AEW Five Fingers of Death Week of 2/7-2/13

AEW Dynamite 2/9

2. CM Punk/Jon Moxley vs. FTR

MD: I don't cover a ton of modern tag wrestling here. You don't see me a lot on the MOTY lists and Eric's the one who did the live PPV recaps. While I don't make a big deal out of it, I am definitely a low voter on the Uso style of 2010s tag wrestling though. It, like a huge chunk of everything else with me, is mainly structural. I like an exciting finishing stretch where everything's broken down as much as the next guy, but I don't want that to be half the match, no matter how hard they're working and no matter how many well timed spots they work in. You need to build something up so that you can break it down. That's true if I'm watching a 95 All Japan Tag or a modern AEW tag. You build up the meaning, you build up the narrative, and then you pay it off with a finishing stretch after a big tag/moment (not necessarily a hot tag since not everything has to be a standard heel/face southern style tag match) at the end. Order gives way to chaos. That's my personal preference.

So if you want to have a long, spot-filled, action packed, imaginative finishing stretch, and FTR has been excellent at those since the NXT days, one way to give it weight and balance and meaning within a match it is to just give the rest of the match plenty of time. They did that here. There was the heat on Punk's leg; some great, chaotic brawling on the outside after the hot tag to Mox, the sort of thing that could have been a finishing stretch in and of itself; them taking Mox out with the table; and then a second segment of real heat before finally moving into an entirely earned over the top finishing stretch. The stretch lived up to the build with Tully getting involved (and you know he wanted to take the big star's move whether or not the body was willing), a bell shot, false finishes, the babyface finisher tandem tease and the babyface submission payoff. The match had stakes, both internal and external. It built things to a middle point high with the dives and brawling and then brought them back down for the second heat segment, all so that it could rise even higher for the finishing stretch. What we got in the end was a beautiful, fleshed out, complete tag match instead of just a lot of exciting noise.

ER: I'm fairly in line with Matt when it comes to feelings on the Usos/New Day style of Big Match tag wrestling, and I think that's been reflected in our MOTY lists. We've had enough Usos matches on our lists, but we're rarely if ever the high vote, and there have been plenty of their acclaimed matches that didn't register with us. This match felt like the best version of any of the acclaimed Uso tags, with much more ebb and flow done over the same run time. It's tough to repeatedly peak a crowd and bring them back louder with each peak, and it's a beautiful thing when that happens. I loved all the twists this match took and just when I thought I saw what the main focus was going to be, they would pivot and give me something even more exciting. When I thought this was going to be FTR making quick tags and working nasty double teams on Punk's knee, I couldn't wait for the Moxley hot tag. Then, the Moxley hot tag came much quicker than expected and I, like Matt, thought this was them moving right into the finishing stretch. Maybe we've been conditioned. Moxley's hot tag was excellent, and this is a man who moves like he's been reborn. He ran into FTR with more force than I've seen him run into anyone over the last decade, he hit a lariat that looked all shoulder muscle, and it lead to our great ringside brawl. 

Harwood really stood out as a guy taking big working man's bumps, like his splat landing on a Punk vertical suplex on the floor, or that later crazy Doomsday Device that was probably safe as can be but the way he tucked his head on the fall made it look that much crazier. FTR were also real savages separating Moxley from Punk after suplexing him through a table. I'd love to never see FTR against the Young Bucks or Lucha Bros for the rest of my days, and instead just see them holding a guy in their corner, standing on his face like total assholes, and then slingshotting his head into the bottom buckle. Teeter totter spots almost always look like trash, but they looked like they were trying to decapitate Mox on that bottom buckle. The actual finishing stretch was awesome, and I loved the smooth timing of Mox hitting Harwood with an atomic drop while Harwood made the tag, leading to Wheeler coming in to grab Mox but immediately eat a back suplex. Tully is a total maniac and I love when he gets physically involved in things, just great chaos to add to a finish. 

2022 MOTY MASTER LIST