AEW Collision was fairly standard Saturday Night fare. Highlights included good matches from Komander/Hechicero and Darby/Yuta, as well as a fun El Clon debut and good work from Jon Moxley. JetSpeed continue their good form while we got star quality from Timeless Toni. I expected better from Shelton/Dante and a lot better from Eddie Kingston, and the sheer volume of one sided dominance made it feel a bit too much like a 1980’s WWF show for my liking. As a result the show never quite reached its potential unfortunately. Lots of solid work here, just nothing noteworthy which makes the show fine and nothing more.
AEW Collision January 3rd 2026 sees the arrival of it’s newest star and Hologram’s evil copy El Clon. Darby Allin looks to finally put the Death Riders to bed as he takes on Wheeler Yuta. Elsewhere on the card, Shelton Benjamin gets a warm up match against Dante Martin, Komander faces Hechicero for a shot at the TNT Title and The Babes Of Wrath battle Hyan and Maya World!
| AEW Collision January 3rd 2026 Star Ratings | |
| Match / In Ring Promo | Result and Star Rating. |
| AEW Collision New Years Smash Opening Match El Clon vs Angelico | El Clon by Pinfall via reverse Airplane Spin Bomb SQUASH- Less Than 5 Minutes |
| Timeless Love Bombs vs Hyan and Maya World | Toni Storm by Pinfall via Storm Zero GOOD – 3 Stars |
| Megan Bayne and Marina Shafir vs Londyn Dior and Rache Chanel | Marina Shafir by Submission via Mothers Milk SQUASH – Below 5 Minutes |
| Komander vs Hechicero- TNT Championship Number 1 Contenders Match | Hechicero by Pinfall via Arm Trapped Roll Up GREAT – 3.75 Stars |
| Eddie Kingston and Ortiz Promo | Kingston and Ortiz say they are coming for the Grizzled Young Veterans AVERAGE – 2 Stars. |
| Big Bill and Bryan Keith vs Jet Speed | Kevin Knight by Pinfall via UFO Splash GREAT- 3.5 Stars |
| Shelton Benjamin vs Dante Martin | Shelton Benjamin by Pinfall via Superkick GOOD- 3 Stars |
| MVP Promo | MVP bigs up Shelton Benjamin ahead of his match against Jon Moxley GOOD- 3 Stars |
| Main Event Darby Allin vs Wheeler Yuta | Darby Allin by Submission via Scorpion Death Lock GREAT- 3.75 Stars |
AEW Collision January 3rd 2026 Highs
While nothing out of this world happened on Collision this week, it remained a solid night of wrestling action. The high spots were Komander and Hechicero’s very entertaining technical face-off and Darby Allin finally putting his Death Rider demons to bed by beating Wheeler Yuta. Both matches provided different flavours of fun, with reliable workers putting on a great show. The ending to the main event was particularly cathartic, as Darby nailed double coffin drops to Yuta, before refusing the final pin and submitting him to Sting’s Scorpion Death Lock.
El Clon debuted in a surprising enjoyable 3 minute showcase against Angelico. While Angelico deserves more of a shine on weekly tv, this was a good way for both guys to show what they can do, and El Clon appearing multiple times on the same show means there hopefully is a plan of substance for him in the absence of Hologram.
Elsewhere, I really enjoyed Jon Moxley’s presence on the show, doing good work on commentary and putting on a super pre-taped promo where he put over his character and making a clear distinction between his feelings on wrestling and those of his co-compatriots in the Death Riders. Moxley continues to feel like AEW’s ace.
AEW Collision January 3rd 2026 Lows
The weakest segment on this show was the Eddie Kingston and Ortiz promo section. While Eddie’s charisma and out-there ad libs are fun, they do need to be followed by a promo of substance which here was non existent. As a result, the promo came across as a rambling mess, which Ortiz did not much help in his portion. The response promo from GYV in pre-tape was much better, leading me to believe maybe that should have been in the arena also.
The structure of Shelton Benjamin and Dante Martin took a hit with a Kayfabe injury to Martin. He fought through the pain with a reference to Shelton’s mother hurled, which I expected to get a bigger reaction that it did. The rest of the match, while well worked enough for a 3.25 rating, did feel like an extended squash with comebacks, which was a little disappointing given what I know they are both capable of.
In fact the show was overrun with one sided matchups. El Clon followed by Toni and Mina followed by Marina and Megan, with Shelton dominance also present. It never therefore felt like any more than a set-up show for other things, putting over wrestlers in the way Vince McMahon’s WWF used to with one sided affairs, albeit adapted for the 21st century.
Summary-
AEW Collision was fairly standard Saturday Night fare. Highlights included good matches from Komander/Hechicero and Darby/Yuta, as well as a fun El Clon debut and good work from Jon Moxley. JetSpeed continue their good form while we got star quality from Timeless Toni. I expected better from Shelton/Dante and a lot better from Eddie Kingston, and the sheer volume of one sided dominance made it feel a bit too much like a 1980’s WWF show for my liking. As a result the show never quite reached its potential unfortunately. Lots of solid work here, just nothing noteworthy which makes the show fine and nothing more.
Matches- 0.5/1
Show Structure- 0.5/1
Atmosphere- 0.5/1
Storytelling- 0.5/1
Production/Theme- 0.75/1
Overall Rating- 2.75/5 Stars
Photo Credit- AEW- January 3rd 2026
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