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AEW Collision Recap – 12/25/25

Merry Christmas to all, and to all...SOME GREAT WRESTLING!!!
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AEW Collision Recap

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! No matter what you did or did not do today, Tony Khan decided that AEW would bless your holiday night with an incredibly packed “Christmas Collision!” Was it as hype as people teased online? Find out in my AEW Collision Recap!

I don’t know how long this one will be because of ALL the great action tonight…so let’s just get right to it, shall we?

This first match set the tone for the entire night, and I hope we all knew in that moment that we were set up for one of the greatest Collision presentations ever.

Arguably, the best part about this match was that since everything was so “jumbled” in the Gold League, you couldn’t say for certain that Kyle or Jack would win definitively, or whether they’d go to a tie! The anticipation was palpable throughout the match, especially as Fletcher kept working on Jack’s injured ankle to try and get the advantage:

Yet, Jack kept fighting back and proving that he wasn’t going to give up without a fight, and then he kept extending the fight, and as we kept hearing the “minutes left” announcements, you really wondered how things would fall:

A point that really had me going crazy was when Jack hit the Snare Trap and Kyle’s face was so priceless, I felt he might tap, and yet, he gave Jack the “middle finger” in a unique way…

Then, the 19th-minute marker hit, and the crowd knew something had to give…and it did:

Yep, Kyle’s in the semi-finals, and Jack gave another standout performance. I’m not gonna lie, I was rooting for Jack to win to truly shake things up, but the rest of the matches ensured that things wouldn’t end without more surprises, upsets, and twists on what will happen at World’s End.

One such surprise was a pep talk that Kyle O’Reilly gave Roderick Strong before his upcoming match.

That was really good, as was the match that followed…

For those “not in the know,” this match was a true “Dream Match” to many online. So much so that one time, a guy made a fake AEW graphic boasting that this match would happen…and a lot of people thought it was real. It wasn’t, at the time, but people have been wanting it ever since. We got close at All Out via the triple threat match that had Okada, but this was the true 1-on-1 match we wanted…and it didn’t disappoint.

To give you even more context on how great this match was, the crowd chanted “This Is Awesome” in less than 10 minutes. That’s skills, and these two definitely had that.

I’d argue that the only “crime” this match had was being shorter than Jack/Fletcher! Then again, we all knew that Konosuke was going to win…and sure enough…he did:

It was a good move to have him exit undefeated (and with one tie), as that keeps the IWGP belt looking strong, and gives him all the momentum going into World’s End.

Next, was another key Blue League match, and for this one…we had an unexpected result twice over…while also showing how smart AEW was booking this C2.

You see, while Fletcher was going for Perry’s weakness to get the victory, Claudio was going for speed over everything else. He didn’t want to risk Roderick “enduring him,” he wanted to break him and be done with it:

…and that’s where the surprise came in…because he was SO FOCUSED on getting that quick win that he left himself open for a quick set of strikes…and…

Yep! Roddy not only got the win, but he won in less than four minutes! Usually, I’m not for that, but there was a story in those four minutes, as Roddy “locked in” at the right moment and didn’t go home winless. Naturally, the Death Riders weren’t amused by this…

It was confirmed later that this conflict will lead to a World’s End Zero Hour match, and that should be very fun to watch. And now…Stokely:

…let’s go to something better, huh? Ladies? Take it away!

…and back to the C2 we go! Here was another one in a LONG line of matches where I went, “How in the world is this going to go?” Pac is in top form, but Kevin Knight is “2 Fly,” and surely one of them had to get nine points to keep things “interesting,” right?

That’s what I thought, too! There were a lot of possibilities here, which is what made it fun! And things got FREAKING CRAZY as the match went on!!!

Yeah, how is Kevin ALIVE after that bump? He took it like a champ, though, and kept on pushing!

Move after move, sequence after sequence, the two kept pushing each other further and further, and I wasn’t sure what was to happen as the final minute warning was called!!!!

IT’S A TIE!!!!!

Yeah, I didn’t see that coming, but it was truly awesome. Kevin has been the true standout of this tournament and his future in AEW looks brighter and brighter with each match he does.

…wait, is that Gabe Kidd…?

Our sole women’s match of the night (which thankfully won’t be an issue at World’s End) was the Babes of Wrath taking on Hyan and Maya World, who have been coming in clutch for AEW recently, proving their value and worth.

Another thing I appreciated was that this was NOT a squash match…as I truly feared it would be, given how long some of the C2 matches had gone tonight.

It was a nice bout, and, naturally, the Babes of Wrath won, and had a message afterward:

I hope the upcoming match versus Athena and Mercedes really cooks, they deserve it.

Next up was Mox vs. Orange Cassidy (AEW didn’t put up a graphic online for that for some reason…) and it would determine who would join Takeshita in the semifinals in the Blue League.

Every match tonight had a “texture” or “vibe” to it, and for this match…? It was brutality. This was match was very much about two guys who knew each other, didn’t like each other, and wanted to come out on top:

I loved the performance OC gave Takeshita on Dynamite, but with Mox here on Collision, things were even crazier with him, as he was doing things I’d never seen him do before just to try and get one over on his longtime rival:

As the minutes continued on, and OC got the upper hand and SEVERAL Orange Punches in, I thought, “Is he pulling the upset here…?” Well…

I’ll admit, I was surprised by that. I wouldn’t have minded Cassidy getting his due. Then again, this could turn into something very interesting for World’s End via the Death Riders…so stay tuned…

Finally…the last match in the Continental Classic!!!!

..and yeah, it was another banger! But wait, there’s more! One thing they kept harping on in this epic clash was that IF it went to a tie, there would have to be a PLAYOFF at World’s End to see who advanced to the semifinals…and that REALLY made me wonder if that was what would go down!

Oh yeah, Speedball and Okada crushed it tonight just like they did at AEW Dynasty earlier this year. It was that good.

Okada was brutal, but even after a NASTY bump (which I’m glad Speedball was okay from), Bailey would not go away, and did something VERY Un-Canadian!

…that’s definitely not something Canadiens do often. Anyway, like with Fletcher/Perry and Pac/Knight, the time limit loomed large, and it resulted in a very Joker-style finish:

…see that smile at the end? Yeah, he’s so “happy” right now…

And thus, the two World’s End C2 Semifinal bouts are set! Kyle Fletcher vs. Jon Moxley…and Okada vs. Takeshita!!! Yeah, we’re not getting it in the finals, we’re getting it in the semifinals! INTRIGUE!!!

As I wrap up my AEW Collision Recap, let me be very clear about something. AEW didn’t HAVE to go hard on this night. They could’ve shuffled things around or did a “basic show” because it was Christmas night and they knew many likely weren’t going to watch on the night itself…

…but they did it anyway. They are “Where The Best Wrestle” and tonight punctuated that in the best of ways. Three matches went close to twenty minutes, which means we had an hour of wrestling just for those matches, and we still had four matches after that!

So now, imagine what’s awaiting us at World’s End on Saturday? Fun times, everyone.

 

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A self-proclaimed Nintendo fanboy, born, bred, and Mushroom fed! He’s owned every Nintendo handheld and every console since the SNES. He's got a degree in video game development, is a published comic book writer and an author of several novels!