AEW Collision results: Athena defends ROH title against Alex Windsor, Dustin Rhodes sets up street fight with Kyle Fletcher

July 26, 2025 Jack Wannan NEWS, Show Reports
Image Credit: AEW

Results

  1. Dustin Rhodes def. Lee Moriarty (TNT Championship) (16:34) (Recommended)
  2. Juice Robinson & Austin Gunn def. Big Bill & Bryan Keith (12:22) (AEW Tag Team Eliminator Tournament Quarter-Final)
  3. Anthony Bowens def. Max Caster (2:07)
  4. Turbo Floyd, Truth Magnum, Hologram & Tomohiro Ishii def. Hechicero, Lance Archer, Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean (11:42)
  5. Thekla, Skye Blue & Julia Hart def. Laynie Luck, Rachael Ellering & Mazzerati (3:11)
  6. Nick Wayne & Kip Sabian def. AR Fox & Angelico (8:12)
  7. Athena def. Alex Windsor (ROH Women’s World Championship) (12:20) (Recommended)

Dustin Rhodes defends TNT title for the first time

A live edition of AEW Collision from the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois kicked off with title action, as TNT Champion Dustin Rhodes put his belt on the line against ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty of Shane Taylor Promotions. Commentary noted that this was Rhodes’ first time putting up the belt since winning it at All In: Texas.

Rhodes sent both him and Moriarty over the top and to the floor with a clothesline two minutes into the bout. Rhodes used parts of the ringside to further his attack, throwing Moriarty chest-first onto the ring apron and hitting his arm against the barricade.

Back in the ring, Moriarty knocked Rhodes into the corner of the ring with an uppercut. He sent the champ to the mat with a dragonscrew, kicking off a match-long gameplan of attacking his legs. Moriarty continued to have the upper hand as the show went to its first break.

Rhodes kept trying to start his comeback, but all it would take from Moriarty was any attack toward his left leg to eliminate all of his momentum. Rhodes finally started to piece things together when he reversed a move from Moriarty into a Destroyer, then connected with a Cross-Rhodes. While it looked like he could’ve earned the win here, Moriarty saved himself by putting a leg on the bottom rope during a pin attempt.

Rhodes slammed Moriarty down to the mat, but the impact on his knee from the move delayed his pin attempt. Moriarty escaped a suplex attempt from Rhodes, who fell to a knee, then dropped him with a head kick, earning the challenger just a two-count.

Moriarty put Rhodes into an Ankle Lock, but the TNT champ was able to will his way to the ropes. Rhodes dodged a kick in the corner from Moriarty and set up for his turnbuckle-groin kick, but the referee prevented this move from being hit. Caught off guard, Rhodes got dropped by a head kick from Moriarty – but a pin attempt got just a one!

Moriarty connected with Wu-Tang Forever, but the move still didn’t put away the champ. Moriarty tried to follow up by putting a Figure Four onto Rhodes, although the champ rolled the submission into a pin attempt, earning him the win.

Rhodes had to take quite a beating and go 16 minutes, but in the end, he can still call himself champ.

After the match, Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher appeared on the stage. Fletcher claimed that he’s “rightfully owed” a shot at Rhodes’ TNT title, demanding the opportunity for next week.

Rhodes asked the crowd if he should give Fletcher a shot (most of the crowd said “NO!”). Rhodes ended up deciding that he’ll give Fletcher a chance next week on Collision, but under one condition: It’ll be a Chicago Street Fight. This match got confirmed immediately after.

Before the next segment, Tony Schiavone gave a monologue about Hulk Hogan, talking about his legacy wrestling for WCW while the promotion was on TNT. He offered his condolences to the family of Hogan and said he knows they are going through a lot, then said “R.I.P., brother,” on behalf of AEW.

Backstage, Toni Storm said she’d love to see Alex Windsor (“Who I have a non-sexual friendship with,” she said) dethrone Athena tonight.

The returning Bang Bang Gang advance in tag team bracket

The second matchup of the night saw Austin Gunn team with Juice Robinson to face Big Bill and Bryan Keith as part of the tag team title eliminator tournament quarter-finals. The winner of this match will go on to face FTR as part of the second round.

Gunn demanded that Bill get in the ring after he dropped Keith with a neckbreaker. The towering Bill was a bit too much for Gunn, as the Bang Bang Gang member got floored by a big boot to the head moments after they first started tying up.

Keith and Bill kept Gunn isolated through a commercial break after he took the boot. Gunn finally found the opening for a tag after tossing Keith over the top rope, causing him to land onto Bill at ringside.

Robinson pieced together a series of moves onto Keith, including a back Senton and a cannonball in the corner, earning him a two-count. Robinson’s momentum was slowed after Keith tossed him into the ropes, giving the chance for Bill to score a head kick from ringside. Bill and Keith landed a thudding double-team move, with Bill throwing him into a knee strike from Keith.

A top-rope double team move was interrupted by Gunn, who knocked Keith off-balance. Robinson sent Bill out of the ring with a forearm, then tried for a hurricanrana off the top with Keith.

Keith rolled the ‘rana into a roll-up once they hit the mat, but Gunn got into the ring and reversed the position, giving Robinson a roll-up pinfall win in 12 minutes, advancing them in the tag team bracket. Big win for Robinson, who was making just his second appearance since returning at All In earlier this month.

It was announced that The Outrunners & Young Bucks will face off on Wednesday’s Dynamite as part of the quarter-final round.

Max Caster runs into a familiar face

This wasn’t just any episode of Collision, as the Best Wrestle Alive, Max Caster, appeared in the ring for the next segment.  Who was going to accept his challenge this time? This one was quite a familiar name for Caster… His former tag team partner, Anthony Bowens!

Bowens got the jump on Caster before the bell then dominated this match from start to finish. Bowens, clearly angry while facing his teammate turned enemy, told Caster that he’s nothing without “The Pride of Pro Wrestling.”

Bowens hit a Famouser, a thrust kick, then the Mollywhop forearm for the win in two minutes.

Bowens thought his two-minute victory wasn’t enough, continuing to beat up Caster afterward. Billy Gunn, who used to manage both of them and clearly still has sympathy for the two, pulled Bowens off Caster. An angry Bowens stormed out of the ring by himself.

Backstage, AR Fox approached Kip Sabian and Nick Wayne, saying he wanted a fight. He suggested setting up a tag match with a partner of his choice. “If he wants to lose again, let him,” Sabian said. The broadcast announced later that Fox’s partner will be Angelico.

The Outrunners, Tomohiro Ishii and Hologram earn $400k after hectic 8-man tag

The next bout was a “$400,000 8-man tag match,” so roughly $100k per winning wrestler, assuming Don Callis isn’t taking fees out of your pay stub. The teams were: Lance Archer, Hechicero, Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean versus The Outrunners, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hologram.

Archer had a fun big man spot early in the match, catching a dive off the top from Hologram and throwing him onto both Outrunners. After the break, Ishii was able to impressively lift Archer for a slam.

Hologram came flying off the top for a double stomp onto Hechicero. The Infantry took out Hologram moments later, dropping him with a hard double-team elbow drop out of the corner. 

Later, Hechicero struck Tomohiro Ishii with a knee strike in the corner, but was wiped out by Hologram, who came off the top with a hurricanrana, then followed him to the outside with a tope suicida.

Back in the ring, Floyd and Magnum hit their “You Son of a Bitch” double-team elbow drop onto Dean. If you think eight-man tag matches can be hectic, it got kicked up a notch by this point. Archer hit the ring and ran both of the Outrunners into a corner, but knocked down the referee at the same time.

With the ref out, both Don Callis and Shane Taylor started fighting with wrestlers at ringside. Paragon’s Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong came down the ramp for the save, chasing Taylor out of the venue to end the illegal tactics.

Cameras refocused on the ring, where Floyd escaped a double-team move from the Infantry. Bravo was sent out of the ring, giving The Outrunners a chance to hit their Total Recall finisher to Dean for the pinfall win in 11 minutes. $100k to The Outrunners, Ishii and Hologram – no Don Callis pay cut needed, but, as Nigel McGuinness noted, maybe they owe Paragon a bit of the winning purse.

The Triangle of Madness make in-ring debut

The Triangle of Madness (Thekla, Julia Hart and Skye Blue) made their debut in the next bout, facing off against Laynie Luck, Rachael Ellering & Mazzerati. For both Luck and Mazzerati, this was their first AEW appearance in a few years, previously working matches as part of the now-defunct Dark web series.

Ellering got some moves in against Hart, but other than that, this was a very by-the-numbers squash bout. Thekla got the pin on Mazzerati, putting her away with a Curbstomp in a little over three minutes.

Queen Aminata came to the ring with a steel chair after the match, causing the winning trio to flee the ring. As Aminata was starting down the three, Megan Bayne attacked her from behind. Bayne took out Aminata with a huge powerbomb, then left. The Triangle of Madness stood over Aminata as the segment came to an end.

Backstage, Kyle O’Reilly pitched the idea of Hologram and Tomohiro Ishii spending their $200,000 worth of prize money on Roderick Strong’s birthday. Everybody but O’Reilly seemed against this idea.

Nick Wayne steers his team to a win

In a tag bout made backstage earlier in the night, ROH Television Champion Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian took on AR Fox and Angelico. This was Sabian’s first match on TV since February.

Angelico got stuck in the heel corner of the ring for a significant chunk of the match, finally giving Fox a hot tag after the show returned from commercials. Fox was able to take on both Wayne and Sabian at the same time, giving them both cutters before doing a dive to the outside, taking down Sabian.

Fox got a near fall with a Swanton Bomb off the top – this kickout put the crowd on their feet. Angelico got back into the ring, and this is where things started to break down for the babyface squad once again. Wayne avoided a move and tagged in Sabian, who came off the top with a Shotgun Dropkick to Angelico.

Sabian landed a cannonball in the corner as Wayne hit a moonsault off the turnbuckles to the outside onto Fox. Back on the ring apron, Wayne ordered Sabian to tag him back in to close out the match against Angelico. Wayne connected with a Killswitch as the crowd rained down boos, giving him the win in eight minutes.

Backstage, Kris Statlander said she never got a “thank you” from Willow Nightingale after everything she did for her. But now, she wants to thank Nightingale for teaching her that she doesn’t need her “to be who the hell I am.”

Athena defends ROH title against Alex Windsor, gets chased away by Toni Storm during post-match

The main event of the evening saw ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defend her title against Alex Windsor. A win for Windsor would be a massive deal, ending a title reign for Athena which is now a little over a month from hitting the 1,000-day (yes, one-thousand!) mark. Billie Starkz, who tried to soften up future Athena opponent Toni Storm on Wednesday, was ringside for this match.

It’s also worth noting that this was a rematch, as Windsor previously challenged Athena at AEW/ROH’s trip to Australia in February.

This match had a hot start, with quick sequences in the opening minutes. Athena scored the first big move of the match, slamming Windsor onto the ring apron before the show went to its final break.

Back in the ring as the show returned, Windsor dropped Athena with a headbutt. Windsor came running off the ropes for a leaping lariat, continuing to build steam against the champ. She got a two-count after a Russian leg-sweep and another hard lariat.

Windsor tried for what looked like a powerbomb, but Athena got out of the move by biting her leg, which the referee didn’t see. Athena had a creative sequence, slamming Windsor to the mat and immediately transitioning it into a Koji Clutch after. Windsor escaped the hold by looking for a roll-up pin.

Windsor stopped Athena from coming out of the corner by countering with a headbutt, then scored a Blue Thunder Bomb for a two-count. Athena kicked Windsor out of the ring to avoid a Sharpshooter.

Athena tried for a baseball slide out of the ring, but Windsor dodged the move and instead slammed her face-first onto the ring apron twice, then onto the floor. Windsor threw Athena into the ring, but as the referee wasn’t looking, Starkz prevented her from also getting into the ring by grabbing her legs. This delay allowed Athena to do a tope suicida to the outside. Athena scored a running shotgun dropkick, which sent Windsor crashing into AEW’s electrical guardrail.

The fight went on top of a guardrail, where they traded blows. Athena was knocked off the guardrail with a right hand, but after falling off the rail was able to slam Windsor to the mat, another very physical spot in a hard-hitting main event. The fight went back into the ring, where Athena came off the top with the O-Face for the pinfall win.

Starkz and Athena looked to keep beating up on Windsor after the match, throwing her out of the ring with some plan in mind. However, Toni Storm interrupted their beatdown, running to the ring with her AEW Women’s World Championship around her waist. Storm gave Athena a hip attack in the corner of the ring and applied a submission, but had her attack stopped by Starkz, who struck her in the back of the head with Athena’s Women’s Casino Gauntlet contract.

Windsor got into the ring to even the odds in the brawl. Punches from Windsor and Storm were able to get Athena and Starkz on the retreat as the show came to an end.

About Jack Wannan 1245 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 jackwannancanada@gmail.com
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