It’s Saturday night, and you know what that means …
All Elite Wrestling returns from the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut for this week’s episode of AEW Collision.
On tap for tonight’s two-hour AEW on TNT show is FTR (C) vs. Adam Cole & MJF for the AEW Tag Titles, Kiera Hogan vs. Mercedes Martinez, and we will hear from CM Punk.
Also scheduled for this evening is Gravity vs. Samoa Joe, Buddy Matthews vs. Andrade El Idolo in a Ladder Match, as well as El Hijo Del Vikingo, Action Andretti & Darius Martin vs. Juice Robinson & The Gunns in Trios action.
Featured below are complete AEW Collision results from Saturday, July 29, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-10pm EST. on TNT.
AEW COLLISION RESULTS (7/29/2023)
The usual intro video compilation of wrestlers talking about their matches into the camera airs and then we shoot to the opening video while Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” theme plays.
Ladder Match
Andrade El Idolo vs. Buddy Matthews
Now we shoot inside the XL Center in Hartford, CT. where the commentators welcome us to the show. We head down to the ring straight away for a blockbuster opening contest.
With that said, the theme for Andrade El Idolo hits and the crowd goes wild as he makes his way down to the ring for the scheduled ladder match, with his mask on-the-line. He settles in the ring and his music dies down.
Now the theme for The House of Black plays and out comes Buddy Matthews with Julia Hart. He settles in the ring and his entrance tune fades down. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one.
El Idolo starts off strong and is clearly the crowd favorite in this one. Matthews cuts his offensive momentum short after the first few minutes and then we see some ladders finally starting to get involved. After El Idolo hits a big spot on Matthews, we see ringside medics coming to check on him.
On that note, we shoot to a mid-match commercial break as the action continues. When we return we see Matthews is okay and back in action. A ladder bridge is set up from the apron to the rail and we see Matthews hit an insane DDT on El Idolo onto it. Now he heads under the ring and pulls out a table as the crowd goes nuts.
A giant ladder is set up outside the ring and we see an absolutely insane sunset flip powerbomb over the top of the ladder onto the hard part of the ring apron outside of the ring ropes. The crowd went ballistic for that.
Back in the ring, we see El Idolo try to capitalize by climbing the ladder set up under his mask in the middle of the ring, but Matthews ends up getting into the ring fast enough to knock El Idolo down in brutal fashion.
Now we see Julia Hart of The House of Black at ringside helping Matthews handcuff El Idolo to the ring post so he can’t stop Matthews. Julia Hart stands right next to El Idolo taunting him with the key. Matthews comes around the corner and El Idolo somehow gets his leg up high enough while handcuffed to blast him with a kick that drops him.
Hart checks on Matthews, and we see El Idolo get the handcuff key. He ends up getting himself free and handcuffing Matthews to the ring apron. The crowd goes nuts as El Idolo slowly begins his climb. We see Julia Hart with bolt cutters trying to free Matthews from the handcuffs as El Idolo climbs. She ends up stopping to run over and jump on El Idolo’s back before he gets to his mask.
He keeps climbing with her on his back, but eventually Matthews frees himself and climbs up the other side of the ladder. El Idolo knocks Matthews down. Hart gets off El Idolo’s back and goes to the other side of the ladder where she starts slapping him.
Matthews recovers, but only in time for El Idolo to shove Julia off the ladder, onto him, where they both go through the table that was set up in the corner earlier in the bout. El Idolo pulls down his mask and scores the victory. Excellent opener.
Winner: Andrade El Idolo
Darby Allin vs. Minoru Suzuki
We shoot backstage for an interview with Miro, but before he can say anything, he is attacked from behind. He ends up beating the attacker down. We head back inside the XL Center and Darby Allin’s theme hits. He makes his way to the ring as we head to another commercial break.
When we return from the break, we see Allin in the ring waiting for his opponent. The familiar sounds of Minoru Suzuki’s theme hits and out comes the Japanese legend to a big ovation.
He settles in the ring and the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. We see some good back-and-forth forearm and chop exchanges in the middle of the ring, as is typical in Suzuki bouts.
As the action continues, we head to a mid-match commercial break. When we return, we see Darby fighting his way back into the offensive lead. He heads to the top for a Coffin Drop, but lands right into the rear naked choke of Suzuki. While stuck in the choke, Allin kicks his feet over and lays on him in the choke as the referee counts to three. Darby wins.
Winner: Darby Allin
Christian Cage With A Message For Darby Allin
After the match, Christian Cage appears on the big screen with the TNT Championship over his shoulder. He tells Darby it looks like he’s finally earned a shot at his TNT title.
He gloats about making the TNT title mean more than it ever has, which obviously everyone boos at, as he didn’t even win the title and Luchasaurus has barely defended it at all.
Samoa Joe vs. Gravity
Now we see a video package hyping the 200th episode of AEW Dynamite next Wednesday night. When we return, Samoa Joe’s theme hits and the ROH Television Champion and “The King of Television” makes his way to the ring to chants of “Joe! Joe! Joe!”
He settles in the ring and his music dies down. Now the theme for his opponent plays and out comes Gravity. The masked star settles in the ring and the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running.
We see Gravity try and get in some shots early on, but it takes literally seconds for “The Samoan Submission Machine” to start rag-rolling the masked star before ultimately hoisting him up for his Muscle Buster finisher for the win. After the match, we head to another commercial break.
Winner: Samoa Joe
CM Punk Unveils The REAL World’s Title, Gets Challenged By Ricky Starks
When we return from the break, we hear the familiar sounds of CM Punk’s theme music and out comes “The Best in the World” to a mostly positive reaction, and a big one at that. He heads down to join Tony Schiavone in the ring.
“The Second City Saint” settles inside the squared circle with his mystery bag. He talks to Tony Schiavone about Ricky Starks being a cheater. He then gets around to the bag and asks if people want to see what it is. He then lifts the bag up.
CM Punk pulls the old AEW Championship he used to hold out of the bag and says it belongs with him still and it belongs here on AEW Collision. He pulls out a can of spray paint and spray paints a big X over it, similar to Hulk Hogan spraying nWo on the WCW Championship back in the day.
Punk tells the fans that his belt is the REAL World’s Heavyweight Championship, ala Ric Flair when he finally came to WWE in the early 1990s. The X means he is straight edge, and being straight edge means he’s better than you. Out comes Ricky Starks to interrupt Punk. He then mentions how he’s gonna return backstage and come out again with his music playing this time, and we’ll all pretend like he just didn’t come out yet. Odd.
Starks does exactly that and when his music hits the crowd pops. Out comes “Absolute” Ricky Starks and the 2023 Owen Hart Cup winner heads to the ring and gets in CM Punk’s face as fans chant “Ricky! Ricky!” Starks tells Punk if he could have done what he did to win in their Owen Hart Cup Finals, he would’ve. He tells Punk he’s beaten him not only once but twice.
CM asks if Starks beat him twice or if the referee of their match beat him twice. Starks says they could have Stevie Wonder as the referee and he’d still win twice. He tells Punk that title belongs to him. Punk says it sounds like Ricky wants a title shot. Ricky cuts him off and yells in his face that he deserves a title shot. The fans break out in dueling chants for both guys.
Now Punk says if they’re gonna have a match for the title, they’re gonna have a special guest referee. Starks says that’s fine with him because if we wanna call a spade a spade, CM Punk has no friends in the locker room. He asks if he’s gonna get someone from his past and says it doesn’t matter if he does that, or even if he goes up to Stamford and gets one of his old friends from up there. The fans “ooh” and “ahh” at that.
Finally CM Punk says it is someone from the past and asks Tony Schiavone if he wants to reveal who it is to Ricky Starks and the fans in attendance. Schiavone says he would and reveals that it will be none other than WWE Hall of Fame legend Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. The commentators put him over as the most honest and down the middle trustworthy good guy in wrestling history, making him the perfect special guest referee for their bout.
Juice Robinson & The Gunns vs. El Hijo del Vikingo, Action Andretti & Darius Martin
A video package airs hyping tonight’s main event for the AEW World Tag-Team Championships between reigning title-holders FTR and number one contenders and the winners of the 2023 AEW Blind Eliminator Tag-Team Tournament, Adam Cole and AEW World Champion MJF.
After that, we settle back inside the XL Center in Hartford, CT. where the theme for The Gunns hits. Austin and Colten Gunn make their way out along with fellow Bullet Club Gold member, “Rock Hard” Juice Robinson. The three guys make their way to the ring for scheduled Trios action.
Out next are their opponents, the three-man team of high-flyers El Hijo del Vikingo, Action Andretti and one-half of Top Flight, Darius Martin. The three head to the ring together and settle inside the squared circle. Their music dies down.
Now the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Colten Gunn and Darius Martin kick things off for their respective teams, as loud “Ass Boys!” chants break out directed at The Gunns. We see Action Andretti and Darius Martin in the ring together beating down both of The Gunns.
Action and Darius knock Austin and Colten over the top-rope and out to the floor for a big pop. On that note, we shift gears and head to a mid-match commercial break as this Trios bout continues here in hour number two of AEW Collision.
When we return from the break we see some back-and-forth action until we get to the finish, which sees the baby face trio of El Hijo del Vikingo, Action Andretti and Darius Martin score the victory.
Winners: El Hijo del Vikingo, Action Andretti & Darius Martin
Kiera Hogan vs. Mercedes Martinez
The theme for Kiera Hogan hits and out comes the former member of Jade Cargill’s Baddies for our next match of the evening. She settles in the ring and her theme music dies down.
Now the entrance tune for her opponent hits and out comes Mercedes Martinez. She settles in the ring and her music fades off and the bell sounds to officially get this one off-and-running.
We see some basic back-and-forth action early on and then we head to a mid-match commercial break. When we return, within a minute or two we see Martinez wrap this one up and score the submission victory.
Winner: Mercedes Martinez
Mercedes Martinez Lays Out The TBS Women’s Champion
Once the match wraps up, we see Martinez refuse to let go of the choke. This brings out TBS Women’s Champion Kris Statlander to make the save, however she ends up focusing on if Kiera is okay.
This allows Martinez to pick up the TBS Women’s title and blast Statlander with a cheap shot. When she goes to follow up with an additional attack, Willow Nightingale runs to the ring from the back to chase her off.
AEW World Tag-Team Championship
FTR (C) vs. MJF & Adam Cole
It’s main event time!
The commentary team runs down the updated lineups for next week’s special 200th episode of AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night, as well as next week’s AEW Collision show on Saturday night. After that, we head to another commercial break.
When we return from the break, Dasha is in the ring and she begins the ring introductions for our main event of the evening, which features the AEW World Tag-Team Championships on-the-line.
MJF’s theme hits and the crowd explodes as “The Devil” and his tag-team partner and emerging best friend, Adam Cole (…BAY-BAY!) make their way out and head to the ring. After winning the AEW Blind Eliminator Tag-Team Tournament, these two have earned a shot at the AEW World Tag-Team Championship here tonight.
The two settle in the ring and do Adam Cole’s “Boom…Adam Cole, BAY-BAY!” routine, which of course, the fans in Hartford do along with them. The challengers are in the ring and ready to rock and roll as MJF’s theme song dies down.
From there, the Midnight Express-sounding theme for the reigning and defending AEW World Tag-Team Champions plays and out comes the FTR duo of Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler.
The bell sounds and this AEW World Tag-Team Championship main event of this week’s AEW Collision show is now officiallyu off-and-running. We see Dax Harwood and Adam Cole kick things off for their respective teams as a loud dueling chant breaks out from the Hartford crowd.
We see some good back-and-forth action and then Dax takes over and tags in Cash Wheeler, who picks up where he left off, taking it to Cole. Cole finally gets the tag to MJF and the two go for the dreaded double clothesline, but Wheeler hangs onto the ropes to avoid it.
MJF and Wheeler get ready to get after it, but then “The Devil” decides against it and heads out to the floor, where he arrogantly struts around. MJF leads the fans in a loud chant. Harwood tags in. MJF goes to bash Harwood’s nuts in, which he gets the fans to chant, but Harwood avoids it. MJF does the “this close” gesture.
Tensions start running high and the good sportsmanship takes a back seat as all four men end up in the ring shoving each other back-and-forth. On that note, we head to a mid-match commercial break as the main event continues.
When we return from the final commercial time out of the evening, we see FTR both in the ring with MJF as the legal man for the other team. He leaps for a tag but they catch him. They look for a double team spot but MJF counters and plants them both head-first into the mat with a double DDT. The fans cheer him on now as he looks to recover and make it to his corner for the tag.
Cole’s got his hand out-stretched and MJF crawls within inches of making the tag, but FTR yanks him away. MJF ends up rolling and leaping to finally make the tag to Cole. The crowd explodes as Adam Cole hits the ring like a bat out of hell, hitting any-and-everything that moves.
Adam Cole and Dax Harwood end up as the two legal men in the match. Cole works him over and goes for a roll-up pin attempt, but Dax kicks out. After that, Dax starts coming to life on offense until he turns right into a big super kick from Cole for another close near fall attempt.
FTR starts to fire up and take over on offense. They come close to finishing this one off on a few attempts. Harwood puts Cole on the top-rope and heads up after him for a super-plex. He hits it and Wheeler follows up with a diving head butt for a super close near fall, which Cole somehow kicks out of.
Now we see Cole make it to his corner where he tags in MJF. The AEW World Champion hits the ring and he and Dax Harwood start trading back-and-forth shots as the crowd reacts with each one that lands. MJF goes for a pile driver but Harwood counters. MJF rolls him up but Harwood kicks out. Harwood hoists MJF up and bounces him off the ropes for a slingshot power bomb for another close pin attempt.
Finally, MJF fires up and he and Cole look for the double clothesline, but they don’t hit it. Wheeler and Harwood end up scoring a roll-up out of nowhere for the pin fall victory. Adam Cole shakes hands with Harwood and Wheeler in the ring while MJF throws a temper tantrum in the corner of the ring.
Winners and STILL AEW World Tag-Team Champions: FTR
MJF Fights Back Urge To Blind-Side Adam Cole
Cole goes over to console MJF after FTR heads to the back. Their music cuts off. We see Cole trying to console MJF and we hear MJF yelling, “I lost the match!” as he fights back tears. Adam Cole gets up and walks across the ring, and we see MJF pop up behind him with the title in his hand, fighting back his desire to blast him with it.
Adam Cole realizes he’s behind him and out-stretches his arms. He tells him to do what he’s got to do. MJF throws the title down and shakes his head. Cole turns around as the fans chant “Hug it out!” Cole marches over and he and MJF embrace with a big hug as the crowd explodes.
The joint-theme for MJF and Adam Cole plays as MJF poses with his title on the ropes in the corner. He jumps down and he and Cole hug once again as the commentators run down the lineup for next week’s 200th episode of AEW Dynamite, as well as next Saturday night’s AEW Collision. That’s how this week’s show goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
Don’t miss a huge Saturday Night #AEWCollision TONIGHT LIVE from the @XLCenter in Hartford, CT at 8pm ET/7pm CT on @tntdrama! pic.twitter.com/Tmq3E2qfY7
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 29, 2023
