AEW COLLISION HITS & MISSES (8/15/26): Continental Challenge Cup delivers, Jack Perry makes his case to Swerve Strickland, Mercedes Moné’s heel work, more

 

To help add context, my “Hits” are ordered from best to worst. With that said, let’s move into the high points of this week’s episode, starting with the most significant moments.

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HITS

CONTINENTAL CHALLENGE CUP SHOWCASES VARIETY

All three Continental Challenge Cup matches worked for different reasons.

Brian Cage vs. Hechicero was a true clash of styles. Cage might be in the best physical shape of his AEW run, and his feats of strength were impressive. Hechicero continued attacking Cage’s ankle before catching him with a unique cradle for the win. This was an extremely entertaining match.

Nigel McGuinness and Katsuyori Shibata delivered the mat wrestling you would expect from them. Shibata faking out Nigel with the PK was great, as was his transition from a wristlock into another PK. Nigel reversing the sleeper into a pin was a clever finish.

Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong then delivered a very good babyface-vs.-babyface main event. The backstage segment earlier in the show helped establish the story, with O’Reilly calling Strong one of his closest friends and Strong responding by saying, “May the best man win.” They remained competitive without forcing unnecessary tension between them.

Unfortunately, Tony Schiavone announced that Nigel was injured during his match. Hopefully, the injury is not serious and does not prevent him from continuing in the tournament.

JACK PERRY AND SWERVE STRICKLAND

Jack Perry’s backstage promo following Dynamite was one of his better promos in recent memory.

Still covered in his own blood, Perry explained that he wanted to wrestle people like “Hangman” Page, Samoa Joe, and Kenny Omega because iron sharpens iron. Swerve laughed and pointed out that he had already defeated everyone Perry named.

Swerve admitted that Moxley was someone he hadn’t figured out either, but told Perry he wasn’t ready to walk among killers. Perry looked down at his bloody hand and said, “I think I am.”

Perry brought real fire. I also liked that Swerve admitted he hasn’t figured out Moxley himself. Swerve didn’t fully endorse Perry, but he also couldn’t dismiss his confidence.

MERCEDES MONÉ’S HEEL CHARACTER

Mercedes Moné’s heel character is firing on all cylinders right now.

Mercedes treated Zayda Steel like she was beneath her from the moment she interrupted the interview. Steel said she had lost respect for Moné, so Mercedes grabbed her and promised to teach her respect later that night. She came across like a bully.

That attitude carried into the match. Willow Nightingale receiving a strong reaction also added another piece to the story. Mercedes looks completely comfortable as a heel right now.

DIVINE DOMINION’S SQUASH MATCH

This was exactly what a squash match should be.

Megan Bayne and Lena Kross were given an opportunity to show off their power and presentation as the Women’s Tag Team Champions. They dominated, won decisively, and looked like a legitimate force as a team.

Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor attacking the champions afterward also kept their feud moving. It was short, made the champions look dominant, and set up their match at All In.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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MISSES

THE FORMAT OF THE SHOW

Collision featured three squash matches, including two multi-man tag team squashes booked back-to-back. That felt extremely unnecessary.

The Divine Dominion match was the one squash that worked for me. It properly showcased the power and presentation of Megan Bayne and Lena Kross, while the Brawling Birds’ post-match attack moved their feud forward.

The other two felt repetitive, especially when they aired one after another. The wrestling wasn’t necessarily the problem. The way the show distributed its time was.

THE TRIOS TITLE MATCH GOES TOO LONG

The opening Trios Title match had good action, and Hangman, Bandido, and Brody King hit some fun tandem offense. Still, the champions should not have needed 13 minutes to defeat Lethal Twist.

The real story was The Demand attacking the champions afterward. AEW could have cut the match in half and still done The Demand’s attack afterward.

The match was functional, but it lasted much longer than the story required.

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FINAL SCORE

• HITS: 4
• MISSES: 2

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was an uneven episode of Collision. The Continental Challenge Cup matches delivered, and the show had some strong character moments involving Jack Perry, Swerve Strickland, and Mercedes Moné.

Despite its flaws, this was also one of the rare weeks when I thought Collision was better than Dynamite. It wasn’t great from beginning to end, but I came away caring more about what happened here than I did after Dynamite.

WRESTLING HISTORY