AEW Collision: March 9, 2024 (& Rampage March 8)

March 10, 2024 5:20 PM - Season 1, Episode 38

As AEW resets following Revolution, The Rainmaker has his first official match, Mark Briscoe gets a team together to face The House of Black, Will Ospreay makes an offer, and it's awards season for Toni Storm and Mariah May!

(Stuff in quotes is from The Wrestling Observer, italics is me.)

RAMPAGE -- March 8

Orange Cassidy & Trent Beretta (w/ Chuck Taylor) defeated Kip Sabian & The Butcher (w/ The Blade)

TBS Championship Open Challenge: Julia Hart (c) defeated Robyn Renegade

"Julia Hart doesn't miss a beat in this character. The "Dealer's Choice" rule for this match was no moves off the top rope. The crowd chanted “Women’s Wrestling!” at the start of the match. Hart banged the back of Renegade’s head against the mat and choked her against the ropes. Hart hit a nice looking vertical suplex.

Renegade fought out of a chinlock and hit a shotgun dropkick in the corner. Hart responded with a clothesline in the corner and a lariat to the back of the head, then locked in the Hartless for the submission. The rare AEW women's match on Rampage that isn't wrestled mostly during a commercial break."

Penta El Zero Miedo (w/ Alex Abrantes) defeated Action Andretti

Spoiler alert for later this post: Penta is pulling a double shift this week. Just when it seems that he's ready to get back to a singles run, AEW finds a great reason to put him in a tag or trios match.

Three-way tag battle: Top Flight defeated Private Party and Komander & Bryan Keith (w/ Alex Abrahantes)

I love how Alex Abrahantes is the hype man/valet for every luchador in AEW now.

COLLISION -- March 9

Bryan Danielson defeated Shane Taylor (w/ Lee Moriarty)

"An awesome David vs. Goliath match to open this show. Danielson had a plan, stuck to it, and took down the giant. If the last year of both men’s careers has been anything to go by, Ospreay vs. Danielson at Dynasty will be the talk of the pro wrestling world. If you want to know how excited I am for the match, I bought a ticket after the show-closing tease on Dynamite.

[...]After the match, Will Ospreay made his way to the ring. He grabbed a mic for both him and Danielson, asking for a conversation. After praising the match with Taylor, he noted how the first thing he noticed was how respected Danielson was in the locker room and by the fans. But after getting interrupted on Dynamite, Ospreay has a feeling that Danielson wanted to ask him something. Danielson welcomed Ospreay to AEW and praised his match with Takeshita at Revolution. He heard Ospreay talk about being the best wrestler in the world, and Danielson wanted to give Ospreay a chance to prove it. The challenge was made and accepted; Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay on April 21st at AEW Dynasty."

The New Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson) defeated Adrian Alanis, Jon Cruz & Liam Gray

"After the match, Eddie Kingston went after Okada but got quickly overwhelmed by the Elite. Eddie’s old friend Penta El Zero Miedo came out to make the save but got dropped with a neckbreaker by Okada. Okada posed with the Continental Championship before PAC made his return to save his Death Triangle partner. He took out both Bucks before facing off with Okada. PAC ran wild and took Okada down with a German suplex before the Bucks pulled Okada out of the ring. PAC said that he was back and looking for trouble. Kingston made the challenge for Wednesday’s Big Business show: Kingston, PAC, & Penta vs. The Elite."

Mariah May defeated Trish Adora

"After the match, Timeless Toni Storm came out to present the first annual Toni Award. This award represented the outstanding achievement in the field of pro wrestling. The nominees are: Mariah May for her portrayal of Toni Storm at Revolution. There are no other nominees. The winner is…Mariah May! On behalf of us all at F4WOnline, allow me to congratulate May on her big win. Deonna Purrazzo crashed the stage like Will Smith, jumping Storm from behind and attacking her with the Toni Award – which was a shoe. May saved Storm and dropped Purrazzo with a DDT before accepting her award to You Deserve It chants."

If AEW isn't reeeeeaaaaal careful, Toni and Mariah could actually turn all of this into a babyface push. Unless this is the intentional route, to make Toni a face until Mercedes Moné shows up next week (please God) and Mariah inevitably turns on her mentor.

Nick Wayne (w/ The Patriarchy) defeated Adam Priest

"Wayne thoroughly controlled this match early on. Priest laid in some chops on the floor, but a momentary distraction allowed Wayne to hit a handspring that knocked Priest off the apron. After paying homage to “his father” with the standing choke on the ropes, Wayne hit Wayne’s World to get the win. After the match, Christian talked trash to fans and tore up one masked fan’s sign. The fan jumped Christian and Wayne before unmasking as Adam Copeland. Copeland held up the TNT Championship before pulling out a box from under the ring. The Patriarchy surrounded the ring, but Copeland opened the box and spooked Cage enough to get him to bail. What was in the box was never revealed, so there’s a little mystery going into Toronto on March 20th."

The crowd actually chanted "What's in the box?", because they're not heathens, y'know.

Chris Jericho defeated Titán

"These two had some slight missteps early but rounded off into a solid match. This match had a nice backstory, as Jericho wrestled the original Titán in his first match in CMLL before wrestling the new generation Titan here tonight. Hook and Jericho look to be taking on the Gates of Agony at some point soon, which is a fine spot for both men."

Another week, another decent-to-pretty-good match with Jericho as the ambassador to CMLL visitors. None of this is bad, but I heard Fozzy is touring again soon so Jericho needs a kayfabe ass-beating to clear his calendar. Will all these visiting dignitaries just stop then, or can we get them in competition with some other AEW mid-carders who could use the exposure? SPOILER ALERT: Yes, see below.

FTR came out to announce their participation in the soon-to-begin tournament for the vacated tag titles. The Infantry made an appearance from Ring of Honor to introduce themselves to a TV audience and snipe at FTR a little bit by talking about "The Revival".

Mistico defeated Angelico (w/ Serpentico)

This is exactly the sort of thing I meant.

Atlanta Street Fight: House Of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) defeated Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett & Mark Briscoe

"This was a wild match, paying off the fire teases from Briscoe’s temporary pyromania last week. With Jarrett’s friend and wife getting caught up in the match, it can easily lead to the long-teased split between Lethal and Jarrett. Meanwhile, the House of Black gets a bounce-back win and closes this chapter after losing the cage match in January to FTR and Daniel Garcia due to Briscoe’s interference."

posted by The Pluto Gangsta