Coming off one of the most loaded editions of RAMPAGE in the show's existence, All Elite Wrestling heads to Columbus, OH for an all-new COLLISION hailing from GalaxyCon! Last night we saw Daniel Garcia and Kazuchika Okada add three points to their 2024 Continental Classic Blue League total while Ricochet picked up his first three points in the Gold League. Unfortunately that meant The Beast Mortos, Mark Briscoe, and Komander left Fishers Event Center will zero points to their record, but tonight two of those men will have a chance to rectify that situation!
In Blue League action TNT Champion Daniel Garcia will face Mark Briscoe in their first-ever singles match while AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada takes on “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher in a rematch of their September fight over The Rainmaker's title! Meanwhile, over in the Gold League, Darby Allin returns to C2 competition for his second league bout as he faces Komander in another first-time bout! Both individuals are still chasing their first points of the tournament, but Komander is certainly in more dire straits!
We will also see Willow Nightingale and Serena Deeb meet once more in tournament action, only this time instead of The Owen, it's all about the WRESTLE DYNASTY 2025 International Women's Cup and getting one step closer to a Tokyo Dome trip in the new year! Plus, for the first time in their careers, Mina Shirakawa and Emi Sakura will go one-on-one as Mina's AEW World Championship fight with Mariah May looms!
COLLISION action gets underway at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT, and you can get prepped for it with a trip to AEW's official YouTube channel to watch highlights from DYNAMITE, as well as previous editions of RAMPAGE and COLLISION! Then All Elite Wrestling travels to Kansas City, MO and the T-Mobile Center next Wednesday night for WINTER IS COMING 2024! WORLDS END 2024 will be here before we know it, meaning every night counts on the way to December 28th in Orlando!
CONTINENTAL CLASSIC...
Gold League
Darby Allin (0) vs. Komander (0)
2-Time TNT Champion Darby Allin entered into his first Continental Classic match with Brody King just four days after having driven a car into an SUV belonging to The Death Riders, meaning though he was cleared for competition, Darby was still battered and bruised from that crash. There's no doubt that impaired him in the fight with his long-time rival, and played a part in Brody King scoring yet another victory in their series of matches with one another.
That means, as he enters into his send C2 battle, Darby has zero points on the board but the same can be said for his opponent Komander who has also posted zero points thus far. The difference between the high-flying luchador and the daredevil AEW original is that Komander, serving as an alternate for the injured Juice Robinson, is technically entering into his third bout of the Gold League. As an alternate, Komander inherited the zero from Juice's loss to Will Ospreay on the November 30th COLLISION, and his failure to defeat Ricochet last night on RAMPAGE puts him behind the 8-ball in comparison to his fellow Gold League competitors. Darby and Will Ospreay only have one match each under their belts but at least Will got three points out of his. As for the other three, they all have two matches under their belt, with Brody King and Ricochet at three points and Claudio Castagnoli at six, meaning this is an utterly crucial match for Komander.
If Komander drops the fall here, it likely means he is out the running in the Gold League and partially through no fault of his own. He deserves credit for taking on the alternate role, especially with one foot already in the grave because of Juice's loss, but now Komander is in control of his own fate if he wants to rise to the top of the Gold League! Can he take the next step in his career and score victory over this pillar of AEW, or will Darby bounce back from Brody with a strong victory in this first-time battle?
Blue League
TNT Champion Daniel Garcia(4) vs. Mark Briscoe (0)
Unlike the Gold League where Komander is the only competitor stepping into this third league match, both Blue League match-ups in Columbus feature men who fought their second bouts on DYNAMITE or RAMPAGE and now enter their third tonight on COLLISION! Both Mark Briscoe and Daniel Garcia fought in their second league bout last night on RAMPAGE but to vastly different results. Garcia, after going to a time limit draw with Kazuchika Okada last week on COLLISION to net one point, defeated The Beast Mortos in a hard-fought battle to move his point total to four.
As for Mark Briscoe, it was his turn to step into the fray with the AEW Continental Champion in their first-ever singles match, but he wasn't able to turn that into a one-point draw, much less experience the three points that come with victory. That puts Mark into a precarious position in the Blue League for this fight against the TNT Champion whereas Garcia is tied with Okada for second place behind Kyle Fletcher. If he loses this, “Chicken” absolutely has to win out over The Beast Mortos and Fletcher to have a hope in the league, and even that would be entirely dependent on how the rest of the field fares, especially the individuals in the other Blue League match to be addressed shortly.
Last year at this time both Daniel Garcia and Mark Briscoe were in the exact same place that Mark is now, but this year only one of them has managed to improve on their 2023 C2 outing. Mark Briscoe has to turn it around tonight on COLLISION otherwise his fate may be in the hands of other individuals regardless of what happens in his last two matches. As far as Garcia's standing is concerned, depending on the outcome of the Kyle Fletcher/Kazuchika Okada match, a win may tie him in first place if it's paired with an Okada victory, or place him solely in second with a Fletcher win. However, a loss for Garcia either means a slide into third place if Okada wins, or standings remains status quo with an Okada loss, albeit with Fletcher having a dominating lead...
Kyle Fletcher (6) vs. AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada (4)
As for that other Blue League battle tonight, the top spot in the field is at stake in this rematch between Kyle Fletcher and Kazuchika Okada! Three months ago the two competitors clashed in a Continental Championship match where Okada retained as a result of kicking Fletcher in the groin behind Referee Rick Knox's back prior to hitting a Rainmaker Lariat for the pinfall.
Tonight the title may not be at stake but that first-place spot in the Blue League certainly is! The way the math looks, should Fletcher defeat Okada then he will remain the sole occupant of the top spot with nine points heading into the last two league matches. If Fletcher falls to “The Rainmaker” for a second time, then the first place spot entirely depends on the outcome of Garcia/Briscoe as indicated above. A Garcia win combined with an Okada victory puts the two title holders in a 7-point tie for first place in the Blue League, an Okada win and a Garcia loss would make it Okada(7)/Fletcher(6)/Garcia(4) for the top three positions, a Fletcher win and Garcia win changes it to Fletcher(9)/Garcia(7)/Okada(4), while a Fletcher win and Garcia loss means nothing changes in the order of the top three, it would just put the two title holders five points behind Fletcher in the standings.
Of course there's a matter of time limit draws and how they'd affect the standings, but that's what makes this fight such a great example of how crucial every single bout is in this tournament, and how they all connect to one another in the macro of the Continental Classic! Who will rule the Blue League after this Saturday's bouts, and how long will they be able to stay there? Tune into COLLISION, live from GalaxyCon to see how it unfolds!
WRESTLE DYNASTY 2025 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S CUP QUALIFIER SEMI-FINAL...
Willow Nightingale vs. Serena Deeb
The AEW faithful witnessed former AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter defeat Queen Aminata on DYNAMITE: THANKSGIVING EVE 2024 to advance in the AEW bracket of the WRESTLE DYNASTY 2025 International Women's Cup Qualifiers. Tonight on COLLISION we find out whether it will be Willow Nightingale or Serena Deeb who meets Hayter in the Finals at COLLISION: WINTER IS COMING 2024 in St. Louis, MO next week! These two fierce competitors met during the summer in another tournament situation, in that case the Quarterfinals of the 2024 Women's Owen Hart Foundation, and it was Willow who scored victory en route to her fight in the Finals with Mariah May.
With a potential trip to the Tokyo Dome on the line for January 5th, can Deeb get one step closer to her first Japanese trip since 2015 and a first-time fight with Jamie Hayter? Or will it be Willow who gets a rematch with Hayter two-plus years in the making as she pursues her own return to Japan?
ONE-ON-ONE...
Mina Shirakawa vs. Emi Sakura
Speaking of Japan, two of the best joshi athletes will meet in their very first singles match tonight on COLLISION! Mina Shirakawa is just days away from challenging her former best friend Mariah May for the AEW Women's World Championship, but before she gets to WINTER IS COMING 2024, Mina has to contend with the three decades of experience Emi Sakura brings to the table! We last saw Emi on DYNAMITE: TITLE TUESDAY 2024 when she challenged TBS/NJPW STRONG Champion Mercedes Moné for both her titles, but “The Brickhouse” Kamille proved the deciding factor in the outcome of that.
Now Emi returns with another big opportunity on her hands given the championship implications! If “The Queen” can defeat Mina ahead of her title fight with “The Glamour”, it will certainly put her in a prime position for title contention after DYNAMITE: WINTER IS COMING 2024, especially if Mina Shirakawa leaves Kansas City as the new Women's World Champion! Will Mina head into the biggest fight of her AEW career with a victory under her belt, or will Emi Sakura play spoiler to any momentum Mina has built with her five straight victories since FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024?
All Elite Wrestling presents COLLISION live from GalaxyCon in Columbus, OH and we've got three huge Continental Classic matches on tap! TNT Champion Daniel Garcia faces Mark Briscoe and AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada takes on Kyle Fletcher in the Blue League while Darby Allin meets Komander in the Gold League, plus Mina Shirakawa versus Emi Sakura, Willow Nightingale versus Serena Deeb in a WRESTLE DYNASTY 2024 International Women's Cup Semifinal qualifier, and more! The night begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT, and fans can get ready for the action by dropping in on AEW's official YouTube channel to catch-up on highlights from this week's DYNAMITE and RAMPAGE, as well as previous editions of COLLISION, and so much more! Then follow AEW to Kansas City, MO and the T-Mobile Center next Wednesday night for WINTER IS COMING 2024 with more Continental Classic action as well as the AEW Women's World Title fight between Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa! We are on the fast track to WORLDS END 2024 in Orlando on December 28th so the athletes in AEW best make every moment count!