AEW Collision Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights from Sept. 23

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Collision on September 23.

This week's show continued the buildup for the WrestleDream pay-per-view on September 23, but we also saw a couple of matches that will have nothing to do with the PPV.

Two title bouts took place on Saturday. Not only did we see FTR defend the AEW tag titles against The Workhorsement, but we also saw Luchasaurus defend the TNT Championship in a triple threat match against Darby Allin and Christian Cage.

In non-title action, Jay White battled Andrade El Idolo, Hook teamed up with RVD to take on Matt Menard and Angelo Parker, and Ricky Starks faced Bryan Danielson in a Texas Death Match.

Let's take a look at everything that happened on Saturday's episode of Collision.

This week's Collision kicked things off with the TNT title triple threat match. Even though Luchasaurus and Christian were technically opponents, they made their entrance together. For all intents and purposes, this was a handicap match.

Allin used his high-risk, high-impact style to keep his opponents at bay, but after they managed to take control, Cage and Luchasaurus began punishing the former TNT champion.

When Luchasaurus was about to make a cover, Cage told him Allin deserved more punishment. As soon as the champion was out of the ring, Captain Charisma tried and failed to get the pin.

Sting was barred from ringside, but Allin kept finding ways to make a comeback and get the crowd on its feet. However, he was not the man who left with the belt.

After Allin hit a Coffin Drop on Luchasaurus, Cage threw him out of the ring and covered the champion himself to get the pin and win the belt.

It feels like a lot of people knew Cage would leave with the title, but how we got there was the mystery. Cage embraced Luchasaurus after the match and they seemed to be on good terms, but time will tell if The Living Dinosaur will continue to put up with him or leave him in the dust.

Even though this was somewhat predictable, the journey to the finish was fun. This was the kind of match that made the price of admission worth it for the live crowd.

Winner: Christian Cage

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• How is AEW not selling a turtleneck for Christian on its website?
• The way Allin took an Irish whip into the steel steps looked weird. He just sort of flipped over the steps instead of making it look like he hit them. 

Hook teamed up with another former ECW star when he and RVD took on Daddy Magic and Cool Hand Ang in a tag team match. Anna Jay and Jake Hager were there with their fellow former JAS members.

Hook and RVD took control early and kept the upper hand until the show went to a break. During the picture-in-picture segment, Menard and Parker were able to get in some offense against the FTW champion.

When RVD got the tag, he hit all of his usual signature moves, including a spin kick to send a chair into the face of Hager. Hook held Parker down in Red Rum while RVD hit Menard with the Five-Star Frog Splash for the win.

This was fun for what it was, which was a random tag match featuring a rising star and a popular legend that would always get a pop from the crowd. This was predictable but still enjoyable.

Winners: Hook and RVD

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Christian's post-match interview with Tony Schiavone was hilarious. Schiavone also announced that Cage and Allin would meet at WrestleDream in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the belt. 
• There were chants for RVD before the match even got started. He is still over with most wrestling fans judging from the reactions he has gotten in AEW. 
• Parker is a great hand in the ring. It would be great if he was given more chances to have singles matches in AEW or ROH. 

After Willow Nightingale was taken out before the show by Julia Hart, Kiera Hogan stepped in to face her in a singles match.

Hogan was aggressive right out of the gate, but Hart was able to get the upper hand as Brody King cheered her on from ringside.

The former Baddie made a comeback, but it wasn't enough. In the end, Hart scored the win and then attacked Hogan until Skye Blue made the save. Hart blew the black mist in Blue's face before King delivered a promo to put Hart over and challenge Kris Statlander for the TBS title at WrestleDream.

This whole ending was almost exactly like what we saw on Rampage but with a few people shuffled around in different places. The match was decent, but the promo after it was the best part.

Winner: Julia Hart

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• We found out Eddie Kingston will defend his ROH world and NJPW openweight titles against Katsuyori Shibata at WrestleDream during a video package. 
• Why is King the only member of House of Black who accompanies Hart to the ring?
• Hart's standing moonsault looked good. 
• The Righteous got a special video package after this match was over. 

El Idolo finally got a chance to get his hands on White this week, but he also had the rest of Bullet Club Gold at ringside causing trouble.

Both of these men have worked in a lot of the same places, but this was the first time they have ever been in the ring together, so they were looking to make a good impression and make this match memorable.

Switchblade and El Idolo are in their prime and among the top competitors in the world, so they probably could have put on a good match without even breaking a sweat. Thankfully for us, they put in the effort to make this better than anything else on the show up to that point.

Juice Robinson got involved while the ref was distracted and took out El Idolo so White could hit the Blade Runner for the win. The outcome leaves it open for a rematch, but this was a good outing either way.

Winner: Jay White

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• El Idolo always has awesome entrance gear. He has really stepped it up since returning a few months ago. 
• White has a clean DDT. 
• Some of the chops both men were hitting looked and sounded very stiff. Andrade's chest was looking a little red after an exchange late in the match. 

Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher came out to watch The Workhorsemen take on FTR for the AEW Tag Team Championships.

These are four guys who like to have physical fights, and they did not disappoint in this match. The crowd was loving every second of this, but JD Drake's massive moonsault probably got the biggest pop.

This match was short, but it was fun from bell to bell. FTR retained the titles before the show even had a chance to have a commercial break, but it was a fun sprint and definitely put some eyes on a great tag team in The Workhorsemen.

Winners: FTR

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Davis and Fletcher were wearing some nice suits instead of their usual ring gear. It was weird to see them so dressed up. 
• Drake's moonsault was awesome. Check out that clip if you haven't seen it. 

The main event of the night was a Texas Death Match between Starks and Danielson. This feud had been building for weeks, so this was where it was all supposed to come to a head.

They wasted no time taking the fight out of the ring and into the crowd. Danielson was throwing drinks and garbage on Starks as he beat him throughout the crowd.

Starks hit a huge dive from the top rope onto The American Dragon and a few members of security sending almost all of them over the guardrail into the crowd.

Starks drew first blood when he hit Danielson with the ring bell, so he started focusing all of his offense on his opponent's head.

This was basically a Last Man Standing match, so they had to keep their opponent down for a 10-count to secure a victory.

Both men brought their A-game for this match and delivered a performance that probably should have been on a PPV without commercials. They both came close to winning at different times, but it was Danielson stomping Starks into the mat and hitting a chain-assisted running knee for the win.

Winner: Bryan Danielson

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Starks changed up his gear for this match. He was wearing long tights and a tank top instead of his usual trunks. 
• Starks started walking on a handrailing and then realized Danielson was too far away, so he hopped down. It looked like he was supposed to hit a dive off the railing but it wasn't timed properly. 
• Starks might be the heel but he was getting a lot of cheers, even against a popular star like Danielson. 
• Nigel McGuinness being petty about Danielson is always going to be funny. 

This week's Collision featured a much stronger card than Friday's special two-hour Rampage, so it felt like a big improvement from night to night.

Danielson and Starks closed the show with a fun and bloody Texas Death Match, but White and El Idolo might have had a better match from a technical perspective. They were very different performances, so it's hard to compare them fairly.

Hart continues her path toward winning her first title in AEW, Christian winning the TNT Championship felt like a natural progression of his storyline, and The Workhorsemen left a lasting impression with just a few minutes to work with FTR.

All in all, this was a great way to cap off this week of wrestling.

Grade: B+