AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 7/21 - 7/27

AEW Dynamite 7/23/25

FTR vs JetSpeed 

MD: Wrestling isn't math. 

Except.

And yet, they found a way to overcome.

Wrestling isn't math, except for when it comes to the maximized balance of a southern tag. There became a trend over the 2010s, all the way from the start of the decade, where finishing stretches to tag matches got longer and longer and longer, gobbling up more of the shine and heat. Eventually, half the match took place after things broke down, creating minute after minute of exciting action where all four wrestlers could come in at the same time, cycling in and out, spot after spot, nearfall after nearfall, endless noise crashing into the face of the fans. 

It came at a cost. Ironically, it was the exact opposite of the Bulldogs-driven WWF 80s house style (maybe an overcorrection now that we have even more footage, but not too much of one), where the shine became so long relative to the heat and comeback that matches fell into a "heel-in-peril" mode. Modern tags tend to have everything break down as soon as possible so as to fit the maximum amount of sensation into the match.

The problem is this: it does a disservice to the natural benefits of the southern tag. You ramp up the pressure as much as possible during the heat so that the moment of comeback means as much as possible. The benefit of the tag gimmick isn't that there are four wrestlers in the ring at once as much as possible (that's a Tornado Tag, totally different thing). It's the rules keeping a wrestler out until a tag. That allows for an entirely different sort of hope spot and cutoff than you can get in a singles match, one that hinges on the idea that salvation is just around the corner, one heroic, desperate grasp away. To toss that by the wayside just to do more "stuff" is almost criminal, with the victim being the narrative advantages of the form.

The Revival found a way to compensate in the mid-10s, because they had the canvas to do so in NXT. Less constrained by time limitations in their role as a featured act on a developmental brand, they were able to simply put more into the matches. The finishing stretches were just as long and just as elaborate as ever, but it didn't come at the cost of lengthy heats. They rebalanced the equation by taking up more real estate making those exciting stretches actually mean all the more for how they were earned but it was a luxury that wouldn't carry forward onto the main roster. 

Coming off the exceptional Outrunners match from a few weeks ago, where they raised the stakes on the heat by putting both babyfaces in peril simultaneously, they again pushed the storytelling envelope last week, this time against JetSpeed. Here, they came up with a plausible way to have everything break down extremely early, almost from the start but in a way that still (as a one time thing to be used very, very rarely) managed to serve the possibilities of the form due to the simple threat of paying off narrative expectations. 

The name of the game here was pressure. This was part of an eliminator series for a title shot. The stakes were high. There are spots and then there is strategy, and when the former is underpinned in a character driven way, everything shines. It sounds simple but it actually happens in a relatively small number of matches. Some of the best wrestlers of decades past were able to do it instinctually. In today's comprehensively planned out style of pro wrestling, it has to be baked into the mix.

Here, it absolutely was. FTR charged in early and attempted an immediate Shatter Machine. They wanted the quick win. When that failed, they just kept pressing and pressing, trying to pull JetSpeed under. 

They never could for long though. I'd argue that this didn't necessarily have a shine. I'd argue that it didn't really even have a heat. I wouldn't call this the sort of "sputtering heat" you'd get from 80s Guerreros matches. It was simply constant pressure from FTR in a way that needed an absolute purity of vision to work. The heat was constantly threatened but it was never allowed to manifest. 

They tried using Dax's jacket to cut off the ring (early enough that the ref would allow it). They tried pile drivers on the outside. They had Dax slam JetSpeed into Cash's elbows and knees (not his fault as he was still holding the tag rope, as he was quick to point out). They tried the PowerPlex, twice. When they went to the legs for Bret's figure four around the ringpost, it worked right until it didn't, leaving Dax as an open target for Speedball's kicks. They pressed and pressed and pressed, but they couldn't hold the offense for more than a minute at the time. 

But it was that pressure even in the face of JetSpeed's comebacks, that gave the match form and substance. It never came off as "Your Move, My Move." It never even felt like momentum shifts to me. It was the constant, incessant, groaning pressure from FTR and JetSpeed using their skill, speed, finesse, and heart to constantly push back against it and get their shots in. 

I'm not sure I've ever quite seen a tag like it. I led off by talking about southern tags, but after a second watch, this really wasn't a southern tag at all, because it never really came together in a way to break down in the first place. For it to still feel coherent, for it to still feel story-driven, for it to feel purposeful and not just like a tornado tag spotfest, for it to still somehow feel like a conventional tag match that threatened, at any and every point to become a southern tag and to start a heat segment that JetSpeed never quite allowed to come, is, to me, very impressive in and of itself.

A structural achievement and a testament to both teams. I thought there was still meat on the Outrunners bone, different variations of that same story that they could do with another team in another way six or nine months down the line.

With this, I think they stretched it just about as far as it could go without it falling apart completely and losing cohesion and focus like so many other spotfest tags of the last fifteen years. 

That said, part of me wants to see them try to prove me wrong. 

AEW Collision 7/26/25

Dustin Rhodes vs Lee Moriarty

MD: With Fletcher looming later this week, it's hard to say how many Dustin defenses we'll actually get, but I'm glad we got this one. It had time to breathe, a dueling limb story, and Lee served as a very game, very unique opponent.

He's the ROH Pure Champion, and it made sense for Dustin to not try to face him along those terms. But this was Dustin's first defense of a major singles title in decades and the TNT belt, itself, can switch between being a TV type title and something more prestigious depending on who has it. You got every impression that Dustin wanted to come in like a classic champion and take things to the mat. Lee kicking the hand away on the shake to the start only drove that thought home, as did his early bits of finesse leading to a Border City Stretch out of a rollup.

That was right down Moriarty's alley as Pure Champ, to burn rope breaks early even on moves that wouldn't get him the win, ones that were more about bluster and opportunity than actual damage. In fact, if you look through the match, Dustin would have burned his third rope break towards the end on the bodyscissored anklelock. That's great cover for Moriarty in losing because if this was a Pure match instead, he very likely would have won with a hold shortly thereafter.

It wasn't though, so that served more as insult than injury and led to Dustin taking things to the outside and unloading on Moriarty's arm. Shortly thereafter, Moriarty was able to get a Dragon Screw out of nowhere and hone in on Dustin's leg. 

And that was match for you. Dustin, given his reach advantage and Moriarty's arm, was going to win on a standup strike exchange. Moriarty, on the other hand, could lean hard into his own youth and speed advantage to hit Dustin quickly and from odd angles to take him off his feet. At one point, for instance, Dustin kicked Moriarty all of the way out of the ring on a figure four attempt. It was just a hope spot however, as Moriarty was able to dart back into the ring at high speed and take the leg out once more. Even after Taylor worked his arm out on the outside, Moriarty still couldn't get every hold he wanted every way he wanted however. 

Solid substance for the match and they worked it through the break until Dustin could come back with a powerslam and a pretty interesting Destroyer which Dustin, himself, took as a flat back bump instead of seated. No idea if that was intentional or not but if not it was a happy accident that served the match, since it allowed him to plausibly protect his leg on it. They went around a bit on the finish, including Dustin going for the Unnatural Kick and paying for it (but only to the tune of a one count, maybe not the time or place for it, but if this is his one title defense, what the hell, right?). Lee got a more legitimate naerfall after that and Dustin only managed to sneak out a win on a roll up on a second figure-four attempt. It'd be lovely if we had another five or six of these types of matches from Dustin against all sorts of comers, but I'm glad we got this one and I'm glad that it had the time it did.