AEW Collision Holiday Bash live results: Mercedes Mone title defense
Multi-promotional champion Mercedes Mone will put her RevPro Undisputed Women’s Championship on the line as part of today’s Holiday Bash edition of AEW Collision from Manchester, England.
Mone issued an open challenge to a local competitor during Wednesday’s Dynamite/Collision that will be answered today.
Two pivotal Continental Classic Gold league matches will take place in the tournament’s final week as 2024 tournament winner Kazuchika Okada goes one-on-one with Kevin Knight while “Speedball” Mike Bailey faces “Jungle” Jack Perry.
Eddie Kingston will look to rebound from his loss to AEW World Champion Samoa Joe as he faces Nathan Cruz to round out the one hour show.
Our coverage begins at 2:30 PM Eastern.
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Jack Perry (0) vs. Mike Bailey (6) in a C2 Gold League Match
The fans in Manchester loved Jack Perry, and they also loved sportsmanship as they sung Perry’s theme and cheered the handshake between the two babyfaces. Keeping up with Mike Bailey is hard, but Perry did so in the early portion, but Perry showed signs of his ankle hurting, referencing his injury he received against Kazuchika Okada. Perry dodged a handspring attack from Bailey, but Bailey immediately hit a series of kicks. Perry hit the ropes, looking to hit a dive on Bailey, but Bailey hopped up onto the top rope as Perry slid under the rope sand hit a moonsault. Perry dumped Bailey onto the stairs to leave him laying as they went to commercial break.
When they came back, Bailey and Perry were brawling in the ring, and Bailey missed his moonsault into double knees on the apron, allowing Perry to hit a Canadian Destroyer on the apron. Perry missed a double stomp in the ring, landing on his bad ankle. Bailey went for a kick in the corner in response, but Perry dodged and hit a German suplex for a 2-count. Perry was unable to bridge properly due to his ankle. Perry charged Bailey, but Bailey hit a thrust kick and went for the Flamingo Driver, but Perry escaped and they started exchanging holds until Perry locked on the snare trap, but Bailey made the ropes.
Bailey countered another snare trap attempt into a cradle, but Perry kicked out. Bailey hit a forearm and a hard kick before going for the moonsault into the double knees on Perry, but Perry got his legs up, and Bailey took the full impact on his knees. Bailey hit a spinning kick but missed an Ultima Weapon and Perry hit an Olympic slam for the win.
Result: Jack Perry (3) defeated Mike Bailey (6)
Really solid match here as Mike Bailey continues to be great and Jack Perry is really coming into his own as a babyface now.
Eddie Kingston vs. Nathan Cruz (w/ The Grizzled Young Veterans)
GYV attacked Kingston before the match started, sending him back into the ring, allowing Cruz to hit a slingshot back suplex on Kingston to open the match attacking. Kingston fired up and hit a lariat and then the continual chops in the corner before hitting a neckbreaker. GYV tried to distract Kingston again, but it did not last long as Kingston hit an exploder and a DDT on Cruz for the pinfall victory, ending the match almost as quickly as it started.
Result: Eddie Kingston defeated Nathan Cruz
Kingston was very fired up in this match, and he looked great. Cruz bumped well for him, and has a good look. I remember seeing him years ago when I watched the early PROGRESS wrestling shows, and he seems to fit well with AEW. A group with him and GYV would be a trio I could get behind.
–A recap video aired of the C2 results from Dynamite.
Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Alex Windsor for the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship
Windsor and Mone wasted no time at all in this match, wrestling aggressively, countering attacks from each other, including Windsor rolling through a meteora on the apron into a sharpshooter on the apron. Windsor. Back in the ring, Mercedes hit a backstabber and a kick to the head on Windsor just before going to an ad break.
Mone was hitting the three amigos when they came back to break, but before the third amigo, Windsor sent Mercedes back to the corner. Mercedes tried to hit something off the middle ropes, but Mercedes hit a forearm. Mercedes and Windsor exchanged a few more moves before Mercedes locked on a crossface. Windsor fought out, but Mercedes transitioned that into a crucifix bomb and hit a meteora for a 2-count.
Windsor and Mone fought on the middle rope until Windsor hit a blue thunder bomb off the middle rope into the ring for a 2-count. Mone went for a statement maker, but after a shuffle, Windsor locked Mercedes Mone into a crucifix and scored a pinfall, as Mone lost two of her belts that make up the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship.
Result: Alex Windsor defeated Mercedes Mone
These two women wrestled a a frantic pace throughout this match. It made it a bit hard to follow given the pace, but they never really slowed down the entire match. Very action packed, and with a very big loss for Mone here. Windsor’s son came into the ring to celebrate with his mom in a very sweet moment.
–A video recap aired of the contract signing for the world title match at AEW World’s End, including MJF returning and how he was inserting himself into the title match to reclaim the world title he lost at World’s End two years ago.
Kevin Knight (3) vs. Kazuchika Okada (6) in a C2 Gold League Match
This match is a very interesting one to me, as both Okada and Knight are incredible athletes, with similar leaping abilities. Knight flipped Okada off, leading to Okada smiling and both men starting to brawl on the floor with forearms. Knight, at least early on, did not look out of place against Okada. He may be young and still improving, but he is really coming into his own as a worker, and matches with guys like Okada are only going to make him better.
Okada and Knight continued the forearm battle in the middle of the ring, ending with Okada hitting a hard forearm. Okada went for the Rainmaker, and Knight jumped over the arm of Okada to dodge it. Okada baited Knight into a spring board from the opposite side of the ring, but didn’t jump, forcing Knight to jump into the middle of an empty ring. Okada cackled on the apron, but was soon knocked off by Knight, who then hit a springboard lariat to the outside on Okada that sent him crashing into the announcers table.
When they came back from the break Okada had Knight in a rear chinlock. Knight hit a crossbody on Okada from the middle ropes, and Okada took it, but rolled Knight off his body, forcing a battle back on their feet. Knight hit a splash in the corner, a bodyslam, and a standing splash for a 2-count on Okada. As Knight went for a springboard into the ring Okada shoved the referee into the ropes to trip him, and Okada hit a neckbreaker across his knee before hitting an elbow drop off the top rope. Okada went for the Rainmaker, but Knight countered and hit a sky high powerbomb for a 2-count.
Knight went for the UFO splash, but Okada got his knees up, and Knight crashed to the mat. Okada went for a tombstone, but Knight countered out of it. Okada then did a backslide instead, but flipped Knight onto his feet with it and hit a Rainmaker. Okada missed a Rainmaker attempt, but Okada hit the dropkick as Knight came off the ropes. Knight got up and hit a dropkick of his own before hitting a ripcord DDT and a springboard lariat. Knight went for the coast to coast dropkick on Okada, but as Knight flew into the air Okada stood up and hit a dropkick that dropped Knight. That was incredible. Okada went for the Rainmaker and Knight countered it again, but Okada responded with a wheelbarrow suplex. Okada held onto Knight and tried for the Rainmaker again, but Knight cradled Okada and scored the flash pinfall!
Result: Kevin Knight (6) defeated Kazuchika Okada (6)
This was a fantastic match. Okada is on fire in this tournament this year, putting on some of the best matches he has had in AEW, and he seems intent on making everyone he works with look like a million bucks. Excellent main event match between Okada and Knight, with the biggest win of Knight’s career as he beat a huge main event star.
Final Thoughts
This was one of the easiest hours of wrestling television to watch that I have seen in a very long time. There was zero wasted time on this show, the crowd was still hot despite taping after Dynamite, and we had some major matches in the C2 as there are 5 people tied for first in the Gold League. I love the round robin format, and while this is shorter than the G1 that inspired it, it captures all the fun of the G1 with all the different possibilities about who is winning each league. These kind of tournaments, when booked right, are the most fun stories to follow as a wrestling fan, as every match matters, and everyone, even people eliminated, can play spoiler. Excellent AEW Collision today.
C2 Gold League Standings
Josiah has been writing for WON/F4W for several years now, from initially covering Lucha Underground, to TNA Impact, and now filling in where ever needed.