AEW Collision, Battle of the Belts VII Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction, Highlights

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of AEW Collision and Battle of the Belts 7 on July 15 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

AEW put the two shows back to back this week, so we had three hours of wrestling on Saturday night instead of the usual two.

Three titles were on the line during the BOTB special with Toni Storm, Luchasaurus and FTR defending their respective championships.

We also saw the finals of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament for both the men's and women's brackets.

Let's take a look at what happened on this supersized night of AEW action.

Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler kicked off this three-hour special by defending their AEW world tag titles against Jay White and Juice Robinson in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match.

They really took their time getting this match going. Both teams taunted each other and engaged in some mind games before there was any real physicality at about 10 minutes into the show.

Once they got going, their aggression kicked into high gear. This was a long match, so they paced themselves by mixing quick sequences with rest holds and double-team moves.

Switchblade scored the first fall for his team by hitting Wheeler with his finisher and getting the pin. The crowd erupted as the ref counted to three, so both teams clearly had their supporters.

The middle third of this match was all about BCG controlling the pace while FTR struggled to make a comeback. The challengers had Wheeler isolated for a long time before he finally made the hot tag to a fresh Harwood.

The crowd was on its feet as both teams came close to getting a pin several times before FTR evened the score at one fall each by hitting Robinson with a Shatter Machine.

We returned from a break to see all four men fighting around the ring. The announcers said all hell had broken loose during the commercial. Harwood and White even spilled over the barricade into the crowd at one point.

Both teams brought their best to this match and made it incredibly hard for everyone in the locker room to follow this performance. AEW gave them the first hour of Collision and they used every minute to put on a fantastic show for the fans in Calgary.

The ring announcer told us there was only five minutes left. Both teams looked worn out after having tried everything in their respective arsenals. Wheeler and Harwood locked both men in the Sharpshooter at the same time to pop the Canadian fans, but they couldn't keep the holds locked in.

Harwood was able to put Juice in the Sharpshooter one more time to get the submission and win the match with barely any time left on the clock.

Winners: FTR

Grade: A+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Robinson traded the loud pants he has been wearing for some trunks this week. It somehow made him feel less unhinged. 
• The way FTR was showboating early in the match was hilarious. Their Hart family tribute trunks were a nice touch, too. 
• Harwood taunting Juice by grabbing the top rope while he had White in an abdominal stretch was a fun moment between them. 
• The way Robinson sold a chop from Harwood like he was hit by a baseball bat was awesome. 
• Kevin Kelly was in Japan for the G1 Climax tournament in case you were wondering why Ian Riccaboni was on commentary instead. 
• There were a couple of near-falls that Wheeler was supposed to break up, but Dax was forced to kick out because Wheeler was going to be late to break them up. 
• FTR's clothesline and sunset flip combo was a cool spot. 
• White teasing Sweet Chin Music before locking in a Sharpshooter in Calgary was top-level trolling. 

The finals of the women's Owen Hart Cup Tournament took place when Ruby took on Willow in the second match of the night.

Willow established her dominance right away by overpowering Soho multiple times and knocking her down with an easy shoulder tackle.

This was a competitive match once Soho found her footing and figured out how to combat Nightingale's power. She was giving up a lot of size but still managed to put up a realistic fight using her style of offense.

She tried to take a shortcut and handed Willow her spray can to make the ref think she was going to cheat. That allowed Soho to poke her in the eye, but it wasn't enough. Willow hit her with a Pounce and followed up with a huge powerbomb to get the pin and win the tournament.

Tony Khan came out to congratulate Willow as she posed with the belt and trophy on the stage. This was well done. It would have been hard for anyone to follow the tag match, but they did a good job of making this match feel important.

Winner: Willow Nightingale

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Both women had pink and black tribute gear for this match. 
• The way Willow taunts people would work so well for a heel, too. If she ever turns, it's going to be a lot of fun. 
• Willow hit a nice enziguiri.
• She also hit a running powerslam that was clearly a reference to The British Bulldog. 

Malakai Black and Brody King represented The House of Black this week in a tag team match against two local talents.

If there was a wrestling equivalent to watching a lion toy with its prey, this was it. You could tell Black and King could have won at any time, but they wanted to show off a bit.

Once they had decided they were tired of playing with their food, The Kings of the Black Throne scored an easy win. Andrade El Idolo came out to taunt Black as the match was ending. This was longer than a standard squash, but not by much.

Winners: Kings of the Black Throne

Grade: C

The main event of the Collision portion of the show was the men's finals of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament between Punk and Starks.

The bell rang and they immediately locked up so they could start trading wristlocks and counters. The crowd chanted for both men and everyone around the ringside area was on their feet as they continued to trade takedowns and counters.

Punk and Starks kept things simple during the first few minutes of the match and focused on chain wrestling until the crowd calmed down a bit.

Every time Starks got the better of him, The Second City Savior grew more visibly upset. They slowly ramped up the physicality throughout each of the three segments they were given.

Punk played into the boos as he kept taunting the crowd. Starks drilled him with a Spear that sent him out of the ring. He tried for a second Spear, but Punk grabbed him in a guillotine. Starks barely reached the rope with his foot to force a break.

They ended up trading pinning combinations until Starks was able to get the pin with a little help from a ring rope. This was a good way to finish this because it's going to give Punk ammunition to complain while giving Starks the biggest win of his career.

Winner: Ricky Starks

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• The response to Punk was very mixed. Both sides were loud with their cheers and jeers. 
• As the match progressed, you could feel more fans turning against Punk. 
• Starks has great timing with his counters. Little details like that make a match more entertaining without most people even realizing it. 
• There was a weird moment on the stage with Starks taking the trophy from Jushin Thunder Liger. 

The first of three title matches on Battle of the Belts VII was Orange Cassidy vs. Lance Archer for the International Championship.

Predictably, Archer destroyed Cassidy until he was able to make a comeback using his unique style of offense. They fought at ringside and even got a few security guards involved in the action.

Archer is used to having much shorter matches in AEW, but he has established a good reputation as a worker in NJPW and other places, so it was no surprise that he and OC were able to keep this match interesting for as long as they did.

Surprisingly, this match ended in a countout win for Cassidy when he barely beat the count back into the ring after he and Archer brawled on the apron.

Countout wins are rarely entertaining, but something about Cassidy's character makes it work. This kind of protects Archer, too, so it works for everyone.

Winner: Orange Cassidy

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Jake Roberts getting annoyed with the way Cassidy plays mind games was hilarious. 
• Archer exploding from under a pile of security guards was a fun moment. 
• The counter Archer used for the Orange Punch was awesome. The way he pulled Cassidy back up for a second elbow strike was so good. 
• Doing a DDT while staring right at Jake The Snake was a great moment. 

After a short promo from The Acclaimed about accepting QTV's challenge and wanting to pursue the trios titles again, Toni Storm put the AEW women's title on the line against Taya Valkyrie.

Storm rushed Valkyrie as soon as the bell rang and started beating on her in the corner. The challenger fired back and cornered her for a stiff chop that sent Storm out of the ring to regroup with Soho.

Taya had the upper hand as the feed suddenly cut out. After a commercial break, we returned to see a short clip of Julia Hart's match from Rampage. When the show came back, Ian Riccaboni made a joke about the weather affecting the feed during a Toni Storm match.

It feels unfair to grade a match that we didn't get to fully experience. This was an unfortunate thing that can sometimes happen with live TV. Honestly, it's surprising it doesn't happen more often. Humans are dumb. We make mistakes all the time.

They never really confirmed who win, but since AEW did not announce a title change on social media, it can be assumed that Storm retained or they called off the match.

Winner: Unknown

Grade: Incomplete

Notable Moments and Observations

• Valkyrie got a great reaction from her fellow Canadians. 
• It was kind of weird that Soho didn't have anyone from The Outcasts with her for her match against Willow earlier, but that is a minor detail that few will care about. 

The final match of the night was the TNT Championship bout between Luchasaurus and Shawn Spears. As usual, Christian Cage was there holding onto the title belt like it was his own.

The match started with less than 10 minutes left in the broadcast, so we knew we weren't getting a marathon. This was more of a sprint.

Spears made a comeback during the break as Cage paced around at ringside, but it was stopped when Luchasaurus chokeslammed him through a table in the timekeeper's area.

Despite almost winning with some help from a chair, Spears ultimately came up short against the living dinosaur. Luchasaurus hit a huge clothesline to the back of Spears' head for the win.

Winner: Luchasaurus

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Spears had such a cool entrance when he first got to AEW. He should use that again. It would get over so well with the crowd with him working as a babyface now. 
• Scorpio Sky was shown watching from backstage. 
• They finally showed us Storm winning her match with a brief clip after the main event was over. 

While a couple of matches fell short for one reason or another, as a whole, this was an easy three hours of pro wrestling to watch on a Saturday night.

FTR vs. Bullet Club Gold was definitely the Match of the Night and may have even stolen the whole week. All four men should be proud of what they did with their performance.

Both final matches in the Owen Hart Cup Tournament featured some great action and the best outcomes for everyone involved.

The Battle of the Belts portion of the show was fun, but none of the titles felt like they were in danger of changing hands at any point. It would have been a nice way to cap off everything if somebody won a championship.

Grade: A-