AEW Collision this week comes to the Wicomico Civic Centre in Salisbury, MD, and despite my premature predictions of the start of the Owen Hart Tournament this weekend, we instead get another huge Darby Allin AEW World Championship title defence. At Double or Nothing, Allin defends against former champion and fellow Pillar, MJF. Tonight, Allin defends against another pillar, ROH World Tag Team champion Sammy Guevara.
Elsewhere this week, we have the return of Mark Briscoe. Coming home to an arena, which is 1.4 miles from the place where Briscoe originated on this Earth, Briscoe wants to conglomerate with his championship-holding stable-mates. All before Briscoe takes on the man who took him out a few months ago, Tommaso Ciampa, on next week’s AEW Dynamite.
Whilst the Owen Hart Tournament will start at Double or Nothing this year and end at Forbidden Door (all the details you can find on our AEW events calendar), interestingly, some of my speculations proved right. As we found out this week on AEW Dynamite, Swerve Strickland will take on Bandido. Will Ospreay is, so my AEW All In predictions could still happen! Yet some absences, like Mercedes Mone, whose only remaining championship was the Owen Hart Tournament championship belt, might feel like missed opportunities.
With a TBS Championship defence, an AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship 5-minute tag team eliminator challenge, and more, it’s a good night for fighting.
AEW Collision Preview – Women’s Action
The Divine Dominion is taking on a yet-to-be-announced combination in their latest eliminator match. The dominant pair of giant ladies already has many fans kneeling and bowing at their feet with admiration and Goddess-like respect. Given their track record, can any opponent last five minutes?
Against some of AEW’s best women and combinations, from former champions Babes of Wrath to Kris Statlander and Hiraku Shida, the champions have walked away with their gold. It seems academic that we’re in for a squash. Yet there is always the possibility in AEW of fun moments in and post-match when an angle might be snuck in. With Double or Nothing not too far away, could we be in for an upset? Can one team survive and earn their shot?
Fresh from your Momma’s kitchen and defending her ROH Women’s World Television Championship at ROH’s Supercard of Honour, Red Velvet returns to AEW programming. In her last appearance on Collision, Velvet returned from injury. Velvet upset the interim TV champion and scored the biggest win of her career against the former belt collector Mercedes Moné.
The defending TBS Champion, Willow Nightingale, is in her Comeback Killer phase. However, against someone with the striking prowess and always improving capabilities of Velvet, this could be an interesting contest. Besides the opposing styles and personalities, Nightingale cannot expect Velvet to go down as smoothly as a slice of afternoon cake.
AEW Collision Preview – Pillars, Allin, and Guevara Collide for the AEW World Championship
In the men’s division, there are plenty of former and aspiring AEW World Champions who could make this year’s tournament even more explosive and spectacular than last year’s. We could have some big returns. For example, during the previous two tournaments, Hangman Adam Page battled anxiety and self-doubt, as well as the best AEW has to offer. It could happen again, with an entirely new result.
It’s hard to think of Page without thinking of Swerve Strickland or Kenny Omega. Although Omega might be involved in Stadium Stampede, his ambitions to climb to the top of the game may not have vanished. In some respects, Omega finds himself in a similar position to Page in feeling incomplete without that AEW World Championship.
As for Swerve Strickland, the Realest is tied one all with Omega. Plus, with Strickland’s eyes set on Bandido, surely the vignettes and words passed between them foreshadow a first-round banger?
Yet, if this year’s tournament is earmarked for someone, it’s going to be Will Ospreay. The return from neck surgery. The story of suffering and overcoming the odds. The current storyline of overcoming pain and limitations. As I’ve already written in my early AEW All In predictions, it feels like the natural main event. Yet, AEW, the road there is going to be glorious with bangers, moments, and unexpected moments.
AEW Collision Preview (5/16/26) – Matches Announced
- AEW Women’s World Championship 5-minute Challenge Eliminator: The Divine Dominion vs. TBA
- The Opps vs. The Lethal Twist
- AEW World Trios Championship Eliminator match: The Conglomeration vs. Shane Taylor Promotions
- TBS Championship: Willow Nightingale © vs. Red Velvet
- AEW World Championship: Darby Allin © vs. Sammy Guevara
