AEW Five Fingers of Death 12/19 - 12/25

AEW Dark Elevation 12/19

MD: Got some sickness in the house (yeah, that sort) right now, and right at XMas too. I had initially thought about doing the whole show as it had a lot of things to like (Shafir hitting people at weird angles; Athena being Athena, the best act in AEW right now; Workhorsemen vs BCC; Emi and Bunny doing their thing) but that's out. There was a Kingston/Ortiz tag, but I don't have a ton to say about it. If I was going to do a Shinno match from this week I'd do the Omega one from Dark that I didn't like one bit, but no one wants to hear me talk about that, so instead, let's go with our honorary Finger Slim...

Ethan Page/Matt Hardy/Isiah Kassidy/Top Flight/Konosuke Takeshita vs. Trustbusters (Sonny Kiss/Slim J/Jeeves Kay)/Wingmen (Peter Avalon/Cesar Bononi/Ryan Nemeth)

MD: The AEW webshows reward and punish those that watch them all. I've seen some griping about the Hardy Party/Ethan Page story popping up here and there and it's a shame as I think Page has done a great job with it. I get people being frustrated by the idea of yet another contract storyline (Khan writes what he knows), but the backstage stuff has been a lot of fun. Page is walking this obtuse line between being malicious and so egotistical (naturally) that he actually gets into the moment at times. He really leans hard into the fabricated enthusiasm that you get the sense that the character is sort of losing himself to the moment at times, but in a way that somehow makes the humiliation worse and not better for Hardy and Private Party. I'm not sure it's entirely coherent, but it's actually pretty compelling.

Here, he burst through the pair as their music hit and did the big hardy gun hang signal only to cut the music when he didn't get a big pop. He had a mic and it was a fun little gimmick but I don't think he leaned into it enough. Past one moment where he freaked out that Takeshita was ending the dive train, he only said anything when it was a plot beat. He should have been commenting on a lot more, like the Trustbusters triple combo sliced bread. That was my big gripe there. It seemed a little too in your face because of it, even if his facial reactions and faux babyface cheering on was actually pretty engaging throughout.

You watch a big twelve man match like this looking for a few things: the rapid fire spots, interesting match-ups of opponents, and interaction between guys who wouldn't normally interact. I don't think we really got that last one. It was nice to see Page pat Darius on the shoulder pre-match as an extension of the above gimmick, but in general the Trustbusters (still working out their act) and the Wingmen kept to themselves and didn't work together much. We did get some fresh match-ups though. Kassidy and Kiss come to mind, and as Darius been on the shelf for so long, even the Wingmen and Top Flight working against one another seemed pretty fresh. So in that regard, this was a hit for me. They especially used Takeshita well here, as a big clean-up hitter. I would have liked Bononi teased a bit more (or even get to lean on Kassidy a bit) before the big showdown with Takeshita though. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing one of these on Elevation with various guys on the massive roster once a month.

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How's the King of New York Rockin' Sandals with Jeans?

Eddie Kingston/Darby Allin/Jon Moxley vs. JD Drake/Ryan Nemeth/Cezar Bononi AEW Dynamite 8/25/21 - GREAT

ER: This was like one of those fun weekend WCW shows where the 4 Horsemen would take on Men at Work and Joey Maggs. A match where the result is never in doubt doesn't have to be obvious about it, and there are still a million fun paths to take while still presenting a strong team. I liked the losing team here. At this point AEW has a roster that's probably larger than the most bloated WCW roster, so JD Drake showing up like Big Bubba (great look for him honestly), Nemeth working as a stooge with just bumps and no offense, and Bononi as the big man is a fun weird trios. I'm already a Wingmen fan and I really loved every time Nemeth got in the ring. Nemeth is a great stooge, excitedly getting in the ring opposite Kingston only for Kingston to completely no sell his one knife edge and give Nemeth one of his own, and Nemeth bumps it like a huge lariat and immediately tags out. I love that shit and it's something that we don't get much of anymore. Eddie and Cezar are a fun pairing too, with both slamming into each other, and it's always a great look when Eddie is throwing hard chops at a larger opponent. 

The bullshit on the floor is always fun, with Sting running off all the flunkies like Peter Avalon. Drake had some nice stuff throughout, great at making all three of the stars look great. His run with Eddie was all action (interrupted amusingly by Nemeth running in and immediately getting punched by Eddie), and Drake is a big guy so it looks even better when he's being tossed by suplexes and a uranage. Drake/Darby is another great pairing, as we move from Drake chucking Darby around at the beginning of the match, to Drake taking a cool Code Red off the ropes and then getting just crushed by the Coffin drop. Darby landed flush on Drake's big belly, the way I used to land on my dad's stomach when I would Superfly Splash him off the back of the couch. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE EDDIE KINGSTON

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