AEW Collision Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From July 20

Doc-Chris Mueller@@BR_DoctorX.com LogoFeatured Columnist IVJuly 20, 2024

AEW Collision Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From July 20

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Collision on July 20.

    Here's a look at the card AEW advertised for this week's show:

    • Bang Bang Gang vs. Patriarchy (Trios Titles)
    • Thunder Rosa vs. Deonna Purrazzo
    • Darby Allin vs. The Beast Mortos
    • Roderick Strong vs. Tomohiro Ishii
    • Skye Blue vs. Hikaru Shida
    • Hologram debuts

    Let's take a look at what happened on Saturday's episode of Collision.

Darby Allin vs. Beast Mortos

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    Collision opened with Allin making his entrance for his match against Mortos. They started with some simple exchanges but picked up the pace and started hitting high-impact moves after a couple of minutes.

    As expected, this bout saw Allin bump like a madman for his much stronger opponent. He was thrown into the barricade, the steps, the turnbuckle and any other hard surface Mortos could find.

    With Allin being set for Blood and Guts, it was obvious AEW wouldn't book him to lose here, but they still did a good job making him look like an underdog.

    Even if you are not a fan of the risk-taker, you can't deny that Allin always puts everything into his matches. Whether it's a main event title match or a random predictable bout like this, he doesn't hold back.

    After a hard-fought exchange, Allin hit a Coffin Drop for the win.

    Result: Allin defeated Mortos

    Grade: B


    Notable Moments and Observations

    • Collision's new opening isn't as good as the old one, but it may not be permanent. 
    • This was the first show in AEW's residency in Arlington, TX. 
    • Mortos hit a nice swinging headlock takeover. 
    • Allin's suicide dive is always wild to witness.

Skye Blue vs. Hikaru Shida

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    After a quick promo from The Acclaimed, Shida made her entrance to take on Blue in singles action.

    Blue hit a running kick right out of the gate to take control, but the former world champion was right back up to her feet and throwing punches.

    Blue took a bad bump outside the ring and doctors checked on her as the show went to a break. Shida ended up being declared the winner since Blue was unable to continue.

    Let's hope Blue recovers quickly. Since a competitor was injured, we will not be grading this bout.

    Result: Shida defeated Blue


    Notable Moments and Observations

    • Blue has dropped all spooky stuff from her character but is still a heel. It wouldn't be surprising to see her turn face again soon.

Tony Nese vs. Rey Fenix

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    Rey Fenix.
    Rey Fenix.AEW

    Tony Nese gave a "You're fat" promo to the Texas crowd before his match against Rey Fenix. The crowd gave Fenix a warm welcome.

    Even though Nese is known for his muscular physique, he is just as quick on his feet as any luchador, so this was a fast-paced encounter with a lot of quick sequences.

    The rest of The Premier Athletes interfered a lot during the break, but Fenix kept finding a way to fight back. This impromptu match ended up being quite a bit of fun and gave the crowd a few memorable moments.

    Nese came close with a 450, but Fenix was able to kick out and hit a frog splash for the win.

    Result: Fenix defeated Nese

    Grade: B+


    Notable Moments and Observations

    • Lance Archer was shown beating up random people backstage and Chris Jericho gave a promo about his match with Minoru Suzuki. 
    • Fenix was doing a lot to sell a leg injury. 
    • The popup hurricanrana from Fenix looked awesome. 

Roderick Strong vs. Tomohiro Ishii

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    After an interview with FTR, Strong took on Ishii. Surprisingly, The Kingdom was not at his side this week.

    The Stone Pitbull no-sold a series of chops and dished out his own, but Roddy was not backing down. They went back and forth for a long time before Ishii took him down.

    The former international champion sold a lot for Ishii and made him look like the feared veteran he is. They kept a steady pace and made this feel competitive, but it never really felt like it mattered who won. We don't need every match to have big stakes, but it felt like this one had zero.

    The Kingdom showed up and gave Roddy an assist to score the victory. Mark Briscoe and Kyle O'Reilly prevented any further violence.

    Result: Strong defeated Ishii

    Grade: B-


    Notable Moments and Observations

    • Nigel McGuinness said this was a rematch 3073 days in the making. 
    • Ishii cornering Strong and staring at him was kind of funny. 
    • It was hard to tell if Ishii was supposed to counter a gutbuster or if Roddy messed up. The way it happened looked unintentional. 

Hologram vs. Gringo Loco

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    AEW's newest star made his debut this week when Hologram took on Gingo Loco. Hologram had flashy entrance gear and unique lighting.

    The masked man immediately started showing off with a flurry of high-flying moves, which Loco sold perfectly.

    Even though the majority of the moves we saw were all executed well, there were a couple of moments when it felt too choreographed.

    Hologram picked up the win with an airplane spin into a powerbomb.

    Result: Hologram defeated Loco

    Grade: B


    Notable Moments and Observations

    • The way Hologram jumped onto Loco's shoulders was impressive. 
    • Loco's standing moonsault was nice. 

Thunder Rosa vs. Deonna Purrazzo

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    This week's show saw Rosa and Purrazzo attempt to put a bow on their feud in a Lumberjack match with several women surrounding the ring.

    La Mera Mera took control and tried to remain aggressive, but a rope-hung DDT from The Virtuosa stopped her in her tracks.

    We returned to see Rosa beginning to build up a head of steam as she hit a series of high-impact moves. Some of the lumberjacks began fighting, which allowed Purrazzo to use a weapon behind the ref's back to knock Rosa out and score the pin.

    The first half of this was pretty basic but it got more intense as time went on and ended up becoming an entertaining encounter.

    Result: Purrazzo defeated Rosa

    Grade: B


    Notable Moments and Observations

    • It was nice to see Abadon. It felt like AEW was going to push them and then just stopped. 
    • Rachael Ellering leveling Purrazzo was funny. 
    • The spot when they fell onto the lumberjacks looked a little rough for some of the women doing the catching. 
    • The spear Rosa hit through the ropes looked great. 

Patriarchy vs. Bang Bang Gang (Trios Titles)

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    Juice Robinson, Austin and Colten Gunn were looking to bring the trios titles back to the Bang Bang Gang after an injury to Jay White forced them to be vacated, but they had to contend with Killswitch, Nick Wayne and Christian Cage.

    Austin took Wayne to school for a bit, so Cage tagged himself in only to immediately tag out to Killswitch like the seasoned heel he is.

    This was a good, competitive fight that was genuinely unpredictable because either team winning would have made sense.

    The Gunns have grown so much over the past couple of years and that growth was on full display here. They are a well-oiled machine and reliable workers capable of working with just about anybody to produce a solid performance.

    Robinson kicked out of Cage's frog splash but he was unable to kick out after the Killswitch. Cage got the pin to win the titles for his team to end the show. The lights flickered a bit but it didn't seem to be intentional.

    Even with a couple of missteps, this was a fun and energetic main event.

    Result: Patriarchy defeated Bang Bang Gang

    Grade: B+


    Notable Moments and Observations

    • Now is the time to officially turn Bang Bang Gang into babyfaces. The crowd loves them. 
    • Robinson is one of the most entertaining wrestlers to watch because everything he does is so animated. He's like a cartoon character come to life. 
    • One of the bumps Austin took in the corner looked painful. 
    • Robinson's punches always look like they connect a bit more than most people. 
    • Wayne was late breaking up a pin but Cage kicked out in time to cover for it. 

The Final Word

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    Collision.
    Collision.AEW

    Even with a debut and new trios champions being crowned, this felt like a relatively run-of-the-mill episode of Collision. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

    The average episode of AEW TV is usually strong from an in-ring perspective, and this show definitely had a lot to like in that regard.

    Hologram's debut was simple but effective in establishing him as an exciting new high-flyer on the scene, and the main event trios bout delivered some fun moments.

    However, Allin and Mortos may have edged everyone else out for the Match of the Night. They gave the fans in Texas a great performance to get the show going.

    Grade: B

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