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Write Forever: Thursday night's okay for fighting on AEW Collision for May 8

Write Forever: Thursday night's okay for fighting on AEW Collision for May 8

It's another double dose of mid-week AEW with the ooky and kooky Thursday Collision! Last night's Dynamite was a breeze even with an MJF/Hurt People segment – every segment of the show felt like it mattered in some way or another because it drove a storyline forward.

Will we see the same tonight on Collision, or are we just in for the average "good wrestling but not a lot of movement" Collision that we tend to get when it's shifted around on the schedule?

We know for sure that there is a lot more wrestling announced ahead of the show than we had for Dynamite which signals to me that we're going to be quite in-ring heavy with a possibility that we tread water on most of our stories.

I think the most we'll see move along tonight is the ongoing Daniel Garcia/FTR "You're not my real uncles!" story when Garcia meets one of the two in a singles match. Will they beat respect into Garcia or will he earn their respect and become the fourth member of the FTR & Stokely Hathaway polycule? There's only one way to find out!

Thursday is okay for fighting

These off-schedule Collisions are definitely falling into a certain category of programming for me. There's often not anything extraordinary on any of these episodes, but also nothing bad. It's like a fine and easy-to-watch couple of hours but nothing that you need to go out of your way to see.

I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, do you want to give away any of your super exciting stuff when your show happens at an unusual time or on an unusual day? On the other hand, do you want to try and entice viewers to make sure they definitely don't miss the show when it's getting bopped around like this?

For me, it turns out to be a series of shows that aren't really easy to find anything to write about. Last night's Dynamite had, I think, three matches booked by the time the show went on the air. Tonight's Collision had seven. That leaves little room for anything other than in-ring action, most of which was just fine-to-good.

We did get a bit of development in the world of the Gates of Agony and The Learning Tree, who brawled around the ring for a bit before going through some tables. I love the Gates of Agony being on TV more often and I love Bryan Keith and Big Bill doing something more serious without being lackeys to Chris Jericho.

Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander: not yet friends, again

On last night's Dynamite, Kris Statlander tried again to make amends with Willow Nightingale who wasn't having any of it. Willow didn't want to talk and said she'd rather fight it out in the ring.

Tonight they got that chance and, shock of all shocks, they had an excellent match! Why aren't they both on TV doing this every week?! One of life's great mysteries.

Over the years Stat has really beefed up and tightened up her offense, all of which makes her so incredibly dynamic in the ring. She hit a couple of vertical suplexes on Willow on the floor that were just as beautiful as they were gnarly.

Willow, not to be outdone, muscled Stat up for The Babe With The Powerbomb which isn't something she often has to do. The women's division doesn't have as deep of a meat subdivision as the men's division does, and Willow doesn't usually have to do extra work to get someone up like that.

As Stat rolled out of the ring following the powerbomb, Marina Shafir interfered to lay Willow out while Wheeler Yuta (that little shit) distracted the referee. As the pair exited, Stat reentered the ring and put Willow away for the win.

Stat, of course, had nothing to do with the interference... right? Her past with Wheeler Yuta is just that and she didn't put the fix in against a stubborn Willow – or did she? I'm leaning more toward doubt on this one with the uncertainty driving more of a wedge between Willow and Stat for a little while longer.

Eventually, we have to get to the Willow/Marina factory and if I had to put money on it, I'd say we get Stat thwarting interference from Wheeler Yuta to even the odds and lead Willow to victory – paving the way for a friendship restored.

I love this story! I mean, I love the people in it. Stat turning babyface in a weird backstage segment was bad and short-sighted, but I have enjoyed her attempts to win back Willow's friendship.

One step closer to Nigel McGuinness vs FTR

In the main event, Daniel Garcia bloodied Dax Harwood in an excellent singles match. When Cash Wheeler tried getting involved, Daddy Magic was there to put a stop to things and level the playing field a bit for Garcia.

The fight went into the crowd and past the announcer's station, drawing the fear of Tony Schiavone and the ire of Nigel McGuinness. While Nigel tried to play it cool, Dax knocked his headset off of him and shoved him in an attempt to antagonize him into a fist fight. Nigel, though, stayed at the desk.

Once the match got back into the ring, Garcia went to put Dax away with a piledriver but Stokely Hathaway caused some interference to take Garcia's attention away. With the referee distracted by Stokely, Nigel rushed the ring and stopped Dax from hitting his own piledriver on Garcia.

Nigel then launched an attack on Dax, and the returning Cash, while Daddy Magic also returned to help run FTR out of the ring completely.

Anything that gets Nigel McGuinness back in the ring is fine by me! Nigel and Garcia vs FTR? Sign me the hell up? We could even get an FTR & Stokely vs Garcia, Daddy Magic, & Nigel trios match out of this which would also be a delight.

Is this all leading to Garcia eventually embracing his evil side and joining FTR? With each brutal fight, I see the possibility dropping lower and lower. It's one thing to have a war of words for show and then turn to the dark side – it's another thing completely to beat each other bloody and then still decide to turn on your friends.

But we'll see! There's still more to this story and heel FTR have been a delight, so I'm on board.

Athena's Dropkick Power Rankings

Tonight, Anthony Bowens threw Lee Johnson into the video barricade. We also saw Daniel Garcia dropkick Dax Harwood against the video barricade. The video barricade did not break into static. We can now update our Athena's Dropkick Power Rankings thusly:

  1. Athena's Dropkick (victim: Mercedes Moné)
  2. (Tied For Last) Brody King splashing people into the barricade; Hangman Adam Page throwing Kyle Fletcher into the barricade; Samoa Joe and Claudio Castagnoli whipping each other into the barricade; Anthony Bowens throwing Lee Johnson into the video barricade; Daniel Garcia dropkicking Dax Harwood against the video barricade

Wrapping Up

Tonight, someone remembered Grizzled Young Vets existed and put them in a backstage segment with Paragon in a battle to see which team has the worst name. If only Paragon had a catchphrase, they could fight over who had the worst one of those, too.

The match should be fine if not good-to-very-good, but it's funny to see GYV pop up out of nowhere after having a couple matches and then disappearing to the ROH Dimension. Maybe this is Tony testing the waters to see if they can demonstrate some semblance of a personality on TV.

Last night we got a surprise appearance by Rhino and tonight we got a surprise appearance by Zach Gowen, who had his prosthetic leg stolen by the dastardly Ricochet. Gowen was a lightning-in-a-bottle sensation in the early 2000s and since I haven't heard of him turning out to be a huge piece of shit like wrestlers love to do, I was happy to see him make an appearance and get a sweet little pop.

Later on in the night, it was announced that next week on Dynamite Ricochet will wrestle Zach Gowen. Tony Khan is a madman.

Whenever Anthony Bowens is on screen they should run the five tools along the bottom of the screen like a stock ticker.

As always, RUSH and Dralistico can fuck off forever until I find out that they've come to their senses and no longer support attempted murderer El Cuatrero.


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

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