The July 8th episode of AEW Collision saw both semi-finals of the Men’s Owen Hart Tournament take place and the finalists set.
In the first match of the night, Ricky Starks defeated Powerhouse Hobbs to progress to the finals of the tournament. The victory came after a hard-fought match in which the two former Team Taz stablemates went back and forth in an intense fight. Starks took advantage of some mistimed interference from QT Marshall to hit a spear for the win.
After the match, Hobbs looked to take out his frustrations on QT, however, Aaron Solo stood in his way only to suffer a spine buster for his troubles. Then Harley Cameron came to save QT from the wrath of Hobbs, who left the ring seething with anger.
The main event of the show saw CM Punk take on his long-time rival Samoa Joe. This was the fourth time in professional wrestling history the two had met in the ring in singles action and the first time Punk emerged victorious.
After a gruelling outing that was dominated by Joe, Punk managed to weather the storm of violence and catch his opponent with a roll-up for the win thus booking himself in the finals.
CM Punk Set For The AEW Owen Cup Tournament Finals
CM Punk finally does it and gets the victory against Samoa Joe!
Now CM Punk takes on Ricky Starks next week on #AEWCollision in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament finals.
Watch #AEWCollision LIVE on TNT!@CMPunk | @SamoaJoe#OwenHartFoundationTournamentpic.twitter.com/bYrKZH2GQO
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 9, 2023
Following the match, Joe extended his hand in a show of respect toward Punk. The ROH Television Champion then shook Punk’s hand only to snatch him into the Coquina Clutch while screaming “I’ve always been better than you!”
Joe then went to grab a chair to add insult to injury but was thwarted b the arrival of FTR while Starks looked on from the entrance ramp.
The tournament final between CM Punk and Ricky Starks goes down on the July 15th edition of Collision.
The show will also see the finals of the women’s tournament with the finalists set to be confirmed on the July 12th edition of Dynamite.
The show also saw Bullet Club Gold – Jay White and Juice Robinson defeat FTR in a thrilling World Tag Team Title Eliminator encounter and Scorpion Sky made his long-awaited return to the ring to defeat Action Andretti in a high-octane outing.