To start off with, I’m aware two weeks after the event is the OPTIMAL time to publish a live report. AEW in All In Texas emanated from Arlington, Texas on July 12th, 2025. So of course I plan a family vacation to AUSTIN, Texas on August 15th. I was so close, but so far. I felt like I owed Tony Khan(friend of the site) for not attending his little wrestling show. As luck would have it, my plane to Texas was leaving out of Cincinnati, Ohio at the ass crack of dawn on the 15th and on the 14th AEW is taping AEW Collision in Cincy. That means it’s time for a Violent People Road Report!

We wait for the kids to get home from their second day of school so we can have them miss six school days for a family vacation. Once they’re home, we hit the road! The kids are excited about Austin and somewhat ambivalent toward AEW Collision. I explain that I’ve never seen Hechicero live and this is most likely one of, if not the, last times I’ll see Nigel live. This does not move the needle nearly as much as you’d think.

Several construction zones, a gas station, a rest stop AND a Burger King trip later we are pulling into Cincinnati. Cincy is interesting. It’s probably my seventh favorite Ohio city that starts with a C. For the record:

1. Cleveland(44OH!)

2. Chesapeake

3. Columbus

4. Cleveland Heights

5. Coal Grove

6. Circleville

7. Cincinnati

I don’t have anything against it like I do other cities like Pittsburgh or Atlanta, both literla hells on Earth, but it just never clicked for me. I really think of it most fondly as the place where Kings Island and the airport are located. And the airport is technically in Kentucky!

Upon arrival, and after realizing we have to wake up at 3:30am for our flight, both my niece and nephew turn down second-row seats to AEW Collision. My sister verifies there will be alcohol served and volunteers to go with me. We invite a mutual friend, Taylor, who lives in Cincy and has never watched a single second of pro wrestling. What could go wrong?

We walk up to the Andrew J. Brady Music Center and get a nice view of the production trucks and some talent sneaking in and out of the back door.

We’re approached by an enthusiastic, slightly annoying, but well-meaning man (this is maybe all wrestling fans). He regales us with tales of all the WWE Premium Live Events he’s attended this year. My sister “helpfully” points out that I have a wrestling podcast, Violent People Radio. It turns out he’s a college professor and maybe a new listener.

We go inside and it’s actually a really cool venue that i want to see a band play in rather than watch wrestling, but here we are. I have really nice seats either due to all the money Violent People makes or I was comped by someone I will not out. You be the judge.

I don’t want to talk about wrestling as a business. It disgusts me and I mostly don’t care about it, but the attendance was less than great. Multiple people in my row were from the back of the floor and moved up to fill the empty seats. 

The show is already started and Taylor is alarmed we’re missing something. I assure he it’s just Ring of Honor and we will survive. I immediately stop being snarky when I realize the current match features former AIW tag team champions, Philly Collins and Marino Tenaglia. I grabbed my jack and coke and ran to my seat. Sadly despite a valiant effort they fall to Angelico and Serpico.

Collision proper begins. It starts off with Timeless Toni coming out for a promo. Toni while being an actual good female wrestler is not my cup of tea on the mic. So I was very pleased when Athena came down to beat her ass. Also this is when we discovered they were selling cutwaters in the arena. My sister takes off in search of them.

Death Riders (Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta) vs. JetSpeed (Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey)

Jon Moxley is over in Cincinnati. Who knew? This was a perfect opener. Super hot crowd who cheered for JetSpeed, adored Moxley and maybe most of all hated Yuta. The tag team is such a great use for Bailey and Knight. I think a lot of there stuff can get annoying, but I never felt that here. This was super fast paced and never lost the crowd.  There were lots of Marina shenanigans which eventually lead to Yuta getting the pin. Maybe the only outcome that wouldn’t have resulted in a happy crowd.  This is where my following of AEW at arm’s reach hurts me. I feel like the obvious move is a JetSpeed win, but what do I know?

Ricochet vs Ace Austin

I thought this was inoffensive. Ricochet is doing his best work in years as a heel. I thought I disliked Ace Austin and then I mentioned him in the Violent People Discord (you should join!) and the vitriol that was thrown towards Ace shocked me. This did go on a little long and seemed to mostly serve to try and get Ace Austin over, which is not something I’d do if I was booking a pro wrestling company. He seems like a fine magician though. 

Cutwater update: They do not have the espresso Martinis which are the best flavor, but the Tequilla Margarita is doing its job.

Paragon vs. Christian & Johnson

This crowd didn’t give a fuckkkkkkk about Paragon. Just a silent building. I love Roderick Strong and I’m probably a high vote in Kyle Oreily in the Violent People community, but they didn’t do a damn thing to change the crowds opinion of them. Just a boring, pointless 4 minute match. I immediately need another cutwater and the bartender was happy to oblige, LEMON DROP MARTINI.

FTR Jump Brody Backstage

This backstage beating spills out into the ring. Just wanted to mention this happened so I can say that Brody King fucking rules. 

$100,000 Four-Way: Kris Statlander vs. Anna Jay vs. Julia Hart vs. Penelope Ford

I previously mentioned my friend Taylor being with us. Taylor and I met through softball, and this may surprise you but a large percentage of my female softball friends are lesbians. Taylor is no exception to that. Like I said she hadn’t never watch wrestling before of any kind. This match was a revelation. I can not fairly rate this match because of the pure glee Taylor felt while watching it. She didn’t sit her pervy ass down a single second of the match. My only real critical thought is that Kris Statlander won and at times she looked like clearly the worst wrestler in the match, which is not something I’d expect. Post match i lost count, but I’m pretty sure 36 women wrestlers ran out and Harley Cameron stood tall. 

Juice Robinson vs Bryan Keith

Now we are fucking talking. Some pro fucking wrestlers. To start off the Gunn boy having cardboard cut outs of his brother and Jay White is legit hilarious. Though I don’t think I’d love it if I was the guy in the front row he set them right in front of. This was far too short, but was great stuff while it lasted. Thought it did a great job getting everyone’s character over. Wish BK could’ve got the win, but it is what it is.

Main Event Technical Spectacle: IWGP World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Four Way Match: Nigel McGuinness vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Hechicero vs. Lee Moriarty

This is what got my ass in the seat. The reason I showed up even though I should’ve been resting for my dawn flight. Hechicero and Nigel are two of my all-time favorites, and I’ve been into both Garcia and Lee to varying degrees over the years.

Nigel is a low key(no, not that low-ki) Ohio guy. The dude has wrestled hundreds of matches in the buckeye state. He spent extensive time in Les Thatcher’s HWA, had stints in OVW and CAPW, was the main man at Dayton Ring of Honor shows, and his first two matches against Bryan Danielson were in Cleveland. I don’t know how much of this crowd knew this history, but he was over. 

Having said all that, the highlight of the match was probably my section heckling Nigel into taking his shirt off. I don’t know, I just left this feeling underwhelmed. It feels hacky to say it felt like a high show performance from everyone but that’s what it felt like for a lot of it.

They leaned HARD into the technical spectacle aspect of this to the point of parody. Lots of twisty submission and what not. I don’t want to sound too negative because I was on my feet the whole time thrilled to see my boys do their stuff, there just wasn’t any meat on the bones. Also I knew Nigel was winning, but damn if I wasn’t pulling hard for Hechicero.

All in all a fun match that I would never recommend anyone go out of their way to watch. 

Grabbing one last cutwater we hit the streets, swung on the Cincinnati swings and stayed out much to late being fools. The next morning in line for the TSA Shibata looked even more sleepy than me though, so I’m curious what he got up to that night. 

Post Script: I tried to abandon my family and watch live wrestling in Texas, I really did. Dustin Rhodes promotion was farther from Austin than I was aware and we didn’t have the rental car yet so that was going to be a $50 uber ride. Though in Austin they have WAYMOs, and I don’t want to discuss the ethics of it, but driverless cars are fucking trippy and cool and I love them. I also considered attending Death in The Family, a no ring deathmatch show in a punk rock bar. It started at 5pm, that is way too early for that kind of scene and I couldn’t leave my happy family with the sun shining swimming in Barton Springs to go watch Gary Jay chop a man in a bar. I’m sorry.