u/WestsideGon

….ELITE WARFARE!

So lemme break it down a bit for the fine folks unfamiliar with Lucha Underground and their flagship gimmick match, Aztec Warfare.

20 contestants, starting with 2 guys in the ring. Every 5 or so minutes, the next challenger enters. But, this is no Casino Gauntlet- every competitor WILL join the match, because this is an ELIMINATION match. You get pinned/submitted by anyone in the match, you’re out. You don’t win by scoring a pinfall/submission, you win by being the last one standing. Not only that, but falls are legal anywhere and there’s no DQ.

It’s easy for that to be a real mess on paper, but it was always pulled off amazingly in LU and I think AEW is the only company I still trust to be able to pull it off- especially with their very successful track record of all-out chaos matches like Anarchy in the Arena. I think this is the perfect time to introduce this because it’s the ultimate amalgamation of Darby’s “take on all challengers” reign he has going on right now, and the end result works well either way (this could either be the final straw where Darby bites off more than he can chew and burns himself out, or the ultimate underdog barely squeaking by victory). Tony Khan loves his special TV episodes treated like PPV’s, what better fit than to dedicate a Collision to this big hour+ match Blood and Guts style?

And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what a phenomenal crop of talent we have to work with to fill those slots, you can really get a great combination of main event level stars going at it (and this is a good excuse to see usually protected people get pinned as the odds and chaos open a lot of possibilities) and progressing various storylines and even some lower card guys mixing it up a bit (it’s a good idea to have a couple pin eaters thrown in there for pacing).

This is just what I threw together:

1. Darby

2. Moxley

3. Knight

4. Shelty B

5. OC

6. Takeshita

7. Claudio

8. Speedball

9. Mascara Dorada

10. Yuta

11. Brody King

12. Lio Rush

13. Mark Davis

14. Swerve

15. Roddy

16. Andrade

17. Mark Briscoe

18. Ospreay

19. Juice

And of course, coming in at the most opportunistic spot, 20. MJF