davis with a thrust kick. Perry hopped onto the turnbuckle and took Davis off of the apron with a hurricanrana to the outside. The crowd chanted “A-E-Dub” as Perry landed the ringpost swinging kick. Back in the room, Perry landed a flying elbow to the back of Davis from the top rope. Perry hooked the leg but only got two.
Davis caught Perry with a big forearm out of nowhere. Davis slung Perry into the corner and landed a running forearm. Davis dragged Perry out of the corner and made the cover, but Perry kicked out at two. Perry came back with a hurricanrana into a pin for a two-count. Perry hit a pair of kicks, but Davis caught the third and drilled Perry with a lariat. Davis stuck Perry with a piledriver and made the cover, but Perry kicked out at two.
Davis sat on the top rope and lifted Perry up with him into powerbomb position, but Perry countered it into a hurricanrana. At this point, Calis ran from commentary to the ring hopped on the apron. As the ref was distracted, Ricochet came out of nowhere and hit Perry across the back with a golf club. Davis hit Perry with his piledriver again, made the cover, and got the win.
WINNER: Mark Davis in 14:00 to become the new National Champion
Ricochet shook hands with Callis as Davis celebrated his win.
(White’s Take: Perry does well fighting from underneath against bigger opponents, and Davis has been really good in his role lately. Pretty good math, surprising finish, especially by Collision standards. This is a big win for Davis, even though it’s tainted and for the weakest of weak titles in AEW. He’ll be a good mountain for someone to climb in the future.)
-They threw to a video package on Nick Wayne and his impending participation in the New Japan Best of Super Juniors tournament.
-Renee was in sideline reporter mode to announce that Will Ospreay has been cleared for competition, and that he will be facing Ace Austin on Dynamite. [c]
-Jack Perry was upset after his loss. He said winning the title in his hometown was one of the proudest moments of his career, and Callis and Ricochet took that from him. Perry said Ricochet made a mistake, because he knows Jericho needs partners at Double or Nothing. Perry said he’s brining himself, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega.
(White’s Take: Guess they wanted The Hurt Syndicate to take a pin or something, because they’re bringing in The Elite to team with Jericho now? Weirdness aside, they did manage to tie it together with Ricochet’s ongoing feud with Perry and mixing in The Callis Family. It’s kind of a big announcement for Collision, considering Double or Nothing is still two weeks out.)
-Renee was standing by with Callis, Davis, and Ricochet. Callis said he’s thrilled, because it gives him the chance to beat up Jericho, Omega, and the Bucks all in one night. Ricochet confirmed that the Callis Family will be joining him for Stadium Stampede. Callis suggested they have a drink and choose from the plethora of options for partners.
(2) THE DIVINE DOMINION (Megan Bayne & Lena Kross) vs. RUBY SLAY & RACHEL LEY—Five-minute time limit
Bayne’s familiar theme played to bring out The Divine Dominion. They announced this match with a five-minute time limit. They showed an inset promo with Bayne and Kross where the explained that if anyone can last five minutes with them, they can earn a shot at the tag titles. Their opponents, Rachel Ley and Ruby Slay (presumably known collectively as “Slay n’ Ley”) were waiting in the ring. The bell rang to start the match 30 minutes into the show.
Ruby and Rachel both went after Kross with a dropkick and enziguri, but Kross shrugged them both off. They attempted to whip Lena into the ropes, but she whipped them both into the ropes instead, landing a kick on Ruby and a sidewalk slam on Rachel. Kross slammed Ruby on top of Rachel. Bayne tagged in, and they hit back-to-back pump kicks on Rachel in the corner.
Bayne took Rachel out of the corner with a big German suplex. Kross German suplexed her from the opposite corner back into the other corner. Bayne hit her with a third German suplex. Bayne lifted Rachel onto her shoulders, but Ruby made a blind tag. Ruby went for a crossbody, but Bayne caught her and took Ruby and Rachel down with a Samoan Drop fallaway slam combination. Kross and Bayne hit Ruby with a double chokeslam and mercifully pinned her.
WINNERS: The Divine Dominion in 2:00
-They ran down the recent history between Shida and Statlander, and also the feud between Thekla and Hayter for the women’s title before announcing a four-way match for Double or Nothing.
(White’s Take: I wasn’t sure what they were doing with Statlander and Shida, and it seemed to have nothing to do with the world title picture, but we’re still getting a random four-way? Still fun to get a reasonably-big announcement on Collision, though.)
-They also announced that the brackets for the Owen Hart tournament would be announced on Wednesday. [c]
-Don Callis said he and the family were waiting for the winner of the main event, and promised to take the world title on Dynamite. Callis said that Okada is in Japan on family business, but he’s got a replacement for the title match on Dynamite. He announced that Takeshita will be Okada’s replacement. Callis said Takeshita is the best in the world with Callis on his side. Takeshita said he’d be the person to bring the title to the Callis Family, unlike Okada.
(White’s Take: I guess Okada had an actual family issue to tend to, as opposed to a Callis Family issue. Takeshita taking his shot, however, is just more fuel for the fire of their ongoing feud.)
-The showed a replay of Kyle O’Reilly tapping out Moxley, and then his return at Dynasty and winning the trios titles.
(3) “SPEEDBALL” MIKE BAILEY (w/Kevin Knight) vs. KIRAN GREY
They announced that, because the previous match only went two minutes, they had a standby match. “Speedball” Mike Bailey’s music played and he made his way to the ring with Kevin Knight. Kiran Grey was waiting in the ring, but shoved Bailey as he was doing his karate pose in the ring. The bell rang to start the match 42 minutes into the show.
Bailey immediately hit Grey with a running kick and flipping double knees. Grey ducked a roundhouse and rolled to the outside, but Bailey connected with a triangle moonsault to the floor. Back in the ring, Bailey climbed to the top rope, but Grey met him there and they traded punches. Bailey shoved Grey off, but Grey hit the ropes and Bailey landed on top of the ropes.
Grey climbed up and punched Bailey down until he was hanging off the outside of the turnbuckle by his legs. Bailey pulled himself back up with his legs and rammed Grey’s head into the corner followed by a headbutt that knocked Grey to the mat. Bailey connected with the shooting star double knees, aka the Ultimate Weapon. Bailey made the cover and got the win.
WINNER: “Speedball” Mike Bailey in 2:00
After the match, Knight grabbed a microphone and said he liked what he saw. Knight said even though he didn’t win the world title on Wednesday, he and Bailey are going to the top together.
-They showed a replay of Pac’s promo calling out Darby from Wednesday, interspersed with highlights from their various encounters.
(4) DARBY ALLIN vs. PAC – AEW World Championship match
They announced a 60-minute time limit and that the match would also have no countouts. Pac’s music played after the Death Riders’ intro. Pac came to the ring alone and he was all-business. Darby’s music played and he walked to the ring holding the world title. The bell rang to start the match 49 minutes into the show.
Darby immediately jumped over the top rope and walked out onto the golf grounds, across the sand trip and onto the green. There are no countouts, afterall. They traded punches until Darby landed a headbutt. Darby set up for a powerbomb, but Pac turned it into a backdrop and Darby landed on the grass. Pac attempted to suplex Darby into the bunker, but Darby escaped, landed a shot to the gut and executed a code red slamming Pac into the sand trap. Pac, covered in dust, stumbled back into the grass.
Darby caught Pac and landed a few punches before hitting Pac with a running shotgun dropkick that knocked Pac into another sand trap. Pac got to his knees and slung sand into Darby’s eyes. Pac delivered an overhead belly-to-belly suplex that tossed Darby into the sand. Pac applied the brutalizer in the middle of the bunker as the announcers noted the match has to be won in the ring. Pac released the hold, pressed Darby over his head, and slammed him back into the sand as they went to break. [c]
They retunred from commercial and they were back in the ring. Pac tied the tag rope around Darby’s necklace, trapping him in the corner. Pac delivered a pump kick to Darby in the corner and then tossed him back into the ring, presumably breaking his necklace. Pac whipped Darby into the ropes and backdropped him, sending Darby flipping onto his face.
Pac hit the ropes and picked up steam, but Darby actually caught him with a dropdown that tripped Pac up. Darby planted Pac with a scorpion death drop and went for the pin, but Pac kicked out at two. Darby climbed to the top rope as the crowd chanted “let’s go, Darby!” Pac got to his feet and swept Darby’s leg out, leaving him crotched on the turnbuckle. Pac climbed up with Darby and delivered an avalanche falcon arrow all the way from the top rope. Pac made the cover, but Darby kicked out at two.
Darby rolled out of the ring and Pac followed. Pac grabbed a table from under the ring and set it up on the outside as Darby struggled to get to his feet. Pac laid Darby across the table and walked right up the ring stairs and climbed to the top rope. Pac leapt off with a shooting star press, but Darby rolled out of the way and Pac crashed through the table.
Darby rolled Pac into the ring and set up the scorpion deathlock in the center of the ring. Pac yelled in the center of the ring and crawled for the rope, eventually grabbing the bottom rope to break the hold. Pac motioned towards the backstage area and the Death Riders ran down toward the ring. With Darby distracted, Pac hit Darby from behind. Pac motioned to Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia, and they brought another table out to ringside.
Pac lifted Darby up and carried him up the steel ring stairs. Pac nailed Darby with a tombstone piledriver on the stairs and Darby crashed to the floor. Meanwhile, Yuta and Garcia continued to bring out tables, stacking them two-by-two on top of each other. Pac checked Darby’s pulse, determined he was alive, and lifted him onto his shoulders. Pac carried Darby towards the backstage area as the show rolled past the hour mark and they went to commercial. [c]
They returned from commercial as Darby and Pac brawled in the balcony, presumably directly above Chekhov’s stack of tables. Darby raked Pac’s back as Marina came into the scene, but was held back by the ref. Behind the ref’s back, Pac hit Darby with a low blow. Pac grabbed Darby by the head and launched him off of the balcony, sending him crashing through the pile of tables.
Pac raced down the stairs and lifted Darby’s body up. Pac rolled Darby into the ring and went for the pin, but Darby kicked out at two. Pac was in disbelief as the crowd chanted for Darby. Yuta attempted to hand Pac a chair, but the ref intercepted it. Meanwhile, Marina slid the title to Pac. Pac went for the belt shot, but Darby popped up to his feet and kicked Pac low. Darby blasted Pac with the belt, climbed to the top rope and landed the Coffin Drop. Darby made the cover and got the win.
WINNER: Darby Allin in 20:00
(White’s Take: As soon as they showed the unique venue and announced that the match would mysteriously have no countouts, you had to prepare for a certain level of craziness. And the match very much delivered on that premise with some fun spots in the sand trap and on the green. It was messy that this match with no countouts still could’ve been a DQ, but throwing someone off a balcony through a few tables didn’t warrant that DQ. The result was also predictable; anyone who’s seen Dynamite in the last month knew Darby was going to get beat down, take some crazy bumps, and survive to retain the title. Pac throwing Darby from the balcony, through the tables, and then going for the pin all happened very quickly, making Darby’s kick out seem superhuman in a way that’s not exactly believable, but still entirely predictable. So, while this was a fun car crash with big and interesting spots, I also know that Darby and Pac could have a four-star banger in 15 minutes while keeping it mostly between the ropes. That is to say, it was a bit much, maybe a try-hard kind of match, that if you’re not totally into Darby can cause a few eyerolls and dampen an otherwise exciting contest.)
They showed replays of Darby’s big bump off the balcony and the finish of the match. Tony ran down some of Wednesday’s upcoming matches as they went off the air.
FINAL THOUGHTS: They crammed more newsworthy events into this one-hour version of Collision than we usually get in two hours. A fun main event title match, a title change in the opener, and several big announcements. Granted, it was a special episode, but this kind of buzz would be welcome in future episodes of the Collision. A fun, action-packed hour of wrestling that actually had ramifications. The downside is, as chaotic as the main event was, it was a predictable end, and even the title change is such a meaningless title that anyone missing this show won’t feel like they missed much, unless they want to see the crazy-car-crash main event.
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