{"id":191092,"date":"2025-01-14T20:27:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T02:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=191092"},"modified":"2025-01-14T20:27:02","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T02:27:02","slug":"aew-collision-hits-misses-1-11-jericho-vs-dax-garcia-vs-shibata-hangman-daniels-match-stip-cope-vs-redwood-harley-cameron-vs-mariah-may-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/01\/14\/aew-collision-hits-misses-1-11-jericho-vs-dax-garcia-vs-shibata-hangman-daniels-match-stip-cope-vs-redwood-harley-cameron-vs-mariah-may-more\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW COLLISION HITS &#038; MISSES (1\/11): Jericho vs. Dax, Garcia vs. Shibata, Hangman-Daniels match stip, Cope vs. Redwood, Harley Cameron vs. Mariah May, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2632499645\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3>AEW COLLISION &#8211; HITS &amp; MISSES<br \/>\nJANUARY 11, 2025<br \/>\nATHENS, GA.<br \/>\nAIRED LIVE ON TNT<br \/>\nBY DAVID BRYANT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR<\/h3>\n<p><em>Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuiness<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&#8211; Hey! Welcome back to another edition of my AEW Collision Hits &amp; Misses column \u2014 the best place to find the worst takes!<\/p>\n<p><strong>COLD OPEN \u2014 MEGA-HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m basing this mega-hit on the Harely Cameron and Mariah May segment because I was too busy jumping around my living room in anticipation of their upcoming match to notice that The Learning Forest\u2019s cold open had a good balance of dialogue from all participants and that Dax Harwood\u2019s cold open featured a clever play on words that was bolstered by Cope managing to not sound like a juvenile Twitter troll.<\/p>\n<p><strong>COPE VS. REDWOOD \u2014 MINOR-HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From this point forward, and in the spirit of trying to lift up talent that deserves lifting up, I am going to refer to Big Bill (whose name would only make sense if he were in a tag team with Ruth Chris) as Redwood. Hopefully, it will catch on and save his career.<\/p>\n<p>As for the match itself, this match was good, but it suffered from a couple of snafus.<\/p>\n<p>First, there was a slight smattering of mistimed moments, such as when Redwood didn\u2019t seem to realize that Cope (whose name only makes sense if he has no interest in having friends) was planning to run his head into the announce table multiple times and hesitated.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1175684614\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Second, the pacing of the match was too slow. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I like mid-paced matches (Dax Harwood is excellent at them.), but there were points in this match that looked like both men missed their daily dose of Geritol.<\/p>\n<p>Still, to quote one of the worst thought-out catchphrases in history: \u201cThis match, I think I\u2019ll keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cHANGMAN\u201d ADAM PAGE CUTS A PROMO \u2014 HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This promo gave AEW\u2019s viewers a great explanation and motivation for Page\u2019s many turns (not a book pun).<\/p>\n<p><strong>NEXT WEEK\u2019S MATCH STIPULATION \u2014 MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hangman\u2019s promo also featured Hangman challenging Christopher Daniels to a Texas Death Match in Ohio next week, which makes total sense in the grand scheme of no.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PAC VS. KOMANDER \u2014 HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During this match, Nigel McGuinness noted that some of the wrestlers and fans had issues traveling to the venue, and I\u2019m not surprised. I live in N.C. and we also shut down schools, airports, highways, and the bread section at the grocery store if someone so much as plays the song \u201cWinter Wonderland\u201d two decimals too loud.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1959314566\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>This match was fast-paced, smooth, and the crowd was very into it. The only downside is that it was on the shorter end of things, but to be fair, they had to make time for at least fifty run-ins this week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WHEELER YUTA &amp; CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI VS. THE OUTRUNNERS \u2014 MINOR-HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This match would have been a full-blown \u201cHit\u201d except that The Outrunners get on my every last nerve.<\/p>\n<p>Also, watching Wheeler Yuta\u2019s character act like a groveling \u201cyoung boy\u201d is pathetic; he is damn near thirty. I hope Yuta\u2019s ridiculous subservience is leading somewhere at some point in time. I originally thought it was, and maybe it still is and we\u2019ll find out about it when Tony Khan remembers to tell us in two years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>POWERHOUSE HOBBS CUTS A PROMO \u2014 HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Powerhouse Hobbs is a stellar promo, and I consider this promo a hit. However, had I been filming it, I\u2019d have opted for a second take because Hobbs appeared to awkwardly hesitate after saying the line, \u201cWhat are you going to do to me?\u201d I think he was originally planning to continue that line by saying the words, \u201c\u2026that hasn\u2019t already been done,\u201d but instead, he skipped straight to the end of the promo.<\/p>\n<p>Still, this was well executed on all other fronts except, and I consider it a hit.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the &#8220;All Elite Conversation Club&#8221; with Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/all-elite-conversation-club-dehnel-kanner-explore-kenny-omega-s-dynamite-return-malaki-black-apparently-done-jeff-jarrett-mjf-program--63648635\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=63648635&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>HOT GIRL GRAPS (NOW AN OFFICIALLY TRADEMARKED TERM) \u2014 MEGA-HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mariah May and Harley Cameron gave us a fantastic match that was everything I had yearned for (except for five more minutes).<\/p>\n<p>The audience was firmly behind Cameron, and I hope Tony Khan and the powers that be take notice of that because she is noticeably talented. She can sing, she can act, she\u2019s a ventriloquist for some reason, and she can wrestle \u2014 something she seemed to struggle with at the beginning of her tenure in AEW and has seemingly overcome.<\/p>\n<p>Also, May was a great opponent for Harley; their styles mixed well, and while I\u2019m not a huge fan of objectifying people who aren\u2019t Hook or Jack Perry, the Hot Girl Graps concept ended up working within this context. NGL, I wasn\u2019t always sure that would be the case. However, I am pleased to report that none of my worst fears came to fruition and neither woman did anything degrading. In fact, this match was further evidence that AEW should continue to pay more attention to its women\u2019s division.<\/p>\n<p>For that matter, Collision would be a good place to focus on AEW\u2019s women\u2019s division without fear of losing your audience. (It\u2019s not like there are many more viewers left to lose.). Plus, I am a huge mark for women\u2019s wrestling, so I\u2019d love to find myself writing about it every week. At one point, before I began doing this Hits or Misses column, I even thought about doing a column that focused on identifying that week\u2019s \u201cBest Women\u2019s Match of the Week\u201d from the four main Americentric companies: TNA, ROH, AEW, and WWE.<\/p>\n<p>I truly think AEW is underestimating how many viewers would be interested in women\u2019s wrestling if it were treated with the same gravitas as men\u2019s wrestling. It\u2019s not just female fans who would enjoy it. It would also be enjoyed by many of AEW\u2019s male fans and 100 percent of its gay fans. (Seriously, just ask Cher, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and either Olivia Rodrigo or Sabrina Carpenter, but never both at the same time.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>BRODY KING vs. TREVOR BLACKWELL \u2014 HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this blink-or-you-\u2019ll-miss-it squash, Brody King made quick work of Jungle Boy\u2019s stunt double.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BRODY KING CUTS A POST-MATCH PROMO \u2014 HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To the shock of everyone, Brody King\u2019s promo was interrupted. This time by Cope (a name that requires Copium just to type). Cope wanted Brody King to know that he believes in him and that Malikai Black is definitely not returning to AEW.<\/p>\n<p>Side Note: I vote we rename \u201cThe House of Black\u201d to \u201cThe House of Hart\u201d and start using red mist. If AEW renames it to \u201cThe House of Cope,\u201d I may have to find out if that \u201ccopium\u201d meme is real.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DANIEL GARCIA VS. SHIBATA \u2014 MEGA-HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>OMG, this was good!<\/p>\n<p>A travel-weary Daniel Garcia entered the ring looking like he\u2019d been dragged behind a car beforehand, but the match itself was fantastic! As much as I like Dax Harwood, Chris Jericho, Mariah May, and Harley Cameron, this match should have been in the main event slot \u2014 at least, in hindsight.<\/p>\n<p>Side Note: I shouldn\u2019t be surprised to see AEW\u2019s TNT Champion win cleanly, but I am happy they decided to take that route.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CHRIS JERICHO VS. DAX HARWOOD \u2014 MINOR-HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I never thought I\u2019d review a Dax Harwood match that was anything less than a full-on \u201cHit,\u201d but the ending of this match looked rough.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what happened: With the referee distracted, Harwood went to the top rope to deliver a diving headbutt onto Chris Jericho. Jericho was supposed to pull his championship belt onto himself and cause Harwood to headbutt the belt which would cost Harwood the match. However, the referee stumbled in the wrong direction (or I think that is what happened), and Jericho had to redirect him in the right direction before grabbing the belt. Because of this, Jericho was unable to pull the belt onto his torso in time, and Harwood executed a normal flying headbutt.<\/p>\n<p>Having to think on his feet, Harwood then told the referee not to turn back around (which didn\u2019t look great) and walked right into a belt shot from Jericho (which also did not look great).<\/p>\n<p>In my opinion, and having watched the ending of this match back three times, neither the wrestlers nor the referee were to blame for this. This was just one of those things that happens at live events, but I\u2019m sure the Jericho haters out there will try to make it all about him. It is not.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FINAL THOUGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This show was a better show than last week\u2019s show, but it still suffered from a lack of meaningful storyline progressions and there were a couple of awkward moments in a couple of these matches. That said, we\u2019ve all had awkward moments. My whole column is an awkward moment. Therefore, I can\u2019t really judge \u2014 except that is my job.<\/p>\n<p>Overall Match Grade: B+<br \/>\nOverall Storylines Grade: C-<\/p>\n<p><strong>SHOW GRADE: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>DAVID\u2019S DODGY MATCH RECOMMENDATIONS:<\/li>\n<li>Match of the Night: DANIEL GARCIA vs. SHIBATA<\/li>\n<li>Second Best Match: MARIAH MAY vs. HARLEY CAMERON&#8217;<\/li>\n<li>Third Best Match: PAC vs. KOMANDER<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thank you all for reading. I truly appreciate it. And as always, I\u2019m still working on my sign-off, but until next week, remember, mustard stains are hard to get out of carpets, so it is wise to keep a large stock of yellow paint next to your cleaning supplies.<\/p>\n<p><em>(David Bryant\u2019s bathroom-selfies can be found on his \u201cArtist Formerly Known as Twitter\u201d account @IamDavidBryant; a video of David doing a split can be found on his Instagram account @IamDavidBryant, and David Bryant\u2019s Threads account is threadbare and also located @IamDavidBryant because David Bryant sucks at usernames. David is a published author, circus artist, drag promoter, male pageant winner, unrenowned musician, sloppy figure skater, and the inventor of the world\u2019s first anti-attention deficit pill meant to cure people who take themselves too seriously. (It contains 7% Geritol, 13% Alcohol, and 80% Lobotomy). Less impressively, David studied screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show - AEW Dynamite w\/Wade Keller &amp; Dan Kuester\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9xJlWkxYvPE?start=11&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1294599197\"><div id=\"pwtor-2236702596\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>AEW COLLISION &#8211; HITS &amp; MISSES JANUARY 11, 2025 ATHENS, GA. AIRED LIVE ON TNT BY DAVID BRYANT, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuiness &#8211; Hey! Welcome back to another edition of my AEW <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/01\/14\/aew-collision-hits-misses-1-11-jericho-vs-dax-garcia-vs-shibata-hangman-daniels-match-stip-cope-vs-redwood-harley-cameron-vs-mariah-may-more\/\" title=\"AEW COLLISION HITS &#038; MISSES (1\/11): Jericho vs. Dax, Garcia vs. Shibata, Hangman-Daniels match stip, Cope vs. Redwood, Harley Cameron vs. Mariah May, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-14-at-8.22.24\u202fPM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191094,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191092\/revisions\/191094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}