AEW Collision Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From Dec. 9
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of AEW Collision on December 9.
This week's show was pre-taped in Montreal, Quebec, Canada alongside this week's Rampage, so the fans north of the border got to see a couple of their favorite Canadian stars.
More Continental Classic action took place this week when Bryan Danielson faced Andrade El Idolo and Claudio Castagnoli took on Eddie Kingston.
We also saw Willow Nightingale battle Mercedes Martinez, but the big attraction for Canadian fans was seeing Kenny Omega take on Ethan Page.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on Saturday's episode of Collision.
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston
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After the usual array of promos from the competitors who will be featured on the show, Castagnoli and Kingston made their way to the ring for their Continental Classic match.
These two men have been rivals since the moment Castagnoli showed up in AEW. Kingston defeated him for the ROH world title, and he was looking for a repeat performance to earn three more points in the tournament.
The Swiss Superman hit a running boot to the face as soon as the bell rang. The Mad King was immediately on defense and had a hard time finding his footing as Castagnoli showed no signs of relenting.
Kingston did a great job playing the underdog who refused to give up. The longer the match went, the more physical it became. They held nothing back and added another entertaining chapter to their ongoing story.
This was as good as any of their previous encounters. Much to the dismay of the BCC powerhouse, the ROH world and NJPW Strong openweight champion was able to score the win.
Result: Eddie Kingston defeated Claudio Castagnoli
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Castagnoli's pre-match promo was funnier than it was supposed to be.
- Nigel McGuinness ranting about Bryan Danielson when he isn't even in the ring is hilarious.
- Castagnoli beating Kingston down with forearm shots in the corner was a great sequence.
- The way Castagnoli backed away from Kingston when he started to look angry was an awesome moment.
- A few of Kingston's punches connected pretty hard but Castagnoli never showed signs of being hurt.
Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Martinez
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Willow and Martinez have been on a collision course for quite some time (pun somewhat intended) and they finally got a chance to settle their differences this week. Diamante accompanied Martinez to the ring.
The former ROH women's champion and former NJPW Strong women's champion locked up and fought for control until the ref made them break in the corner. Diamante provided a distraction that allowed Martinez to take control.
This was not a pretty fight, but we're saying that in a good way. Both women are powerful and know how to brawl, so this fight was more about physicality than technical ability.
Nightingale looked like she was about to lose when she managed to roll Martinez up into an inside cradle to get the pin. When the loser and Diamante attacked her after the match was over, Kris Statlander ran down to make the save.
Result: Willow Nightingale
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Wheeler Yuta and Hook had a confrontation backstage that led to them agreeing to have a match under FTW rules. They did not say when it would happen.
- Willow's running senton looked good.
- Willow is really good at selling for her opponents. It's something you don't see mentioned about her very often because her power is usually the topic of conversation, but she has good body language and facial expressions when she is trying to convey pain.
- The dropkick Willow hit from the corner almost didn't connect. It was smart to change to a different camera angle to hide it.
- Diamante found the shortest ladder in the building to use as a weapon.
Willie Mack vs. Wardlow
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Wardlow has been tearing through the competition lately, but he had a bigger challenge than usual this week in the form of Willie Mack.
The ROH regular tried to take the former TNT champion down with a single-leg takedown, but Wardlow just tossed him aside.
Wardlow picked up another win by referee stoppage after hitting a brutal powerbomb. This was longer and better than all of Wardlow's recent squashes. It was short but still managed to include a couple of memorable moments.
Result: Wardlow defeated Willie Mack
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Saraya yelled at Ruby Soho about not being there for her lately during a backstage segment. She seems more upset that Soho seems happy with Angelo Parker.
- It's a simple song but Mack has good entrance music.
- Wardlow has a surprisingly good dropkick.
- It's hard to decide what was more surprising, Mack trying to hit a hurricanrana or Wardlow countering it by catching him.
Kenny Omega vs. Ethan Page
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The Montreal crowd was treated to a purely Canadian match when Omega and Page went one-on-one. They shook hands before locking up to show that this was a fight about pride, not animosity.
These are two well-traveled veterans, so they were able to mix a little bit of everything into this match. It had grappling, striking, high-flying offense, submissions and a few spots that got the crowd on its feet.
Singles matches with Omega on TV feel rare these days, so it was nice to see him in the ring with someone who was more than capable of keeping up with him and delivering a great performance.
After a competitive exchange, the former AEW champion sealed the win with the One-Winged Angel.
Result: Kenny Omega defeated Ethan Page
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Page could use some new entrance music. His current song isn't iconic enough.
- All Ego has a good punch. He does a nice job hiding the slap he does with his other hand to create the snapping noise.
- Omega hit a nice moonsault off the guardrail and made it look as easy as a wristlock.
- The way Omega and Page tumbled out of the ring during a vertical suplex did not look fun for either man, but they stuck the landing.
Komander and Penta vs. Daddy Magic and Cool Hand Ang
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The next matchup saw Komander team up with Penta El Zero Miedo to take on "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker.
Parker and Menard got a very warm welcome from their fellow Canadians in Montreal. They chanted for Daddy Magic as he squared up with Penta. The luchador tried to get the crowd on his side, but everyone in the arena was firmly in the corner of the former members of the JAS.
This match didn't necessarily feed into a larger storyline, but it didn't need to. This was booked to give the local crowd a chance to see more Canadian talent while also allowing two talented high-flyers to produce some fun spots.
Tony Khan is usually willing to book people to win in their hometown, but that was not the case this time. Despite having the crowd behind them, Parker and Menard ended up losing to Penta and Komander when they hit a combination piledriver and shooting star press.
Result: Komander and Penta El Zero Miedo defeated Angelo Parker and Matt Menard
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Big Bill attacked Omega after his match with Page. We also saw a backstage segment with Miro telling CJ Perry that she should basically stay home and cook for him. It was a weird segment that seemingly turned his character into somebody who cares too much about traditional gender roles.
- Parker and Menard spoke some French during a backstage segment earlier in the show, which made the French-Canadian fans very happy.
- The shooting star press didn't add anything to the piledriver. Combining moves doesn't always lead to a cool new move, even when the two moves are cool on their own.
Andrade El Idolo vs. Bryan Danielson
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Danielson technically wrestled twice on the same show since this week's Rampage and Collision were filmed together on Tuesday, so he had already worked a hard-hitting match against Daniel Garcia before stepping into the ring with El Idolo.
This was one of the most anticipated matches going into the Continental Classic because these are two of the most versatile wrestlers in all of AEW. Both men can work just about any style, so they transitioned from technical wrestling to brawling to fast-paced sequences with ease.
The American Dragon still had his broken orbital bone to worry about. He could be seen checking his eye several times throughout the match and the announcers made sure to draw attention to it whenever he did.
El Idolo removed Danielson's eye patch and threw it into the crowd during the break. The Washington native could be seen bleeding from above his eye when the show returned.
Predictably, this was a highly competitive and hard-hitting match. The amount of damage done to Danielson's injured eye might have been a little overboard, but everything was great. El Idolo picked up a clean win after hitting his trademark hammerlock DDT.
Andrade checked on Danielson after the bell but was pushed away by Castagnoli and Yuta.
Result: Andrade El Idolo defeated Bryan Danielson
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
- El Idolo's mask never fails to impress.
- Danielson almost botched a suicide dive when he caught the rope on the way out. He and Andrade managed to save it.
- The crowd resisted the urge to woo when Andrade applied the Figure Four. Canadian crowds are pretty great.
The Final Word
7 of 7We usually try to offer a pick for the Match of the Week, but Saturday's Collision made that more difficult than usual.
Kingston vs. Castagnoli, Omega vs. Page, and Danielson vs. El Idolo were all fantastic for different reasons, but the other three bouts we got were also good in their own way.
Willow and Martinez had a fun encounter, Wardlow destroyed Mack with an impressive display of power, and the Montreal crowd gave Menard and Parker a hero's welcome.
Pre-taped shows can be anticlimactic due to spoilers being readily available, but good action will always make a show enjoyable whether you know the results or not. This was one of those shows.
Grade: A-
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