On AEW Collision six men competed for a shot at the FTW Championship currently held by Chris Jericho. HOOK, Johnny TV, Bryan Keith, Katsuyori Shibata, Rocky Romero and Boulder battled it out in the Contender Series but only three men walked out with a win. Those three men will move on to next week’s AEW Dynamite where they will compete in a three-way to determine Jericho’s next challenger. HOOK is the obvious choice given his past with both the FTW Championship as a former two-time title holder as well as his brief alliance with Jericho.
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Jericho won the title at AEW Dynasty after hitting the Judas Effect. The match really shocked fans and the decision has remained divisive, but technically speaking, he’s the only man to hold gold in ROH, WWE, AEW WCW, NJPW and ECW. As one of AEW’s originals, Jericho doesn’t foresee himself slowing down anytime soon.ย
With HOOK more focused than ever on beating Jericho, Johnny never really stood a chance, but he did have a distraction in his corner — his wife, Taya Valkyrie. Unfortunately for Johnny, once HOOK gets the Redrum, his finisher, locked in — it’s night night for his opponent. The former FTW Champion’s win-loss record remains one of the best in AEW currently, standing at 51-9.
Shibata and Romero were up next and it was a monumental night for the star who pulls double duty inside of the ring as well as working in the front office in AEW and as the NJOA VP of show and talent coordination. Shibata previously challenged Jericho for the title and thus far is his only defense. Though he came up unsuccessful then, he has another chance to get the gold. The decorated veteran wrestlers haven’t faced off since 2016 at NJPW New Years Dash so they were long overdue for a singles bout in AEW. Shibata would be the one to walk out the clear winner after a submission hold tapped out Romero.
The matches continued to roll over one into the next. Shibata wished Keith luck in his match against Boulder which quickly got underway. The Iron Savages wasted no time trying to put Keith away early, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. Though it was short, Keith came out strong against one of AEW’s bigger threats in size, and if he can overcome that, what’s stopping him from getting that FTW gold?
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