There was a notable title change that happened on Saturday’s episode of AEW Collision, and an injury may have played a factor in it.
In the opening contest, Ricky Starks & Big Bill defeated FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Championships. Following the show, there had been speculation about FTR’s AEW status.
Fightful reported the tag team is under contract through 2027, and they won’t be leaving the promotion, something Dax Harwood later noted on Twitter.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez talked about the title change, with it being noted that Cash Wheeler is injured.
Alvarez: “We got Collision to talk about and it was newsworthy in the sense….we have new tag team champions and I saw the first I’ve seen half of the show. I haven’t seen the second half, so you can talk about that. But the show opens with the usual promos from everybody who’s going to be on the show. And man, let me tell you that FTR promo that they did, oh my God, they just were so depressed. And the whole promo is just basically they’re going, ‘We’re beat up, we’re smashed, we’re broken down, we’re hurting, but we’re going to win.’ That’s just watching this going, ‘Uh, tell me you’re losing without telling me you’re losing here, guys.’ And in fact, they came out and they lost because apparently…..”
Meltzer: “Not just that they lost. It was a four-minute match and they just got squashed.”
Alvarez: “Well, Cash is injured.”
Meltzer: “That’s what it sure appeared to be.”
Alvarez: “Well, he is injured. That’s the story. And the story they told on television was at the pay-per-view when Aussie Open ran them together. They sold it like he’d injured his rib there. And he essentially sold his ribs throughout the match. But they beat up Cash immediately. And then he did take a chokeslam through the table, but he never got in the ring again. Yeah. And they just beat up Dax and they beat him up. Beat him up, beat him up, beat him up. And then Big Bill. It was Big Bill and Ricky Starks against FTR. Big Bill gives Dax the Chokeslam. Ricky says one more time he gives him a second chokeslam. He goes one more time, he gives him a third chokeslam then Ricky asks for the tag and they hit the combo spear and pinned him. So Ricky Starks and Big Bill are the new tag team champions. Don’t know how long FTR is going to be out of action, but that’s the story. So they changed the titles.”
Meltzer: “Man. That’s a lot of injuries there.”
Alvarez: “They got a lot of injuries in this company. Yeah.”
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