AEW Collision- Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse

Photo by James Ellifritz

AEW owner, Tony Kahn came out to hype the crowd just prior to going live at 8pm with the music “Burn On” from Major League. 

Tonight’s event was the 1st at the Fieldhouse for AEW since graduating from events held over at the smaller Wolstein Center at Cleveland State.  

Opening match – AEW International Championship open challenge  

Jon Moxley vs Action Andretti 

Huge pop for Jon Moxley as his “Wild Thing” Major League theme music comes home to Cleveland for this Cincinnati native. The match was more competitive than one would think with the young Andretti. Action’s high-flying style inside the ring and out was entertaining but at the end the more physical Moxley was too much as he retains the title via bulldog choke submission.  

Match #2 – TBS Champion Kris Statlander open challenge match vs. Robin Renegade  

Kris had to overcome not one but 2 Renegades with the amount of outside interference by Charlette Renegade throughout the match but being the champion, she is she still picked up the victory to remain TBS Champion. As she raised her hand it became a 2 on 1 from her opponents attacking from behind. Then the music hit, and it was Jade Cargill coming down to clear the ring and drop Statlander onto the mat with Jaded. She picked up the TBS title and stood over her to let Kris know she wants her title back. Big pop for Jade.  

Match #3 – Dios Del Inframundo, Aerostar, Metalik, and Gravity vs Bullet Club Gold 

Juice Robinson came out to the ring with a cardboard cutout of the missing Switchblade Jay White. As the match began it wouldn’t be a Gunn Club match without the Ass Boys chant right off the bat. This Bullet Club / Gunn Club partnership has been working great for both teams. Gravity might as well just stayed on the ground as the Bang Bang Gang dominated the match and picked up the win continuing their hot popularity streak.  

 

Match #4 – Angelico vs Rey Fenix 

Even with some high-flying action and with Rey Fenix winning the crowd was kind of flat to this match. The Lucha Bros are an excellent tag team and both Rey and Penta are great entertainers but for whatever reason the crowd reaction unfortunately wasn’t there. This is a match where it might of played out well on tv but not as much live in person. Still, I have huge respect for Rey Fenix. 

 

Match #5 – Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Semi-Final Match 

Roderick Strong vs Darby Allin 

Strong comes out and Darby follows only to be attacked in the back by Luchasaurus and Christian letting him know he’ll never be champ with Cage in AEW. Darby though drags himself out from the back. The crowd chants DARBY DARBY as he slowly gets into the ring. Strong takes advantage and holds Darby in check at the start of the match. Back and forth it went with some outside interference from Strong’s entourage, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven.AR Fox did come down to try to help support Darby but he only made this worse by accidentally kicking Nick Wayne. At the end Darby tried to hit Strong with the coffin drop inside the ring like he did outside earlier but Strong got his knees up, hit him with his own finisher to pick up the win and secure his place in the finals of the world title eliminator match at Grand Slam next Wednesday.  

 

Bryan Danielson in ring interview with Tony Schiavone 

He wants Zach Sabre Jr before he steps away from wrestling in about a year. He promised his daughter he’d stop once she’s 7. Ricky Starks came out with Big Bill and told Bryan that he’s coming to take what’s he wants. Bryan gets attacked by Big Bill and Moxley comes out to help Danielson but gets laid out too.  

 

Jim Ross makes his entrance to call the match at ringside during commercial break.  

 

Main Event – Grand Slam World Title Eliminator Tournament Semi-Final Match 

Penta El Zero Miedo vs Samoa Joe  

The main event of the night starts out back and forth as you’d expect from these 2 great talents. Even when they took their battle outside the ring, they were tearing each apart with being tossed into the barriers, chops, kicks and even a table awaited destruction. I shouldn’t forget Joe throwing Penta into the steps. Once they get back in the ring Joe starts to physically dominate Penta. The match goes back outside the ring where Penta looks to use his high-flying skills to gain the advantage. Penta climbs back in the ring to fly and dive on top of Joe only to fly right over him and through the table. Joe gets him back in the ring and eventually gains the submission win to punch his ticket into the finals next week against Strong to be the number one contender for the AEW title vs. MJF. 

 

AEW put on a great show and included some Ring of Honor matches before and after Collision was on the air. Let’s hope the gates were good so they can plan a return trip to Cleveland to perform at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse soon.