AEW Five Fingers of Death 12/5 - 12/11

AEW Dynamite 12/7

Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal

MD: Dustin is healthy again and was in this one. He's saying he'll retire in 2023, so we're going to cover every bit of his work as we can between now and then, if that actually happens (wrestlers are wrestlers and he's more of a wrestler than most). He does seem to be featured a bit right now and may even get an All Atlantic Title match, maybe? Hopefully? Dustin vs Cassidy would be a new match-up and I think they could do pretty interesting things with it for a one-off. We'll see.

This was, of course, an AEW Battle Royal which means some fun, pointed moments, and a lot of fun moments that just seem to happen. There's a lot to cover even if this wasn't the most eventful AEW Battle Royal I've seen. First, look at all of those managers and seconds! Stokely and Big Billy, The Blade and the Bunny, Penelope Ford, The Boys, Nana! And that's even with Sterling, Vickie, Jake, Arn, and a few others not there. Managers are a great, integral part of wrestling, and AEW is great for using them so thoroughly even if the contract stuff can be a bit much at times. Speaking of contract stuff, one of the biggest actual storybeats here was Matt Hardy, made by Ethan Page and Lee Moriarty to do their bidding and work as a pretty effective unit. Page lost the forest for the trees, of course, and enjoyed rubbing it in so much that he let himself get distracted, but while it was happening, there were fun bits like Matt jousting with both faces and heels, him leaving Moriarty high and dry for a high five, and Page cheering him on against the Butcher (while not helping) leading to a Hardy chant. Butcher was more of a monster in this than Cage, which says a lot about both of them. I loved Blade jumping up to the apron to celebrate with Butcher after he eliminated Dustin. Dustin got his big moment against kip with a picture perfect Destroyer, which was Kip's comeuppance for screwing with Cassidy. Kip had a nice little beat where Cassidy blocked a slam into the corner and he turned to look at him in a moment of exasperation or shock before Cassidy hammered him in. Speaking of Cassidy, one of my favorite little things in all of this was when Jungle Boy came out and Cassidy did his little version of the arm waving to great him before giving him a handshake as Dean saluted them both. It's little things like that which make the promotion feel more alive and active and more than just the sum of matches, promos and angles. Starks, to his credit, was able to take out Butcher (and like I said, Butcher being such a beast in this made that mean all the more), but they could have focused him a little more even than that. Same with Jungle Boy, who had just sort of been in it before he got bodied by Big Bill with the boot and the crazy chokeslam. What mattered in the end was that Starks won though, which laid the groundwork for the promos that would follow. Not the best AEW Battle Royal ever, and the tenor of the eliminations was a bit affected by the commercial break, but even a just ok one is always full of all of those great little moments that makes the tapestry all the more vivid.

Darby Allin vs Samoa Joe

MD: This was a hell of a thing. It's know how much of this was Darby being Darby and how much of it was Joe finding his groove after a time of inactivity, in the latter stages of his career, but if pressed (and I'm pressed every week around here; that's the point), I'd say it was about 50/50. Just a monster base against an insane bumper; not a flyer so much as just a lawn dart who throws himself into everything he does. Joe gave right at the get go, pushing Darby back but eating a dropkick out but then he did his trademark walk away and it was on from there. Joe just absolutely dismantled Darby on the outside, brutal stuff. He leaned on him during the commercial break, and then cut off the comeback attempt by setting up the amazing spinning bump off the post. All throughout, Joe emanated sadistic glee, grinning, scoffing, flexing to mock Darby after that bump, tossing Darby's in and back out of the ring to break the count, just a living, breathing monolithic monster that lives in the same world as you and I. Of course, Darby's exudes resilience like no other and he somehow was able to mount a believable comeback with Joe taking just enough of his stuff to really wow you and make you think that Darby might pull it out. It was all for naught with the great chokeout finish, one of those things that probably aren't as impressive as, let's say Joe catching Darby in a fireman's carry off a plancha like earlier in the match, but that looked great nonetheless. Post match, they go with one of those moments where you can't see the strings and have no idea how they pull it off without severe spinal damage as Joe dropped Darby right on the skateboard wheels. Don't try this at home, I guess? You wonder if they should have been trying it in the arena, but it sure had an effect. The crowd was great throughout, oohing and ahhing every bit of offense, and every bit of it was deserved. Even if this Joe run gives us nothing else, it sure as heck gave us this.