ALLENTOWN, Pa. — All Elite Wrestling’s Collision tore through PPL Center on Thursday night, bringing a wild wave of matches including some pro-wrestling legends.
While the center wasn't completely packed, one certainly couldn’t tell from the sheer energy and volume of the crowd in Allentown, who were enthralled by some seriously heavy-hitting matches.
Battling the brutal heatwave, crowds came together as soon as the doors opened at 6 p.m., bearing signs of support for their beloved heroes and vile villains who comprise the gimmicks that define wrestling circuits such as AEW.
And let’s get this out of the way now: If you happen to be the type to call out professional wrestling as fake, Thursday’s spectacle certainly suggested that even if that is so, the incredible physicality of those suplexes, high-flying leaps from the turnbuckles, and devastating throws absolutely pack a punch for those performers.
And let’s get this out of the way now:
If you happen to be the type to call out professional wrestling as fake, Thursday’s spectacle certainly suggested that even if that is so, the incredible physicality of those suplexes, high-flying leaps from the turnbuckles, and devastating throws absolutely pack a punch for those performers.
Plus, it’s just an entertaining thing, anyway: an over-the top drama with movie-grade fights thrown in for good measure.
Who wouldn’t love that?
Moving on…
Standout matches, and fanatics
Standout matches on June 20 included Chris Jericho — well known for his multiple championships in the WWF/WWE, WCW, and ECW circuits — and Big Bill as “The Learning Tree” duo against Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen as “Private Party” in a tag-team round, and Will Ospreay against Brian Cage for the AEW International Championship title.
Wrestling fanatics got to check out a few energetic engagements, including faceoffs between The Bang Bang Gang and The Dark Order, AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada against Ultimo Guerrero, and Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata, and Hook versus Josh Woods, Ariya Daivari, and Tony Nese.
AEW Women’s Champion Timeless Toni Storm and Mariah May also went up against Leyla Hirsh and Lady Frost for one ferocious fight.
Ospreay and Cage’s round was highly anticipated, with the fight for the title bringing out some incredible moves on both competitors’ playbooks.
"AEW Rampage," which will air next Friday, also filmed Thursday at PPL Center.AEW schedule
Ospreay appeared to play it cool in the beginning, whereas Cage utilized his size for an advantage.
Watch for results
Though pro-wrestling has its babyfaces and heels, fans can be pretty divided on their favorites, and Allentown seemed to be rooting pretty hard for Ospreay.
The crowd erupted into countless chants of his name throughout the match, and at least twice, a child shouted out “You suck like pineapple on pizza” to Cage.
During The Learning Tree’s match against Private Party, Jericho — who is 54 years old and still wrestling - played it relatively safe for the most part, letting Big Bill put in some substantial hits.
Rest assured, Jericho still did a fair amount of damage, though Private Party certainly put up a great fight.
Granted, those were just a few of the myriad matches filmed on Thursday, so between "Collision" and "Rampage," Lehigh Valley wrestling fans had plenty to enjoy, with the shows stretching about four hours combined.
Unfortunately, if you want the results of the show, you’ll have to check out "Collision" on TNT, as we here at LehighValleyNews.com have been sworn to secrecy — even if plenty of other websites may have spoiled the results already.
"AEW Rampage," which will air next Friday, also filmed Thursday at PPL Center.
Matches included Orange Cassidy against The Outrunners, New Japan STRONG Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd and Roderick Strong with The Undisputed Kingdom against The Infantry, New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s El Phantasmo against AR Fox, Queen Aminata against Skye Blue, and more.
So check out either of those shows if you have a chance — you might just catch some LehighValleyNews.com reporters in that crazy crowd.
