Dante Martin Qualifies For Ladder Match, Hikaru Shida Enters The Owen On AEW Collision

Two upcoming angles with major title implications inched closer to fruition on Saturday's episode of "AEW Collision."

First, Top Flight member Dante Martin defeated Shane Taylor Promotions' Lee Moriarty to qualify for the TNT Championship ladder match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on June 30 in Long Island, New York. The match was necessitated when the TNT title had to be vacated following a serious injury to then-champion Adam Copeland suffered at Double or Nothing. While the total number of participants in the ladder match has yet to be revealed, Martin was the fourth to qualify, joining Konosuke Takeshita, ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, and newfound Elite member Jack Perry.

Later in the broadcast, a video package aired featuring former three-time AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida, who announced that she has officially entered the women's Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament. Shida is the fifth woman to enter the women's tournament, joining Saraya — who was announced as a participant on Wednesday's "AEW Dynamite" — Kris Statlander, Mariah May, and last year's winner, former TBS Champion Willow Nightingale. This year, the winner of "The Owen" earns a world championship match at AEW All In, which will take place at Wembley Stadium in August. Shida's third and most recent women's world title reign ended at All In 2023; she hasn't wrestled an AEW match since January, though she has made two appearances on "ROH on HonorClub."

Only three wrestlers have declared for the men's Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament, most notably Bryan Danielson, who was the first to do so. Former AEW Trios Champion PAC and New Japan Pro-Wrestling star Shingo Takagi both announced their participation on "AEW Dynamite" this week.