AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 9/30/20

What Worked

-I really haven't seen a ton of Ricky Starks but was impressed with how he pinballed around for Darby and set up a bunch of his offense. They had cool callback stuff throughout, like Starks running a spear right into a Darby guillotine early but then hitting that spear late in the match as Darby was springing off the ropes, leading to a nice nearfall. Starks took some big offense from Darby, like a vertical suplex on the apron and stayed in to get killed by a Darby tope, but he also flipped hard onto his shoulders off the Code Red and got launched across the ring by a weird/cool monkey flip armbar thing (it was like Darby was giving him an airplane ride and then kicked him off while holding the arm). Starks paid attention to the damage his back took from that apron suplex and really put on a selfless bumping heel performance to make Allin look like the superstar he is. Great way to open up the show.

-We got what I think is easily the best FTR performance since showing up in AEW. Tons of people were excited for them to go to AEW where they could "finally work" and then they proceeded to have several matches that weren't anywhere near as good as the matches they were regularly putting out on Main Event. THIS felt like the FTR that people were excited to see. Cash hilariously got Daniels thrown out from ringside by faking a picture perfect trip from the floor, planting on his face and holding his mouth (so of course you knew Tully was going to grab someone's leg from the floor at some point and I loved it was the finish). FTR were working quick tags and cutting that damn ring off, going fast on exchanges, taking all of Scorpio Sky's pillow soft landing crossbodies and making them look impactful, taking silly cutters (Cash flew high over the ropes on Kazarian's derpy slingshot cutter) and making them look good, really building a hot match around a tag team I don't find very interesting. The nearfall stretch leading up to the finish was really strong, with Kazarian getting dropped by a gnarly dragon suplex (I like commentary pointing out that being sweaty was probably the only thing that allowed him to slip out of the pin in time) and a couple of tight Scorpio Sky roll ups. Tully grabs that leg for the finish, and this is the FTR I'd like to see more from.

-JR doesn't really have much of a place on a good commentary team anymore, but I get repeat amusement out of his glowing descriptions for picture-in-picture. This week he called it "restaurant quality" and that got a real laugh out of me.

-Old man Jericho is really great at crafting these 80/20-yet-competitive matches around guys of all skillsets. Kassidy brings little to the table for me (and here he whiffs on a tope con hilo onto several guys, barely clearing the ropes) and Jericho works a nice match around making it look like Kassidy was *this* close to putting him away. Jericho's short right hands are maybe my favorite punches in current wrestling, and he has a couple different variations on them. His mounted ones look strong but here I was especially in love with a couple of standing shots in the corner, short hooking rights to the cheek. I also really love his short kicks to the ribs, they always look like they sting. The finish was one of the very best Judas Effects ever, casually spinning through a Kassidy springboard to hit the killshot, then getting the hell out of dodge when a ringside brawl breaks out. Jericho as old gunslinger Misawa rules. And I really want the Jericho/Luther match.

-The Beach Break that Orange Cassidy polished off Ten with was nasty as hell, and I dug that tope en reversa off the top to the floor into Dark Order.

-Loved the Britt Baker return squash. That look over her shoulder into the hard cam before hitting a butterfly suplex is the stuff legends are made of, and she kept trying to pop Red Velvet's shoulders out of their socket with holds and more butterflies. Her kicking Velvet throat first into the middle and bottom ropes feels like something nasty that Greg Valentine or Ronnie Garvin would have done, and she somehow made it look as violent as I imagine they would have. Yes I am talking about Britt Baker and Greg Valentine in the same sentence and I feel minimal shame about it.

-I wasn't clamoring for a Butcher showcase main event, but him going after Moxley's knee was fun as hell. Butcher doesn't really have clean offense or stuff that looks particularly great, but he's a big guy who hurls his body weight at people. I don't need pretty moves, just leap at someone with a big mustache and wild hairline. Butcher had a big chokeslam and was tossing Mox around, dropped a knee on his head, choked him over the ropes so Kingston could talk shit, stops a Mox tope with a punch, and snaps Moxley's leg over the apron. I'm a sucker for limb-focused DDTs, so Butcher DDTing Moxley's leg put me over the top, and Butcher twisting Moxley's leg around his own to work on it ruled. This was really Moxley as Cena, but Moxley works well enough in the Cena formula. Nobody was ever thinking that Butcher was going to win, but I liked the path they took to Moxley's finish. Butcher really got stuck on that piledriver and DDT! Moxley limped his way through and never went on a big hulked up run, and his small comebacks were handled well, especially knowing he has that bulldog choke as his big silver bullet.


What Didn't Work

-Kazarian actually dropped a "You might be playing checkers, but we're playing chess!" If there was a post match promo I assume he would have talked about how tomorrow is another day, and they have to take this one match at a time, gotta move forward and forget about the past.

-Joke cutting smug heel Young Bucks are not something that interests me, but we'll see how it translates in the ring I guess? FTR just standing there like goofs after Matt superkicked Schiavone made them look so lame. "Oh, you're just gonna kick him? We're right here," they say, as they don't move and allow Matt Jackson to walk away. I don't think anyone came off well here, and Tony isn't someone who gets routinely attacked, and yet it came off like a non-event here.