AEW Collision Results, Winners, Live Grades and Highlights Before Forbidden Door 2025

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Collision on August 23.

This was the final episode before Forbidden Door, so AEW was in full hype mode but still managed to provide enough action to make Saturday's show fun.

Here is a look at what AEW advertised for this week's episode:

• Max Caster open challenge
• Big Bill in action
• Gates of Agony vs. Grizzled Young Veterans
• Don Callis Family vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Sky Flight
• Skye Blue and Julia Hart vs. Queen Aminata and Willow Nightingale
• Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii
• The Young Bucks vs. Paragon
• Isla Dawn vs. Megan Bayne

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

Don Callis Family vs. Takahashi and Sky Flight

The show opened with a hot crowd that immediately began booing as soon as Don Callis came out on the stage. He gave Hechicero a big introduction before everyone came out for the opening eight-man tag.

Hechicero teamed up with Josh Alexander, Lance Archer and Rocky Romero to take on Takahashi, Scorpio Sky, Dante and Darius Martin.

Takahashi and Alexander started off with an exchange of strikes. Even with some interference from Romero, Takahashi managed to maintain control.

As expected, this was a series of different faceoffs. We got to see many combinations of different opponents work together, so nobody ever got to spend too much time in the ring before needing to tag out. 

This match had some fun action, but there wasn't much to cling to here. There didn't feel like a story being told in the ring and there wasn't much of a feud to care about, so this felt pretty random.

The final couple of minutes had a lot of action and allowed everyone to shine for a bit. Sky Flight took out everyone else while Takahashi hit his finisher on Romero for the win.

Result: Takahashi and Sky Flight defeated The Don Callis Family

Grade: B-

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Notable Moments and Observations

• If you watched the show on Max, you were probably startled by how suddenly the show's intro began.
• Takahashi had on quite the jacket for his entrance.
• Dante was thrown by Archer and he almost landed right on his head, but he managed to roll at the last second.

Isla Dawn vs. Megan Bayne

Isla Dawn made her AEW debut this week, but she wasn't given an easy squash like most newcomers. She was thrown into the deep end against Bayne.

The Glasgow native got a warm welcome from her fellow countrymen, but she immediately found herself in the mat thanks to the Megasus.

Dawn didn't go down without a fight and managed to get in a few shots, but for all intents and purposes, this was a squash designed to make Bayne look like a monster. It may not be exciting, but it was effective.

Bayne scored the win after a short comeback from Dawn. This was fine for what it was, but it would have been cool to see the hometown wrestler get in a little more offense.

Result: Bayne defeated Dawn

Grade: C

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Notable Moments and Observations

• We got a very interesting return video for Hook.
• It was great to see Dawn get such a warm welcome. Hopefully AEW hires her. She is a valuable talent.

Queen Aminata and Willow Nightingale vs. Skye Blue and Julia Hart

Willow made her entrance for her tag match with Aminata while Bayne was still leaving the arena. Hart and Blue came out without Thekla by their side, so there was no unfair advantage.

Blue was able to take control for a moment thanks to a distraction from Hart, but Willow immediately overpowered her and turned the tables.

Blue and Hart took control with some double-team tactics once Aminata was in the ring. We went to a break with the Queen struggling to regain her footing.

We returned right as Willow hit a pounce on Blue to send her out of the ring. It took both women to DDT Nightingale to stall her momentum.

This was a solid tag team match that is going to lead to more fans calling for AEW to introduce women's tag titles at some point. Hart and Blue work so well together, and Aminata and Nightingale have grown into a decent team, too.

Aminata got the win for her team by pinning Blue, but Thekla came out and attacked her as soon as the match was over. Nightingale made the save, but Bayne and Penelope Ford came out to make it an uneven fight again.

This brought out Harley Cameron to a big pop. She was followed by Kris Statlander and they helped give the babyfaces the advantage they needed to come out on top.

Result: Nightingale and Aminata defeated Blue and Hart

Grade: B-

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Notable Moments and Observations

• Nightingale is over everywhere AEW goes. Her popularity is going to make an eventual heel turn heartbreaking.
• The spinning move Aminata used looked surprisingly effective.
• Willow's pounce always looks good.

Max Caster vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

The last time Caster held an open challenge, he earned the respect of Katsuyori Shibata. This week, he had to contend with Zack Sabre Jr. answering his challenge.

ZSJ got a huge pop when he came out to answer the call. Nigel McGuinness watched his Forbidden Door opponent from the commentary table.

Even Nigel had to put over Sabre's technical ability as they watched him outwrestle Caster with ease. ZSJ won in about half the time on the clock and immediately went out to confront McGuinness.

Even though this was a very short match, you can't help but be impressed with Sabre every time he performs.

Anthony Bowens ran down and attacked Caster after Sabre had left. Billy Gunn came out to stop the attack and tried to talk some sense into Bowens but his words fell on deaf ears.

Result: ZSJ defeated Caster

Grade: B-

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Notable Moments and Observations

• Daniel Garcia had a brief interview backstage before the match.
• The way Sabre does little things during his transitions can add so much to his matches.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii

The NJPW NEVER openweight champion was in action this week when Ishii took on a man returning from his winning performance in the G1 Climax, Takeshita.

Like many of Ishii's matches, this started with an exchange of strikes. Both men unloaded with forearms and appeared to be evenly matched.

They took the fight out of the ring where The Stone Pitbull took control. We returned to see Takeshita beginning to build momentum.

These are two men who like to hit hard and leave bruises, and they did exactly that in this bout. Takeshita is one of AEW's secret weapons. He seems to be capable of having a good match with anyone, and with an opponent as skilled as Ishii, it wasn't hard for him to do that here.

Ishii put up a great fight, but Takeshita scored a clean win in the end.

Result: Takeshita defeated Ishii

Grade: B+

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Notable Moments and Observations

• It would have been cool if Takeshita had the G1 trophy with him.
• Ishii looks like he is slow sometimes, but then he picks up speed and surprises everyone. He is good at using it when it has the most impact.
• One of the good things about Callis is he always puts over the opponents of his clients on commentary even if he is just doing it so it makes his guys look better when they win.

Big Bill vs. Mark Andrews

Big Bill took on former WWE star Mark Andrews this week, but this was not the debut of a promising new talent in AEW. This was a quick match to give Bill a dominant victory. This was the definition of a squash. Even Caster vs. ZSJ had more meat on the bone than this one.

Result: Big Bill defeated Mandrews

Grade: Incomplete

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Notable Moments and Observations

• It was cool to hear Nigel talk about Mandrews and Flash Morgan Webster's tag team.
• After the match was over, Bill chokeslammed Mandrews through two steel chairs.

GOA vs. GYV

Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun took on James Drake and Zack Gibson in a tag match. While both teams have a lot of credibility, the outcome to this match was obvious before it even got started.

GYV are not being pushed on AEW TV right now and Gates of Agony have been gaining traction ever since aligning with Ricochet. Drake and Gibson made for a solid challenge because they are great wrestlers, but nobody expected them to win.

Despite the predictability of it all, this was a fun match that showcased both teams in a good way. GYV is one of those teams that AEW can push at any time and fans will be fine with it because they bring so much credibility to the ring.

Gibson was sent out of the ring by Liona before Drake was planted by both men to give GOA the win.

Result: Gates of Agony defeated GYV

Grade: B-

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Notable Moments and Observations

• Ricochet has gotten so good at being an annoying heel. It's become effortless for him.
• Liona has had a bigger body transformation over the past year than anyone in AEW. He has put in the work.

Young Bucks vs. Paragon

Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong were in the main event Saturday night when they took on Nick and Matt Jackson, who have been playing up their non-EVP status with false intros and no entrances.

KOR and Matt started for their teams with a nice little exchange of counters and takedowns. The Bucks began using some of their signature double-team offense to take control before we went to a break.

As the match progressed, it got more competitive and allowed all four men to do some great work. This felt like the kind of tag team wrestling that AEW used to build its foundation early on.

As KOR had Matt in an ankle lock, Kazuchika Okada showed up and hit the Rainmaker while Don Callis distracted the official. This allowed the Bucks to hit their finisher for the win.

Swerve Strickland came out to stop a post-match attack, but he was taken out by Okada.

Result: Rod and Todd Buck defeated Paragon

Grade: B

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Notable Moments and Observations

• Introducing the Bucks as Rod and Todd was hilarious.
• Roddy really is the Messiah of the backbreaker. He can hit one from just about any angle and position.
• Sometimes the ref distractions are so egregious that it takes you out of the moment a bit.

The Final Word

Considering this was the final show before a big PPV, it was kind of surprising how little it felt like AEW was hyping Sunday's show. 

We still got some Forbidden Door segments, but it felt like a lot of what we saw was just meant for Collision and had nothing to do with anything going on at the PPV. This actually helped the show stand on its own more than usual. 

Most of the matches we saw Saturday night were decent, but The Bucks vs. Paragon and Takeshita vs. Ishii definitely stole the show. 

The women's division got some good attention this week, and the debut of Dawn could lead to more appearances for her down the line. 

Forbidden Door is going to be a good show because AEW has always delivered when it comes to PPVs, but this was a go-home show worth watching, too. 

Grade: B