AEW Collision: April 17, 2025 BOSTON

After a wonderful weekend of watching professional wrestling I finally find myself with the time to write about attending AEW Collision at the MGM Music Hall Fenway in Boston, Massachusetts.

When AEW announced the double shows, Dynamite on the 16th and Collision on the 17th I was tempted to go to both, but Boston is a long drive and it's not feasible, plus work.  Ultimately I wanted to go to Collision on Thursday as I had never been to Collision before but have been to Dynamite numerous times before.  I thought it was going to be a taped Collision as it airs on Saturdays, and it would be perfect to watch it live as it's normal time slot conflicts with WrestleMania 41 Saturday, however leading up the event it was announced that it would air live on Thursday.

When tickets went on sale after looking over what was available on the presale I chose the Mezzanine box seats as the price point was the same as the front row of the mezzanine seating behind the boxes and the pictures looked good.  And boy where they ever!  More on that later.

I left the house at noon and picked up Mikey at his place, first stop was The Brook, the casino in Seabrook, NH he has a free slot play and Mikey likes to spin the reels.  After a quick pay window trip for him we drove to Encore just outside Boston where he had another free slot play, I wasted $20 myself at this stop.  However the main focus for me is that they have a Shake Shack and I love me a shack burger!  We don't have them in Maine.

I had prepaid for parking a couple months back on the Park whiz app, $25, parking at the same lot that night was $65 so if you ever go to Boston and you know in advance buy parking as far ahead of time as you can.  It was a short walk over to the MGM Music Hall at Fenway which we got in line about 6pm.

MGM Music Hall at Fenway opened in August 2022 and features the main floor and two elevates seating areas that can hold 5009 people for concerts.  My daughter and I attended Mitski in concert at this venue in February 2024.  

Doors opened at 630pm and we headed to our seats, this is when we found out that our box seats had a special entrance where you had to show your ticket to get a wrist band, had a private bar with lounge area and bathrooms and our seats had table service.  There were 4 seats in the boxes and can move around and are quite comfortable.  

As you can see from the images we had an amazing view and I would not hesitate to sit here again for any show at this venue in the future.

Before the live Collision, we had two Ring of Honor matches, then 7 matches on Collision and no post live show matches.  I was really hoping for an FTR match because they typically on wrestle on Collision and they are my favorite tag team, but alas they were on a "one week suspension" for their actions on the last episode of Collision. 

Ring of Honor Taping:

The Frat House: Griff Garrison & Cole Carter with Preston Vance and Jacked Jameson defeated the Spanish Announce Project: Serpentico and Angelico

8 Man Tag: Mark Briscoe, AR Fox, and Top Flight: Darius & Dante Martin with Leila Gray defeated Shane Taylor Promotions: Shane Taylor, ROH Pure Champion: Lee Moriarty, and The Infantry: Sean Dean & Charlie Bravo 

AEW Collision Live

Kevin Knight pinned Lance Archer with Don Callis

NEVER Openweight Champion: Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander defeated Tomohiro Ishii and Rocky Romero when Romero turned on Ishii 

Post match: Trent made his return, he and Rocky joined the Don Callis Family and attacked Ishii with a wrench

2 on 1 Handicap Match: Megan Bayne with Penelope Ford defeated Ashley Vox and Rebecca Scott pinning both at once

Open Challenge: TNT Champion: Adam Cole pinned Claudio Castagnoli

La Faccion Ingobernable: Rush, Dralistico, & The Beast Mortos defeated Kevin Mathews, LSG, & Rosario Grillo

Nick Wayne pinned ROH World Television Champion: Komander with Alex Abrahantes to win the Championship

Kris Statlander & Julia Hart defeated TBS Champion, New Japan Strong Women's Champion, and RevPro Undisputed British Women's Champion: Mercedes Mone and Harley Cameron with Statlander pinned Cameron

Post show Mercedes Mone cut a promo about being in Boston.  Harley Cameron then bought out her pupped Mini Mone and entertained the crowd. No Tony Khan appearance tonight at all.

After the show I bought an AEW Collision logo shirt and enamel pin at the merchandise table.  I don't need a new t-shirt but I just really like the simple design.  We hit the road after stopping at the 7-11 in Saugus, MA for a big gulp and stopped again at the Circle K in Kittery, ME to fuel up and grab a monster peach tea.  I got home just before 2am, another successful wrestling adventure. 

I have no regrets going on Thursday and not Wednesday, even though Wednesday had Osprey vs. Takeshita.  We got some great wrestling matches, and a title change when Nick Wayne won his first major singles championship.

In the tag team match, Ishii and Takeshita squared off, and during a shoulder tackle I have never heard two people slam into each other that hard and no sell it that I can think of.  Smack from the impact was wild!!!

I can't imagine I'll see AEW live again this year, but rumor has it that ROH Final Battle will be Massachusetts this December.  I've also heard rumors of TNA running Bound For Glory in Lowell, MA in October, and WWE running John Cena's Last Match December 27th at TD Garden in Boston with a PLE called Ruthless Aggression.  

Some potential cools shows at the end of the year. 

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

DDT Pro Judgment 2018 the 21st Anniversary Show

I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered a couple hours before bell time that DDT Pro Wrestling was live streaming their 21st Anniversary show for free on their DDT Universe streaming service.  I lost my shit when during the match announcements I was reminded that The Great Muta was wrestling his final match on the show.  He had previously wrestled his final match as Keiji Mutoh on Wrestle-1's March 14th.  He is having double knee replacement surgery at the end of the month that will most likely end his in ring career.

I have never watched and entire DDT Pro show before and I can not claim to be familiar with any of the current storylines or even who their main Japanese talents are.  They are known as a promotion that heavily features comedic elements in most all matches, however their roster has featured some of the most athletically gifted wrestlers including Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega.

Some of their most well known viral clips including:

Kenny Omega wresting an 8 year old little girl

The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship that Joey Ryan defended 24/7 around the world

This is where Joey Ryan first flipped someone with his dick

Yoshihiko a blow up doll and 10 time Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion that even defeated Kota Ibushi for a reign

Kota Ibushi has had so many unique and unbelievable matches in DDT Pro, feuding with Yoshihiko, wrestling a matches in the woods or on the street, and just plain bizarre stuff

Lets get to the matches!

Gauntlet Tag Team Match:
Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata defeated Lilico & Makoto Oishi vs. Reika Saiki & Lady Beard vs. Akito & Shunma Katsumata vs. Antonio Honda & Ethan Page vs. Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda

This match was tornado style with two teams starting and the next team joining once one was eliminated.  Elimination was by pinfall, submission, or throwing one of your opponents over the top rope and both feet touching the floor. The only person I was familiar with in the match was Ethan Page.  One team was a girl and guy, Reika Saiki & Lady Beard, both dressed as J-Pop singers and they did a song and dance number before entering the ring that was actually pretty entertaining and catchy.

Lady Beard - photo courtesy of @puroresueikaiwa

The match itself varied from over the top comedy at the beginning to serious wrestling at the end.  Nothing really stood out to me in the match and I'd rate it as fair.  Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata last eliminated LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi when Hirata pinned LiLiCo

Colt Cabana defeated Joey Ryan

The premise of this match was Joey trying to get Colt to grab his dick or forcing blow pops in Colt's mouth.  In the end Colt forced Joey to grab his own dick with his left hand and using his right forced Joey to flip himself leading to the Billy Goat's Curse submission.

Colt Cabana & Joey Ryan - photo courtesy of @puroresueikaiwa

Tokyo Joshi Pro Six Woman Tag
Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama, & Azusa Christie defeated Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito, & Mizuki

The stream cut out at the beginning of the match so I only got to see the last few minutes.  From what I saw although there was some comedic elements that match was more akin to the hard hitting joshi style match where these girls let it all hang out and beat the crap out of each other.  What I saw was excellent.  Saki-sama pinned Mizuki

Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion: Super Sasadango Machine pinned Jiro Kuroshio

Super Sasadango Machine gave some sort of power point presentation after is introduction that went several minutes that I think outlines his plan for winning his match tonight which included a comically large iron leg trap and handing out fans to the crowd that featured his opponent so when he walked over to their section he would get caught in the trap.

When Jiro came out he spent several minutes dancing around the building narrowly missing the giant trap twice and then landing directly on it when he made his rolling dive into the ring.  After a few minutes of action Jiro had Sasadango pinned and after a count of two music kicked on and everyone seemed to freeze, then the lights dimmed and a video came on the big screen.  I have no friggin clue what is going on.  They then wrestled in slow motion while the music and video continued.  Jiro cut an impassioned promo while someone placed a large golden trap on Sasadango's prone body, the music cut out, Jiro moonsaulted onto the trap and was then promptly pinned with a school boy for Sasadango to retain.  Yup

Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno, & Koji Takeda defeated KO-D Six Man Tag Team Champions: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi, & Masahiro Takanashi to win the championships 

This match was fantastic.  Very serious, hard hitting, fast paced with some hard hitting action.  This match exemplifies the fact that even when the commentary is in another language if the match is good you can follow along, enjoy, and appreciate it.  Yukio Sakaguchi took the fall costing his team the titles.

Your NEW KO-D Six Man Tag Team Champions - photo courtesy of @puroresueikaiwa

Weapon Rumble 5 Way Tag Loser Gets Anal Blast Match
"Speed Ball" Mike Bailey & MAO defeated Sanshiro Takagi & Ippanjin Munenori Sawa vs. Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao vs. Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe vs. Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura

Chinsuke dresses like, has his hair cut like, and acts like Shinsuke Nakamura complete with violin styled music that a black guy came out pretending to play a violin during his entrance.  So the match starts and we got a 8 man head scissors with a 9th guy putting the first guy in a boston crab that forced everyone to roll over.  We got an eight man overhead suplex.  In between the comedy spots we did get some good high flying wrestling.  The finish came when Mike Bailey dropped the double knees on Michael Nakazawa and MAO landed a 450 splash for the pin.  Nakazawa was supposed to take the Anal Blast but ran to the back.

Then I think everyone and the referee played some elaborate game of not it.  The last guy, Sanshiro Takagi then "took one for the team" I guess, he removed his boots, knee pads, and trunks as he walked down the walkway laying down with his ass exposed near the entrance while a knock off instrumental version of "we can be heroes" played.  At the last moment he couldn't do it, so Munenori Sawa laid on top of him with his ass exposed and lacing their fingers together then pressed the red button setting off an explosion that apparently anal blasted them.

Every minute a new weapon or competitors come to the ring.

Weapons: metal wash tub, surf board, locker style metal cabinet, cardboard and paper mache steamroller, giant barbed wire board, it took up a third of the ring! a ten foot ladder,

Competitors: Cross dressed trio, a trio of monks that brought a dead wrestler back to life, two guys in black body suits with plastic bats that hit everyone in the ass, a guy on a pedal bike that rode around the ring clotheslining people, another guy in a black body suit with a plastic bat and he took struck everyone in the ass because they lined up for him.  Each of these people would leave right after they did their gimmick.

The big take away for me in this match was that Speed Ball and MAO are a great tag team and I would like to see them in some serious matches.

Dramatic Dream Match
The Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki, & Tetsuya Endo defeated Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii, & Ken Ohka when Great Muta pinned Ishiii

I marked out big time for Muta's entrance and his awesome costume.  Muta always moved oddly in the ring, but you could tell that his knees are giving him trouble.  Whenever Danshoku Dino was in the ring it was all sexual comedy spots, that's his gimmick, but when he wasn't it was a very good match.  We saw green and red mist in this match.  The finish came when Muta gave Ishii his patented fast backbreaker and landed one last moonsault for the three count.

The Great Muta's final entranace - photo courtesy of @puroresueikaiwa

At fifty five I truly believe that this will be his final match and I'm ecstatic that I got to see it.  When he was walking to the back with the classic Muta music playing I couldn't help but get a little emotional.

I later read in post match comments Danshoku Dino challenged Muta to a singles match.

The Great Muta - photo courtesy of @puroresueikaiwa

Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated KO-D Tag Team Champions: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji to win the championships 

Work interfered with me paying close attention to this match.  From what I saw it was a strong style heavy striking tag team affair .  From what I could gather the story was watch how hard we can hit each other and he who hits the hardest wins.  I enjoyed the match though.

KO-D Openweight Champion: Konosuke Takeshita pinned Shuji Ishikawa

At 42 Ishikawa is a serious contender even though he is 20 years older than the champion Takeshita. He is a four time KO-D Openweight champion, former AJPW Triple Crown Champion, and his back shows the scars from his wars in Big Japan.

Konosuke Takeshita - photo courtesy of @puroresueikaiwa

This was an excellent match, hard hitting, good story of the veteran putting over the younger guy but making him work hard for it.  Takeshita got the pin with a straight jacket german suplex.

Match of the night for me is a toss up between the The Six Man Tag and Takeshita vs. Ishikawa.

Michelle @puroresueikaiwa on twitter resides in Japan and graciously allowed me to use some of the photos she took at the event.  You can see more photos including a video of Great Muta's final moonsault on her twitter and be sure to check out her blog as well it is in both Japanese and English - http://ameblo.jp/catbearmouse

Again this is my first complete DDT Pro show and even though I was completely confused a couple times I must say overall I was thoroughly entertained.  

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!