AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 4/24 - 4/30

AEW Dynamite 4/26

Orange Cassidy vs Bandido

MD: Cassidy's had an amazing run since he came back from injury last year. We've covered very few of those matches but I think it's about time that changed. In fact, I think for the near future, I'm going to sub him in for Danielson. Don't get me wrong, Bryan's had some incredible highs in AEW, but when you look at their week to week output, I think Cassidy has him beat. Danielson's made the most out of bigger opportunities, but that's not the same of making the most out of every opportunity, and that's where Cassidy shines. There was one point where the idea of Danielson being TNT champion, back when the TNT title was all about open matches against interesting opponents. If he couldn't go to Korakuen Hall or Arena Mexico, maybe they could come to him. We got a taste of that earlier this year with his run on the road to facing MJF, and you know what? As fun as those matches were, I think Cassidy's better at it.

Maybe it's because he's a few years younger, maybe it's because he's less banged up. Maybe, however, it's just an issue of mentality and at being better at adapting to his opponent and forcing his opponent to adapt to him in 2023. You could argue that Danielson is such a big star and such a looming presence and that the crowd demands certain things out of him (like the Yes Kicks for instance), but a lot of that is true with Cassidy too. In fact, while in theory, it's easy to compare the two of them, in practice, Cassidy reminds me more of Moxley than Danielson. I've mentioned this before but it bears repeating: Moxley is going to take the air out of the room and force you to show your inner heart in the face of his relentless onslaught. In character, through character, Cassidy does the same thing, but it's pushing your mind instead of your body. At the end of the match, so long as you lean into it and embrace the potential of it, your character will be revealed just as thoroughly as if Moxley bled all over you.

Here, against Bandido, he met him half way with quick, tight, flowing exchanges. Danielson may have worked in a lucha submission or two, but this felt more tapped into the vein of that particular style of chain wrestling. The excusing bridged the gap making it seem less gimmicky and more organic. All the while, Cassidy pulled Bandido into his world, teasing the hands in the pockets, holstering the finger guns, seamlessly meshing impeccable high spots and high concept character work. And when it came time to fully highlight Bandido's strength, Cassidy went out of his way to do so, yet in a manner that was always earned and always had consequence. He'd go up for the extended counting suplex but would get the knee down eventually and make Bandido earn the eventual impact. He got to show off his strength on the outside, but only after catching a Cassidy dive. They played into the idea that Bandido had been training specifically for Cassidy and he even reversed the mousetrap, but Cassidy is the modern incarnation of a tecnico trickster god and he always has another gambit up his sleeve (or in his pocket as it is). Danielson can't help but force people into Danielson matches, and Danielson matches are great, but this, to me, was more compelling, a tighter, character driven, smoothly executed fusion of two worlds.

Darby Allin vs Sammy Guevara

MD: I don't have a lot to say here relative to the last match, but I did want to point out how much I loved the opening bit, with Darby working a tight NWA Heavyweight Title style in order to prove he was worthy of the belt, just going back to the side headlock again and again even as Sammy tried more and more elaborate and showy escapes. It took Sammy outright cheating (first the spitting, then the low blow, then Tay interfering) for him to take or recover advantage, but once he was on top, he made the absolute most of it. This is a guy who knows that Kommander and Vikingo have arrived, and that they've arrived right as he's getting the biggest push of his life, and he's trying to top it with things like that 630 through a table or even just the perfectly timed cutter counter to a tope. You don't usually think of Darby as a base, but here he was, providing contrast and things like the amazing bump off the posting or Sammy's moonsault. The finish half worked; you could see Hager or Parker or Garcia setting that sort of faux DQ up just as easily as MJF. Maybe it would have been better if he asked all of them to stay in the back on camera? But even then, you had Tay out there too. That's something of a nitpick though.