I gotta tell ya, the preview for this episode of Collision did not grab me or excite me. Not that anything on the show sounds bad, just that there's nothing that really thrills me.

That said, those types of shows for AEW often end up being some of the most enjoyable so let's hope that this is the case for tonight's episode as well.

We've got Mariah May vs Harley Cameron, Cope vs Big Bill, Chris Jericho vs Dax Harwood, and The Outrunners vs Death Riders which should all be fine. Then we've got Daniel Garcia vs Katsuyori Shibata and PAC vs Komander which should both be exceedingly delightful.

It's been snowy and cold and wet all day here in the northeast so let's hope Collision and some leftover Chinese food can heat things up!

"Too much man" – T. Schiavone

Big Bill continues to shine in AEW and he was someone whose signing I truly did not understand. It felt like such an odd choice and I don't think he started out too hot, but once he was able to show some character he really turned a corner for me.

He's consistently fun to watch, by which I mean just showcasing his personality in matches. He does a lot of extra work and little things that are endearing, so even if he's not having Kenny Omega classics he's carving out his own niche.

The crowd went ballistic when he kicked out of Cope's spear which was sort of a big thing to give Bill – a way to make him look like a bit of a monster, forcing Cope to cheat and then hit a second spear to get the win. I still yearn for the days of the brief Big Bill & Brian Cage tag team, but maybe there's a future down the road where Bill, Cage, and Lance Archer can be a trio of differently sized monsters.

It's time for Death Riders to lose something

I've been very blah on the whole Death Riders thing. It was interesting and exciting at first. It was great seeing the use of the plastic bag to take Bryan Danielson out. I love that gruesome, old school shit.

But it's simply been more of the same week after week for far too long. Mox cuts a promo that's vaguely about something but really isn't. Most of their matches end with some sort of cheating or interference. Every segment they're in has to end with Death Riders standing tall even when it doesn't serve to help the segment.

It's boring.

Tonight, The Outrunners had a match against Claudio & Yuta and it was a match that could have easily gone to The Outrunners especially if you want to pin the loss on Yuta to further the disdain (which also goes nowhere) that Death Riders have for him.

Instead, we got a dirty finish (not cheating, though, so it's fine since it was a tag match) leading to yet another Death Riders win.

They've had barely any comeuppance since this whole thing began. Claudio lost to Komander in the C2 thanks to Darby Allin, but this was after Claudio beat Allin twice in a row when he should have lost at least one of those matches.

I can't imagine this thing keeps running with any type of steam if the plan is to put the title on Darby Allin at All In in July. It is just not interesting to be the toughest, smartest, strongest, most untouchable guys in the room every single week. Characters need to have some kind of weakness and humanity. That's missing with Death Riders and it's sucking the enjoyment out of almost everything they touch.

Wrapping Up

Komander looked good as hell against PAC tonight. Komander has been on a steady rise since first showing up in AEW, his matches getting better and better week over week. Tonight, he got the majority of the offense in against PAC and looked like a real contender until one slip-up opened him up to PAC's Brutalizer.

Let's just put all of our coins in the Komander bucket – find him some tag team partners and put the damn Trios Titles on them. It's time for Death Riders to take a loss that actually means something.

Brody King won a nothing back against Trevor Blackwell, and there are rumors (again) that Malakai Black is on his way out of AEW. I'll believe it when I see it, because this rumor has hit the mill more than a couple of times in the last year.

In a post-match promo, Brody was about to lament on the uncertainty of the House of Black when Cope appeared to give him a pep talk similar to the one Will Ospreay gave to Buddy Murphy Matthews on Dynamite. Cope told Brody that it was his time to take the reigns and run.

My dream scenario is that Tony Khan signs Violence Is Forever (Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini) to place into a new group with Brody King and Julia Hart at the top of the food chain. Let Brody King become the king of violence in AEW in 2025 and put a singles title on that wonderful son of a bitch.

All in all, this did not end up being one of those episodes of Collision that felt underwhelming at first but ended up whelming me by the end. Chris Jericho vs Dax Harwood in the main event felt like a slog with two guys moving through mud and the ending felt so drawn out and possibly a little fucked up.

Just when the show looked like it was ending with another post-match brawl with Jon Moxley and Death Riders standing tall, Powerhouse Hobbs saved the day. He beat down Death Riders and then no-sold a chair shot from Mox, forcing Mox to scramble and run off in fear. Finally, something a little different!

So, a decent night of television wrestling but far from the best. Almost every match found itself in the bottom chunk of the Best AEW Matches of 2025 list with the exception of Garcia/Shibata and PAC/Komander.