After several weeks of quarter and semi-final matches the July 15th episode of AEW Collision hosted the finals of the Owen Hart Tournament featuring CM Punk vs Rick Starks and Ruby Soho vs Willow Nightingale.
In the first final of the night, Soho took on Nightingale in the women’s Owen Hart competition. After tasting defeat in last year’s tournament final against Britt Baker, Soho was determined to win and attempted some underhanded tactics to do so. However, Nightingale was able to persevere and take out her opponent with the Doctor Bomb for the win and the Owen Hart Foundation trophy.
The main event featured CM Punk taking on Starks in the men’s tournament final. Punk entered to a chorus of boos and cheers, however, the crowd was fully behind Starks.
Punk played heel throughout the match and every ode to Bret The Hitman Hart was loudly jeered by the Canadian crowd. The heel tactics deployed by Punk clearly angered Starks who did everything he could to defeat the former World Champion.
Ricky Starks Wins The AEW Owen Hart Cup In Controversial Fashion
Your 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Men's bracket winner is Ricky Starks!
Join us immediately following AEW Collison for Battle of the Belts VII for an official ceremony with Martha Hart.
Watch #AEWCollision on TNT! pic.twitter.com/IN49yCZq8m
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 16, 2023
As the match reached its crescendo the two competitors entered a series of quick near falls, which saw Starks blatantly grab the ropes for leverage and the controversial victory.
Starks departed quickly and as the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger waited to present the winner with the trophy, Starks unceremoniously snatched it out of his hands before taking his leave.
The action-packed show also saw FTR and Bullet Club Gold clash in an epic best 2-out-of-3-falls match for Tag Team Championships.
The tag team classic opened the show and immediately featured intense back-and-forth action between the two teams as they fought to get the upper hand early on.
The first fall was won by BCG after White pinned Wheeler with Switchblade around the 30-minute mark. After going 0-1 down the champs came back with a renewed vigor and took the match to the villainous duo, but no matter what FTR did to White they just couldn’t put him away and an enthralling series of near falls followed that whipped the crowd into a frenzy. However, their tirade of offense finally paid off when they leveled the match by pinning Robinson with the Shatter Machine.
As the match reached the 60-minute mark Dax Hardwood locked Robinson into a Sharpshooter to win the third and final fall and retain the title in an absolute classic.