AEW Five Fingers of Death (And Friends) 2/20 - 2/26

AEW Dark 2/21

Slim J vs Matt Sydal

MD: A rare week where all we had was a great Danielson brawl and a Dustin promo, so let's check in on how Segunda Caida stalwart Slim J is doing at the Universal Tapings. The answer? He's doing pretty damn well. One of the fun things about this run is that we get to see him up against a bunch of guys that are brand new opponents for him. Sydal, despite wrestling for almost as long, had a completely different path to this episode of Dark. 

They made for solid dance partners in this one. Given their physical adroitness, their dexterity, balance, and flexibility (elements that all but define Sydal and that serve as aggravating and undeniable points of dissonance relative to his appearance and persona when it comes to a heel Slim J), they were able to not only take each other's most complex and tricked out stuff, but to push the needle just a little bit further. They matched up perfectly in the early feeling out segment, with Slim J providing Sydal two or three flowing counters before Sydal could finally gain an advantage. They went around that circle a few times, Slim J showing his frustration and aggravation by stalling out on the floor or rushing into yet another failed attempt. Ultimately, though, he had the numbers game on his side, that and a brazen shamelessness that let him all but embrace Bryce Remsburg so to enable interference. Just as Slim J had been able to help Sydal put a little extra torque into something as straightforward as a side slam, Sydal was able to base steady for the sailing reverse ddt off the top, but from the middle of the ropes instead. They'd go back and forth from there, Sydal getting comebacks and Slim J leaning on interference to take back over, ultimately leading to a finishing stretch where Sydal got turned inside out by the most complex wheelbarrow half-nelson twisting driver imaginable, but one that the two of them somehow made look absolutely believable, maybe more believable than Sydal's subsequent kickout. The Trustbusters lived by the interference and they died by it in the end. 

AEW's a weird place. Slim J is one of the better babyfaces we've ever seen, and crazier things have happened then him potentially blowing up in that role on Dynamite or Rampage in the years to come. But if all we get are these YouTube studio matches against other great journeymen he never encountered before, we're happy to have that too.