Darby Allin crashes and burns in the Grand Slam world title eliminator tournament

Tonight’s (Sept. 9) episode of AEW Collision featured both semifinal matches in the ongoing Grand Slam world title eliminator tournament.

First up was Darby Allin vs. Roderick Strong. Darby was up against it before the bell ever rang thanks to a pre-match attack by Luchasaurus and Christian Cage:

Darby was already going into the match with an injured back, so that ambush didn’t help. This insane back-breaking spot didn’t help his chances either:

Darby somehow survived that bump and still went all out with another coffin drop to the outside. He was on the cusp of victory when some drama between AR Fox and Nick Wayne distracted him for a split second. That was enough for Roderick to take advantage and put Darby away with his finisher for the win.

The other semifinal match on Collision was Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Samoa Joe. This was a more straightforward affair where Joe simply proved to be the better man by choking out Penta for the win. It wouldn’t be a Samoa Joe match without his signature walk-away spot, though, and we got a great one here involving a table:

Samoa Joe and Roderick Strong will now wrestle each other next week (Sept. 13) on Dynamite in the final match of the tournament, with the winner going on to challenge MJF for the AEW world title one week later (Sept. 20) at Grand Slam.

Joe happens to be the guy who put Strong in that neck brace to begin with, so now Roddy has a chance to get his revenge.

Who do you think will win the Grand Slam world title eliminator tournament, Cagesiders?