AEW Collision (7/18): Redemption Takes Shape Through More Quality Wrestling
AEW Collision results and a full match-by-match recap from Boston (taped 7/16, aired July 18, 2026).
Opening Match: Jungle Jack Perry Defeats Nick Wayne by Pinfall
Collision opens up in Boston with a special surprise. Paul Wight has joined Tony Schiavone for commentary. The first match is Jungle Jack Perry, who gets a nice reaction from the crowd, vs. the returning Nick Wayne in a battle of Christian Cage’s former pupils. This is Wayne’s first AEW match in three months; he had been in Japan wrestling for NJPW. The match started with some standard grappling and quickly devolved into a fight outside the ring. After the commercial Nick Wayne hit what I’m going to describe as a suicide Canadian destroyer through the middle rope to Jack Perry who was on the floor (genuinely incredible move). Perry made it back in the ring by a count of 9 only to be hit by a splash from the top rope followed by a fisherman buster and a kickout at 2. Perry got the advantage back and hit a running knee for the win. A very fun opening match.
Young Bucks Vignette
The Young Bucks want the tag titles back. They don’t trust Mox or Ospreay. They want to show Kenny he can’t trust Will either, because he’s with the Death Riders. They challenge Ospreay and Mox to a tag match at Redemption. More on this later
Cage & Cope Vignette
Cage and Cope challenge Claudio and PAC for Redemption with titles on the line. More on THIS later.
TNT Championship: Kevin Knight (c) Defeats AR Fox by Pinfall
Kevin Knight comes out first. This is a nitpick, but I really wish they would stick to the champion coming out last. Commentary is pushing that this is a good warmup for Knight to prepare for Darby on Wednesday. Kevin kicks out of a Swanton at 2. Fox hits a cutter with Knight’s neck hitting the top rope guillotine style followed by a sunset flip bomb into the ring and a 450 splash in rapid succession. Fantastic sequence of moves. Still, Knight kicks out at 2. There were fight forever chants from the crowd who are really into it. Knight hits basically a rock bottom from the top rope, followed by the UFO splash for the 3 and the defense. This was some great athletic wrestling from two truly talented wrestlers. If AR Fox had been around and younger when AEW started I think he might have been a real star for them.
Don Callis Family Squash
Kevin Knight immediately joins commentary for the next match. Knight’s DCF Brothers, Brian Cage, Jake Doyle and Hechicero accompanied by Lance Archer, Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta enter next to face 3 jobbers. Oh, wow, the jobbers won!! Do you believe in miracles?? Just kidding, it was over in under 2 minutes. The action continues after the match with the DCF members continuing to attack the jobbers until Speedball Mike Bailey leads down a contingent of the Conglomeration, Komander, and the Rascalz who run them off.
Backstage: Will & Mox
Will hypes up his opponent for the night, Adam Brooks. Apparently, he used to live with Will’s mom. I’m gonna assume as a favor while he wrestled in England, and not that they were lovers. Mox talks about how he and the Bucks have had a complicated history. He says he has a long-term disdain for The Elite and at Redemption it will be “a little bit personal.” Even MORE on this later.
“The Dogs” PSA Vignette
Next there was a vignette for The Dogs in the style of a PSA you would have seen on NBC in the 90s. They run down the Bang Bang Gang. This was genuinely hilarious and worth a watch.
Will Ospreay Defeats Adam Brooks by Referee Stoppage
Back to ringside, Mox is on commentary for Ospreay’s match. Adam Brooks, who is from Australia, comes out dressed in a flannel hoodie with the sleeves cut off as if he’s 50% Seattle grunge, 50% Venice Beach Gold’s Gym and 100% 1990s. They show a graphic for The Young Bucks vs. Mox and Ospreay, officially confirming the match for Redemption. Brooks is certainly playing up the heel work which makes you wonder if he holds a grudge for Will’s mom leaving him (just one man’s speculation). Will sets up for the hidden blade, but Brooks spits on Ospreay which causes him to become incensed. He beats him with elbows to the back of the head until the match ends with a knockout. Mox obviously loves the violent end.
Darby Allin Vignette
Darby talks about how he first met Kevin Knight. He spray paints “Kevin needs to be humbled” onto a car and then flamethrowers said car.
Athena & the Brawling Birds Squashes
Athena comes out next. They hype up Death Before Dishonor on 8/21 at the 2300 Arena in Philly. Can’t wait to see which NXT PPV inevitably gets announced for that date and city. Athena is facing Ava Everett, who I definitely have heard of (not really). Athena whoops her ass and taps her out quickly. While Athena celebrates on the ramp, the Brawling Birds music hits, which pisses off the ROH Forever Champion. They are set to face two more people that I definitely know (again, not really). Brawling Birds win in straight sets. It’s nice that there are 3 women’s matches on the card tonight, but with two of them being quick squash matches against jobbers I just wish the division would get some more shine. Side note: I really enjoy the Brawling Birds music.
Bang Bang Gang Vignette
Jay White still has the shillelagh. Jay White calls out Clark Connors for a match on Dynamite this Wednesday, which was made official slightly later.
Tommaso Ciampa Defeats Myron Reed by Pinfall
Tommaso Ciampa, in front of his home crowd, gets a huge reaction. Schiavone brings up that Ciampa was trained by Harley Race, which has been mentioned before, but still always surprises me when I’m reminded. Reed hit a pair of flying cutters that looked so smooth. Ciampa wins with a running knee. This was a fun matchup of styles, with Ciampa’s brutality vs. Reed’s quickness. Afterwards Tommaso grabbed a mic and cut a promo right to Paul Wight’s face (because apparently he is best friends with Jericho). He states that he is better than Jericho and is not afraid of the Painmaker. Ciampa wants no holds barred for the match at Redemption (presumably to break out the drill again). That match has full slap potential.
Backstage: Andrade & Mark Davis
Renee is interviewing Andrade backstage. She asks how he’s going to prepare for his national championship match against Mark Davis. Andrade shows off his stolen Dynamite diamond ring and said he wants to add one more piece to his collection, the national championship. He is then attacked and choked out by Mark Davis.
Mercedes Moné Promo
When we come back from commercial, Renee, the busiest woman in wrestling, is in the ring welcoming out the first ever two-time Owen Hart tournament champion, Mercedes Moné. Renee asks Mercedes who she thinks will win between Willow and Thekla at Redemption. After getting her cheap pop for mentioning her hometown of Boston, she says it doesn’t matter, because at All In she’s winning the belt. This was a short and sweet promo, and I hope Mercedes wins at All In.
Backstage: Cage & Cope / The Bucks
Cage and Cope say essentially the same thing from their vignette earlier. Matt and Nick Jackson walk up to passive-aggressively say they’re better, but Christian hits them with the goosebumps walkway. When they eventually face off (hopefully with Motor City Machine Guns and The New Day in the mix) it’s going to be absolutely epic.
ROH World Championship: Bandido Defeats Adam Priest by Pinfall
The crowd was kind of dead for this one after two hometown-hero in-ring segments in a row. Bandido eventually wins them back. Overall, it was about the match you’d expect, and it ended with a pretty cool backflip into a deadlift German suplex.
Julia Hart & Skye Blue Vignette
Julia Hart and Skye Blue are now the “Artist of Stardom Champions” which seems to be the trios titles over there, I’m not super familiar. They’re still hungry for gold and want to face the Divine Dominion for the AEW women’s tag titles next week on Dynamite in a hardcore match.
Main Event: Hikaru Shida (c) Defeats Queen Aminata by Pinfall
Main event time. Queen Aminata enters first followed by TBS champion, Hikaru Shida. Shida hits a poke in the eye followed by a quick rollup for the 2 count early. The action spills to the outside where Aminata hits a double stomp to Shida sitting on a chair. Aminata misses a stomp on the ramp and sells the knee. Shida hits what was basically a deadeye on the ramp. When we come back from commercial Aminata is back on top. Shida tries to use the kendo stick, but the ref takes it away. While he’s distracted Shida gouges the eyes to take the advantage back. Shida hits a meteora followed by the falcon arrow for a 2 count. Aminata and Shida trade quick rollups that go for 2 counts. Aminata takes back the advantage, but Shida rolls her up and uses the ropes for leverage and retains. Both of these women are so insanely talented. At some point you have to assume Aminata is going to win a title, but not tonight. After the match, Shida attacks Aminata with the kendo stick until Maya World comes down for the save and runs her off. Tony (Schiavone) announces that Tony (Khan) has made Shida vs. Maya official for Redemption (that man confirms things really really fast).
Final Thoughts
Whatever Collision lacks in important story advancement, it makes up for a million times over in terms of match quality. Nothing too impactful, but solid wrestling. This week’s show was a little heavier in backstage vignettes and promos as well as squash matches, but I still enjoyed it. Redemption is really taking shape now, and will no doubt be another killer show for AEW.
More from DAPC Wrestling
- AEW Redemption Predictions: Ten Matches in Montreal, and We Want Your Picks — every match on Sunday’s card, with a pick on each one.
- AEW Collision Spoilers (7/25): Two Ladder Qualifiers, a Guitar Shot, and Ospreay Snaps — how the Redemption ladder match filled out.
- AEW Dynamite (7/22): Kevin Knight Made It Ten, Then Made It Personal — the streak that set up his world title shot.
- Nashville Braces for War as Dynamite Sets the Table for Redemption — the on-ramp to Sunday, match by match.
