AEW Collision, Battle of the Belts XII Results: Winners, Live Grades and Highlights

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Collision and Battle of the Belts on October 19.

Here's a look at what AEW advertised for the show:

• Ricochet vs. AR Fox
• Kyle Fletcher vs. Atlantis Jr. 
• The Outrunners vs. LFI
• Orange Cassidy vs. Bulk Bronson
• Premier Athletes vs. Private Party and Daniel Garcia
• Harley Cameron vs. Kris Statlander
• BCC vs. Top Flight and Action Andretti
• Mariah May vs. Anna Jay
• Kazuchika Okada vs. Kyle O'Reilly
• Jamie Hayter and House of Black in action

Let's take a look at what went down on Saturday night.

After a promo from Jon Moxley, Ricochet and Fox met for the first match of the night.

These two are very similar in a lot of ways. Both of them are versatile performers who seem to be able to ignore gravity when they want to.

Even though they had some fast-paced sequences, it didn't feel rushed. They made sure to slow down and sell here and there so they could pick up the pace again.

They were met with "Fight forever" chants from an excited crowd. After a hard-fought 15-minute fight, Ricochet won with his Vertigo finisher.

It was great to see Fox get some TV time even in a loss. He is one of those guys who never fails to perform at a high level.

Result: Ricochet defeated Fox

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• It's been a few months but Collision without Elton John still feels wrong. 
• It was nice to see Fox on TV and actually getting a televised entrance. It feels like he has been wasted in AEW over the past year. 
• Ricochet did a slow lap around the ring and then acted surprised when Fox made him pay for it. 

Statlander and Cameron began by locking fingers for a test of strength, but Cameron tried to take the low road only for Stat to overpower her.

This wasn't a very long match but it was long enough for both competitors to get in a few good moves. Even with Cameron's inexperience, this wasn't bad. It just wasn't enough to be very good either.

Statlander won clean in a few minutes and then demanded a mic. She called out Kamille for a match to see who was truly the strongest woman in AEW.

Result: Statlander defeated Cameron

Grade: C-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Cameron has only had 17 matches in AEW and has made noticeable improvements every time she has stepped into the ring. 
• It's so weird how AEW just started booking Stat as a babyface again with no explanation. 

Daniel Garcia teamed up with Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy to take on Josh Woods, Tony Nese and Ari Daivari in trios action.

Nese pounced on Zay as soon as the bell rang to take control. The Premier Athletes cornered him for some double-team offense before he used his agility to hit a nice combo wristlock and headscissor takeover on Nese and Daivari at the same time.

Kassidy was legal for a long time and took a lot of damage before he was finally able to tag in a partner. Stokely Hathaway watched from the ramp as Garcia helped his team take over.

Private Party was able to secure the victory with Gin and Juice on Woods. This was a solid trios bout that had some fun moments. Garcia is growing into a main event star in front of our eyes and it's entertaining to watch.

Result: Garcia and Private Party defeated Premier Athletes

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Garcia was wearing a shirt with an AEW logo instead of his own merch. 
• Kassidy's wristlock and headscissor takeover looked great. 
• Private Party's silly string move is too slow. If they could pull it off quicker, it would be fine, but the way they do it makes their opponent look dumb for not avoiding it. 

Cassidy started his match with Bulk by knocking Jacked Jameson off the apron with an Orange Punch before he beat Bronson with the same move in about 20 seconds.

Result: Cassidy defeated Bronson

Grade: Incomplete

Hayter was in action this week against Brooke Havoc. This was a quick bout that was over in less than two minutes thanks to a Hayterade clothesline.

Penelope Ford gave a promo directed at Hayter and expressed frustration about being out for two years and not being welcomed back the same way Hayter was.

Result: Hayter defeated Havoc

Grade: Incomplete

Notable Moments and Observations

• Jacked Jameson was getting zero reactions during his promo. 
• Havok got a nice reaction from the crowd during her intro. 
• Two squash matches in a row should never happen. 

Atlantis Jr. took on the man he beat for the ROH TV title a few months ago, Fletcher.

The Protostar came out with Don Callis, who joined the commentary table to watch his client. Fletcher was aggressive out of the gate and used his ring jacket to blind the luchador so he could take control immediately.

Fletcher tried to rip off Atlantis's mask during the break, but it seemed to fire the high-flyer up to make a comeback.

This was a physical and competitive bout that allowed both men to look good, which was kind of surprising. AEW clearly wants to push Fletcher, so it wouldn't have been surprising if he easily dominated this match.

Atlantis came close to winning with a nice inside cradle, but Fletcher kicked out and spiked him with a brutal DDT. He scored the win with a brainbuster on the top turnbuckle.

Result: Fletcher defeated Atlantis

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Fletcher is slowly transforming into an anime villain. 
• Atlantis hit a nice plancha that Fletcher caught perfectly. 
• A brainbuster on the apron is a nasty move. It looked good but also dangerous. 
• The brainbuster on the top turnbuckle looked even more brutal. 

Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews took on three local talents in the third squash match on the card. House of Black toyed with them a bit before winning with ease.

Result: House of Black won

Grade: Incomplete

Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd were looking to continue building momentum, but Rush and Beast Mortos were standing in their way.

Mortos and Magnum started off charging each other like bulls. After a leapfrog, Magnum took him down with a dropkick.

Floyd and El Toro Blanco had a nice exchange of chops. The Outrunners were over with the crowd, but that didn't help them avoid interference from Dralistico.

This match was highly entertaining, especially if you like fun gimmick mixed with classic tag team wrestling strategies. This match may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the live crowd was having a blast.

Rush was able to win thanks to some help from Dralistico, but they weren't done there. LFI attacked The Outrunners until FTR made the save.

Result: LFI defeated The Outrunners

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Thunder Rosa gave an interview backstage. Her face paint was awesome. 
• The Outrunners got a great reaction from the crowd. 
• Jake Roberts gave a promo earlier in the show but was not at ringside for this bout. 
• Mortos almost missed a senton from the top rope completely. He barely made contact with Magnum. 
• The hot tag from Magnum to Floyd was a fun spot. 

The main event of the Collision portion of the show saw Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli and Pac defend the trios titles against Action Andretti, Dante and Darius Martin.

The most notable thing about this match was Yuta's increased intensity. Now that he is firmly on Jon Moxley's side after his feud with Bryan Danielson, Yuta is embracing his heel side.

With a few high-flyers, a couple of technicians and a powerhouse, this match had a little bit of everything. Both teams had some great spots and worked together well to put on an exciting performance.

Pac ended up getting the win for his team with a jumping tombstone piledriver. The match was over in about 10 minutes, but they packed a lot into that time.

Mox came out as BCC continued attacking their fallen opponents. Lio Rush and Leila Grey tried to help but were taken out, too. The Dark Order ran down to the ring but was quickly beaten up.

Result: BCC defeated Top Flight and Andretti

Grade: B+

Moxley told the ref to get back in the ring because BCC was going to defend the trios titles again against Dark Order.

This was just an excuse to show that BCC was a dominant force, so it wasn't exactly competitive. Castagnoli made Alex Reynolds tap to a Sharpshooter for the win.

Moxley and company finally left when several people showed up to drive them away.

Result: BCC defeated Dark Order

Grade: C

Notable Moments and Observations

• Andretti's springboard moonsault looked about as good as possible. 
• Bryce Remsburg needs to calm down. He gets way too animated sometimes and it can be distracting. 
• John Silver hit Castagnoli with a chair square on the back. It was a loud hit. 

The Continental Championship was on the line when Okada defended the belt against O'Reilly.

The crowd broke into dueling chants as they locked up and began trading holds and counters. They spent some time feeling each other out, so the pace was slow at first.

This was a strong performance from both men, and it's even more impressive when you realize this is the first time they have had a match.

KOR is one of those guys who is lauded for his skill but is still somehow underrated. He can have a great match with anyone but never seems to get that main event push.

This ended up being the best bell-to-bell performance of the night by a large margin. This bout would have been at home on any PPV card, so getting it for free on TV was great.

It took almost the full 20 minutes, but Okada picked up a win with a Rainmaker clothesline.

Result: Okada defeated KOR

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Okada gets new gear less often than anyone else in AEW. 
• The way O'Reilly transitions from one hold to another is always so smooth. 
• The way Okada stayed in position on the apron to KOR could hit a knee strike was weird. He was just sitting their watching O'Reilly and didn't even try to avoid it. 

Brian Cage and Lance Archer had their first match as a new tag team this week against Jon Cruz and Jack Cartwheel. Callis's new duo picked up an easy squash victory.

Result: Cage and Archer won

Grade: Incomplete

The main event for the Battle of the Belts hour saw May take on Jay in a Women's Championship Eliminator match.

May had a slight size and power advantage, but not much, so this felt like a fair fight instead of one of them being an underdog.

They went back and forth so it never felt like one of them was dominating the match. Jay looked especially aggressive with some of her strikes, which seemed to come after her recent stint in Japan.

This wasn't a showstopping performance, but it was a solid bout that highlighted two young women who are ahead of the curve.

In a somewhat surprising outcome, Jay pinned May and earned a title shot on Dynamite in two weeks on Halloween Eve.

Result: Jay defeated May

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Cage and Archer didn't really have entrance music. It was kind of a generic low tone meant to instill fear, but it just came across as low-effort. 
• Cage and Archer tried to combine a Blackout with a powerbomb but it didn't look very good. 
• May and Jay's gear was similar in design but different colors. They almost looked like they could be the light and dark side of the same tag team. 

We all know AEW likes to pack PPVs with more than a dozen matches, but that is because the show is going to be five hours long.

This week's combination of Collision and Battle of the Belts crammed 13 matches into three hours. It made a lot of what we saw forgettable.

Four of those 13 bouts were squashes that did little to help anyone involved. If AEW had taken all of that time and put on one good, long match, it would have been much better.

All that said, this show had some good stuff. The trios title bout was fun, May and Jay had a genuinely surprising outcome, The Outrunners got to have some fun, and Ricochet and Fox kicked things off with a high-energy encounter.

When it comes to the Match of the Night, Okada and O'Reilly stole the show. It was almost 20 minutes of great wrestling with no shenanigans. You can't ask for much more.

While some of what aired was worth seeing, this show as a whole fell short because it felt like too much was going on without any of it feeling important.

Grade: C