AEW Five Fingers of Death: 8/22 - 8/28

AEW Dynamite 8/24/22

CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley

MD: I caught this Thursday morning, after being spoiled and came in expecting Brock vs Kofi and figured there'd be nothing to talk about. This wasn't that, so it's worth a few words at least. At this point, we still don't know the endgame here, but this did have some real substance to it, based on the characters of Punk and Moxley and the year they've been having. Punk's AEW run has been about reclamation, about reclaiming his own role and legacy in wrestling and, if you look at his ring-work, about reclaiming certain aspects that have been lost when it comes to the meaning and struggle of every exchange and every moment. It's about bringing back the ten-punch in the corner or the bodyslam and showing that if treated as something with impact, they can matter as much as a 450 splash or a falcon arrow (and theoretically, if done properly and consistently, can actually make those things mean even more when they're escalated to). Mox, on the other hand, is the successor of Hansen, a whetstone that you crash up against and that pulls back the skin and bones and polish and shine (and moves) and reveals whatever you truly as underneath, that bares your soul to the world as you survive and survive, right up until the point you don't.

And that's how they worked this. Punk came into that first, hard and harsh lock-up expecting a clean break. This was a title match. They'd just started. Moxley just went at him in the corner. Punk fired back, because even though he wants to represent something, there's a darkness within him too and he wasn't about to back down, but once they made it back to the corner, the ref interceded. Punk started to draw back only for Moxley to capitalize with a headbutt over the ref. And that's when Punk, pissed off, off-balance, still dangerous but now prone to an early mistake, pushed forward with the kick that would reinjure the leg. Mox showed no mercy, immediately pouncing, and after the clothesline, the hammer-and-anvil shots, the ankle wrench, and two death riders, the match was over. Storywise, if Punk was healthy, maybe Mox might have pushed him off balance, but maybe he could have ridden it out and taken over later on and made Moxley play his game instead. Punk's a pro; he's a champ; he knows all the tricks. But he was hurt and that meant there weren't extra chances, not without Mox giving them, and 2022 Mox doesn't give anyone anything but grief and violence. It was striking and daring and completely true to everything that had happened this year. Now we see what's next as Chicago looms.

AEW Rampage 8/26/22

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Dustin Rhodes

MD: Let's start with the finish. This is basically the Clash XXI finish, where Dustin and Barry Windham were up against Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas, a similar mishap occurs with a crotching on rope running, Dustin doesn't take advantage, and after they subsequently lose the belts, Windham turns heel on him. Who knows where, if anywhere, this is going. We do know from interviews (Maybe even the Way of the Blade interview) that Khan often goes to Dustin and asks him to do spot A from match B from 1994 or whatever, and then Dustin has to figure out what the heck it is he did in that match. What I'm trying to say is that this wasn't some sort of botched or off or misdone finish. It was intentional. Arn's reaction was intentional. With Dustin in AEW, though, you never know if it's going somewhere or just some sort of easter egg. Given that it was happening at the end of Rampage, when Excalibur was doing everything he could to get over the next week of shows, they couldn't exactly stop and note that Dustin had a tendency to do this in big matches, leaning towards sportsmanship and that's part of why he's never been world champion and that he'd even lost friendships over it, as he might with Arn here. They could have even contrasted it with how Moxley won the title on Dynamite, but that's kind of a big ask for a four man booth at the end of a show when they have to hype four upcoming matches. But that's the finish and the mindset behind it. Either it worked for you or it didn't. Maybe it'll work better if you know the history. Maybe it'll work better if they do something coming out of this.

The match itself, however, was very good. A few things about how Claudio is working. One, I think he's utilizing a lot of the small/close up/mean stuff in a way he wasn't in his WWE run. Granted, I haven't seen him much in the last few years, but I really don't remember it. I don't think the BCC is teaching him to rub his arms against people's faces or anything but I do think it's a part of their training sessions so it's on the front of his mind. I really liked how he'd go from a pin to immediately looking for the next hold too. It's all an interesting dissonance to his personality which is light and fun; when he gets in the ring, he's really grinding down and punishing people. Two, there's a certain moveset limitation in WWE. I noticed it the other day with Danielson having the freedom just to do a brainbuster because he wanted to even though it wasn't one of his "set" moves and even though other people may do it. I think it's less likely that Claudio would have just been able to do a shoulder-breaker even though it made sense at the point of the match, so that freedom is nice to see. He can express himself so freely now just in general and he's making the best of that and seems to be enjoying it. 

The early chain-wrestling/oneupsmanship was a lot of fun, the twos in the face and then Claudio having enough of it. Dustin is a very unique character (let alone wrestler, given his size and experience) for guys to push up against and it's good to see someone really lean into it. As the match went on the focus on the shoulder, mixed with Claudio's recent tendency to really bear down on something, made for a pretty compelling story. Dustin had to fight from underneath, because everyone has to fight from underneath against Claudio, but Claudio respected him enough to target a weakness instead of just having a lark with it. Like the Mox/Punk match, the finish will now depend on what happens next, but as wrestling for the sake of wrestling, it was very good and sort of made me want to see Dustin against all of the other ROH champs (Where is Joe anyway?).