AEW: Adam Cole & Daniel Garcia Sitdown Interview Segment and Max Caster Open Challenge Series Match Set for 4/5 AEW Collision Show, Darby Allin to Start His Mount Everest Climb on April 15th, More News

Apr 5, 2025

Adam Cole & Daniel Garcia Sitdown Interview Segment and Max Caster Open Challenge Series Match Announced for Saturday’s AEW Collision Show

AEW announced one new match and one new segment for the card of Saturday’s AEW Collision show.

This show was taped on Wednesday, April 2nd at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois as part of that night’s Dynamite taping.

In regards to the new match, this was announced to be a Max Caster Open Challenge Series match of Max Caster vs. mystery opponent.

TOMORROW NIGHT
Saturday Night #AEWCollison
8ET / 7 CT on @TNTDrama + @SportsOnMax

Max Caster Open Challenge!

Is anybody brave enough to step up to @PlatinumMax The Best Wrestler Alive™ Open Challenge on Collision TOMORROW NIGHT?

8ET / 7CT on TNT + Streaming on MAX! pic.twitter.com/FC8Mmdp0Xr
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) April 5, 2025

In regards to the new segment, this was announced to be a sitdown interview segment featuring Adam Cole and current TNT Champion Daniel Garcia.

TOMORROW NIGHT
Saturday Night #AEWCollision
8ET / 7 CT on TNT + Max

Before their decisive third match w/ NO Time Limit + NO One Ringside for the TNT Title at #AEWDynasty Sunday on PPV, the champion Daniel Garcia sits down w/ challenger @AdamColePro on Collision TOMORROW NIGHT! pic.twitter.com/CQPZz0LiRP
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) April 5, 2025

Current card for April 5th AEW Collision show:

Max Caster Open Challenge Series match – Max Caster vs. mystery opponent
Mercedes Mone & Harley Cameron vs. Athena & Julia Hart
Don Callis Family (Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs & Tomohiro Ishii
Top Flight (Darius & Dante Martin) vs. CRU (Lio Rush & Action Andretti).
Cash Wheeler vs. PAC
“Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Dralistico

Darby Allin Set to Start His Mount Everest Climb on April 15th

As noted before, Darby Allin has been on a break from AEW since this past late December due to him training for his planned climb of Mount Everest this Spring.

In an interview with Denise Salcedo held earlier this year, Allin stated that he is currently scheduled to begin his climb of Mount Everest on April 15th.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources confirmed the April 15th start date for Allin’s planned climb.

Meltzer reported that the general rule is that the climb usually takes around two months but could be longer with an inexperience climber. Meltzer also reported that around two-thirds of experienced climbers manage to reach the summit during their climbs while the percentage is lower but not by much for inexperienced climbers.

In regards to potential risks, Meltzer reported that around one percent of climbers die during their climb. Meltzer also reported that besides the risk of death, another issue that could be a potential problem for Allin is the cold weather and how it might affect his body due to all the injuries he has sustained from his wrestling career and past skateboarding hobby.

AEW News & Notes

AEW recently released two new AEW Timelines videos on their official YouTube channel. The first new video was a “Men’s 2022-2024 Owen Hart Foundation Tournaments.” The second new video was a “AEW World Championship Title Changes!”

As noted before, The Hurt Syndicate’s Shelton Benjamin missed this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Peoria, Illinois due to weather-related travel issues. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that AEW had dealt with a lot of travel-related issues for this past Wednesday’s Dynamite and Collision tapings. Johnson reported that Benjamin was the only talent who ended up missing the tapings due to travel delays and ended up arriving well after he could have made the show. Johnson also reported that a lot of other talents also had dealt with delays and other issues affecting their own travel for the show.

As noted before, Jay White was pulled from this year’s Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup tournament due to an injury currently believed to be a hand injury. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that the current belief is that White had suffered a broken hand. Meltzer reported that AEW officials original plans for White prior to his injury was for him to face off against Will Ospreay in a First Round match at this Sunday’s Dynasty 2025 event. Meltzer reported that AEW officials replaced White with Kevin Knight for Ospreay’s tournament match.

As noted before, AEW recently announced a new earlier than usual start time of 2PM CST (3PM EST) for their All In: Texas event on July 12th in Arlington, Texas. Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials made the decision for the earlier start time as a counter to WWE and NBC countering their event with the announcement of a new Saturday Night’s Main Event show that same night. Meltzer reported that those spoken to within AEW stated that AEW officials are considering plans for a potential longer than usual pay-per-view event runtime for All In: Texas due to the new early start time. Meltzer also reported that AEW has not solidified a broadcast window for their upcoming event at the moment. AEW officials reportedly wanted to get the word out as soon as possible regarding the earlier start time in order to help those planning on traveling in for the show.

In a recent media call for this Sunday’s AEW Dynasty 2025 event, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about negative fan reactions to storyline and matches and how he weighs it when it comes to his booking decisions for shows. Khan stated “Fan feedback is very important. Probably the most consistent fan feedback we get week to week is in the form of hearing directly from the fans, commentors, absolutely, but also the data we get from Nielsen in the ratings. It’s a great indicator of the TV audience, which doesn’t necessarily verbalize every opinion but their viewership patterns can speak volumes and it’s a really interesting thing to keep an eye on because whether it’s social media, TV viewership, another of other business metrics, I think there are a lot of ways to track engagement but also, we’re all human beings and sentiment and nuance are a big part of this. Staying in touch with the fans is important and also realizing there are a lot of fan opinions that are shared and a lot of fan opinions that are polarizing. To me, viewership data can be very powerful when it comes to trying to interpret what’s happening, who is being well-received. It doesn’t always mean somebody is the most popular wrestler, but it does tend to generate good data when it comes to interest level around a certain wrestler and how that interest level changes. Certainly, for AEW, we do track the popularity of the wrestlers and engagement around the wrestlers. Those are not always directly correlated. Sometimes, wrestlers who don’t get the best reactions from the fans can move the needle in a major way. It’s something to balance, but we do take great pride in fan feedback but also trying to put on the best show for the fans and listening to the fans. I do think our fans have given us great feedback this year. They’ve felt like AEW is delivering great TV and that the pay-per-views have been delivering consistently now on a great run with the focus and the quality of the TV shows in 2025 that make people feel good about the AEW TV product. I feel the sentiment around the product going into Dynasty is maybe the best its been in many years. A lot of things have contributed. The fans at live events have been great. The venues have been great. The wrestlers have been delivering and that’s something we’ve had for years but it’s helped to have some of our top stars come back healthy and have a great collection of star power right now. Kenny Omega returning to AEW is very important and I’m very excited to see Kenny Omega on Sunday. Very excited about how well the shows have been received with the fans recently and very excited about everything happening in AEW right now including the state of the company going into Dynasty, which I think is a real high note and very appreciative of the sentiment of the fans that they feel the company is really delivering and that speaks to the quality of the live fans, live events, the wrestlers and the staff. In particular, I think it speaks to the bodywork. That is really something that, going into Dynasty, I’m so proud of the way the fans have received AEW shows in 2025 and it should be a great Dynasty show and keeping that great run of pay-per-views going.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with Fightful’s Grapsody, “Speedball” Mike Bailey gave his thoughts about his newly created entrance music and gear for his career in AEW. Bailey stated “Mikey Ruckus came at me. He sent the message, he was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to make you a song. I have a vision. I know what it’s meant to sound like.’ I was like, ‘Great.’ Because it’s the
same relationship that I have with Sway Archer, who makes all my gear and Sway Archer just either says, ‘Hey, I want to do this,’ and I’m like, ‘If you see it, I trust you as an artist, just run with it.’ I always will. If a super talented artist comes at me and says, ‘Hey, I have a vision for what this needs to be,’ great. If Mikey Ruckus had gone, ‘Hey, I’m not too familiar with your work. I’m going to look some stuff up. Do you know what you want?’ Then yeah, I would have had input, but he goes, ‘I know you, I know what you’re all about and I know what this song needs to sound like.’ ‘Run with it, go. I don’t need to say anything.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)