It’s the final week of Collision, as the two blocks wrapped up ahead of the semi-finals at Project Nova’s live show next week.
Quick Results
Collision Cup Block B: David Adili pinned Kuro in 7:02 (**¾)
Collision Cup Block A: Nick Schreier and Pahlevan Nima went to a time limit draw in 15:00 (**¾)
We open with a recap of last week’s show, with Alex Duke getting his comeuppance on his way to a loss against Bik Nik… while Joshua Amaru took top spot with a win over Nino Bryant.
Cue titles as Virgil Defour and Sepp Hammer are back on German commentary as we return to die Weiße Rose in Berlin.
We’re straight into promos as Kuro tells us his plan is to give his all – as a win would put him in the semi-finals. Apparently the semis and finals are taking place on the next Nova show, which is next weekend… Meanwhile, David Adili’s got to overcome a rib injury if he’s to win here.
Collision Cup Block B: David Adili vs. Kuro
So the winner of this goes through alongside the undefeated Big Nik…
Adili looked to keep Kuro at close quarters early on, as the pair traded headlock takedowns and escapes before Adili threatened to pull ahead. Chops from Kuro led to him hanging up Adili in a Tree of Woe, with a resulting dropkick getting a near-fall for the Frenchman.
Kuro’s bulldog added another near-fall, but Adili catches Kuro in the ropes with a dropkick to the back. That buys Adili some time, as did a second one, before Adili ran into a leaping stomp… Kuro does the deal seconds later, but the Falcon arrow’s only good for a near-fall, before the pair traded enziguiri.
From there, Adili’s double-underhook just about finds its way into a package tombstone… and that’s enough to get the win in a hard-fought match. Adili makes it through to the semis, while Kuro fell at the final hurdle. **¾
Post-match, Kuro admitted his strategies just didn’t work out for him here… while Adili was counting the injuries that he hoped would heal before the semis.
We then jump to Nick Schreier vowing to make it to the semi-finals, while Pahlevan Nima said he must beat Nick to make it into the next phase… and take home the money that came with it.
Collision Cup Block A: Nick Schreier vs. Pahlevan Nima
This one started off with both men looking for flash pins, as Nima, then Schreier scored roll-ups for two-counts.
Schreier fakes out Nima on a kick to the back after a snapmare, before he scored a bunch of armdrags, then a dropkick to take Nima outside. Nima backs off, looking more than happy to take his time coming back, so Schreier gives chase… and avoided an elbow drop as they made it back inside.
Ducking a chop, Schreier went up for a springboard armdrag, but Nima cuts him off and launched in with a barrage of forearms into the corner as he began to rough up Schreier. A swinging Fisherman neckbreaker gets Nima a two-count, as he continued to wear down Schreier… whose jawbreaker broke him free of a chinlock.
Nima’s ankle to fight back with an Olympic Slam for a near-fall as background timechecks threatened to stick-out like a sore thumb. We’re back to the chinlock from Nima, who pulled further ahead with a hanging DDT off the top rope for a near-fall as Schreier refused to stay down.
Schreier chucks Nima outside, then saw his dive cut off with some uppercuts… before he low bridged Nima back to the outside as a tope finally connected. Back inside, Schreier scored a reverse Slingblade facebuster for a near-fall, before he scored with his take on the Destino. Nima rolls to the outside, before he fought back with some right hands as we headed into the final thirty seconds of the time limit… with a double crossbody leaving both men laying as we hit time.
They call the match a no-contest, but then the voice of the Gods decreed we’d be getting five more minutes… and it’s Schreier who drew first blood in overtime with a Slingblade, then with a crossbody off the top as Nima was forced to kick out. Responding, Nima trips Schreier into the ropes, then scored with a Zig Zag-like neckbreaker for a near-fall, before the pair resumed trading strikes.
Nima and Schreier fight on the top rope… but a headbutt from Schreier saw him knock Nima into some of the gathered ring crew. Schreier took a fall as well, as the referee began to start a count-out… but her count’s stopped when both men slid under the bottom rope just before we hit ten. Overhand chops and forearms see the pair find a second wind, but a double clothesline left the pair down as we hit the final minute.
Nima gets an arm over Schreier to get a two-count, before Nick kicked out and returned the favour. A double dropkick misses, and we’re back to the counting as the pair measured each other up… and froze as time ran out. The final decision sees both men score a point after a match that wouldn’t have been telegraphed as a draw had they not done the frequent time checks (or indeed, done time checks on other matches!) For me, that overshadowed the main event, which was real good, but the time checks took me out of the moment. **¾
Virgile Defour tells us Nima and Schreier both qualified for the semi-finals on June 17, as the show ended with the pair celebrating…
So, your final standings, with Nino Bryant, Kuro and Alex Duke missing out…
Block A
Amaru (2-1 / 4pts)
Nima, Schreier (1-1-1 / 3pts)
Bryant (1-2 / 2pts)
Block B
Nik (3-0 / 6pts)
Adili (2-1 / 4pts)
Kuro (1-2 / 2pts)
Duke (0-3 / 0pts)
As a six-parter, Collision was a good little series to set up matches for June’s Project Nova show – and should be a format that could easily be repeated with similar results in future years. Just lay of the obvious set-ups for draws!