We learned that The Opps would defend their AEW Trios championship against Hangman Page and JetSpeed’s Speedball Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight at roughly the same time we learned that Powerhouse Hobbs was wrapping up with AEW and heading to WWE. That, and spoilers for the match that came out Wednesday night when it happened, told us to expect a title change… and when everyone outside Phoenix’s Arizona Financial Theatre finally got a chance to see it tonight (Jan. 17), that’s exactly what happened.
Hobbs mostly worked with Kevin Knight in the match, including at the end. His partners Samoa Joe and Katsuyori Shibata had Page and Bailey tied up in submissions, but when Powerhouse went for a spinebuster to put Knight away, The Jet rolled him for a flash pin.
The departing former TNT champ quickly rolled out of the ring, and the cameras didn’t catch him again. So he left “the territory” on his back the way pro wrestling tradition tells us he should — but AEW didn’t do anything to make him look in the process. He just got caught by a rising star who now seems to be getting a chance to move up the card with a singles showcase against Swerve Strickland set for Dynamite this week.
And our latest confirmation of those reports about Hobbs came right after the show when he was removed from the roster page of the company’s website:
Share your thoughts on the new champs, the old champ, or Hobbs’ future in the comments below. And get complete results from Collision Maximum Carnage here.
