AEW Five Fingers of Death 2/14 - 2/20

AEW Rampage 2/17

Dustin Rhodes vs. Swerve Strickland

MD: I'd say "You have to give it to Dustin," but it's not like we do much around here other than giving it to Dustin, so we're going to be doing that anyway, right? He could mail it in, or at the very least, he could just play the hits, but he seems to take every opponent as opportunity to think of their stuff will interface with what he does and be open to adapt his stuff to what they do, all the while drawing a crowd in with a babyface performance that organically inspires clapping up and chants more than almost anyone on the roster. 

With Swerve, that means you're going to get a combo of mean shots and completely unnecessary rolls, certainly a bane of watching him as a babyface but just about over the line of "tolerable" when he's a heel. As a heel, he has certain luxuries that most on the roster don't lean into either. He can be a bit more chickenshit, a bit more disingenuous, can balance the athleticism with a real sliminess in the ring. MJF plays that sort of character before the bell rings, but he needs to be at least somewhat credible given his role. The Gunns haven't leaned into it for months, probably because they feel like they have too much to prove. Christian is just back from injury and doesn't have that level of athleticism anyway. So it's down to Swerve to really find the sweet spot between rolling into a "Complete Shot" and biting Dustin's arm to force create an opening. I liked the straight punch that preceded it on the flip, flop, and fly, and the dodge of the power slam, but I also liked the notion that all of the punches and dodges in the world weren't going to let Swerve take over and it was only through the biting that he could.

They made good use of the apron and the barricade going into the break, leaving Dustin bloodied and giving Swerve something else to bite and target. The crowd more or less stayed behind him throughout and while I thought things escalated a little bit too much and maybe just a little unbalanced, what with death valley drivers on the apron and superplexes into pile drivers, at least with the latter, Dustin went out of his way to justify the kick out with his slow, labored cover. And it all built to a very decisive finish, a rare DQ (the sort of thing which fits Swerve perfectly) and Keith Lee's return. It seems we're on borrowed time with Dustin matches now, so I'm going to value every one we get.