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Write Forever: It's The FTR Show on AEW Collision for April 26

Write Forever: It's The FTR Show on AEW Collision for April 26

Last night I watched Harold and Maude and Legend for the first time ever and I'm really looking forward to seeing what on Collision tonight will embody the spirits and emotions of both of those movies. Who is the odds-on-favorite to fall in love with someone 60 years older than them? Who is going to wear a top but no bottoms all night long? Who's going to start out looking like a normie but get gothed the fuck out and look way cooler before the end of the show?

All of these questions and more will be answered as we stroll on into a loaded, 8-match (but only one non-squash women's match per government mandate) Playoff Palooza edition of Collision!

Treading water in hour one

Some weeks it's crystal clear that AEW's midcard is alive and well on an episode of Collision. This week, it felt like we were treading water for much of the first hour of the show.

Hologram answered Max Caster's open challenge, though it feels like we're still not sure where either man is going long-term. While Hologram has whipped up an impressive undefeated streak, it hasn't lead to anything more than just padding out his record with more wins on Collision.

Max Caster's whole deal seemed like it was in service of Anthony Bowens' return, but where does Max go now? He's still entertaining and far more enjoyable now than he was at the tail end of The Acclaimed's run, but at some point he's got to add something to the whole shtick. He's either got to figure out how to get some wins and/or add a manager to the mix who can help him get some wins.

I don't know why, exactly, we're getting a reboot on Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal. I don't know who needs or wants this. I just don't understand. There are so many wrestlers on the roster who could be in whatever spot they wind up in and be far more entertaining. There's simply no juice left to squeeze out of Jeff Jarrett – we saw that in the horrible (and rightfully aborted) MJF feud.

As much as I like Top Flight and CRU in general, their feud has gone on for what feels like years at this point and has absolutely no heat. That's not really on them as much as it is on the booking for dragging this story on for months and months without resolving anything. The breakup was teased forever and then once they did break up, the payoff matches were teased forever.

Tonight we got an incredibly tame and surprisingly, considering who was in the ring, unexciting tornado tag match. I don't have faith that this is the true end of the feud, but I hope it is so both team can move onto doing literally anything else for a while.

Collision was a one-match show

These preempted/delayed episodes of Collision always feel like a bit like filler episodes. The energy is always different though that could be due to the shows being taped in front of already exhausted crowds who have already seen a live Dynamite.

Either way, they never seem to load these episodes up the way live Collisions have been the past few months. The undercard was fairly underwhelming but the main event felt like a Collision of old: a long-ass tag team main event.

FTR are just exceptional as heels, it's a wonder that they've been babyfaces for so long in their AEW run. Their whole shtick just works better as heels, from the way they cut their promos to their in-ring style and their entire "tag team wrestling the way it used to be" attitude.

It still feels a bit like an odd couple pairing to put them with Stokely Hathaway, but I love Stokely Hathaway and the pure dipshit energy that will come off of the three of them together will soon become too powerful to argue against.

Paragon (a terrible name) looked great as they typically do, especially when out of the confines of the Adam Cole Zone. Cole does nothing for me, his TNT Title run is going to do nothing for me, and the second he gets involved in something with people I actually enjoy my interest begins to wane.

FTR won the match and looked to continue the beating after the bell, but Daniel Garcia made the save. I'm not entirely sold on Garcia's intentions being true. He, like FTR, is maybe more interesting and natural as a heel and I could see a trio of FTR and Garcia becoming three of the most hated wrestlers in AEW in quick fashion.

This match was also free of the odd miscommunication errors between Cash and Paragon which we saw last time the two wrestled on March 15. All in all, a great main event topping out just over 20 minutes on a Collision that was otherwise quite missable. Thank you, FTR!

Wrapping Up

It certainly looks like we're gearing up for either a Blood & Guts or Anarchy In The Arena match with The Elite versus some formation including, at the least, Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega. I assume this is a marquee match for Double or Nothing as it seems clear that we're still on track for Omega/Okada at All In. Fingers crossed it's a title unification match so we can trim down the number of men's titles on the show and maybe, just maybe, open the door for women's tag titles?

Dralistico may have had his best singles match in AEW tonight against Bandido. I'm still staunchly against doing ROH stuff on AEW TV, but that's a complaint that's never going to be subdued since it seems inevitable that ROH feuds will always bleed over onto AEW shows.

I often find Dralistico to be a bit awkward and sloppy, but he was maybe his most consistent against Bandido. There were still some rough spots but nothing too jarring, just either slight miscommunications or mis-timings. That being said, if RUSH and Dralistico are still in support of Cuatrero after he was arrested for the attempted murder of Stephanie Vaquer then they can both fuck off forever.

This Collision felt like one to miss outside of the main event, but nothing on the show was actively bad. AEW has just given itself the problem of over-delivering in terms of quality more often than not on TV and PPV, so even a show that's simply "fine but not bad" stands out amongst the rest.


Best AEW Matches of 2025

Don't see a match on the list? It's not because I didn't see the match, but because I didn't do a write-up for that show for whatever reason (timing, schedules, etc.). This list is as comprehensive as it can be.

I've also decided to omit squashes from the list since they're just going to crowd space at the bottom.

  1. Toni Storm vs Mariah May: Women's World Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  2. Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  3. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Orange Cassidy (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  4. Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  5. Daniel Garcia vs Mark Briscoe: TNT Title (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  6. Konosuke Takeshita vs Orange Cassidy: International Title (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  7. Mercedes Moné vs Momo Watanabe: TBS Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  8. Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  9. Toni Storm vs Megan Bayne: World Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  10. Mark Briscoe vs Kyle Fletcher (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  11. Will Ospreay vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  12. Kenny Omega vs Ricochet vs Mike Bailey: International Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  13. MJF vs "Hangman" Adam Page (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  14. Mercedes Moné vs Athena (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  15. Death Riders vs Rated FTR: Trios Titles (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  16. Will Ospreay vs Kevin Knight (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  17. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Kyle Fletcher (Dynamite: April 30, 2025)
  18. Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight vs The Young Bucks (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  19. Konosuke Takeshita vs Kenny Omega: International Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  20. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Josh Alexander (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  21. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta vs Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata, & Powerhouse Hobbs: Trios Titles (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  22. Will Ospreay & Brody King vs Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  23. FTR vs Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  24. Rated FTR vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  25. Roderick Strong vs Jay White vs Swerve Strickland (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  26. Toni Storm vs Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  27. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Christopher Daniels: Texas Death Match (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  28. Toni Storm vs Queen Aminata (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  29. Jon Moxley vs Swerve Strickland: World Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  30. Kazuchika Okada vs Brody King: Continental Championship (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  31. Mark Briscoe vs Ricochet (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  32. Orange Cassidy, Powerhouse Hobbs, Mark Briscoe, & Will Ospreay vs Bryan Keith, Mark Davis, Lance Archer, & Brian Cage (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  33. Private Party vs The Hurt Syndicate: Tag Team Titles (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  34. PAC vs Komander (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  35. Will Ospreay vs Buddy Matthews (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  36. Komander vs Nick Wayne: ROH TV Title (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  37. Toni Storm vs Deonna Purrazzo (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  38. Women's Casino Gauntlet (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  39. Hounds of Hell vs Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  40. Bryan Keith vs Will Ospreay (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  41. CRU & Nick Wayne vs Top Flight & AR Fox (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  42. Jon Moxley vs Powerhouse Hobbs: World Title (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  43. Swerve Strickland vs AR Fox (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  44. Daniel Garcia vs Adam Cole: TNT Title (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  45. Jamie Hayter vs Kris Statlander (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  46. Nick Wayne vs Jay Lethal: ROH TV Title (Dynamite: April 30, 2025)
  47. Will Ospreay, Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey, & Mark Briscoe vs CRU, The Beast Mortos, & Ricochet (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  48. FTR vs Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta: Mid-South Street Fight (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  49. Jamie Hayter vs Julia Hart (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  50. Toni Storm vs Queen Aminata (Collision: April 26, 2025)
  51. Cope vs PAC (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  52. Jamie Hayter vs Julia Hart (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  53. Will Ospreay vs Mark Davis (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  54. Kenny Omega, Mark Briscoe, Mike Bailey, & Kevin Knight vs Kazuchika Okada, Ricochet, & THe Young Bucks (Dynamite: April 30, 2025)
  55. Toni Storm vs Miyu Yamashita (Dynamite: April 30, 2025)
  56. Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander vs Rocky Romero & Tomohiro Ishii (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  57. The Hurt Syndicate vs The Gates of Agony: Tag Team Titles (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  58. The Beast Mortos vs Mike Bailey (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  59. Toni Storm & Thunder Rosa vs Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  60. Kazuchika Okada & Ricochet vs Brody King & Swerve Strickland (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  61. Brody King vs Kyle Fletcher (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  62. Lance Archer vs Kevin Knight (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  63. Rated FTR vs The Learning Tree (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  64. Private Party vs Lio Rush & Action Andretti: Tag Team Titles (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  65. Mercedes Moné & Harley Cameron vs Julia Hart & Kris Statlander (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  66. Daniel Garcia & FTR vs Undisputed Kingdom (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  67. Daniel Garcia vs Katsuyori Shibata: TNT Title (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  68. Daniel Garcia vs Kyle O'Reilly vs Lee Moriarty: TNT Title (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  69. Bandido & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Big Bill & Bryan Keith (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  70. Men's Casino Gauntlet Match (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  71. Cope vs Big Bill (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  72. Mariah May vs Harley Cameron (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  73. Will Ospreay & Kevin Knight vs Blake Christian & Lee Johnson (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  74. Samoa Joe & Hook vs Kip Sabian & Nick Wayne (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  75. Swerve Strickland vs Clark Connors (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  76. Kenny Omega vs Brian Cage (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  77. Hook vs Christian Cage (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  78. Julia Hart vs Queen Aminata (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  79. Daniel Garcia vs Lee Moriarty: TNT Title (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  80. Swerve Strickland & Willow Nightingale vs Jon Moxley & Marina Shafir (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  81. Brody King vs Lance Archer (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  82. Will Hobbs vs Mark Davis (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  83. The Outrunners vs Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  84. Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, & Roderick Strong vs Lee Moriarty & The Infantry (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  85. Julia Hart vs Harley Cameron (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  86. Rated FTR, The Outrunners, & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Death Riders & The Learning Tree (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  87. Cope vs Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  88. Mark Davis vs Mark Briscoe (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  89. Chris Jericho vs Bandido: Mask vs ROH World Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  90. Hologram vs Dralistico (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  91. Mark Briscoe vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  92. Cash Wheeler vs PAC (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  93. Kris Statlander vs Thunder Rosa (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  94. Kenny Omega vs Blake Christian (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  95. The Hurt Syndicate vs The Outrunners: Tag Team Titles (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  96. Max Caster vs RUSH (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  97. Bobby Lashley vs Mark Briscoe (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  98. Private Party & Mark Briscoe vs Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley, & MVP (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  99. Serena Deeb vs Momo Watanabe (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  100. Orange Cassidy vs Hechicero (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  101. Mercedes Moné vs Julia Hart (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  102. Powerhouse Hobbs & Tomohiro Ishii vs Kyle Fletcher & Konosuke Takeshita (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  103. Adam Cole vs Claudio Castagnoli: TNT Title (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  104. Thunder Rosa & Kris Statlander vs Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  105. Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii: Continental Championship (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  106. FTR vs Undisputed Kingdom (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  107. The Outrunners vs Premier Athletes (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  108. Adam Copeland vs Claudio Castagnoli (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  109. Bandido vs Dralistico: ROH World Title (Collision: April 26, 2025)
  110. Ricochet vs Katsuyori Shibata (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  111. Top Flight vs CRU (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  112. Toni Storm vs Penelope Ford (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  113. Swerve Strickland vs Blake Christian (Collision: April 26, 2025)
  114. Top Flight vs CRU: Tornado Tag Match (Collision: April 26, 2025)
  115. Mike Bailey vs Dralistico (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  116. Samoa Joe & Hook vs Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  117. Jon Moxley vs Adam Copeland: World Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  118. Mercedes Moné & Harley Cameron vs Athena & Julia Hart (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  119. Jon Moxley vs Katsuyori Shibata (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  120. Top Flight vs CRU: Tornado Tag Match (Collision: April 26, 2025)
  121. The Hurt Syndicate vs The Learning Tree: Tag Team Titles (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  122. Chris Jericho vs Dax Harwood (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  123. Thunder Rosa vs Megan Bayne (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  124. Wheeler Yuta vs Willie Mack (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  125. Top Flight & Hologram vs The Infantry & Lee Moriarty (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  126. Willow Nightingale vs Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  127. The Acclaimed vs The Hurt Syndicate (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  128. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs The Infantry (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  129. Komander vs Dante Martin vs Brian Cage vs The Beast Mortos (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  130. Daniel Garcia vs Adam Cole: TNT Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  131. Murder Machines vs The Outrunners (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  132. The Outrunners vs Chris Jericho & Bryan Keith (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  133. Hologram & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Brian Cage & Dralistico (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  134. Taya Valkyrie vs Harley Cameron (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  135. Deonna Purrazzo vs Harley Cameron (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  136. Max Caster vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  137. Murder Machines vs Top Flight (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  138. Jeff Jarrett vs Aaron Solo (Collision: January 4, 2025)

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