The wrestling-starved market of Vancouver finally received its first-ever visit from All Elite Wrestling with a Collision and Rampage combo broadcast at Rogers Arena on Saturday (May 11) and it seems likely that a non-WWE attendance record was established for British Columbia.
The previous attendance mark for a non-WWE broadcasted show or pay-per-view in B.C. was 6,614 by WCW’s New Blood Rising at the Pacific Coliseum on Aug. 13, 2000.
WrestleTix had reported 6,394 on Saturday morning, with AEW stating on the broadcast that they had 7,000 people in the building. A final number will be released in the coming days.
The significant crowd for AEW comes after WWE had a sell-out crowd of 13,157 at Rogers Arena for Friday Night Smackdown on Jan. 5, 2024. The WWE Friday Night Smackdown on Feb. 14, 2020 also at Rogers Arena saw an announced crowd of 14,382.
AEW’s number also eclipses attendance numbers from WCW Nitro and Thunder shows in Kelowna and Kamloops following New Blood Rising in 2000, as well as WWE Smackdown shows in Kelowna in 2003 and 2004.
Saturday’s show was the most tickets distributed at a Collision this year and the second-highest for any TV taping in 2024.
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The show opened and went right into the wrestling.
Match 1: Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Top Flight
Most of the match saw Danielson matched with Darius Martin and Castagnoli matched with Dante Martin. There were some great strike exchanges with Danielson and Darius and Castagnoli eventually got Dante in the swing followed by a sharpshooter.
The finish came when Danielson nailed Darius with a running knee and Castagnoli hit Darius with a running uppercut at 13:55.
The crowd was red hot for this opener, especially Danielson. He has a long history in the Pacific Northwest and the Vancouver area and has always been popular locally.
Danielson cut a promo after the match praising Top Flight and stating that the Young Bucks are what AEW used to be. He added that Tony Khan has been to every AEW show since the promotion started and the Bucks aren’t even here tonight. Very effective promo and the fans ate it up.
Winners: Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli
Match 2: Will Ospreay vs. Lee Moriarty
The match was Ospreay’s first match in western Canada and just his fourth in Canada.
Roderick Strong joined commentary for this match.
Ospreay and Moriarty had great chemistry, with Ospreay getting the chance to shine with some of his signature spots, but with Moriarty finding ways to slow him down and work on submissions.
A torture rack spinning power bomb got a two-count, followed by an Oscutter attempt that was blocked and reversed by Moriarty into the Border City Stretch. Ospreay rolled out of that and hit the hidden blade followed up by the Stormbreaker for the win at 10:25.
Ospreay’s Vancouver debut was a successful one and he received an enormous reaction. Moriarty played his part well.
Winner: Will Ospreay
Mercedes Mone footage was shown, which was met with boos from the in-arena crowd.
Match 3: Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony vs. Evan Rivers and the Voros Twins
This was a basic squash with the local guys getting decimated. A triple power bomb finished off Rivers, who was pinned by Cage at 1:05.
Cage gets a short promo and states that Swerve was selfish. This brings out Swerve, who jumps the GOA in the ring as Cage went up the ramp to confront Swerve. Swerve destroys both members of GOA as Cage looks on from the ramp.
Another effective segment that was needed after Swerve looked foolish on Dynamite.
After the break a backstage promo with Swerve sees him challenge Cage to a match next week on Dynamite.
Winners: Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony
Match 4: Daniel Garcia vs. KM
Essentially another squash, as Garcia does 10 punches in the corner, a suplex and taps KM out with a sleeper at 2:07.
Garcia was popular with the crowd, but there wasn’t a whole lot to this.
A fan made his way into the ring following this match while Garcia was dancing with the crowd. Security removed the man very quickly.
Winner: Daniel Garcia
Match 5: Dax Harwood vs. Tommy Billington
I question how many in the crowd had any idea who Billington was, as he mostly competes in Calgary. The fans were quiet to begin the match, but full credit to Harwood who got the fans invested and really helped carry Billington to a good match.
Harwood hit a superplex, Billington hit an elbow and headbutt off the top rope.
Harwood went for a piledriver, which Billington turned into a roll-up. Harwood finished the match with a slingshot power bomb at 13:01.
The match itself was good, but it was a little head scratching that a guy in the Anarchy in the Arena match at the next pay-per-view needed that long to beat a relative unknown.
Winner: Dax Harwood
A backstage promo of The Elite aired, which drew some light CM Punk chants from the fans. Okada challenged Harwood to a match on Dynamite, while the Bucks talked trash about Christopher Daniels.
Another backstage promo saw Daniels respond and challenge the Bucks to a match with his partner Matt Sydal. These two segments didn’t generate much excitement for fans in the building.
Match 6: Thunder Rosa vs. Robyn Renegade
Rosa came out with elaborate entrance gear and received a nice pop. She competed in and around Vancouver for many years on the indies and is well-liked locally.
I’m not sure how many people knew who Renegade was, as she doesn’t often wrestle on Dynamite. The crowd dipped quite a bit for this match, probably because they were unaware of who Renegade is. Rosa capitalized on a missed moonsault by Renegade and locked in a seated cobra clutch for the win at 7:38.
Winner: Thunder Rosa
Johnny TV and Taya had a backstage promo, which didn’t generate much of a reaction from the fans.
Hook had a promo on the streets challenging Chris Jericho. This felt like the most Hook has ever spoken.
Match 7: Adam Copeland (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the TNT Championship
They started off with a lot of grapping and Copeland gets boos when he dropkicks O’Reilly to the floor. Copeland stretched O’Reilly across the ring post to more heat.
O’Reilly eventually locks in an armbar, but that is reversed into a crossface by Copeland. O’Reilly hits the rebound lariat after escaping and then locks in a legbar but Copeland reaches the ropes. A big arm DDT off the top rope by O’Reilly is followed by a kidney shot by Copeland that causes O’Reilly to collapse.
Spear is reversed into a guillotine, but Copeland turns that into an impaler DDT and then the spear for the win at 19:35.
Copeland shook O’Reilly’s hand after the match, but then some tension was teased – likely related to Copeland being sprayed in the face by Malakai Black’s mist.
An excellent main event that told a great story. O’Reilly is from Vancouver and is a local legend so to see him get the chance to main event and go 20 minutes was fun.
Winner, and still TNT Champion: Adam Copeland
The Collision show was very good, featured a hot opener and a great main event. Everything in between was solid and rebuilding Swerve was also a good idea.
Most Over:
- Bryan Danielson
- Will Ospreay
- Kyle O’Reilly
Most Heat:
- Adam Copeland (when he heeled on O’Reilly)
- Dax Harwood
- Brian Cage (not a lot of hot heels on this show)
Match of the Night:
Adam Copeland vs. Kyle O’Reilly
