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Write Forever: Christopher Daniels made the slow march toward death on AEW Collision for January 18

Write Forever: Christopher Daniels made the slow march toward death on AEW Collision for January 18

It's been building, quietly and often with some space between the story advancing, but tonight Christopher Daniels faces Hangman Adam Page in a Texas Death Match. It's been reported that this is essentially Daniels' retirement match and there probably couldn't be a better way to be sent off than by being murdered by Hangman Page.

Will Kazuchika Okada show up with his Continental Classic finals boots against Ishii? Or are we back to casual Okada now that tournament season is over? I'm not expecting a match of the year but I hope to be surprised.

And then, of course, there's the 12-man clusterfuck in the main event. That's a dozen mother fuckers, and I really don't think I care all that much. This program with Mox vs Cope is going to drag for me and just as I'd be surprised to see Okada/Ishii be a MOTYC candidate, I'd be twice as surprised to be compelled by Mox/Cope at any point.

Kalamazoo born, Southern California bred, Christopher Daniels is Texas Dead

In one of the best send-offs in wrestling, Christopher Daniels was obliterated by Hangman Adam Page. Daniels had some flashes of offense in there but, for the most part, was a target for Hangman's misplaced aggression.

Daniels has influenced me and my love of professional wrestling since the early 2000s. He's constantly been in the orbit of any wrestling I've watched in my adult life whether that was Ring of Honor, TNA/Impact, AEW, or countless indies in between.

Tonight, he went out the right way and at the right time. While Daniels obviously has slowed down a bit in the ring, he never let himself fall so far as to become hard to watch like we've seen with both of The Hardys. So, leaving on as much of a high as he possibly could is the smart move.

He exits the business as a full-time wrestler with his head held high (albeit covered in blood) knowing that he didn't overstay his welcome and tarnish any part of his long legacy.

For Hangman, though, what's next? He's working through his own personal issues and Daniels felt the brunt of that at Collision. There isn't room enough in the World Title scene with Cope (ugh) taking up space. Swerve is preoccupied with Ricochet.

Does this leave a door open for an Orange Cassidy or Jay White to reignite something with Hangman? Or, does ole Hanger move in a completely new direction now that he's torn out and torched a page from his own personal history book?

Some of the absolute wrong people are being highlighted and lowlighted in AEW

Would we please do something interesting and good with Shane Taylor Promotions? Shane Taylor rules. Lee Moriarty rules. Trish Adora rules. The Infantry have improved a ton. I understand that 99% of their presence is on ROH, but why? They've established the big group and Moriarty just had a landmark Pure Title defense against Nigel McGuinness.

It's absurd that we're not seeing Taylor or Moriarty challenge for the TNT Title, The Infantry in the Tag Title mix, and Trish doing literally anything on television every week. Gas her up for a challenge to Mercedes' TBS Title, something! This group is effortlessly fun and Shane and Lee especially wrestle like world destroyers. Their time for a solid place on AEW TV is long, long overdue – especially when they're only being used as fodder for the Undisputed Kingdom. Blech.

Editor's Note: I wrote the previous paragraph before the post-match shenanigans. Shane got into it with Daddy Magic and Daniel Garcia, but then the lasting image of the segment was Daddy and Danny facing off with the Undisputed Kingdom. So, who knows if this means Shane will get involved in the title picture or not but if he does – I willed it into existence!

I love Lance Archer and Brian Cage but it absolutely sucks that Top Flight was fed to them with the jobber entrance and everything. Top Flight deserves so much better and if you wanted to have a big dumb squash match you could have just used local talent. It stinks!

The only thing this accomplished for Top Flight was to have them get beaten twice: once by Murder Machines and once by Lio Rush & Action Andretti post-match. You could have done something better to further their story than this instead of making them look like complete geeks.

Wrapping Up

Toni Storm delivered a promo in-ring with Tony Schiavone talking up her excitement for her match with Mariah May for the World Title at Grand Slam Australia. She proposed the idea of a first-time-ever meeting between her and May next week at Daily's Place, and before she could be pressed for any further questions by Schiavone she found a way to wrap up the segment.

Will the facade of Rookie Toni Storm begin to crack next week? Or is the Daily's Place meeting the first step in cracking the psyche of the World Champion?

We finally got somewhere with The Acclaimed splitting up! If they had just kept this story going week to week I think we could have gotten here like 6 weeks ago. But, here we are – The Acclaimed are officially split up, Max Caster made some extremely valid points, and Anthony Bowens has chosen to align himself with Billy Gunn. I look forward to seeing the next step in this story sometime mid-March.

The main event was fine for what it was. It was a little bit of a party match but, of course, devolved into common Death Riders bullshit with Marina and PAC getting involved. Powerhouse Hobbs, after being attacked backstage by The Learning Tree, made his triumphant return once everyone was scattered to pick up the pin on Bryan Keith.

Is this Hobbs' official entrance into the Jericho Vortex where he'll flounder for the next two months while his heat evaporates? Let's find out!


Best AEW Matches of 2025

Don't see a match on the list? It's not because I didn't see the match, but because I didn't do a write-up for that show for whatever reason (timing, schedules, etc.). This list is as comprehensive as it can be.

I've also decided to omit squashes from the list since they're just going to crowd space at the bottom.

  1. Toni Storm vs Mariah May: Women's World Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  2. Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  3. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Orange Cassidy (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  4. Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  5. Daniel Garcia vs Mark Briscoe: TNT Title (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  6. Konosuke Takeshita vs Orange Cassidy: International Title (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  7. Mercedes Moné vs Momo Watanabe: TBS Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  8. Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  9. Toni Storm vs Megan Bayne: World Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  10. Mark Briscoe vs Kyle Fletcher (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  11. Will Ospreay vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  12. Kenny Omega vs Ricochet vs Mike Bailey: International Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  13. MJF vs "Hangman" Adam Page (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  14. Mercedes Moné vs Athena (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  15. Death Riders vs Rated FTR: Trios Titles (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  16. Will Ospreay vs Kevin Knight (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  17. Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight vs The Young Bucks (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  18. Konosuke Takeshita vs Kenny Omega: International Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  19. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Josh Alexander (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  20. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta vs Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata, & Powerhouse Hobbs: Trios Titles (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  21. Will Ospreay & Brody King vs Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  22. FTR vs Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  23. Rated FTR vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  24. Roderick Strong vs Jay White vs Swerve Strickland (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  25. Toni Storm vs Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  26. "Hangman" Adam Page vs Christopher Daniels: Texas Death Match (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  27. Toni Storm vs Queen Aminata (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  28. Jon Moxley vs Swerve Strickland: World Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  29. Kazuchika Okada vs Brody King: Continental Championship (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  30. Mark Briscoe vs Ricochet (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  31. Orange Cassidy, Powerhouse Hobbs, Mark Briscoe, & Will Ospreay vs Bryan Keith, Mark Davis, Lance Archer, & Brian Cage (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  32. Private Party vs The Hurt Syndicate: Tag Team Titles (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  33. PAC vs Komander (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  34. Will Ospreay vs Buddy Matthews (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  35. Komander vs Nick Wayne: ROH TV Title (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  36. Toni Storm vs Deonna Purrazzo (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  37. Women's Casino Gauntlet (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  38. Hounds of Hell vs Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  39. Bryan Keith vs Will Ospreay (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  40. CRU & Nick Wayne vs Top Flight & AR Fox (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  41. Jon Moxley vs Powerhouse Hobbs: World Title (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  42. Swerve Strickland vs AR Fox (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  43. Daniel Garcia vs Adam Cole: TNT Title (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  44. Jamie Hayter vs Kris Statlander (Dynamite: April 23, 2025)
  45. Will Ospreay, Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey, & Mark Briscoe vs CRU, The Beast Mortos, & Ricochet (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  46. FTR vs Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta: Mid-South Street Fight (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  47. Jamie Hayter vs Julia Hart (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  48. Cope vs PAC (Dynamite: January 22, 2025)
  49. Jamie Hayter vs Julia Hart (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  50. Will Ospreay vs Mark Davis (Dynamite: February 5, 2025)
  51. Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander vs Rocky Romero & Tomohiro Ishii (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  52. The Hurt Syndicate vs The Gates of Agony: Tag Team Titles (Dynamite: April 16, 2025)
  53. The Beast Mortos vs Mike Bailey (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  54. Toni Storm & Thunder Rosa vs Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  55. Kazuchika Okada & Ricochet vs Brody King & Swerve Strickland (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  56. Brody King vs Kyle Fletcher (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  57. Lance Archer vs Kevin Knight (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  58. Rated FTR vs The Learning Tree (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  59. Private Party vs Lio Rush & Action Andretti: Tag Team Titles (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  60. Mercedes Moné & Harley Cameron vs Julia Hart & Kris Statlander (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  61. Daniel Garcia & FTR vs Undisputed Kingdom (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  62. Daniel Garcia vs Katsuyori Shibata: TNT Title (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  63. Daniel Garcia vs Kyle O'Reilly vs Lee Moriarty: TNT Title (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  64. Bandido & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Big Bill & Bryan Keith (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  65. Men's Casino Gauntlet Match (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  66. Cope vs Big Bill (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  67. Mariah May vs Harley Cameron (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  68. Will Ospreay & Kevin Knight vs Blake Christian & Lee Johnson (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  69. Samoa Joe & Hook vs Kip Sabian & Nick Wayne (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  70. Swerve Strickland vs Clark Connors (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  71. Kenny Omega vs Brian Cage (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  72. Hook vs Christian Cage (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  73. Julia Hart vs Queen Aminata (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  74. Daniel Garcia vs Lee Moriarty: TNT Title (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  75. Swerve Strickland & Willow Nightingale vs Jon Moxley & Marina Shafir (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  76. Brody King vs Lance Archer (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  77. Will Hobbs vs Mark Davis (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  78. The Outrunners vs Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  79. Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, & Roderick Strong vs Lee Moriarty & The Infantry (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  80. Julia Hart vs Harley Cameron (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  81. Rated FTR, The Outrunners, & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Death Riders & The Learning Tree (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  82. Cope vs Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  83. Mark Davis vs Mark Briscoe (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  84. Chris Jericho vs Bandido: Mask vs ROH World Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  85. Hologram vs Dralistico (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  86. Mark Briscoe vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  87. Cash Wheeler vs PAC (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  88. Kris Statlander vs Thunder Rosa (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  89. Kenny Omega vs Blake Christian (Dynamite: March 26, 2025)
  90. The Hurt Syndicate vs The Outrunners: Tag Team Titles (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  91. Max Caster vs RUSH (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  92. Bobby Lashley vs Mark Briscoe (Dynamite: January 8, 2025)
  93. Private Party & Mark Briscoe vs Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley, & MVP (Dynamite: January 15, 2025)
  94. Serena Deeb vs Momo Watanabe (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  95. Orange Cassidy vs Hechicero (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  96. Mercedes Moné vs Julia Hart (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  97. Powerhouse Hobbs & Tomohiro Ishii vs Kyle Fletcher & Konosuke Takeshita (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  98. Adam Cole vs Claudio Castagnoli: TNT Title (Collision: April 17, 2025)
  99. Thunder Rosa & Kris Statlander vs Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 5, 2025)
  100. Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii: Continental Championship (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  101. FTR vs Undisputed Kingdom (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  102. The Outrunners vs Premier Athletes (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  103. Adam Copeland vs Claudio Castagnoli (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  104. Ricochet vs Katsuyori Shibata (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  105. Top Flight vs CRU (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  106. Toni Storm vs Penelope Ford (Dynamite: April 2, 2025)
  107. Mike Bailey vs Dralistico (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  108. Samoa Joe & Hook vs Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  109. Jon Moxley vs Adam Copeland: World Title (Revolution: March 9, 2025)
  110. Mercedes Moné & Harley Cameron vs Athena & Julia Hart (Collision: April 5, 2025)
  111. Jon Moxley vs Katsuyori Shibata (Dynamite: April 9, 2025)
  112. The Hurt Syndicate vs The Learning Tree: Tag Team Titles (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  113. Chris Jericho vs Dax Harwood (Collision: January 11, 2025)
  114. Thunder Rosa vs Megan Bayne (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  115. Wheeler Yuta vs Willie Mack (Collision: March 1, 2025)
  116. Top Flight & Hologram vs The Infantry & Lee Moriarty (Collision: March 15, 2025)
  117. Willow Nightingale vs Penelope Ford (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  118. The Acclaimed vs The Hurt Syndicate (Dynamite: January 1, 2025)
  119. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs The Infantry (Collision: March 8, 2025)
  120. Komander vs Dante Martin vs Brian Cage vs The Beast Mortos (Collision: January 4, 2025)
  121. Daniel Garcia vs Adam Cole: TNT Title (Dynasty: April 6, 2025)
  122. Murder Machines vs The Outrunners (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  123. The Outrunners vs Chris Jericho & Bryan Keith (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  124. Hologram & Powerhouse Hobbs vs Brian Cage & Dralistico (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  125. Taya Valkyrie vs Harley Cameron (Collision: February 1, 2025)
  126. Deonna Purrazzo vs Harley Cameron (Dynamite: February 26, 2025)
  127. Max Caster vs Konosuke Takeshita (Dynamite: March 12, 2025)
  128. Murder Machines vs Top Flight (Collision: January 18, 2025)
  129. Jeff Jarrett vs Aaron Solo (Collision: January 4, 2025)

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