You can read the AEW Dynamite Grand Slam Preview here.
It’s not exactly easy to do a preview for a show that was already recorded, but I’ve done my best to avoid spoilers. Or allow spoilers to affect my thoughts on the upcoming matches.
I wasn’t that high on Dynamite Grand Slam, at least compared to others. I thought it had some good wrestling and it was great to see Jon Moxley so focused but it was just missing… something. And I wonder if that something will be on Collision Grand Slam.
AEW Collision: Grand Slam 2024
Brody King versus Action Andretti
This stems from a match on AEW Rampage last night in which Action Andretti in frustration of the loss to Buddy Matthews and Malakai Black tossed his water bottle at Brody King.
Andretti has been lately frustrated with the losses incurred by Top Flight. That frustration has been spilling out in matches, but he isn’t wrong. Top Flight is a team full of potential but hasn’t met that potential one bit. Andretti went from beating Chris Jericho to what? Top Flight hasn’t got close to becoming Tag Team or Trios Champions. Lio Rush just came back to AEW, but he isn’t exactly climbing the ranks right now.
Action might be biting more than he can chew with Brody King, who might know something about potential not being met. Brody King was a breakout star of the Continental Classic last year and it felt like 2024 was going to be the year he broke out of the monotonous trios ranks and looked for singles gold. Instead he basically put himself right back to standing behind Malakai Black in the House of Black.
What happens when you put two men in the ring without a direction? Something has to give. For Brody, he could use a definitive win to put himself back on track. For Andretti, I don’t think his anger has reached the boiling point yet. A loss to Brody will help bring that.
Winner: Brody King
Saraya’s Rules
Saraya versus Jamie Hayter
I guess with Saraya wearing a flannel shirt tied to her midsection she thinks she might be Raven now and can just make up a match and throw her name on it. Fair play.
There has been some criticism on how Jamie Hayter’s return was on a pre-show and is now feuding with Saraya, but a lot of critics in AEW have said they always want logic and they want things complete. Here’s your logic. Hayter had unfinished business with Saraya and is clearing that up before moving to one of the champions in the Women’s division.
Prior to the rumours that Saraya re-signed, I wondered if this could have been her swan song out of the company. I wonder now if maybe Saraya is going to win this match and take the feud to WrestleDream where Jamie can beat her on the main stage then start in October chasing either Mercedes Moné or Mariah May.
Winner: Saraya
3-Way Lucha Libre
The Beast Mortos versus Hologram versus Dralístico
This is a tough match to call, just because there’s a man that AEW is pushing a man AEW is spotlighting.
The man getting pushed is Hologram, currently undefeated, and I don’t know if they want to beat him just yet. Likely not.
But The Beast Mortos has had a spotlight for the past month, really proving his worth to the company in losses. This could be a great place for him to get a definitive win. You can even have him beat Dralistico if they want to keep Hologram unpinned.
It’s more likely for Hologram to win, but I would love to see The Beast released here and start ascending the AEW ranks. I also wonder if that chemistry he showed with RUSH might come in conflict in fighting Dralistico?
Winner: The Beast Mortos
TNT Championship Open Challenge
I will admit I was spoiled on who Jack Perry was facing, and it should be a fun match.
That said, it’s time for Jack Perry to really step it up with the TNT Championship. This is a workhorse title, and the Scapegoat needs to prove he can match the names that have held the championship in the past.
I know that heels often shy away from putting in big performances because they worry about getting the babyface reaction and the respect from the crowd, but I need to see Jack Perry taking challenges that also lead to the best match of the night.
AEW loves to show video clips of him driving his Scapebus but we need a little more than that. I want a title defence every week in October. Dynamite, Rampage, Collision, there is even Battle of the Belts XII in October. Perry needs to be defending the TNT Championship on that.
Jack Perry wins, but if Jack wants to be more than just a midcard title holder? It’s time to up the ante on these TNT Championship shots.
Winner: Jack Perry
Tornado Trios Match
The Conglomeration versus The Learning Tree
As I said in the Fallout from All Out, I think Conglomeration should instead be feuding with Hangman Page while The Learning Tree can feud with Planet Jarrett. I worry that this is going right to WrestleDream which would not be ideal.
The most interesting part of The Learning Tree right now is I feel like Big Bill is going to be turning on Chris Jericho soon. That could be the start of a big push for him. Would love to see if Big Bill has the goods to be a credible top guy in the company.
Orange Cassidy is absolutely lost without the Trent feud and I hope AEW fixes that soon. He’s too good not to be doing anything. Win, end this feud, and increase the tension between Bill and Jericho. With Roderick Strong showing respect to HOOK on Wednesday night, maybe Kyle O’Reilly and Roddy can patch things up and think about being a tag team? I would love to see Roddy change his ways and join The Conglomeration. They need his Alex Trebek in the 80s good looks right now. Okay they don’t need I just want it.
Winner: The Conglomeration
AEW Continental Championship
Sammy Guevara versus Kazuchika Okada (c)
I was surprised that Sammy Guevara got this match and AEW would be testing the waters already on putting Sammy back in front of AEW fans like this.
Sammy is a great performer and I think he can have some fantastic matches (his match with Powerhouse Hobbs earlier this year is still one of my top matches in AEW this year) but he did get overpushed last year to the World Championship and prior to that had a terrible TNT run which caused a lot of fans to just be exhausted with him.
The run with Dustin Rhodes on ROH and primarily on Rampage has been good in rehabilitating him, giving him a clean road of character recovery. I am a bit hesitant on seeing him get this shot, especially since his last singles match was a loss to Ricochet.
That also leads to a criticism with the Continental Championship. I do love Kazuchika Okada defending it a lot right now since the matches have been fantastic, but what’s the difference between this and the TNT Championship now? Both are just for open challenges? No record matters? No momentum matters? I’m okay if one belt is an open challenge title but not two. There’s no point of the second except being a placeholder so Okada isn’t expected to be in the main event of AEW yet.
That said, I’m sure both men will have a fantastic match, and it’ll be a good way for people to be reminded of how special Sammy Guevara can be. Hopefully he learns, like the other pillars, to drop the tongue in cheek, drop the insider references, drop the workshoots, and let the fans love you for the character you present.
Winner: Kazuchika Okada
AEW Trios Championship
Private Party and Komander versus Blackpool Combat Club (c)
In the build up to Blood and Guts, it felt like The Acclaimed were a filler team and would at some point be replaced by someone. My suspicions after news on the Lucha Bros. having told people they would be done in the company back in June, as well as them supposed to win the Trios Championship with PAC, I wonder if Lucha Bros. were supposed to be in that Blood and Guts match.
I bring this up because Komander and Private Party absolutely feel like they are working as fillers for someone else. I don’t know if that’s supposed to be Lucha Bros. exactly, and I would hope not since AEW has known they wouldn’t have them for a while now. But I don’t think this is the primary feud for the new Blackpool.
Private Party and Komander have essentially been wrecked by PAC, Claudio, Moxley, and Marina Shafir every attempt they’ve made to fight them. It reminded me of 1996 World Championship Wrestling when the nWo first formed and just beat up the midcarders like an unstoppable gang.
The most interesting element of this match will be how involved Wheeler Yuta is in the fight, if he’ll be more focused on fighting Claudio and PAC or will be fighting Komander and Private Party. Yuta clearly harbours a lot of ill will toward the Combat Club for their actions against Bryan Danielson, but he didn’t come out to save Bryan when he tried to choke out Jon Moxley with a tie and was stopped by the BCC.
I expect BCC to win here, but I wonder how Yuta fares.
Winners: Blackpool Combat Club
Lumberjack Strap Match
Hangman Adam Page versus Jeff Jarrett
It didn’t take people long to notice that the song used was the Justice Mix for Evil Ways by Blues Saraceno. Evil Ways (Justice Mix) was used in the final run of AJ Styles in TNA Wrestling before he departed to become the leader of Bullet Club in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Let’s hope this doesn’t mean we get a mess like Magnus versus AJ Styles at some point with Hangman because hooooo boy if you don’t remember the farce that match was? You’re living a blessed life.
Still a great tune.
The Lumberjack Strap match will be intriguing because Hangman doesn’t have a friend in the world, but he absolutely has a lot of enemies. Jarrett has the deck stacked in his favour despite being the babyface standing up to the monstrous evil. I don’t know yet who is going to surround the ring with straps, but I don’t Page is going to have anyone on his side. The ground will absolutely be lava.
You usually want to stack the deck against the babyface and not the heel, but this is exactly what AEW should be doing when it comes to Hangman Adam Page. The roster should absolutely hate him and want to see him fall. They need to be united in stopping this monster more than anything. Even more than Jon Moxley. Jon has his line to the World Championship. Page needs to be delayed.
Giving Jarrett the upper hand will give him more to do to get offence on Hangman but the inevitable will still happen. My expectation is someone around that ring is going to get too involved with Page and incur his wrath. I had been hoping for Orange Cassidy, but there’s a lot of other guys who could do it. Maybe Juice Robinson?
I don’t know if this will be the main event, but this is absolutely the headline bout for AEW Collision: Grand Slam. How well the show does in viewers I think depends on how much people want to see Hangman Adam Page on this show.
Winner: Hangman Adam Page
AEW Collision: Grand Slam is 8PM EST tonight. In the words of the great Ian Riccaboni: Happy Wrestling everyone!
