AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 6/30 - 7/7

AEW Collision 7/5/25

FTR vs The Outrunners

MD: I had gotten most of the way through the review down below (MD1) and decided that I wanted to see what it would look like if I hit it from a different direction (MD2) so here are two very different reviews of the match. I liked it that much.

MD2: The Outrunners had everything going their way. Oh, FTR had tried both mind games and dirty tricks on them. Of course they did. Dax had done it from the start, pushing for a clean break on the first exchange only to throw a cheapshot on the second. When things boiled over, he ran around the ring forcing Truth to give chase. When they slid back in, Cash completed the ambush by leaping halfway across the ring like a madman. Truth fired back quickly and made the tag but they then dragged Turbo down, cutting off the ring and laying a beating on him.

They wrestled a mini match here, a satisfying few minutes with shine, heat, and, as Turbo reversed a Cash suplex and kicked off a charging Dax to make the tag, comeback. Truth came in hot and FTR pinballed for him, all building to a bulldog/clothesline combo and the set up for the mega powers handshake elbow drop, that itself generally a precursor to Total Recall. 

But there was Cash again, flying in out of nowhere, an absolute maniac using his body as a wrecking ball, slamming one Outrunner into the other and down to the floor. Once there, things took a bleak turn as an entirely different match unfolded. After pummeling Truth a bit, they lodged Turbo's leg between the stairs and the ring, crushing it with the force of their bodies. Turbo incapacitated, they turned their attention entirely to Truth, opening him up and honing in on the face, head, and neck. 

With a gleeful sort of efficient cruelty, Cash would leave his vantage point on the apron multiple times, running around to jam Turbo's knee onto the stairs senselessly, or, in moments where Truth was able to get a shot in and maybe, just maybe, earn an iota of hope, pulling Turbo off the apron with purpose. For long, grueling minutes, there was no true hope to be found, not even in the face of bravery, toughness, and heart. 

Moreover, there was lingering doubt and concern. Let's say Truth, through skill and pluck and luck, might find a way to make it to his corner, might find Turbo actually there, what condition could Turbo actually be in? What fight could he actually put up? Regardless, the hope spots escalated, with as much focus on Turbo's struggle back to the apron as Truth's within the ring. Cash came around again one last time but Turbo was ready for him, only for Dax to knock both off the apron and Truth to capitalize with a roll up, a hope spot of his own that wasn't even about the tag but instead a desperate swipe at victory. 

Escalation built up the pressure leading to a volcanic eruption as Dax missed a diving headbutt and Truth pulled himself to Turbo for the tag. But now Turbo had to face off against a nearly fresh Cash Wheeler with one leg and little hope, with only his guts to push him towards glory. He attempted a slam, powerhouse that he is, only to come up wanting. Cash charged in, had he had twice before, now for the kill, but Turbo, in a last burst of defiance, put everything he had into a countering clothesline. Bolstered by the heroic effort, he hefted Cash up for the slam and reunited with Truth. The two grasped hands in a heartfelt gesture of survival and triumph and pulled each other up so that they could finally drive the elbow down. No matter what would come next, that was a victory that could never be taken from them.

But what came next was in their favor! Dax and Cash tried to get an advantage on the apron but Turbo fought them both off and the Outrunners were able to come together one last time to hit a Shatter Machine of their own. This time, however, it was Dax who flew in and sacrificed his body to break up the pin. This last burst of hope turned once more into tragedy as Truth went sailing off the apron after a suplex attempt. As Stokely cravenly grasped Truth's leg on the outside, Cash managed one last reversal on Turbo and FTR hit a heartbreaking Shatter Machine. The Outrunners were defiant to the last but FTR was too much, too cruel, too merciless, too precise, and too underhanded. 

If this was a morality play, good vs evil, evil would only grow in power on this day. Yet the light of the Outrunners would give FTR reason to fear their own shadow, reason to fear an inevitable comeuppance that crept ever closer. If it was not around the next corner then maybe it would be around the one after that, even if it wouldn't come in the here and now at the hands of their former friends.

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MD1: A remarkable match. I'm going to get right to it. I want to talk about the structure. After some start-of-the-match stooging from FTR (Dax especially) and a really nice momentum shift tease which had Truth chase Dax around the ring and Cash take him out as organically as possible (so much of it coming down to Cash's wildman execution), they played out a very early short/quasi FIP, the sort of phantom FIP you sometimes get in a shine. It culminated with Truth and Turbo going for the megapowers handshake elbow drop. That was broken up. That's important because in denying the fans that moment, it allows the Outrunners to pick up a spiritual win late in the match when they finally earn it (I'd say that they get another in the late match when they hit their own Shatter Machine on FTR but honestly, in this match, the fact that they even came back at all was the sort of accomplishment that is so often just taken for granted in modern tags; let's get into THAT now). 

The crux of the match was Truth Magnum getting bloodied up and working FIP with FTR pulling out every Southern Tag trick in the book to build anticipation and draw heat. But what put it over the top is that they had taken out Turbo Floyd's leg with the stairs as part of the transition to heel offense. As Dax was doing some woundwork in the ring, Cash was hitting shinbreakers onto those steps off to the side, out in the background. 

Look, there have been tags where the guy on the apron gets taken out both at the start and later on. There are tags with double FIP where a limb is worked over and the initial FIP has to recover enough to allow for the hot tag. There are Japanese tags from the late 80s-early 90s which are built on someone holding out long enough for his partner to recover. I love Tenryu/Hansen vs Rusher/Baba from 89 which is built around Tenryu ambushing Baba with a dive as he's coming down and Rusher getting worked over until Baba is ready to come back. But I can't remember the last tag I've seen with a structure quite like this. I was actually thrown by it completely because I thought they were going to work over Turbo's leg after going out of their way to crush it with the stairs. But that was just in support to the face-in-peril and to set up a level of doubt after the hot tag.

And it was exciting! Not just the match, or the fight to come back, but even the way they put this together excited me. Not only was Truth a bloody mess but Turbo was on one leg. Basically, both wrestlers were in peril simultaneously even though it was a standard tag that followed standard rules and drew within the lines. They would go back and take Turbo's leg out more to cut off hope spots so Truth couldn't make the tag. There were all sorts of possibilities at play here, all sorts of different ways they could have gone with it. For instance, what if Truth didn't get bloodied up until later in the match? What if he was able to make a tag earlier but then Turbo had to fight for another five or six minutes getting his leg worked over? Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday down the line they can come back and do a twist on this and it will feel fresh. 

Just as this felt entirely fresh. Compared to most current tag matches which are back heavy (unbalanced in my mind) with loads of spots after everything breaks down post-hot tag, they got in and out of things pretty quickly after Turbo burst in. Every moment felt like a struggle and a triumph though. Turbo came in hot but his broken body betrayed him. Unable to slam Cash, he had to push through it all to hit the huge clothesline (for a huge pop), and then the slam. That led to the truly wonderful moment of the Outrunners not just clasping hands but helping each other up to their feet to hit the elbow. They followed that by spitting in FTR's eyes and hitting their own Shatter Machine before the unfortunate fall off the apron by Truth and Stokely getting involved to ensure the finish. 

Just a total masterclass of how to create drama and build heat before paying it off in a way that was very specific to the match. They didn't throw out everything that came before in the name of high spots and sensation. Instead they built the fire bolder and brighter. While some people might see this as incredibly conventional, I thought it was pretty daring in how it pushed the form (within the lines! within the rules! within the norms!). This is the FTR that was so dynamic and exciting as the Revival in NXT and this is the FTR that can still revolutionize tag team wrestling by taking everything that has always worked and push it in new and bold directions. All they need are the right opponents and the right platform. They certainly had both here.

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Tony Halme's All Alone, Feeling the Tears Falling Down from His Eyes

 

Different Style Fight: Tony Halme vs. Vader NJPW 10/13/91 - EPIC

ER: What a gift. With this week's discovery of Vader joyfully practicing moonsaults on his trampoline, it felt right to celebrate this different style gift. Tony Halme's Different Style Fights with Hashimoto and Aoyagi are what made me dive deeper down this Borga rabbit hole of mine and come out the other side a changed man. Now we have 7 of his 9 total Different Style Fights (I'm not holding my breath for his fight against Larry the Villain, whoever the hell that is) and finally have his first against Vader. We had his second and third matches with Vader (the second match was also a Different Style Fight, the third and final bout merely a "regular" match) and I say with no hyperbole that this one is the Certified Classic of the three. Their 10/18/91 Fight is nowhere near as good as this match, and after finally seeing their first encounter I fully understand why that match didn't live up to its on-paper potential. 

This one was their first fight, and THIS was their war. THIS was their fight. THIS was the match where they left everything in the ring. It would have been impossible to recapture aura and spectacle like this just a few days later. How could they? This is also, by far, the longest Different Style Fight Halme ever had (a couple of them went into the 4th round, this one goes all the way to the 6th) and the longest match of his lengthy New Japan run. It's incredible. The way they hit each other makes it look like they won't make it out of the 3rd, and the way Halme's stomach is heaving makes it look like they won't make it out of the 2nd. 

Of note: Chris Benoit in Halme's corner, which is pretty fascinating. By all accounts Tony Halme was a sweet young man with no questionable belief systems until some time in mid 1991, so now that we finally have video of this encounter we can pinpoint the exact moment Halme was mentored into being a real piece of shit. 

R1: A bit of a feeling out, each getting a knockdown in the corner but neither with any clue how quaint those knockdowns would seem 15 minutes later. Halme landed several uppercuts into Vader's left side, high up, and it built to both thudding each other with multiple shots to the stomach. Halme started throwing straight rights over Vader's left eye that Vader has to stop with a Fujiwara takedown, riding out the round holding him down. 

R2: Vader threw punches just as hard as Halme, except Vader was wearing the gloves he always wore and Halme was wearing larger boxing gloves. Needless to say, that means Vader was hitting harder. He upended Halme with a clothesline and locked in a grounded crossface chickenwing, which looked even more nasty because Halme just isn't that flexible. When he let go of it Vader punched the face down Halme in the back of the head. It looked so petty that right after Vader seemed to allow Halme to give him some receipts, sticking his head out with no defense so Halme could take some swings, a level of trust and insanity that only adds to Vader's legend. Vader isn't completely generous though, as after allowing the receipts he headbutts Halme hard between his nose and eyeball, so...

R3: Third round started with Halme bullying Vader into the corner but being staggered back out of it by punches. Halme is great at being staggered. His best selling of the match was any time Vader hit him into a forced backward retreat. Halme looks more blown up with every bump. Every time he takes a back bump it looks like he won't be able to stand back up, and that's before Vader lifts him up for a back suplex. I don't know how much help Halme was giving him on that one, but he seemed more scared about potentially tipping back onto his head, which made the entire lift look dangerous. Stomach heaving, Halme eventually gets up throwing arms, buying himself some time by dropping Vader to a knee, then goes for broke. He catches Vader with a full arm swinging right-left that sends Vader rolling out to the floor, and when Vader gets back into the ring he's sporting a big cut over his right eye. Suddenly Vader looks to be breathing just as hard as Halme... 

R4: Vader's cut is spraying blood down his chest and arm, way more than I expected. Vader is bleeding fast and Halme's punches aren't even aimed at the cut. It's like Halme is knocking the blood out of the other side of his head. When Vader emerges from the corner, he lands a shot I thought would put Halme down but Halme weathers it and starts throwing some focused left body/right head combos that eventually crumble Vader into a bent knee 180. The right side of Vader's face is fully masked in crimson while the left side doesn't have a single drop of blood on it. The visual is incredible. Somebody needs to capture this Vader on canvas. Vader refuses to let the ref check his cut, both men look gassed, and Vader manages to trap Halme in the corner to bounce some shots off the top of his head. Halme can't damage Vader when he's tied up in the corner, can't extend his long arms, and when a roundhouse right drops Halme to his seat, he is literally saved by the bell. Several seconds after the round ends Halme is still frozen on one knee, holding the top rope, unable to stand or pull himself to his feet without great difficulty. He needs the aide of a child murderer just to get to his feet. The shell of a man who turned the famously kind Finn evil has to  slap Halme on the ass and assist him back to his corner.

R5: Round 5 is Vader desecrating the largest human corpse. A 10-7 round, nothing but survival for Halme, but at what cost. He can barely move his arms and Vader has a second wind. The bell rings and a second later Halme's bell gets rung when Vader splats him with an avalanche. Halme was not expecting Vader to make it across the ring so quickly. It's a sign of what's to come, as Halme isn't on his feet for more than a second at a time the entire round. Vader hits a front slam and Halme hits the mat and rolls over so slowly, in a way that looks like he just got jumped out of a gang and they finally stopped putting the boots to him. I figured a disgusting - truly disgusting - Vader lariat would be the end of things, but Vader now looks like a guy who does not want this to end. He fires up the crowd and hits a running standing splash that lands full weight on Halme's ribs and I don't know how Halme ever got back up. Vader is now filled with energy and the crowd keeps egging him on, so he plays out the rest of the round holding Halme in a dragon sleeper and the fans love it.

R6: An absolutely shocking turn of events. I and everyone in Chiba knew that this round would be the end...we just didn't think it would be the end of Vader. Halme can't move from his corner so Vader starts the match the same way he started the 5th, with another avalanche. It feels like the perfect strategy against a man who can't defend himself, but when Vader does it again...Halme manages to move, and while stepping aside he throws a right hand into Vader's stomach like Vader was Arn attempting an axe handle. Halme has one chance, and that's to start swinging for his life, and when Vader sees him swinging for broke he starts swinging for broke. Vader keeps getting knocked down and Halme looks like he'll fall over any second, leaning on the ropes every chance he gets, mouth wide open, hanging himself by the armpits over the top rope so deep that 2 Cold Scorpio has to run over to shove the Finn's mouthguard back in. Vader foolishly keeps standing back up and keeps thinking he can weather Halme's big arm swings, and he keeps thinking this, and keeps getting dropped, and keeps taking longer to get back up...until he can't. I did not see this Halme win coming, the crowd didn't see this Halme win coming, and Vader was incredible at being someone who also did not see it coming.  

We now have all three Halme/Vader matches. One of them is a good idea, one of them is a great match, but this one is an outright classic. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE TONY HALME

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Found Footage Friday: PRE-KAMALA~! WRIGHT~! ONITA~! WISKOWSKI~! MOROWSKI~! UFO~!

9-13-80 Hanover, Germany

Big Jim Harris vs. Bob DellaSerra (UFO)

MD: Now and again someone will wax poetic about how wrestling today is better than it ever was and we have so many four+ star matches on TV every week and whatever else and what people seem to miss in that is what we've lost. A match like this is what we lost and no amount of choreographed counters and athletic spots and constant fast pace will ever get it back. The social contract between the crowd and wrestlers changed. It's not about people thinking it's real or kayfabe. It's about the way the crowd reacted.

I'm not saying it can never come back but it's going to be hard especially with the incentives all broken.
For instance, if you watch FTR vs Nigel/Garcia from Double Or Nothing, the fans don't pop for each of Nigel's comeback shots out of the corner. They may react overall, but they're not living and breathing with each move done on either side. They may react to momentum shifts, but generally they're only going to react to big spots and more often than not, the way they react is that they're just glad to be there, just glad to see a spot. They don't have a horse in the race anymore, except for that the race is as exciting as possible. 

It's amazing how over Della Serra is here. Just constant UFO chants. A real connection with the crowd that he then makes the most of. This was on the card but not on the tape label so it's a bit of a bonus match and I'm glad we have another look at Harris. I watch the way he moves here, his swagger, his confidence, and I think he could have had a run with Dusty as this character in the mid 80s. You say that there was Bad News Brown or Leroy Brown or a few others that fill that gap but I just think between his size and how he moved and how he carried himself, he could have done it without Kamala. I'm just not sure he would have been an always in demand top guy for those years like he was. 

This went the full draw, over twenty minutes, and it was pretty good the whole way through. They had Harris lean on UFO building to big, hot moments of comeback. Everything was pretty simple and straightforward but they kept it moving and everything Harris did was credible and when he missed a charge or a splash and UFO was able to fire up, he sold big enough to make it all seem believable and meaningful. And when UFO finally slammed him, the fans went nuts, even if it didn't lead to a finish. I'm kind of amazed that they filled the time as well as they did but it was just a case of the right guys doing the right stuff in front of the right crowd.

ER: I love what Matt had to say about losing wrestling like this. This is wrestling at its barest essentials presented to the exact people who wanted those essentials. Big Jim Harris was two years away from Kamala and maybe 50 matches into his whole career and working a crowd like this must have been a breakthrough for him. Yeah, just put me up against a beloved babyface and I will be a tall black guy who throws downward strikes all match and it will get nuclear reactions. It's just that easy. Was it that easy? It couldn't have been that easy. This wasn't about the fans having lowered expectations, it was about the fans believing in UFO and rooting him on against this large tri-hawked presence. The men in the ring also knew how to best make use of the rounds system. They were good at saving something big for the bell in every round, like a serial where something was just about to happen but you'll have to tune in after this musical interlude. 

The first round ends with Harris breaking a front face lock agreeably at the bell but then whipping down hard with a strike not unlike his Kamala/Baba chops a decade later, except this one looked like Finlay smacking someone in the back of the head. Kamala learned to lighten up on the chops but Big Jim Harris was still throwing those long arms full strength. He lands one big downward strike after breaking so genially, then walks away with his hands up like he did everything that was asked. He understood the assignment. Harris cannot run the ropes yet but when he tries he looks like any guy his size would look attempting to run the ropes. He barrels into UFO like a large man completely out of control and UFO falls back rigidly, as if the contact of the shoulderblock/full body block knocked him out before he hit the mat. 

We get a round that ends with UFO actually hoisting Harris up onto his back and Harris using physics to fall back into a crucifix just as the bells sounds. This was the best round ending and while nothing in this match was clean or any kind of revolutionary offense, when have you ever seen Kamala rolling up ANYBODY with a crucifix? This is something I have never even pictured, or thought possible. What man could even attempt to get Kamala up on their back like that? Who would want to? What situation would Big Him Harris ever find himself in where he was lifted up on another man's back. No fireman would be able to carry him out of a burning building, only UFO. UFO hitting an ugly bodyslam on Harris felt like such a big moment, even if it only got a one count, because every single shot that landed on the big man was treated by everyone in that room as the greatest thing that could be happening. This was 20 minutes of build to one messy bodyslam, which will sound like the absolute worst shit to people who I have no interest in watching wrestling with, but they weren't there. It wasn't for them, and it didn't have to be. It's a testament to a babyface a specific crowd wants to live for...and also probably the threat of a large black man. 

Sal Bellomo vs. Moose Morowski

MD: Long match but a pretty good one. Bellomo had a special connection with the crowd too but I'm not sure if it had as much to underpin it as UFO. I get why it made a lot of sense to try to push him as an Italian American star in the WWF in the early 80s but I also get why maybe it didn't work. Plenty of energy and pluck. But at this point some of his timing was just a little suspect now and again. Morowski is infinitely credible. Able to just smash someone into the corner or toss them from the ring or hit a cheapshot from his knees as at a moment's notice. When he leaned on someone, he really leaned on him but then he could backpedal and take as good as he could give.

He took more of this than Bellomo and a number of times when Bellomo came back it was either due to a round break (catching Morowski as he charged in) or due to the ref intervening. At one point he goes so far as to swipe with someone in the crowd (maybe another wrestler/official but it's hard to tell from the footage). It's pretty constantly entertaining because the fans go up for all of Bellomo's comebacks and the cutoffs are mean and believable even if I'm not sure I need quite so many rounds of it. Finish has Bellomo knock Morowski off the top to the floor with a big bump but then get posted as he goes after him and made short work of once he makes it back to the ring.

Steve Wright vs. Klaus Karoff

MD: Every new Wright match is a blast. You look forward to every exchange because you have no idea what he'll do next. The downside generally is that he does tend to eat up his opponents. With Karoff, however, that wasn't going to happen. This was more like a three act play than you usually get in these German matches. 

Wright clowned him early including some ridiculously elaborate sequences where he bounded and cartwheeled and twisted and turned and then turtled up. Karoff leaned hard on him in the middle with lots of big shots and cutoffs whenever Wright tried to fire back. And then Wright fought his way back into the ring headfirst and really pressed Karoff until he tried that head first lunge one too many times and ended up clotheslining himself on the rope. Karoff followed with this great over the shoulder backbreaker where he pressed Wright's neck up onto the top rope from underneath. Only problem is that it was very illegal and he got DQed for it. Overall, though, it was a fun, complete match.

Takashi (Sumo) Ishikawa/Atsushi Onita vs. Kim Duk/Ed Wiskowski

MD: Pretty surreal match and a great early look at Onita. It's not our earliest match of his but it's pretty close. Wiskowki and Duk are a tall, tall team. Duk really towers over Onita and trolls him early with a test of strength tease. By 82 you can definitely see signs of Onita in Onita but I was wondering if they would show up here and they did, not just in a perfectly milked hot tag but also in the way he'd get knocked to the apron and hang off by his feet. Just hamming it up in a way that had visual impact.

Ishikawa knew how to get over with this crowd too. A lot of sumo charges that were almost more football tackles, one of which missed and had him sailing out of the ring. The Japanese team would get beaten down (Onita especially) and make big comebacks and Duk and Wiskowski would bump and stooge until they could take over again. Wiskowki willingly got carded by jumping off the top so that he could win the first  fall. That's always a clever bit. In the second, they were firing back on Duk until Onita got caught in a tombstone. Pretty good match overall and as noted, a great look at young Onita in an interesting setting.

 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Leduc! Corn! Henker! Samourai!

Gilbert Leduc/Jacky Corn vs Der Henker/Le Samourai 6/13/75

MD: Some old friends here in Corn and Henker (Remy Bayle). We're not entirely sure who Samourai was  but he was pretty good at what he did and we do have various Samourais in other 70s footage. They made sure to note that we had an Axis team on the heel side. I will say this though: the Henker gimmick was a few years in now. He's a monster, a brick wall, someone you're not going to stagger back with even a strong shot, but he's not the monster he was a few years before. Remember, he once took on both Corn and Leduc by himself. Here they needed to take out a leg or use finesse to take him down for the most part (though Leduc could manage it, eventually, with even a headlock takeover worked hard enough). And he ultimately ate a very clean pin off of a very clean slam to end the second fall in the match. Still, most of the time, they had to double team or outsmart a double team attempt to really get him down and they recovered more often than not against Samourai. 

This was probably a little long going ~40 with the introductions but every exchange was good. It just means you ended up seeing Leduc's toupie headspin 3-4 times when 1-2 would have done the trick instead. Samourai was slick, able to do the karate shtick but also keep up with all of the wrestling and feed when he had to. When he was in there against Corn they were able to turn up the speed a little bit. He also had a lot of very fun comedy bits where he slid around the ring and sometimes all the way out to the first row. The first fall was long and didn't have too much peril for the stylists. The second fall was shorter but had them working from underneath (Corn especially) a little more. I'm not saying the stakes weren't there because Henker always was a threat but again, this wasn't the Henker of a few years earlier. Lots of good individual moments and spots because Corn catching Samourai in an unlikely body scissors or Leduc torquing Henker's arm one way and then the other to get him down will always delight, but there was a moment thirty minutes in where it did feel a little much having not watched one of these long tags in a while. Still another enjoyable entry into the Henker vs Leduc/Corn feud (one of the better feuds of the 70s that we have considerable footage of) overall.

SR: I think this is the latest apearance we have of Gilbert Leduc. Cagematch says he indeed retired in 1975, so this might be a last hurray of sorts. He still does the beautiful head spinning escape. Other than that this was notably slowed down. There's some somewhat compelling work but also a lot of holds and the whole thing feels way too long. Give some credit to Le Samurai, its hard to read 'Le Samurai' and not think of Alan Deloin, but this masked guy did a few nifty things. One thing I noticed that masked heels seem less incompetent and outmatched than your typical French heels. Samurai is able to do a bit of neat wrestling, including a rope hanging choke move that was really neat and also those nifty rolling bumps and odd mannerisms, and the Henker is at least hard to get off his feet. There is some of the fun bumping and stooging that we know from the French tags and a few good moments such as a crossbody being caught into a gutwrench suplex. But yeah this was too long and slow paced overall. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 6/23 - 6/29

ROH Global Wars Mexico 6/26/25 (taped 6/18/25)

Lee Moriarty vs Blue Panther

MD: Wrestling is not about making the impossible possible. It's about making the incredible plausible, and on paper everything about this match was incredible. Blue Panther is 64 years old. He's 64 years old with a lifetime of bumps (rolling or otherwise) onto hard mats and hitting and taking dives. He's all that and he's still all this and along with Lee Moriarty, he created such a match. I'm sorry, but that is incredible. 

How then did it happen? Wrestling is the art of using illusion to create emotion, with reality utilized sparingly to underpin it all. For the first third of this match, reality was technique. The illusion? That was Moriarty creating motion as Panther controlled the center and (at first) Moriarty's arm along with it. The arm was barred so tightly, so precisely, hands in the right places, balance perfectly held, Panther presenting himself immaculately, that Moriarty had the perfect base to push off against as he expressed the painful consequence of the hold and tried again and again to escape. 

When he finally did, they opened things up, while still grounding it all in the technique you would expect from a Pure Champion and a true maestro. Moriarty edged a leg in between Panther's own to lock in a cravat. Now it was Panther's turn to sell, his arm flailing with each cinch of the hold. Not for long though as he was able to go behind into a full nelson. Moriarty lifted his own leg up, interlacing his fingers underneath it to give him leverage to break the hold. Then it was a leg pried in between Panther's once more to lock in an abdominal stretch. The game of chess continued as Panther pried off fingers, shot two elbows into Moriarty's leg, and tripped him. Moriarty flowed straight into his next gambit, pressing off against Panther's waist to propel him back up and then up and over Panther's shoulder with a spectacular takeover. 

Technique is well and good, but it's the means and not an end unto itself. With that countermove, Moriarty began to stretch not just his skill but his bluster and swagger as well. Here it was over the top clapping for itself. After a slick pinfall attempt a minute later, it was a gloat to Panther that he almost got him. And then, feigning sportsmanship, he offered a handshake and threw in a bonus kick for good measure. As he took over the Infantry, seconding him, gloated as well, and once he got Panther out, he cemented his control with two explosive topes.

Illusion was underpinned by technique. The different flavor of reality that would come, Moriarty's dives and subsequent superplex, helped serve his heeling, his arrogance, his borderline villainy, as Panther took a stiff upper lip and forced himself to survive. The dives are never the point. The superplex is not the point. They're tools carefully used to help support the underlying emotion. In this case, it was Panther's legendary prowess against the upstart invader. Panther survived through the Border City Stretch, ducked a shot coming in and fired back, and then, with one mighty burst of energy, hyped up the crowed (making the most of the moment) and hit a dive off the ramp. 

Even then, Moriarty had youth on his side, all else equal, and he mounted one last offensive. All else was not equal, however, for Panther had the home arena advantage and, even more important, the advantage of inner discipline, of age and wisdom, turning a seeming weakness into a strength. Moriarty got cocky one last time and Panther dropped him into an armbar for a quick tap. After would come the pageantry and chaos of an assault, a rescue, a celebration, but none of those thing were as impressive to me as the beautiful mix of illusion (down to the mask which hides Panther's age) and reality, both technique and impact that allowed this unlikely match to capture imagination as it did. That's pro wrestling though. It crosses eras and borders, a universal falsehood that reveals inner truths.

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2024 Ongoing MOTY List: Danielson vs. Sabre

 

2. Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. NJPW 2/11/24

ER: I watched this match some time last year and fell in love with it, planned on writing it up to add to my glacially growing MOTY lists, but other wrestling felt like it was more worthy of my writing time, more worthy of coverage. This match was in no way under the radar as an acclaimed match. Who hadn't heard about or seen this match? Who needed to be convinced to seek out one of the most praised matches from Danielson's brilliant farewell tour? So, I devoted my energy to other things and now, after seeing Bryan at DEAN~! 2 beautifully bear witness to the power of independent wrestling, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this match. 

Yes, I understand this match is not an Independent Pro Wrestling Match. Clearly. New Japan is the biggest wrestling promotion on that side of the world and this took place in a large arena in Osaka. But Bryan Danielson defined indy wrestling, and Sabre was a wrestler who I fully got into after seeing him up close and live on indy wrestling shows. The close up magic was always my favorite part of indy wrestling. There's nowhere to hide when you're in a quiet gymnasium and some guy with thick glasses is sitting 8 feet away while you're working strikes. It was good that I got to see John Cena live when I was 20, to hear a gassed up green bodybuilder literally shout out spots across an echoing indoor soccer arena, just as it was good that I got to see Necro Butcher fall fully on top of my girlfriend's sister at the one wrestling show she ever attended. 

I fell in love with Danielson's wrestling after getting to see him at least a dozen times live and up close, from gyms to garages to county fairs. Any lingering doubts I had about Sabre vanished when I got to see him give and take seemingly impossible punishment from 10' away, my love fully realized when I was standing in the perfect location to witness him leave a boot imprint bruise on Dan Makabe's neck. It wasn't that long ago when people were saying Sabre was a skinny guy who wrestled an "unbelievable" matwork style, and it wasn't so many years before that when Danielson was spoken of as an incredible wrestler who would never be taken seriously on a big league level. Times certainly have changed. 

I am constantly at odds with modern wrestling. Wrestling has never been more easily accessible, and yet I have never felt on such a completely different page from modern interests and styles than I do now. So many guys wrestle like so many other guys that it feels like every guy has wrestled every other guy a couple dozen times, homogenous styles making it seem like every possible match has been regularly happening for years and been done to death. Considering that, I was surprised that there weren't already a dozen different Danielson/Sabre matches, but merely four, split down the middle by a 15 year gap. It feels, on paper, so predictable that they would make great opponents that I just assumed they had been out there being great opponents for each other during every year Danielson wasn't a) in WWE or b) critically injured. But no, there wrestled four times, and this will (surely?) be the last time. It is their definitive match, and it is so good that noted wrestling historian Dave Meltzer gave it an unprecedented 5 1/2 stars (!), an honor he has only bestowed upon his favorite several dozen matches over the last two years. 

This match was fantastic at being the match I expected it to be, and even better at being a match that could break out into something different at any time. It skated a line between "close your eyes and picture the match you think Sabre/Danielson would have" and "maybe these two are going to go 30 minutes of constantly struggling over every single hold with no breaks of any kind". I don't need a match to subvert my expectations for me to enjoy it. Often I want a match to do the exact things I am expecting it to do. And, while I thought the match was at its most thrilling when it was subverting my expectations and teasing the unknown, I also appreciated the ways that it played directly into expectations. While the structure played into my expectations, the brutality somehow exceeded them. This never felt like two guys working a Dream Match Farewell, it always felt like a brutal match that kept tipping further and further into unprofessional territory, in a way that only felt more engaging the longer it went, with the possibility of either man's body actually breaking feeling like a real thing that could happen. So the match built incredibly as a well laid out wrestling match, while ramping up the intensity appropriately in time with the build. 

The beginning was playful and didn't feel the need to rush. When I say "playful" I mean playful in a way that would rip the ligaments of most humans, but it was playful for them. These two are not normal men, and they are testing each other and it is playful and painful. One of the best things about Fujiwara was how happy he could look in matches. When he smiled about what a dickhead he was being a dick or after taking a kick to the teeth, he looked like he was doing the exact thing he most wanted to be doing in this world and loving it. Danielson's farewell run was at its best whenever he could not hide how much fun he was having, and that pure joy was evident in nearly his entire AEW run. Sabre was smiling and laughing too, but his laugh was more pensive; the dance partner who wasn't sure how far this smiling battered old guy was going to take things. They were testing each other, in different ways, while also entertaining each other with something they each love doing: wrestling. 

I didn't see a single second of inactivity on the mat. There was constant advancement without ever seeming like they were in charted waters. In a wrestling world where every reversal feels like it skipped the move entirely and went straight to the mapped out reversal, this looked like RINGS. It was the kind of matwork where you couldn't grab a headlock without having a palm jammed into your jaw, no way to scramble for a leg without getting your own leg bent weird. Snapmare reversals looked so good they would have been bought as a first fall finish to men in suits watching front row in the 50s. Ankles were targeted, some moves delivered with a sigh of relief, less desperation maneuver more clever quick thinking escape. Sabre adjusts his submissions on the fly to keep Danielson from getting from the ropes, and it felt like a Johnny Saint spot...if Saint had ever worked as a heel sadist. I lived through the era where indy wrestlers began seeing their first Johnny Saint match, and you couldn't go to a show without someone throwing their name into the hat of "who could do the worst Lady in the Lake". I always felt the Johnny Saint Rip Off descriptor was unfair to Sabre, and I think he's been exceeding that tag for a decade now. The history is there, but the ceiling of viciousness was never this high for Johnny. 

The stiff work was even stiffer than I expected, and the worked violence was so tight that it made me question what was legit and what wasn't. Was Danielson really mule kicking Sabre straight in the kneecap, or did it just Look Good? Was Danielson really trying to no sell like Kikuchi until Sabre starting kicking him in the face, making Kikuchi homage impossible? Sabre has one of the greatest worked headbutts, and I also get the sense he has a great shoot headbutt. Does the 5 minute Fujiwara/Kikuchi match from fucking Ice Ribbon exist on tape? ICE RIBBON are the ones who ran Fujiwara/Kikuchi? How could that be? 

Anyway, Danielson's downward strike elbows are maybe the only thing I wished Danielson would have dropped from his arsenal. It was tough to make them Look Good, and they inspired as many horrid copycats as The Lady in the Lake. But Danielson had the best version of this spot that dozens have now done much worse. Here, his 12 to 6 elbows were the best they've ever looked...or had the close up magicians fooled me again? It sure looked like Danielson was crossing a line with them while breaking a triangle, and I loved how he was acting like a guy who knew he was clearly crossing a line. Their off-timed body shots to block strikes felt like they each could have been intentionally trying to throw the other's timing off within a worked sequence or in a playful shoot way. They worked as beautifully together as anyone with a brain thought they would.

My faults with the match are minimal but I think important: The top rope back suplex felt like it was from a different match. It's a 32 minute match and most of it had been two guys struggling against the other's force, and now suddenly it was two guys kind of holding still so Sabre can make sure he's balanced and Danielson can find his footing. Everything else felt like two men trying to neutralize the other, and the suplex felt like two friends working together to boost each other over a pretty high fence. The finish itself was kind of a letdown. I kept liking parts of it - Sabre pulling back on Danielson's leg after the Zack Driver, then throwing his other leg over to clamp it down made me think that was it. That leg looked like a nail in a coffin - but I didn't love the rush for pinfalls, and the submission reversals suddenly felt more like Dean Malenko style Early Anticipation mapped out matwork. When you get half a match of Real Shit and finish with that, it's a harsh intrusion of 2024 Wrestling right when you're about to climax. Unfortunate placement by them, unfortunate wording by me. 

Those complaints aren't what I'm going to think about when I recall this match. This match was far more than that. It stands as one of the highest points of 2024 Wrestling, and no matter what I think about modern wrestling, I mean that as positively as possible. 

2024 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Found Footage Friday: THE MALENKO-GUERRERO CLASSIC~! LORD NORMAN~! COLLINS~!

MD: We've been doing this for years now, pulling together whatever we can find from the connections we have and just on the internet in general. In parallel for a lot of those has been https://x.com/krisplettuce who has a patreon where he pulls all sorts of things together. Where we focus on matches specifically, he focuses more on whole TV shows and spans of shows. He's recently organized thirteen episodes of Malenko GWA from 88, hosted by Bob Roop and while none of the matches go too long, we're highlighting a few of them. 

Lord Norman vs. Steve Collins GWA 6/25/88

MD:  Collins was the Party Animal with the Party Girls (two valets) with him, and the fans chanting "party" basically the whole way through. He was the promotion's light heavyweight champion. Dropkicks, headlock takeovers including using the turnbuckles. That sort of thing. It's kind of amazing watching Smiley here knowing that he'd be on a few UWF 2.0 shows the back half of the year standing up to guys like Yamazaki and even Maeda completely believable and dominant. Here he was the newly crowned TV champ and had a chip on his shoulder. He was a few years into the business and you wouldn't know it was the same guy in UWF past the physique. Oh yeah, he also came out with a pipe, because of course he did.

I'm not sure he was always entirely on the same page as Collins but there were some little positioning things that were pretty interesting. Other things, like them setting up him missing a stomp onto Collins only to get his hands stomped himself didn't seem entirely plausible in the set up. When he took over, he had pretty credible offense, a few suplexes and a really nasty hotshot where he seemed to lose control of him. His entourage (including Dr. Red Roberts) menaced the girls and Collins went out. Norman went to post him but got posted in return and just missed the count back in. Post match they did a challenge where Collins would put a Party Girl up against the TV title. 

Lord Norman vs. Steve Collins GWA 7/23/88

MD: By the time the challenge happened, Norman (and Death Row) was managed by Reverend Johnson and he lost the match due to distraction and had to give up a party girl. He'd also given up the light heavyweight title since he wanted to move up weight classes so as to better face Norman and others (which was put interestingly as they noted he might lose some of his speed/agility in doing so).   

Right before this one, Johnson broke into the TV show with a pirate feed to announced the formation of the Black Wrestling Alliance which does, as a gimmick, feel at least five years before its time. Collins is down to one Party girl as Dominique had chosen to be with Smiley and crew. This was probably a stronger overall match than the last one and Smiley showed a lot more both while taking stuff and working from underneath and through his offense. There was a bit where he got clowned trying to get out of a headscissors I liked quite a bit. 

Collins was favoring a knee though he didn't really target it. He did his nice off center double underhook suplex though and stayed on him pretty aggressively. They ran a spot where he distracted the ref while Death Row crushed Collins and that made me think it was probably a good thing Maeda didn't see this match or else he would have never made it to UWF. Finish had Death Row rush the ring once Collins put on the sleeper and the Party Girl slipping Collins a chair so he could "break bad" as the commentary put it and hit everyone with it. You do get the sense that Smiley, even a few years in, might be progressing week to week but maybe it's just a data point issue.  

Joe Malenko vs. Hector Guerrero GWA 8/20/88

MD: Hey, this was really good. We only get about ten minutes of it before Rusty Brooks comes in while Joe has the flying octopus hold on and everything devolves from there, setting up a Joe knee injury for whatever would come next. This was for the Jr. Heavyweight Title that Collins had given up and what a trade up to either Joe or Hector. 

The early feeling out process was great, a lot of tricked out technique but always with an attempt of one-upping your opponent and getting an advantage. Hector started clean but leaned heel very quickly and that helped underpin everything here. He went from shaking hands to start to going over the top to point out his feet were on the ropes as Malenko had him in a hold to really selling big and whiny to faking a handshake for an eyepoke and he never looked back from there. The fans were more interested at chanting Porky at Brooks (who was seconding Hector) but I'd say they got into it as it went on. I want to know how Eric thinks this compares to the WCW matches between Dean and Eddy almost ten years later. 

ER: I thought this was just fine, and honestly pretty comparable to the (mostly awful) Dean/Eddie WCW matches. This match was nothing like those, but had similar pluses and minuses. The worst thing about the never-ending Dean/Eddie feud was that it was almost always a lot of very fast work with no real goal. Everything was fast, most of it was crisp, some of it was insanely impactful, none of it led to anything at all and none of it was treated as "something that happened". They moved on from offense so quickly that they could have gaslit anyone into thinking that nothing at all had even happened. I've seen multiple brainbusters that were sold for less time than most people sell a hiptoss, endless limb work than nobody sells, sequences blown through for speed rather than any lasting impact, finishes fully disconnected from anything that happened in the match proper, etc. It was wrestling made for a 2 minute highlight video to be posted 25 years later by an Twitter engagement account saying "Nobody talks about how Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko were two of the best to ever do it". 

Dean modeled himself nearly entirely after his older brother. He moved almost exactly the same as Joe, but did not retain half of the weight Joe put behind his move execution. Dean was good at move execution, but he had no clue how to let a move sink in or mean anything at all. He saw what his brother was doing, but didn't seem to understand what he was doing or why he was doing it. Dean's only takeaway seemed to be "do it faster, get through exchanges faster, move on to new exchanges immediately". Seeing Joe's inset promo, we know Dean did retain his brother's terrified eyes, emotionless promos straight into the camera, but couldn't even do those as well. I don't think this is Joe or Hector at their best, though there were moments. Momentum blocking is one of my favorite things in wrestling, from refusing to be pushed off a headlock or dead weighting a move, and them each blocking a hiptoss by gluing their boots to the mat looked real good, in a way that Dean never understood. The important thing Dean never understood is that both men actually looked like they were trying to throw a hiptoss when the other blocked it. Dean always thought too far ahead to the inevitable reversal, so "the move that never got completed" always looked like a move designed to be reversed. Joe selling his knee after Rusty Brooks' interference was really great. His fall to the mat and his second fall after struggling back to his feet to cross chop Brooks in the throat looked like someone who actually blew out their knee and there has been no point during Dean's career where his leg selling looked this good. Now that I think about it maybe Rusty Brooks - somehow only 30 years old!!! - might have been the best thing about this. 

For what might be the best version of Malenko vs. Guerrero, please see Hector Guerrero's WCW matches against Dean on the 4/4/97 Nitro and the 6/8/97 Worldwide. They are each about 3 minutes long so none of your time will feel wasted. 

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70s Joshi on Wednesday: Grable! Kai! Kumano! Lucy! Rimi! Victoria!

68. 1979.10.17 - 03 Joyce Grable, Leilani Kai & Mami Kumano vs. Lucy Kayama, Rimi Yokota & Victoria Fujimi (2/3 Falls, first part of match corrupted)

K: There's a chunk of this match missing as the tape got screwed up and when the picture comes back we're in the middle of a heated 1st fall. Shame because this looks like the best match we've seen in a while. The heels have Lucy Kayama isolated in their corner and take turns to take her apart before getting the win. We don't really see any of the other babyfaces really do anything before they drop the fall but Lucy looked good taking the beating. 

The 2nd fall starts with Lucy back in the ring again squaring off with Mami Kumano, and before long she's stuck in that corner again. It's probably just a result of much of the 1st fall being missing but it's kinda funny that more than half of the run time of this 2/3 falls trios match we have consists of 1 person being tripled teamed and their partners being powerless to  do anything about it. Victoria Fujimi does run in a couple of times when Mami Kumano started to fight a bit dirty but she's only able to disrupt a pinfall or two before the ref throws her out. And that's for the best as it's Lucy who manages to get the comeback together by herself, including a sick release Tiger Driver. It's a shame the hot tag itself wasn't really built to, in fact it happens off screen as within seconds of that Tiger Driver Fujimi is now in the ring apparently legal. Still the comeback was satisfying and Lucy even got the pin with her special splash. This has been quite exciting and lively (the crowd are pretty good too).

The heels are feeling rattled as now Mami Kumano has brought out THE TOWEL. She tries to jump the babyfaces with it but it BACKFIRES BIG TIME with Rimi Yokota stealing it off her and using it on the heels herself, making them look very foolish. Lucy Another cool moment was Kayama doing a kind of Rainmaker Elbow move where she pulls her opponent into her but it's an elbow to the face rather than a lariat. Lost Move Alert. She's really having a good performance today. The one drawback is the finish was a bit out of nowhere. That's not necessarily a bad thing in match as fast-paced as this but it felt like it could have done with a few more minutes.

***

MD: We come in JIP (due to a corrupted tape) midway through the first fall. The heel ref has his head bandaged, which is pretty funny. I sort of miss the introductions since we’re so used to getting them. How cool did Kumano’s jacket look (she has boots with her name on them). Did Kai do her little spin dance? (She has boots with LK on them). Lucy is in all white. Important stuff here. 

First fall has Lucy getting a tag but then cut off by Mami and a rope to choke her with. Her shots both coming in and then firing back on Kai look pretty damn good though. Kai and Grable are able to double team her (missile dropkick from Grable as Kai holds her and then a double slam) to end the fall. Second had a spirited comeback after a missed top rope splash (this was weird as Kumano was in the ring and distracted checking on her partner who missed it and that’s how Lucy fought back. Wasn’t as clean as it could have been if she wasn’t legal). Some big offense from the babyfaces including a Lucy Tiger driver and Victoria gourdbusters.

Final fall was chaotic. Kumano came in with a towel but Yokota got it and started choking. Obviously the heel ref got involved and again later when he prevented a legal tag from taking place. There were some big bombs and Kumano had this neat body scissors pin that she did. The heels took it with Grable’s over the shoulder backbreaker in the end. I assume this was a way to save faith with Sato about to win the $30,000 in the main event.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Mercier! Kamikaze!

Guy Mercier vs. Kamikaze (Mitsui Dozan - Modesto Aledo) 10/4/71

MD: This is a historical match but ultimately a disappointment. At the start of the match Kamikaze unmasks. They claim this is because there are as many as 11 fake Kamikazes running around France wrestling and I believe it from some of the other things we've heard. We had seen Aledo in this get up one later time and it's striking. He was shaved bald and either had parts of his face taped back or makeup on to look unique to say the least. Mercier is a higher weight class and they note that both at the start and after the match when Mercier is interviewed and notes that this must be the real Kamikaze after all and he'd know after wrestling him. 

Either because of the weight difference or just to get over the gimmick (I think the latter), Aledo completely loses himself in the character. For such an agile, technically sound wrestler to do so is a skill of itself and worth noting and respecting but were we to get one more Aledo match, I would not want it to have been this one, historical or no. There really are no long holds, though there are a few clever takeovers. There are a lot of karate chops, a lot of cheap shots, some hair pulling, a lot of mugging. There is a taupie (I always miss the "i" I've been informed) escape by Mercier and even a very short giant swing. Mercier even does this really great press slam gutbuster, and at one point he does fire back with some big shots. Most of this, however is Kamikaze skulking around and chewing the scenery. Eventually, he hits too many throat shots and tosses the ref away and that's the match. A couple of good individual exchanges and you have to respect how intensely they wanted to establish the bankable character and push back against the fakes, but knowing what Aledo is capable of, ultimately disappointing.  

SR: There's a bit of irony in how Modesto Aledo is this legendary grappler, but most of what we have of him is him doing the Kamikaze act. It's grade A pro wrestling bullshit, but I can enjoy some bullshit pro wrestling. There's a lot of cool things about Kamikaze. The way he moves, the creepy demeanour and appearance, the throat chops and nasty chokes. That thing he does where he gets flung over the top rope and somehow holds on and slides back in through the middle rope is amazing. And Guy Mercier is a real wrestlers wrestler type who I think probably can't have a bad match. It makes for some fun unique wrestling to watch, although you do end up wishing they had archived Guy Mercier vs Modesto Aledo proper at some point. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 6/16 - 6/22

AEW Dynamite 6/18/25

MJF vs. Mistico

MD: MJF presented himself at his most noxious, donning once again his USA (Gringo Loco) styled gear from his International (American) title run from last year. He was flanked by the Hurt Syndicate, out there with their belts. He jawed with the crowd. He sat on the top turnbuckle staring towards the top of the ramp, Lashley, Benjamin, MVP in front of him. 

And then the music hit. There was always a shrouded religiosity to Mistico, maybe not even so shrouded as he had debuted as a worked disciple of Fray Tormenta, but this felt like a religious experience, like a true celebration, as over ten thousand faithful sang along to Me Muero. And it should well be celebrated. While the moment made for amazing TV, while it went viral perhaps, it's not something you'd see on the other channel. 

For decades, that would have been because of Vince McMahon and his incessant need to control and repackage, to build on success elsewhere by tearing down and rebuilding in his own image. This instinct was bad enough in the 80s and 90s, where humiliation and self-loathing self-consciousness towards the industry that was making him rich ruled. It was even worse in the 00s and beyond when he had won the wars (and failed at every other outside endeavor). 

Now, it's less about spite and spittle-laden snarling ego and far more about simple business. TKO/WWE doesn't want to promote any wrestling that they don't fully control. Maybe they'll bring in someone like Hendry but it will be attached to their own development brand, a way of showing everything else to be lesser than WWE, or if it makes it into the spotlight, it will be to show the world its true and proper place as a vassal. It's in TKO's interest to present all wrestling traditions, both in the States and worldwide, as secondary and subservient to WWE, to rename and reconfigure so that it can own as much as possible and profit off of all of it as much as possible. It's all just business now. 

This was not. This was reverent and respectful. This was Tony Khan going into someone else's home and giving them a gift, one that did not tout the glory of AEW but instead paid homage to their own wants and dreams and desires. 

Maybe it was bad business, but it was beautiful pro wrestling. 

And it left MJF sitting there, covering his ears, staring out a crowd smiling and singing and reveling. It left him fuming like a petulant child because the world did not revolve around him. And it set the tone perfectly for the match to come. 

This was a man not just at war with a wrestler, but with a crowd, with a people, with the Other, with the advice of his mentor, with the raging torment of self-consciousness and self-loathing within his own heart. If Mistico's entrance, the music, the symbolic tearing off of the Sin Cara mask, the brandishing of the flag, and the appeals towards the crowd, was a celebration of pro wrestling, of lucha libre, of culture, then MJF, taking it all in and overreacting like as in immature scrooge, served as no less than a stand-in for Vince himself, and here, upon this holy ground, he put himself forth so that pro wrestling could symbolically defeat him.  

In many ways, Mistico is the perfect opponent for MJF, because Mistico is a star. He's not a star just because he was presented as one, not in 2025. He's not a star because he can do amazing physical feats that no one else can match, not in 2025 when his handspring back elbow has him landing on his feet. Maybe all of those things led him to being a star over the years, but he grew into that role and learned from the experience and now he gets it as well as anyone alive. He knows when to appeal to the crowd, knows when to fire up, knows when to shrink down, knows when to fan the flames and lower them. That is no small thing. There are only so many true stars left in the world of pro wrestling, here in this age where the tenets of workrate and of the junior heavyweight style have won their own wars. 

MJF knows what to do with a star babyface. He knows what to do with a hot crowd that's inclined to hate his guts. To his credit, he knew what to do with MVP on the outside as well. The answer? Commit. Commit fully. In this case, that meant a performance where he tried to make it seem like he was above it all, like it was all beneath him, but the harder he leaned into that, the more he let the crowd know how much it was getting to him. It was in the look on his face, in the way he moved, in the shortcuts he took, in the way he couldn't press an advantage directly but instead had to grind and taunt, had to tear the mask, had to try to humiliate Mistico (and thus the crowd) instead of just beating him. 

When put in an environment like this, he knows how to strike the balance so well. It meant Mistico surprised him early with a Code Red, treated more like a stinging shot to give him comeuppance for his antics to show him that he couldn't simply have his way with Mistico. Later when Misticio tried it when it'd matter more, he had an answer. It meant that he made full use of the Hurt Syndicate, both as a transition where he hid behind them only to burst through and then later to help punctuate his cutoffs of Mistico's hope spots, tossing him out and distracting the ref as he did damage.

And Mistico's hope spots were just as good as you'd want, because he knew when and how to bring the fire and then when to, for instance, have have Shelton put it out with by dropping him on the guardrail. Maybe the best bit of hope was towards the end of the match as MJF was retreating, letting frustration overtake him. Max made it to the top of the ramp but then caught a charging Mistico and drove him down with the most forbidden of all moves, the Martinete, a tombstone onto the unforgiving ramp (not like the ring was all that more forgiving, but that's beside the point). By then, MJF would have been content with a countout, but Mistico, bolstered by the crowd, sat up heroically before forcing himself to stumble back towards the ring, finding a way to have his cake (the heroic moment) and eat it too (the selling to further engage the crowd) like the star he is. 

What makes MJF stand out relative to some of the more ironic heels of the 2010s (some of which lingered into the 2020s) is vulnerability. The character tries to make it seem like he's better than everyone and everything around him, but through his actions and expressiveness, he shows how much he cares. He's constantly selling every slight perceived or otherwise, and the more he tries to deny it, the more blatant it becomes. It shapes his actions, so that even when he wins, he loses on some level. But he still wins, and everyone else has to deal with him and his inner writhing and the fact that they can't escape him. And thus he gets heat and thus the cycle continues. In some ways, he's perfectly made for our times. And he was perfectly made here to survive La Mistica due to Hurt Syndicate distraction and then, after Mistico survived a foul (that other all powerful weapon of lucha libre) behind the ref's back, lose his cool, throwing a second foul right in the ref's face.

He lost by DQ. He lost because he got upset. He lost because he no longer had faith that he'd be able to win. He lost all the more so with his post-match antics taking Mistico's mask, but he can claim victory for the image of him standing there wearing the mask. And that's a heel for you. He loses when he loses. He loses when he wins. But he claims otherwise either way. Vulnerability is everything and more often than not, Max is brave enough to embrace it. Against a star, in front of a crowd like this, with the sanctity of pro wrestling itself on the line, it is, as I noted, beautiful, beautiful stuff.

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2024 Ongoing MOTY List: Hechicero vs. Komander

 

13. Hechicero vs. Komander AEW Rampage 11/30/24

ER: With DEAN~! 2 in the rear view, I wanted to write about a guy who was almost a part of DEAN~! 2, but plans wildly changed. Hechicero was someone we tried to get from CMLL...and instead somehow wound up with Blue Panther, Virus, Valiente, and a host of others who all worked insanely hard to give us the greatest lucha Cibernetico of the last 20 years. I am not sure what would have changed had CMLL sent Hechicero, Mascara Dorada, and Barbara Cavernario instead of Averno, Virus, Euphoria, and Neon, but I'm sure it would have been great in an entirely different way. So we didn't get Hechicero, but Hechicero gets to show up in AEW every couple months and get a fun 10 minute match against a great opponent who he's never faced before. It's one of those gifts from Tony Khan, a match that exists simply because he wanted to see what it looked like. Hechicero vs. Danielson was an outstanding example of that, but I'm just as excited that we got to see Hechicero vs. Orange Cassidy. Collision is on in the background as I type this, and Hechicero is main eventing against Dorada, two DEAN~! Guys who never were.  

When the Hechicero/Komander match aired I wasn't sure if it was the last we'd see of Hechicero in AEW. It played as a fitting swan song if that's what it became, not just as a Hechicero AEW swan song, but also  to a Rampage era that I already greatly miss. Rampage was a show I really loved, with the hour format and shorter match layouts allowing a different feel from Dynamite and Collision. Hechicero/Komander was a great example of what made Rampage great, to me: A 13 minute classic main event, the perfect length for TV and perfect length for Rampage, the spiritual successor of guys getting to show out on Velocity or Superstars or WWECW. It got right back to the basics of the great Danielson match by letting Hechicero go full freak and break out all the tricked out work he wanted, with an opponent that would qualify this as a Dream Match. Is this the secret to Hechicero? Just let him go out there and control and break out Hechicero Things? Seems easy enough. 

His blue gear is gorgeous, with lighter offset blue boots to juxtapose the deep royal velvet of his tights. It's the perfect ensemble for him to go Hechicero Unleashed! When he starts rolling around with Komander's ankle for a tricked out stretch muffler only for Komander to do a full sit up until he was scaling the side of Hechicero's body, trying for a headscissors but landing in a Hechicero pin from guard, later getting pancaked after several revolutions on another headscissors attempt, I knew we were there. Hechicero moves like his own man in that ring. The way he leans out of a superkick, letting it scrape by his chin, before hitting a leaping Kawada style gamengiri to Komander's mouth was just one great example (of many) of his Big Spot attention to the small details. The gamengiri feels even better when we all know how close that superkick came to fully connecting. 

Hechicero and Komander are highlight reels who connect the highlights with snug submissions and effective highspot teases. Komander and Hechicero make it all matter. Komander has a missile dropkick (bouncing off multiple sides of the ropes) that hits like something that would bump not just Hechicero but anyone in AEW. Hechicero's powerslam is on the level of Dustin; Every clothesline is a headhunter. One of my favorite spots in wrestling was Bill Dundee's clothesline sleeperhold. It always looked like a lethal snare, a crazy way to follow through a lariat. Hechicero has to be the first person I've seen do the Dundee clothesline while also leaping over the ropes to the apron. Of all the ways I was expecting Hechicero to counter, I was not expecting him to wind up so suddenly on the apron pulling Komander's head over with him. 

Hechicero hangs in for the high catch on a crazy Komander moonsault to the floor, and catches a Komander moonsault into the ring in a trapped scissored armbar, rolling around with it into another one of his leveraged cradles, almost getting pinned underneath in the melee. Defense to offense to pin to escape, and they both recognize the value in not showing any kind of light on a small package cradle nearfall. The finish run is Hechicero at his most punishing. The Mad Scientist Bomb is a finisher worthy backbreaker but he uses it to set up the best running knee in wrestling. Hechicero runs up the buckles so fast, size and speed and impact, slashing and driving with that left knee, spinning around Komander with a decapitating guillotine. Of course this is a Dream Match. Foolish to suggest otherwise. It's Hechicero showing out in the main event of a sadly defunct Good Wrestling Program, and Komander never has to be asked twice to show out. 

2024 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Found Footage Friday: BACKLUND IN KUWAIT~! BUSHWHACKERS~! CONDOR~! ESTRADA~! PSICOSIS~! VOLADOR~! WINNERS~!

AAA TV 5/21/95

MD: A new Roy Lucier drop. I think the top two matches were already out there so we'll dive into the undercard. 

Karloff Lagarde Jr./Mr. Condor/Perro Silva vs. Brilliance/Diamante/Zafiro

MD: I loved the primera beatdown here. The rudos just hopped out as Mr. Condor wrapped a cape around a tecnico's neck even as he was coming in with the valets and the commentators were just casually announcing who would be in the match. Business as usual. Some gnarly stuff on the beatdown with Condor's arching power bombs, a giant lifting face plant, and Perro Silva looking like a beast between the way he threw himself into things and this brutal reverse hotshot where he dropped the back of the neck onto the top rope with a spinebuster like twist instead of the throat. Argh. 

This was going just two falls with a fed up fiery tecnico foul finish so they actually teased a comeback early in the segunda which was pretty spirited, tossing rudos into the crowd and what not, before it got cut off to set up yet another comeback a minute or two later. Sort of a false short segunda (almost makes you wonder if there was a cut, but I don't think there was). Down the stretch Mr. Condor bled all over the place even on the undercard and the tecnicos got a lot of revenge but they lost their cool and the rudos took this one by DQ. Everyone leaned hard into their roles here and the match was fun because of it.

Antifaz del Norte/Panterita del Ring/Volador/Winners vs. Arandu/Jerry Estrada/Misterioso/Psicosis

MD: Some of our Monterrey pals here in the form of Panterita and Arandu (who came out to the Flash Gordon theme by Queen!). Very nice to see them in this mix with some of the AAA mainstays. That's an awesome rudo side right there. And honestly, this was great. The primera was at least somewhat subdued. Misterioso was leaning hard into his gringos loco look and attitude and was dodging Volador. Arandu bumped all over the place. Estrada teased his big bump over the top but didn't give it to people. Psicosis was an absolute jerk paired with Antifaz. I love watching him just exist and antagonize people, even on top of his basing and offense and bumping. He's one of the best bullheaded jerks in wrestling history. Anyway, the tecnicos took it after some exchanges and general chaos with Volador getting a shot in on Misterioso on the outside too.

Things went absolutely nuts in the segunda though. They started destroying both Antifaz and especially his mask. Somehow Estrada got a fork and started to stab away, lick the thing, paint his face with blood, just have a merry time. Then the comeback had all the crazy bumps you might imagine. Psicosis took the corner knee over the top bump as wild as I've ever seen it. Estrada just got yeeted into the third row like a rocket on a reverse whip. I'm not sure I've ever seen that concrete ground look harder and more solid. Finish was the rudos getting back in and getting Antifaz' mask off so thoroughly and clearly in the camera that someone could have picked him out of a police lineup. Just wild stuff in the back half.

Mr. Bob Backlund/Leif Cassidy vs. The Bushwhackers WWF Kuwait Cup 5/11/96 

MD: Recent Richard Land upload. I had thought we'd be getting the Yokozuna tag vs. Backlund, but nope, we've got the Bushwhackers instead. I don't know exactly how much Mr. Bob Backlund heel footage we have but whatever we have, especially after he got shunted down the card, it is 100% not enough. He's as absurd and over the top here as humanly possible and it's wonderful. First off, he comes out to the Rockers theme with Leif and he wants absolutely nothing to do with him. Cassidy tried to bow down to him and go for a handshake and point to the Bushwhackers and everything under the sun and Backlund just shook his head and shouted NOOOO. 

Then, there'd just be random booing no matter what Cassidy and a Bushwhacker was doing in the ring and the camera would cut over and Backlund would be out there on the stage gesticulating to the crowd and going wild and getting huge heat. When he came down he went right after some kid in a Bret shirt and he never really let up. It takes minutes for the match to begin because every time you think it might, he has another fit to huge crowd reaction. When they get going, they do some heel miscommunication spots almost immediately and then have Backlund get shown up by a Bushwhacker, including sneaking out and pointing to his head only to have him right behind and then hiding in the corner just to get bitten on the butt.

They eventually take over on Luke's arm and it's all pretty good with some hope spots and cutoffs until he finally makes the tag and they do one last bit of miscommunication before Butch gets the roll up. Just unbelievably entertaining. Lightning in a bottle. If you could follow one wrestler around to every house show, 96 Backlund feels like a great one to pick. 

ER: When you get access to a 1996 Kuwait show where Bob Backlund is the third oldest (second youngest?) guy in the match, I feel we are then obligated to write about that match. There is so little footage of Mr. Bob Backlund from this era and now we officially have our most substantial look at him. I loved Backlund's look and attitude during 95/96, when he was mostly a house show worker and cantankerous TV presence, but we don't have a lot of footage of him actually wrestling. We have so much footage of his 92/93 babyface return, which I think is mostly awful (unless I find one credible source telling me that it was an elaborate troll and he was fucking up every single non-Doink wrestler's timing intentionally, then I might like it), but not nearly enough of heel Mr. Bob Backlund. Now we have real footage of Backlund charging at a Kuwaiti 11 year old and getting in his face, just because he was wearing a Bret Hart shirt. Backlund singled that kid out and went straight for him (and the kid loved it). 

Throughout my wrestling fandom, not that long ago in the grand scheme, I had no room for bullshit in my wrestling. I wanted action, and I wanted wrestlers to get to the action. I'm not sure when it changed, or what inspired my initial dislike of it. I viewed it as "guys not wanting to work" and maybe it was due to Scott Keith and others demonizing of stall tactic wrestlers like Larry Zbyszko, spurned on by older local indy wrestlers who were taking a Friday night off in the ring. When we did the initial WWF 80s set, I had the Rockers/Rougeaus Full Bullshit match (from France or Italy) ranked very, very low. Not many years after that, the Rougeaus match in Puerto Rico where they take forever to lock up while getting pelted with diapers and other garbage became one of my favorite matches to show friends who were and were not wrestling fans. I don't know when the change happened, when I went from wanting action to embracing bullshit. The change happened quick, I know that, and is surely directly related to indy wrestling styles becoming about All Action, no doubt caused by similar people to me who grew up being told that bullshit and stalling in wrestling was bad. 

Now, most wrestlers are petrified to let anything breathe. Well, either they are petrified or they honestly have no idea what it even means to let a match, or sequence, breathe. They surely never watched wrestlers who knew how to do this, and they surely won't be seeking any who did so. Bullshit became extremely rare (and has only gotten rarer) and now that action is the literal only thing on the menu, I find that I cannot wait to shove my nose in a steaming plate of Bullshit whenever I have the opportunity. And Mr. Bob Backlund was allllll Bullshit. This entire match is 90% bullshit, and I chose to prioritize it over the two awesome lucha matches unearthed above. I don't think anyone takes a bump until well past the 10 minute mark, although Backlund does get knocked off the apron by Cassidy, and he hits the ground running and gets in the faces of more fans. So look, I'm not saying all of this was good. The Bushwhackers are old and they aren't going to bump or throw punches that look good - although Butch Miller throws a fucked up clothesline to Cassidy's neck on his hot tag - and a lot of the bullshit won't seem unique to anyone who had the privilege of seeing guys like Honky Tonk Man work indy shows in the late 90s, but the unique setting and the bizarre pairing and the rarity of Fully Unhinged Mr. Bob Backlund made this well worth your time. Backlund does none of his strength routine, none of his amateur wrestling, and I don't even think he took a bump. Yet he was On during every second he was on screen, a true weirdo being his weirdest self in the weirdest possible live wrestling environment. 

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70s Joshi on Wednesday: Moolah! Nancy!

67. 1979.10.17 - 02 Fabulous Moolah vs. Nancy Kumi (NWA Women's Title)

K: This is a big match for Nancy Kumi. Even if the NWA Women’s Title wasn’t as established in Japan as the Men’s equivalent, I have to assume the prestige of the organisation would make it being defended here feel like a big deal. Nancy did have a couple of tag title reigns before this (with Jackie Sato, and later with Victoria Fujimi as Golden Pair) so it’s not like she isn’t an established star. But from watching the footage, she frankly has rarely came across as one, albeit we’re missing any from those aforementioned reigns so it may be a sampling anomaly.

Moolah succeeds in coming across as all Queen evil here. I don’t think her wrestling is very entertaining or effective really, it feels like she generates more heat just from her personality than anything she physically does, so the result is something that feels like it might get good but never does. Plus we’ve already seen so much of these American heel tactics (including the crooked ref) that they feel burned out already. If Moolah came out as some Final Boss of the Americans who brought the heeling to higher levels maybe it’d work, but it’s just more of the same choking, hiding the weapon and dodgy refereeing. I did like her trapping Nancy’s head in between the ropes at least.

But the only good reason to watch this is Nancy’s comeback, the best we’ve seen her look to date. There’s a big roar of the crowd as she starts losing her shit on the outside, first turning Moolah’s weapon against her and then beating up the referee when he tries to stop it. She really kicks his ass and leaves him on the floor reeling. Her fury turns her invincible as she lays into Moolah in the ring, but she’s apparently too insane with anger to realise that she can’t win with her pin attempt as she just took out the ref. The DQ was obviously going to happen, so that puts an end to that. Pretty fun way to rage quit.

**

MD: Pretty fascinating match all things considered. I don’t know the last time I saw a Moolah match, no matter how many Martin/Kai matches I’ve seen. This was for the NWA belt (the one with her face on it) and she’s striking and ghoulish. Watching this and knowing more about the times, I wonder how much of this phase of Moolah’s career was inspired by Bette Davis and Jayne Mansfield in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? It’s a horror movie and she was horrific. I had always thought she had been hanging on to youth with the dyed hair and painted on eyebrows and wasn’t really fooling anyone but herself and those who had to be her sycophants, but it comes off as far more self aware than I expected here (even if I knew it did a few years later). The faces she makes, the things she says, she comes off as absolutely, gleefully monstrous. 

Kumi misses a dropkick early and Moolah chokes and knees and grinds. She’s entirely professional here, which means when Kumi takes over, she feeds big for all of the monkey flips and what not. When she takes back over it’s by grabbing a can and a towel from her minions and using them as weapons. I don’t think anything in the first two thirds of this are entirely unexpected.

What is unexpected is Kumi’s big comeback at the end. This had our nemesis the heel ref we’ve been dealing with for the last month or two of footage, and Kumi ultimately has enough, first getting the can and then a chair and she comes off like a completely unhinged star full of righteous fury, just smashing Moolah to pieces with it before she turns it on the ref. She starts slamming his head into the post and it’s very satisfying (even if you knew the finish, after a visual fall, was going to be very unsatisfying). I don’t think this payoff is necessarily worth all of the frustrating heel ref antics BUT in the moment it was pretty great and if Kumi came out of this a bigger star (I have no idea if she did but maybe Kad can speak to that), maybe it was worth it after all.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Prince! Richard!

Petit Prince vs Jacky Richard 11/6/66

MD: Both wrestlers were young here, Prince at 23 and Richard at 22. As much as I like the really slick Saulnier matches, my favorite Prince stuff is always him matched up against a bully and Richard is quite the bully here. There's just much more of a sense of build and payoff in those matches and contrast really does make the world go round. 

Here this meant that Richard really ground down Prince. He had five minutes early on where he just tore apart the leg. Prince would try to reverse it, and sometimes would even come up with a reversal attempt (the most memorable had each going for a crab at the same time) but Richard's superior side would combine with the damage already done to keep him down. The crowd was increasingly incensed as Richard used the ropes and really just because Prince was being contained. And the legwork was mostly to punish and contain because when he did come back, he hit one of his amazing flurries of move after move, incredibly dynamic stuff. 

Richard stayed on him however. and really started beating him with stomps and kicks. He'd toss Prince out and when Prince tried to get back in, would knock him not just off the apron but into the third row (where he was caught by a woman who gave Richard the what for). When he tried to get back up again he ended up in the third row again. They moved into another comeback shortly thereafter and you half got the sense it was to avoid a riot. Richard ended up tied up tight in the ropes as Prince hit him with shot after shot after shot. The finish played into all those extracurriculars on the floor as Richard went to knock him off again only for Prince to catch him. The act was still developing but this was still primal, spectacular stuff.

SR:  I think this is the youngest we have seen Jacky Richard, which is kind of nice. Now we know he wasn't always crusty and old. This felt almost like a very mat-based match for the Prince. I mean, the first 5 minutes only had a cool backflip from him, otherwise they were working a modified headlock and step over toe hold. The Prince did get on a few tears with his beautiful athletic offense, but it wasn't all out like we had seen in other matches. The match was more about Richard garnering heat by being a bastard. He really tore up the Prince's leg. It didn't stop the Prince from hitting his stuff but it looked nasty. At one point he kept throwing the Prince into the crowd over and over with folks looking really upset and throwing trash in the ring, so it was a good night of work for Jacky Richard. He also had a great looking lift into a gutbuster. The Prince's comeback was more about beating the shit out of Richard and less about hitting his spots, which was pretty cool to see. A fairly typical French TV match for the time, upgraded with the Prince's cool agility, and Jacky Richard looking like a particularily nasty bastard. Would've blown a few minds if it were the first French match we had seen, still a pretty decent addition to the collection.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 6/9 - 6/15

AEW Dynamite/Collision 6/11/25

Kyle Fletcher vs Anthony Bowens

MD: We'll get to match itself down below as it was very good but elephant in the room time first. Despite having developed a slew of great heels, AEW has a young babyface problem. We'll leave HOOK aside other than noting that he's not necessarily in a different/more developed spot than he was a couple of years ago. Maybe he's in the midst of a shift after walking away from ringside a few weeks ago. Maybe it doesn't even matter if he's just an attraction. 

And we'll just talk about Daniel Garcia briefly since I wrote about it before. He won the TNT title and then instead of defending it on a weekly basis against any heel that they could throw at him, he was immediately tossed into matches with Briscoe (twice given the C2), Shibata, etc. on the way to a feud with Adam Cole. This is when he was developing his old school babyface routine and trying to connect to the crowd. You can't outbabyface Mark Briscoe easily. Completely short-circuited the connection. 

Ok, Bowens time. I could just write a snarky tweet about how he's 95 DDP and how Billy Gunn is either Maxx Muscle or the Diamond Doll, but I don't want snark. I want the guy to succeed. He has everything in the world on his side except for height and for a babyface who can work from underneath, that doesn't really matter. From the outside in, the other thing he's lacking is confidence. Because why else would he hide behind so, so many gimmicks. He's got the Jane's Addiction song, the nickname Pride of Professional Wrestling, the American Gladiators half chest gear, the Mollywop finisher name, the scissoring, the five tools bit, and the "Five Tools, one rule, Prove. Me. Wrong" catchphrase. And yes, the worst of all, Billy Gunn to steal his big moments (and whether he means to or not, he actually does) and to make him look even smaller. He's working hard, putting himself out there, doing a ton of media and highlighting on social media that he's doing it. But the screaming catch phrase laden promos aren't it. 

Maybe they would be if he was a guy who was unlikable and had to push past it, but that's not Bowens! Listen to him in an interview. Watch some of the stuff he does on his own. He's incredibly human and relatable. It's the same issue as Adam Cole, where Cole's likability doesn't transfer at all into his character. With Cole, it's because he plays things as too cool and refuses to show vulnerability, refuses to be himself. With Bowens, I do think it might be a confidence thing. If he just talked to the fans instead of shouting catch phrases at them, if he just told them how he was feeling, I think they'd go along for the ride. They want to like him. He calls out to be liked. He's sympathetic and gets how to work as a babyface well. He just needs to be himself and not sixteen gimmicks.

And to me, that's not on him. How Garcia was presented is not on Garcia. It's on the booking. It's top down. It's not enough to make good matches every week. It's not enough to put guys in positions where they can have four star TV matches. That's not good enough. AEW is where the best wrestle but the wrestling isn't enough. There has to be a strategic plan, three months, six months, nine months. It's not enough for a match to have a story behind it and a destination to a different match later on. It needs to make people feel something. Young babyfaces are investments. You have to pay into them. You have to pay them off over time. You have to build the ladder so that they can climb it. The pillars weren't built in a day. Neither was Magnum TA or Mistico. It takes extra work. It means living less in the moment and more over time creatively. Maybe it's less fun for a booker/matchmaker. It's taking your medicine. But it's necessary if any of this is going to work. I'm a firm, firm believer that things can and do matter. I believe that in the ring, wrestlers can build a match and create meaning and not just sensation. I believe that over time with booking too. Where is a Willow going to be in nine months? Where is Bandido going to be in nine months? Where will Hobbs be in nine months? Maybe you can't do it for everyone and maybe everyone can't make it through the glass ceiling, but in year six, great wrestling matches aren't going to do it alone. There are diminishing returns without strategy and purpose to underpin them.

Wrestlers can come up with their own ideas. They can be sent out there to succeed or to fail, to get over with the crowd or to lose them, but at the end of the day, it has to be a top down approach with a plan behind it. Bottom up can create a spark but top down needs to fan the flames and give kindling to the fire. Danielson is already gone. Guys like Joe and Cope can only last so much longer. There are only so many new people to bring in given the state of the indies. The heels need babyfaces that, even if they aren't bullet proof, are still resilient. 

That said, I actually thought this was a really good wrestling match. Fletcher is amazing. He has incredible instincts. But most of all, he sells everything that happens emotionally. He started this off by being a jerk to both Bowens and Gunn but the second Bowens turned it back on him he lost his cool and rushed in so that Bowens could outwrestle him and make him stooge. Then he came right back with meanness and frustration over the indignity that he faced. He is developing that Buddy Rose quality of looking like an absolute fool when he's backpedaling but then able to flip a switch and be completely brutal on offense.

And that's even when he teases things as well. There was a moment where he played on the apron power bomb from a few weeks ago, teasing it on Bowens right in front of Cole. That cruel mental distraction, that streak of viciousness towards both Bowens and Cole meant that Bowens was able to fire back. Fletcher's eyes went off the ball for a moment because he tried to do as much physical and emotional harm as possible. Incredibly rich piece of character work there serving multiple purposes at once and even playing on the real world backlash from the previous spot. Fletcher does multiple things like that almost every match, taking his time, being as present as anyone in wrestling, having it all lead to comeuppance. 

And of course Bowens, wanting to prove himself and come back after his last loss against Okada, knowing that Fletcher was someone opposed to him in so many ways,  wanting to put himself in TNT title contention with Cole at ringside, kept pushing, kept driving for his finisher. I wouldn't say that the finish protected him enough honestly. Archer got his hands on Gunn and that distracted Bowens so that he ate a clean pin loss after a move. That's a case where at least Fletcher could have gotten his feet up on the ropes maybe (that sort of finish helps both him and Bowens). But if it leads to Bowens losing Gunn, the most harmful of all of his gimmicks (because he steals those big pops/moments and towers over him), maybe that's a step in the right direction. And steps are needed because AEW can't afford to give up on such key parts of its future. 

ROH TV 6/12/25

Bandido vs Mansoor (Proving Ground) 

MD: I was talking with a friend the other day and we were noting the move away from wrestling as a morality play, from being more about good vs evil. At some point along the way, wrestling went from being about more universal human issues and just became about itself. That's almost entirely WWE's fault and a side effect of WWE losing competition in the early 2000s. As a monopoly it was able to turn inwards. Punk's Pipe Bomb and Bryan Danielson vs the Authority were more about wrestling nerds getting more of a say against the established norms than anything more human and universal like Dusty vs Flair, Hogan vs Dibiase, or Austin vs McMahon. The snake has come to eat its own tail. AEW plays with notions of friendship a bit more but so much of it is still about wrestling as wrestling as opposed to wrestling as a lens through which (even simple) social issues and tensions can be explored and played out. (As an aside, that's why some of Hangman's journey is so powerful, because so many people in the 2020s can relate to the anxiousness ingrained in the character).

Despite this match being a bandit-themed luchador against a male model, I thought it tapped into the notion of good vs evil pretty well. Maybe it's a stretch to call Mansoor evil, but he certainly represented vanity and arrogance, quick to preen and pose at every opportunity. Moreover, he was seconded by Mason Madden, Johnny TV, AND Taya, and they interfered again and again and again throughout. Even though they may have come off as clever and talented, they made sure to portray themselves as scheming and underhanded. At no point did they try to get the crowd on their side. They knew their roles and played them exactly as they should, allowing for Bandido to shine heroically against all odds. 

In this case, driven by the interference and on top of it, that meant overcoming Mansoor's targeting of his back. Bandido had to power through a double arm stretch, had to overcome his own pain when he couldn't suplex Mansoor, had to survive a late match backstabber. The villains, fueled not by Bandido's inner strength but by their own weakness of character, cheated too much and too brazenly and overstretched, being caught by Ref Aubrey and sent to the back (Mansoor acted as if their removal physically hurt him which was a great bit of emotional selling). Left in a fair fight, even if he was damaged, Bandido pushed on and persevered, good triumphing over bad. Not every match has to work along those lines but it's primal stuff and it's sure nice to see it play out now and again. 

 

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