AEW Collision results: PAC, FTR pick up win, Blackpool Combat Club win Bunkhouse Brawl

April 20, 2024 Jack Wannan NEWS
Image Credit: AEW

Less than 24 hours away from AEW’s first-ever Dynasty pay-per-view event, the weekly Saturday night tradition of Collision took place from the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois. Here’s what happened on the show.

Adam Copeland and friends beat Top Flight

The evening kicked off with a trios match, where Adam Copeland, Eddie Kingston, and Mark Briscoe faced Action Andretti, Dante Martin, and Darius Martin. The match was a test run for Copeland’s group just before they faced the House of Black on Sunday.

The Copeland-lead trio had a strong lead over the match for the opening minutes. After a commercial break, hot tags were given to both Darius and Briscoe. Dante got the better spots in, including a double DDT onto Briscoe and Copeland. Dante did moonsaults to the outside, getting Briscoe by himself in the ring.

Briscoee scaped a double team effort from Andretti and Darius, scoring a pair of exploder suplexes. He tagged in Kingston, who similarly had to battle all of Top Flight’s trio at once. A standing moonsault from Andretti didn’t earn him a pinfall win. All wrestlers got into the ring and were all taken out by clotheslines.

Copeland’s team regained momentum after a series of moves. Briscoe hit a Jay-Driller, Copeland connected with a spear, then Briscoe came off the top with a frog splash to allow Kingston to score a pinfall win.

The lights went out after the match, and a promo from House of Black aired addressing the team before their match tomorrow.

Powerhouse Hobbs gets quick win, Don Callis announces IWGP Championship match

Powerhouse Hobbs had a tune-up match next, meeting independent scene veteran CJ Esparza in the ring. Esparza is an Illinois-based talent with over 400 matches to his name. He didn’t last long against Hobbs, who put him in a torture rack submission to end the match in roughly a minute.

Hobbs’ manager, Don Callis, came into the ring afterward. He discussed Hobbs’ match against Jon Moxley, which is set for Wednesday. Callis claimed responsibility for Kenny Omega’s IWGP Championship run, and for putting together the Wrestle Kingdom match between Omega and Chris Jericho. Because of these past accomplishments, he said that NJPW owed him a favor. That favor was cashed in with the upcoming Moxley match, as Callis announced that the bout will be for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

After a break, Chris Jericho was seen backstage. He apologized for the incident with him, Taz, and Hook from this week’s episode of Dynamite. Jericho continued to portray the coach role for Hook, despite them facing off Sunday: “The learning tree is going to teach you one of the hardest lessons you’ve ever learned.”

Jay White helps Bullet Club Gold teammates earn the victory

Before the Acclaimed and Bullet Club Gold face off in six-man tag team title action on Sunday, parts of both teams met each other in a tag match on Saturday night.

Max Caster’s rap included references to OJ Simpson’s death and  Donald Trump appearing to fall asleep during the jury selection for a criminal court case.

Before the match started, Tony Schiavone got on the mic and warned The Gunns that if they walked out on the match, their bout tomorrow would be canceled. The Gunns were distracted by this announcement at ringside and were thrown into the ring by The Acclaimed to start the match.

Bowens was tagged in and cleaned house following a commercial break, earning him a near fall with a Famouser. Austin helped Colten out near the ropes, stopping Bowens from hitting another move. Caster came into the ring to even the odds but had Bowens thrown into him by Colten. Both teams had near falls, with Colten’s pin attempt being stopped due to his legs being on the ropes.

Colten scored a Famouser of his own for a near fall, with the help of his brother interfering once again. The Gunns tried for a double-team move, although Bowens avoided it. Caster earned a blind tag and faced Colten once Austin and Bowens fought to the outside of the ring. After a series of reversals, Caster went to the top rope but was stopped. A flurry of moves inside the ring, with Bowens becoming the legal man once again along the way. He tried for a Sunset Flip Powerbomb but had it reversed into a pin attempt. Outside of the ring, Jay White reached into the ring with his baseball bat, giving something for Colten to hold onto while he earned the pinfall win. Bullet Club Gold heads into Sunday with the momentum of their win from tonight.

Will Ospreay interrupted a promo backstage from Bryan Danielson, claiming that he had nothing to do with any of the antics that have surrounded him as of late. Danielson seemed unconvinced as he walked away.

A Toni Storm promo from Wednesday aired next. She mentioned that Thunder Rosa only wants the AEW Women’s Championship because of how she has elevated it recently.

BCC win in Bunkhouse Brawl

A Bunkhouse Brawl was next, as Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli faced The Don Callis Family team of Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher. To signify that this was a special brawl instead of the usual wrestling match, all four wrestlers were decked out in more casual clothing: Jeans, tank tops, and work boots were among the attire. The match started unexpectedly early, as Takeshita and Fletcher jumped Danielson and Castagnoli during their entrance.

The Blackpool Combat Club team brawled throughout the crowd against Takeshita and Fletcher, throwing them against barricades and putting together combos of kicks and punches.

Weapons were brought into play as the fight neared the ring. Fletcher used a camera cord to choke Danielson. The choke was eventually escaped by Danielson, who threw Fletcher into a barricade and seemingly also made not-insignificant contact with an AEW crew member. In the ring, Castangoli was working on Takeshita. He spun the Japanese talent in circles, eventually letting go for Danielson to land a kick.

Danielson tried to dive outside of the ring but instead ate a chair to the head. Fletcher broke up a pinfall attempt in the ring by throwing chalk in Castagnoli’s eyes. He hit a powerbomb for a near fall.

A shot showed that Danielson was bleeding outside of the ring. In this moment it became shocking to remember that Danielson will be in the ring tomorrow night against Will Ospreay.

The four wrestlers started to brawl around the ring during the commercial break. Fletcher joined Danielson in the bleeding club, becoming visibly cut open after Castagnoli threw his head into the steel stairs.

Back in the ring, Danielson scored a series of kicks onto Takeshita. He tried for a running knee strike but was stopped in the corner by Fletcher, who grabbed a hold of his left leg. Takeshita scored a German suplex, and then the Don Callis duo connected with stereo suplexes for a two-count.

Fletcher went under the ring to fetch a steel chain. He tossed the weapon to Takeshita, who wrapped his right hand with it. The crowd seemingly had other hopes, as a “We want tables” chant broke out. Danielson broke out of the moment, allowing him and Castangoli to land elbow strikes to the head at the same time. They both applied submissions but had the holds broken up by Powerhouse Hobbs. Since the match had a no-disqualification stipulation, this didn’t cause a finish.

Jon Moxley’s music hit. He emerged from the crowd and took Hobbs out of the ring. They continued to fight into the crowd, somewhat awkwardly struggling to get each other over a barricade at one point.

But the match wasn’t over, and the focus returned to the four wrestlers still in the ring. The Don Callis Family seemingly had regained control of the fight. Fletcher struck Danielson over the head with a microphone while Takeshita set up a chair. Takeshita tried for a powerbomb onto a chair, but Danielson reversed into a hurricanrana. Castagnoli, with the chain wrapped around his arm, hit uppercuts onto both wrestlers and came off the ropes for a clothesline onto Fletcher. He dove off the apron onto Takeshita while holding an action figure that is usually on the commentary desk.

Danielson connected with a running knee strike onto Fletcher and then choked him with a chain to win the match. It wasn’t easy and blood was shed along the way, but Danielson and Castagnoli got it done.

After the match, Danielson addressed why he was wrestling in a Bunkhouse Brawl just one day before his singles appearance against Ospreay. He mentioned how much wrestling means to him: “My heaven will be standing in this ring bleeding in front of all you people.”

Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale called out Julia Hart. “Tomorrow at Dynasty, I’m walking out TBS Champion, you b****,” Nightingale said.

Skye Blue faced off against Leyla Hirsch in the next matchup. Blue came up with the win after a few minutes, putting Hirsch away with a Dragon Sleeper to prevail clean.

PAC, FTR win in Dynasty preview

The main event was a preview of two AEW Dynasty matches, as the trio of Kazuchika Okada and The Young Bucks faced PAC along with FTR’s Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood.

Wheeler suffered a nasty move during the first commercial break of the match, as he was dragged across a corner of the canvas until his groin was run into a ringside post. He tried for a hot tag for minutes, with PAC eventually getting the tag to face Nick Jackson.

PAC had the chance to head to the top and land on Okada, but the Jacksons distracted him. PAC was taken out on the apron by a big boot from Okada. As the referee was distracted by Okada, The Jacksons ran PAC into steel stairs and then threw him back into the ring.

Okada had regained control for The Elite as the match went to commercials. Similar to the hot tag that Wheeler had to work up to, the same happened with PAC here. He eventually got Harwood into the bout, who took on both of the Bucks and Okada. They re-did the groin spot, this time pushing Matt’s groin into the head of Nick in a corner.

PAC hit a German Suplex that Wheeler, who was just tagged in, bridged into a pin attempt. Nick kicked out at two. Okada had a blind tag as Nick went into a corner. Harwood took out the Bucks but was caught with a DDT from Okada.

Okada egged Harwood on to hit him. After landing a few slaps, Harwood went off the ropes but was caught with a dropkick from Okada. Okada tried for a Rainmaker, but Harwood escaped and put in a Sharpshooter. The Bucks were able to break up the pin with a pair of Superkicks.

The Elite did a triple-team move into Harwood in the corner, Okada hit a neckbreaker, and Matt scored an elbow drop off the top, but the pin attempt that followed got broken up.

Harwood did a Superplex to Matt, followed by a Frogsplah from Wheeler and a 450 Splash from PAC. Okada and Nick got into the match to stop the pin attempt.

All six wrestlers were face-to-face as they got to their feet. They all started to trade strikes. Some wrestlers cleared out of the ring moments later. The Bucks hit a Shatter Machine and then an EVP Trigger onto PAC, but a pin attempt was broken up.

FTR scored a Shatter Machine of their own onto Matt. Harwood was brought out of the ring where he was hit with a Superkick and DDT, but Wheeler did a dive to the outside to take out Nick and Okada. PAC went to the top and connected with a Shooting Star Press on Matt to win the match. The feeling of victory lasted just seconds, as The Elite got into the ring and attacked the winning trio. Daniel Garcia came in to help. Okada was singled out by FTR, PAC and Garcia, getting choked until The Bucks dragged him out of the ring to end the night.

Quick Results

  1. Adam Copeland, Mark Briscoe & Eddie Kingston def. Action Andretti, Dante Martin & Darius Martin
  2. Powerhouse Hobbs def. CJ Esparza
  3. The Gunns (Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn) def. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster)
  4. Blackpool Combat (Bryan Danielson & Claudio Castagnoli) def. The Don Callis Family (Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher) (Bunkhouse Brawl)
  5. Skye Blue def. Leyla Hirsch
  6. FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) & PAC def. The Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson)
About Jack Wannan 187 Articles
Jack Wannan is a journalist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He writes and reports on professional wrestling, along with other topics like MMA, boxing, music, local news, and more. He graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He can be reached at [email protected]
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