AEW Collision 8-8-26 - Continental Challenge Cup Begins

 

After being announced as the Continental Cup, it's now the Continental Challenge Cup - so okay that's fine. I guess it's a trademark thing and OC faces off with Sydal, which should be good and the biggest showcase Sydal has had in AEW. Okay so they cut the video feed off after Tony Schiavone can be heard chatting about having graphics not lining up and Arkedy is heard chatting with the crowd and then it's just audio only for three minutes before Claudio is out for the Cup to face Ace Austin and his giant thighs. Ace dives in and gets forklift slammed into a barricade. Ace gets some kneeling forearms on the ground on the floor. 

 Claudio gets a back elbow and just belts him and throws him around and Paul says he threw him around LIKE AN ORANGE. A shoot orange, not Cassidy. FOSBURY FLOP BY ACE! Ace gets a gamenguri but jumps into an uppercut for 2! Giant swing IS TURNED INTO A TRIANGLE CHOKE BY ACE AUSTIN! Victory roll into a wheelbarrow teardrop suplex by Claudio! Claudio KOs him with the Very European Uppercut to win it - THIS RULED! That may have been better than anything on Grand Slam Mexico!

Brawling Birds face Viva Van and VertVixen. Birds hit double lariats, double chop combos and then the heels hit various flying wackiness that looks clunky and the constant reposition for the Hart Attack throws Hayter off but they finally win. Weird fun match. Divine Dominion beats up the faces afterwards. IAMTHETABLE Double Chokeslam on the timekeepers table! "Jane" is back for OC's theme against Sydal. Back and forth cradles lead to DUELING THUMBS UP!

Forarm exchange for a near countout and OC rolls corner to corner to avoid an SSP. BACK LEG FRONT KICK as per Tony which is a nice Bischoff homage. Stundog DDT gets 2 for OC! SSP avoided and the Beach Break wins it! Mox cuts a promo on Jay and it's them against the world. SOUND THE ALARM! Dez and Wentz against Forte and Solo. Hot Fire Flame wins and Reed's singles match is next against Bailey BUT FIRST we get them cutting a fun promo and Wentz looks like Uncle Rico as he gets bigger and older. Bailey BACK LEG ROUND KICKS a fan's hand...ew... Bailey kicks away and dives away. APRON FOREARMS! Bailey takes the apron cutter and they land on the floor and Bailey hits a superkick! FLIP DIVE OVER THE POST BY REED! But Ultima wins it!

Tha Dawgs are hilarious backstage. Shida and Persephone are out to face Hayan and Maya World. Hayan gets 2 off a spear but Shida avoids a Glam Slam with a forearm and a cradle wins. TAKESHITA G1 VIDEO! Bang Bang Gang and Perry are out to face the Death Riders. Danny dominates Juice before tagging Mox in and then a Gunn fires up. Fameouser on Yutes gets 2 AND YUTES HIS THE KNEE TO WIN and then eats Jack's knee after. Bailey wants the Continental Title and Nick Wayne talks shit and he wants to win the no. 2 spot at the PPV. Dory Jr tribute! STP wants to help the Hurt Syndicate and do business together. Knight vs. Jericho for the TNT Title is set for Dynamite. 

Doyle vs. Kingston is finally u at 9:54, because lord knows Collision needs an overrun. MEAN GUY MATCH for them. Kneeling headbutts from Eddie! Eddie gets the machine gun chops and an enzuiguri for 2! Back to back urikens and THE STRETCH PLUMB WINS IT! This was the best he's looked since returning. 

House of Glory High Intensity 2026

 

I haven't watched HOG before, but they've got a show on Youtube so what the heck - it's something to do for a Friday night. It's also got a loaded card with the Hardys, Lio Rush, Shayna, and Shotzi on there with the latter two facing off. Kingston faces off with Charles Mason for the HOG Title. Red vs. Zilla Fatu for the Crown Jewel Title too and they even have a pre-show to hype it up. RED STARTS IT OFF with Zilla as they talk about him being wanted by AEW and WWE.

AFTER 18 MINUTES THE FIRST MATCH STARTS. Zilla is hyped up as a chainsaw and we get a shove down and a headlock by Red. Red bumps him with a leaping tackle and after a lot of whatever Red wins with a super code red and wins the belt. Red lost every big match this year until now so hey, good tale. Valo is out to FACE HOOK! Head and arm tie and REDRUM win it after Hook eats a snapmare. Midas Black is out with a Dungeon and NYC-centered video package and he's out in Hart gear to face Jay Lyon and these guys are a great example of taking iconography and make it your own with Black doing the Hart stuff and Lyon using the Knicks gear.

Lyon roars and scares Black before a German by Black! OSCUTTER BY BLACK! Avalanche Davey powerslam by Lyon...no some weird slam thing that gets 2 when Black gets the rope. Inverted DVD on the apron that is largely missed by cameras. Yeah don't do shit like this on an indy show. Redrum by Lyon for some reason. LIGER KOPPOU KICK BY BLACK is a Dungeon DEEP CUT since Yamada trained in the original Dungeon. JAY DRILLER BY LYON BUT THE REF IS DOWN. Double Focus are down and Lyon attacks and now Black and Lyon reunite to attack them and hit a 3D X Factor. 

LIO RUSH IS HERE for the cruiserweight title against Daron Richardson, who had a good star look overall. Back and forth fun chop exchange before Lio's arm gets sliced up and he avoids his belt being taken and gets hit with the HOG belt. H-BOMBS BY RICHARDSON! Lio schoolboy into the buckle. Last Chancery wins it for Lio. Matt Travis battle royal time and the winner gets a title shot of their choosing in a year and this is just a bunch of nothing until a roar spot with hosses sends guys out. Poison rana gets no-sold and then a double Oscutter gets no-sold. Staturday Night Fever on Joey Silver by Curo and Slver wins and the audio blows out with the commentators yelling. Main event time thankfully. Or not - video hype and now it's women's title time and SDL is out. 

Shayna vs Shotzi is up and it's Shayna's birthday. Ankle stomp and a kneebar from Shayna and SDL attacks Shotzi. Shayna chokes out SDL KC Navarro is out to face Ricky Sosa. BUT FIRST WE GET TWO GUYS WITH A MANAGER COMING OUT and the audio makes him inaudible. Holla holla tag. Or not, now it's a Hardys 3-way tag title match. Well that ate up like 20 minutes and we get a FALLING SPLASH FROM JEFF for 2. Twisto wins it. Christ Almighty the Hardys can't do a thing anymore - they need a break to recharge. Matt puts the TNA guys over and hypes up NYC. 

NOW it's time for the main event and Kingston loses via cheating. Okay then. Chair to the back from Kingston. Okay then whatever. Joey Silver has his contract to cash-in and the Ki Krusher wins it and even at 20%, the audio is unbearable. 

AEW Revolution 2024 Feedback

 Best Match - Ospreay vs. Takeshita/Sting and Darby vs. Young Bucks

Worst Match - All-Star Scramble

Sting had the greatest final match anyone could ever ask for in every way and he used it to pay homage to just about anyone he physically could. Flair and Steamboat got moments to shine in the Carolinas one last time, nearly 50 years from their first go-arounds in the territory.  Darby got moments to shine and the Bucks, EVPs who will be there tomorrow, lost. Sting could have been a Hulk Hogan, who pouted when asked to do anything that made him look weak over 30 years. 

Or HHH, who pouted at anything making him look weak over 20 years but he was selfless even on his last night. Mere weeks after his father died, he turned the match into a celebration of the Borden family as a whole giving his sons a chance to shine right alongside him on the stage and in the ring - giving their grandfather a chance to see them all from the best seat in the house.

Takeshita vs. Ospreay was the technical match of the might and terrifying in different ways thanks to the corner brainbuster gone awry, but nothing topped the emotion of every single cover on Sting in the main event. The double superkick callback to Forbidden Door was perfect and played into Sting having one last chest-beating comeback and it's kind of crazy that even in just three short years, he did so much new stuff and tried so many new things that this run feels longer and more impactful than it was in theory. 

The drama of the main event was impossible to touch for any match on the card, but both Danielson vs. Kingston and Takeshita vs. Ospreay were outstanding, with the latter outpacing the former a bit. The former was a better storytelling match, while the latter was among the best matches Will Ospreay has had in a 12 month period more full of fantastic matches than any time I can recall. Danielson vs. Kingston almost felt like the start of a new team for Danielson to split off from Claudio and Moxley with or just add Kingston to the mix since he has history with everyone else in the group anyway and he's gone to war with all of them in AEW.

The women's title match never got much in the way of drama behind it, and the same held true for FTR vs. the BCC, which had great entrances but was in first gear forever. It's a shame Tully Blanchard couldn't get out of his own way again because if he'd still been with the company and come out with FTR, that would have been a nice moment that could have helped FTR feel on-par with the BCC entrance-wise. The all-star scramble was disjointed and hurt by sloppiness and Dante Martin having a few things go awry in a very short period, but was a clear sign of way too many guys in a single match to really make a good match. 

The triple threat World title match was a far more focused story-heavy multi-man match and in the upper-echelon of matches on the show, but didn't quite reach the heights of  Danielson/Kingston, the tag title match, or Ospreay/Takeshita. They told a few stories in the mach with Hangman doing everything he could to prevent Swerve from winning - including being willing to lose just so Swerve didn't have a chance to win. It told a four-star story tonight to maybe tell another five-star story later - so that's fine.

The TNT Title match was a good choice for an opener and I think it worked to the match's advantage because the crowd was hotter for it than they would have been if you switch this and Danileson/Kingston around in the match order. Garcia shined brighter here than he has yet in a singles match and his new gear really helps him look like a star instead of just a gimmick - although the dancing gimmick does hurt him a bit in terms of it overshadowing how great a worker he is between the ropes.

Similarly, Roderick Strong vs. Orange Cassidy was a good match in a lot of ways that felt like it was lacking something. It could have been hurt by having the heels have folks out there and OC not, but it never felt as dramatic as it should have been until the beach break using the ropes - then it clicked a bit. Kyle O'Reilly's return was a nice surprise and they're definitely playing up that he is Roddy's friend forever, but may not be down with the Undisputed Kingdom and then you have Roddy and Kyle in a battle of what's more important - friendship with KOR or the Kingdom/the title.

As a show, Revolution was certainly an all-time great from a company that puts on incredible events regularly. This was the first AEW PPV I've purchased live since Forbidden Door 2022 and this was $50 well-spent for the sheer amount of emotion it brought out of me and how fun it made pro wrestling. In a year with so much turmoil and so much horrific activity being exposed, it was nice to have an event where I don't feel dirty watching it and I can just enjoy a 64 year old man going out on his shield in victory with his two sons cheering him on and know that there are great human beings in pro wrestling - and some are even great promoters too.

Tony Khan allowed Sting to go out on his terms and whether Sting wanted to or not, he made sure he retired a champion. He allowed Will Ospreay to be under his contract and not only do several dates with TNA, but lose on their stage after having him go over on his own biggest stage at All In. Like Sting and Terry Funk, he's unselfish in selfish times and while they were a credit to pro wrestling as legends in the ring, the work he has done to celebrate wrestling history and treats its legend with respect is something that all companies can benefit from. 

AEW Dynamite 8-5-26 - Grand Slam Mexico

 

It's one of the biggest shows of the year - the Arena Mexico spectacular and it starts off with Cope! He gets a killer intro and the fans sing his theme in English! Cope, Cage and the Bucks face the Death Riders and CAGE HITS A DIVE for a break and MyAEW has some fun brawling. Tons of brawling and a spear to Yuta! BUT THE REF IS DISTRACTED AND MOX CRADLES HIM FOR THE WIN! Three way for the top spot in the battle royal is up with Ciampa in flag gear, and Andrade is over as hell. Komander is there too. 

Andrade macks on a honey and Ciampa uses her phone to take a dick pic and then he throws the Mexican heroes into the hard barricade. Andrade and Ciampa fight up top and KOMANDER HITS A SPRINGBOARD POISON RANA ON ANDRADE! Elbow of Death from Andrade and a springboard poison rana takes Ciampa out but Komander eats a DM and ANDRADE WINS IT! 

He wants to win in the battle royal and MJF IS OUT! MJF takes him out with the BBB and gets his ring back! Divine Mone' is up for a trios tag against the Birds and Willow. Willow and WINDSAH do a stereo cannonball after the faces win a suplex battle. Bayne and Hayter have HOSS WARFARE briefly before a falcon arrow from Bayne. BACKSLIDE FROM WILLOW WINS IT just like the title match! Divine Dominion vs. Birds is set up for ALL IN!

Fletcher vs. Speedball is up and both guys have masks on for their entrances! BACKSLIDE GETS 2 FOR BAILEY and then the orihara moonsault hits! Also a giant leaping kick hits flush. MOONSAULT OFF THE STEPS BY BAILEY! Bailey avoids the face for another corner kick and instead just blasts his hand instead. JOY! Buckle brainbuster ends it. What a fun night this has been. AND HERE'S OKADA! 

Trios time and we'll see the downfall of Protoshita and Protokada leading to Fletcher turning face when he realizes he's the common thread there. DCF vs. MISTICOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and his theme and also two other people. Jericho is in throwback shorts! Jericho and Knight go at it and Jericho gets an AA! Hechi boogies on the Darby surfboard!

Okay well I hit the can and missed the end of that match, but Kris is here to face Persephone who dominates on the floor while Rosa watches with her title. Seatbelt by Kris gets 2. Persephone belt shots Rosa and the ref goes down! SHIDA BELT SHOTS KRIS WITH ROSA'S BELT! Springboard frog splash for Perseophone! Wins it! Demand vs. Brodido and Hanger is up for trios gold and the faces get a giant intro SO I SURE LIKE THE DEMAND'S ODDS! Brody pins down GOA under the bottom rope for a double baseball slide! 

THE FACES DO THE MACARENA AND IT COSTS THEM! THE DEMAND BEAT UP KEMALITO AND THE FANS CHANT BAD THINGS. Bandido dropkick to the stomach off a Ricochet springboard lariat. Sitout pop-up powerbomb gets 2 for Hanger! TOA HITS A STACKED SAMOAN DROP ON ALL THREE MEN! Lariat by Brody and a tope! 21 PLEX BUT NO! HANGER HELPS NO! BUCKSHOT 21 PLEX WINS IT! 

Davis vs. Ospreay is a fun brawl and then they I think hit a fan. They FIGHT UP THE STEPS AND RAMP! TOWEL HANGMAN TO OSPREAY! Davis yells to GET MY FUCKIN' CHAIR BACK! LOL Head to a corner chair for Ospreay and he's split. BACK AND FORTH FORKINGS before a fastball chair throw by Ospreay! BARB WIRE TO THE BACK, BALL CLAW FROM OSPREAY, AND WILL HITS THE APRON DRIVER THAT TOOK HIM OUT! HE GETS IN AT 9.5 AND EATS A HIDDEN BLADE FOR 2.9! CRUCIFIX GETS 2.9! DAVIS DRIVER GETS 2.5! 2.9 OFF A STYLES CLASH! H-BOMBS FROM OSPREAY! BARB WIRE HIDDEN BLADE WINS IT!

WWE Raw 8-3-26 - MYSTERY VORTEX

 

Raw has nothing announced so it's a mystery show, which is pretty neat in a way. We get SHIELD LORE to start off. Roman gets his belt and walks out and after NINE MINUTES, Roman hits the ring and yells IOWA ACKNOWLEDGE ME! Anyway, LA Knight is out and wants Roman TONIGHT or whenever. Cell recap. Folks walk in and it's time for JeVon against Ethan Page and they have a match in PIP before Jevon gets the OG Cutter to win. AND BIG CASS KICKS HIS ASS. Lordy this company.

Roman tells Jacob to not trust Royce and he'll take out LA. We get Trumpian propaganda with the Presidential fitness stuff and Royce tells Fatu he's family and they argue and they face off in a street fight. Okay then. Judgment Day is out and Liv is annoying. Roxy faces Sol and Sol gets a surfboard. Boo/yay strikes and Ruca avoids the code red and an X Factor hits for Ruca. Liv gets involved for a DQ. Tremendous. AND THEN SOL EATS EVERYONE'S FINISH. Okay well that's stupid. Becky is back as a face it would seem and she wants Liv's belt and Stephanie Vaquer is back to go for it too I guess. 

The "I STAND ALONE" video airs for Brock and Oba talks to Heyman about thanking Brock. Oba said Brock came back to make sure he was the right man and The Vision interrupts him as he leaves. Okay so why not have Brock and Oba win the tag belts. Breakker kills Hendry, who gets no intro. Welp I'd avoid picking up my phone during cuts week. TOZAWA makes the same for Hendry. Yikes. Cass says he's back after 8 years at rock bottom and it's nothing personal with Je'Von, but he's here to stack bodies. 

Gable says it's been 10 years...wow that's a year less than Bret's whole WWF run. Penta gives him his flowers and Dom is out and I guess Penta beats him for the Mega title at a TripleMania. But first HOLLA HOLLA TAG MATCH. Really not much to this beyond Gable being the face in peril. Penta driver got 2 thanks to JD and Gable wins with the Chaos Theory. Bron threatens Heyman over Oba. We get Keys-Fatu lore about them being buddies and making no money and sleeping on each others' couches getting into wrestling and we start with HOLDS. Keys trucks him. Keys tackles him through the barricade during the DIGIORNO BREAK. Kendo sticks and chairs. Fatu gets the implant DDT for 2 AND THAT'S A GANGREL HOMAGE - now it makes sense. Avalanche powerslam through chairs for 2.9! Tongan death grip wins it via passout.

Jacob beats him up more with the assalanche and another and then he just dances around. BUT ROMAN IS HERE. 

WWE SummerSlam 2026 Night Two - 8-2-26

 

Darius Rucker sings and Balor and Zayn start the show off. Balor is just ungodly shredded and Sami is still hugely over. Aldis is out and says yeah I'm GM again and FOR FAIRNESS, he's adding Gunther to the mix - which is some solid Mid-South logic here. AND ALSO KO IS HERE TO FOREVER FUCK WITH SAMI! It's a pretty short match overall given that it's a 4 way. Balor got a double stomp, Gunther got an RNC, but KO beats Sami with a stunner. 

Trick vs. Corbin is up but first ads! Trick gets a Luger GAB '89-style entrance that is much worse and yet also more expensive. Trick avoids end of days and gets a boot after Yachty breaks a Trick stick. Corbin sends Yachty through the table and END OF DAYS WINS IT!? Okay well yeah that's weird. Women's interim ladder match is up and Jade has cool Prince gear. 

Tiffy and Chelsea do goofy stuff before CG misses a dropkick badly. Charlotte falls into Lash and Jade before getting thrown into a corner ladder and Chelsea sends Tiffy out to the floor onto the pile in a swanton. The baddies cost Chelsea before Charlotte comes in to try and win it. Everyone takes each other out and Chelsea chin ups to win! Danhausen vs. Dom is up and Danhausen is in Bret gear. We get some punches and then a Danhausen death drop and then the taker situp 2 minutes in. TORITOHAUSEN TAKES OUT JD! Hendry saves and then a curse and Danhausen wins. Okay well this was stupid and there's like 2 matches left and we're AN HOUR AND A HALF IN! 

Killer Bees, Martel, Molly Holly, and Greg Gagne are shown to honor MN wrestling history. DECADE SIX OF THE KILLER BEES being like...around. Gable's out in Vikings colors and Penta is the coolest. Suplex City gets 2 for Gable. Gable runs him down with a clothesline and Gable...I think was supposed to miss a moonsault but it hits and Penta sells it before going for a cover for 2. Flip dive by Penta before a corner belly to belly by Gable. Penta catches him off the diving headbutt into a Sacrifice. APRON GERMAN BY GABLE! Diving headbutt gets 2. APRON DESTROYER! Ankle lock with a kneebar wins it. Good video game match - not a great match itself.

Seth is in the dumbest gear in history. Lockup. Boring stuff. Chanting. Drive-by at half-speed. ONE-MAN SHIELD BOMB THROUGH AN ANNOUNCE TABLE. Stomp misses, but a superman punch doesn't. AA setup to the corner and Seth gets a superplex, but gets locked in a front choke during the Falcon Arrow attempt. Seth gets a buckle bomb but the Stomp misses. Roman gets a buckle bomb and the Stomp gets 2.9 for him! WACKY LINE FROM SETH! REIGNS GETS THE DIRTY DEEDS! FOREARM SHIVERS after they avoid chairshots. Seth superkick, Roman slow-mo Superman punch and the spear>pedigree hits. Stomp hits and A SUPER STOMP but no spear! THREE SPEARS win it. Okay then.

Well, neither night of Summerslam really felt like an epic show - night 1 felt bigger with Brock and Oba, and this might technically be the better card in the end since nothing was as bad as the women's tag. Cole has THE BOOK THE CHAPTER THE ENDING THE FINALITY THE whatever shut up and end this show Jesus! Okay, for free, I got two nights of good-ish action but...yeah wow if I'd spent $30 on this...nah.