AEW Five Fingers of Death 2/5 - 2/11

AEW Dynamite 2/7/24

Bryan Danielson/Jon Moxley/Claudio Castagnoli vs Hechicero/Volador, Jr./Mascara Dorada

MD: This had a number of (what I consider to be) lucha trios trappings and really it did just make me want to see the 2/3 falls Arena Mexico version. I have no idea how they came to the hybrid middle ground that they did, whether it was just the two teams trying to come up with a match in the back or if some agent (maybe Sarah Stock who because of her language skills sometimes works with the luchadors?) intervened or if it's just the lucha that a guy like Danielson, having likely watched more tape in the 00s than the 20s is familiar with, but it was a pretty effective Frankenstein's Monster.

They started with measured and focused and disciplined exchanges with clear beginnings, middle, and ends (as opposed to control on one wrestler or one wrestler shining against the entire side). Hechicero and Danielson picked up right where they left off on the mat. Claudio got to base early and often for Dorada, and Volador got to look flashy and tough against Moxley. I wouldn't say it had a central pairing (no captains, not that captains have to be the central pairing anyway) as the underlying storyline was one of gang warfare instead of a direct rivalry. Case in point, I would have wanted the rudo beatdown to start after Volador's dive onto Moxley where the BCC came in to swarm in the aftermath, but instead they played the spot back with the CMLL guys swarming after Moxley's subsequent dive to send it to commercial break. 

I would have liked for them to cycle through the tecnicos and have the BCC beat down one after another, but this segment was pulled more towards Southern Tag trappings and building to a hot tag instead of an overall momentum shift. I think the former, if they could have made it intense and believable enough, would have led more to the overall feel they were going for. The latter did still mean that we got to see a "Mascara Doroda vs the World" bit where he outslicked two opponents at once. Then, the finishing stretch had a bit of a cycling tercera feel, with Hechicero locking in hold after hold on different BCC members with people breaking it up as opposed to it being alternating holds from a member of each team.

I came in to lament that they didn't fully and entirely commit to a full CMLL trios styled match on a random Dynamite in Arizona but I have to admit, after thinking it all through, the compromise that they came up with was both artful and effective. I just think it might have been a little more so if they had gone into a more definitive beatdown just a little earlier, cycled through the CMLL guys during said beatdown, and then had a bit more focused of a central pairing (Danielson vs Hechicero). Hopefully what we got was a still impressive step in that direction.