AEW Five Fingers of Death 7/29 - 8/4

AEW Dynamite 7/31/24

Darby Allin vs. Adam Page

MD: Darby performs miracles regularly. On some level, it's simple. Wrestling is about heat. The babyface shines brightly, then takes and takes and takes, gets hope here and there, comes back, and they go to a finish. That's wrestling. It's worked for seventy-five years if not a hundred, across multiple cultures (though maybe not all). You build anticipation and you pay it off. Darby, being an absolute sponge for punishment, someone who will bump, crash, burn, someone with a few key hope spots he can work out of anywhere, who wins half of his matches with roll-ups, is perfect for it. And he overlays it again and again and again against opponents who don't want to be confined by that tried and true structure at all. And somehow, it works. It almost always works. It's wild.

So many of my problems with Page have been alleviated with this heel turn. You could sum them up with six words: too big, too soon, not consequential. You could go deeper into how he lacked low and mid-level offense and had too many bombs in his arsenal for even an ass-kicking babyface, when he should have been leaning more on brawling instead. Rewarded for all the wrong reasons, he was a tree that grew tall in all the wrong ways (but still, the tree was tall; you couldn't deny that). Now though, he's letting it all breathe.

Here, vs. Darby, knowing he'd lose, he had to be protected while Darby had to be kept strong given his role now and in the future. Tough balance. But Darby was explosive enough that he could make a lot out of a little, and Hangman's bombs worked well here, because they were well-placed, well-timed, and quite consequential. That first German on the floor after Darby leaped backwards into his arms set the tone for the match. The Death Valley Driver cemented his control. The power bombs on the apron were brutal insults to injury. The fall away slam onto the stairs was a cut off spot, and the one off the top rope told everyone who had been away for a commercial break just what the score was. Things were made to matter. For a normal match, I'd say these spots (even well placed) were maybe too much escalation. But there's nothing necessarily normal about Darby and it all worked out. He's larger than life and because this is the Hangman of 2024 and not the Hangman of prior years, there was just enough of a measured, fuming, moody approach that it all worked. So no, it wasn't all Darby, and Page deserves plenty of credit for taking a breath and being the wrestler the company needs as opposed to maybe the wrestler it wants, but that doesn't make Darby any less miraculous. 

ROH TV 8/1/24

Dustin Rhodes/Marshall Von Erich/Ross Von Erich vs. Iron Savages

MD: After a month or two of these being relatively quiet, Darby being back from injury, Dustin being heavily featured in Texas, and Danielson being used more... well, it's keeping me busy. This is a good problem to have. I will fully admit to missing Bear Country as Bear Country. It's hard to explain. The Iron Savages are probably an easier to digest act, less abstract than Bear Country, but it was the surreality of the old identity that made them stand out more, just these two huge guys with a barely discernible gimmick presenting themselves as a giant hurdle for pushed mid-card acts to get over. There was something dangerous and unpredictable about them, something that probably couldn't exist in modern WWE just for how random they were but might have shown up in 93 WWF next to some of the oddball acts. That said, while I think Boulder is lessened by this, Bronson probably comes off slightly better and more focused overall. It's a more palatable act for general audiences (and it's not like it's not weird with the sauce and titty city and everything else; it's just weird in a way that makes sense as opposed to one that doesn't). Let me sum it up: Bear Country would have fought Survival Tobita (or fought beside him); the Iron Savages wouldn't.

On to the match. Hey, they had Dustin play face-in-peril here. Nice little switch up from the last two. There was a fake-out before that where it looked like Ross might but then he got to hulk up and keep the shine going. If you're going to have anyone on the roster Hulk up, an Von Erich isn't a bad choice, but maybe I'd pick Marshall and maybe not during the shine. I liked the set up for the hot tag quite a bit: Bronson cut off Dustin and rushed to the corner to knock the Von Erichs off. Dustin had no one to tag but then Bronson got cute with it and rolled him up to get him out of the corner instead of just dragging him out. That turned Bronson himself around just enough to keep the rotation going and walk into Dustin's tight power slam. Then, Marshall did get his moment and got to bodyslam Boulder, before they took it home with the fun Shattered Dreams spot and the claw/belly to back combo on Jameson. Another triumphant showcase where they had to climb a formidable hill over gargantuan opponents. 

AEW Collision 8/3/24

Darby Allin/Mark Briscoe/FTR vs. The Beast Mortos/Roderick Strong/Matt Taven/Mike Bennett

MD: Unfortunately, this is only going to get one paragraph because MJF is stealing their space (sorry, FTR; I know you guys are used to it). I really do enjoy these extended 8-man tags though. This had a shine that only got broken up by Mortos, long heat on Cash, what would have otherwise been a great finishing stretch, a second short heat on Dax where they kept cutting off some huge comebacks from him, and then a hot stretch including big dives from Darby and Cash and the Froggy Power Coffin Plex which was a hell of a thing. Some really novel pairings here, Darby and the Kingdom, FTR and the Kingdom (which has never happened, even after the debuted by calling FTR out), and FTR and Mortos. I'd like to see FTR vs the Kingdom this year; Kingdom's very good at a lot of conventional tag elements like cutting off the ring and FTR doesn't always get to stretch with guys so tried and true with that stuff. I'd like to see what they could do if they really pared things back to the fundamentals for a match.

CMLL Super Viernes 8/2/24

MJF vs. Templario

MD: Did not plan to cover this, but it deserves it. This was a very good traveling champ performance by MJF, something that doesn't really exist anymore in this day and age. Even the International Title matches we've seen elsewhere so far haven't quite looked like this. This felt much more like what Race/Flair/Bock would do (though of course they're not all interchangeable). That meant getting real heat on the locals (and say what you will about the execution of the pre-match spiel: 1) it worked and put wind behind Templario's sails the whole match and 2) Rocky did an excellent job of getting even relatively jejune comments over with his expressiveness and inclination; all credit to Rocky), carrying yourself like an absolute piece of shit, and then putting over your opponent as selflessly as possible knowing that you're going to go over in the end.

This was a hugely selfless MJF performance in my eyes. He's a guy who has clear confidence issues at times and a desperate need to be acknowledged as "shoot good" and not just "work good" (or the modern equivalent of that, which is "spot great" and not just "work great" maybe?). Here he never tried to prove to the world that he could hang with Templario. This wasn't lucha MJF. It was unbridled heel champion MJF in a classic lucha setting. That meant he took his time early and let things breathe, just built up the pressure until Templario got over on him in very simple, very direct ways, pure comeuppance. It was the continued runs into the corner until Templario turned it around. It was putting on a figure four and cheating only for the ref to give him said comeuppance. When he tried to take over, it was by going to the shoulder to wear down Templario and set him up for Salt of the Earth, but even there he (as a character in over his head) couldn't keep the pressure on. Part of the job of the traveling heel champ is to come off as vulnerable so the local hero looks like he not only can but might, should, will win.

It was real commitment to the act, even at the cost that certain critics might say that he didn't "go" in the way they expected in CMLL or that he slowed down Templario too much. But the counter is that the fans were entirely behind Templario the whole way. It wasn't about seeing a MOTY; it was about MJF getting what was coming to him. Most refreshing setting and most refreshing sort of match in the world in 2024. There wasn't any sort of post-modernism or deconstructionism to MJF rolling all the way out of the ring only to eat a dive with no twists or tricks or clever reversals; instead, he did it twice, the second time going head over heels as he got caught up on the ramp. He kicked KeMalito off the apron but it was to set up the finishing stretch and Templario's biggest nearfall, that last bit of ramping things up before paying them off. Of course, he's got to be an ass to me too by doing the Long Island Sunrise to set up the brainbuster finish. I get that it has a lore element given Cole's behavior but come on; it's physically hurting me to watch people hang out with their head down for no reason week in and week out.

In general, this was exactly the performance it should have been and it gives me some hope that maybe, just maybe, that riot I want in Wembley is actually a possibility. He just has to be laser focused on the idea that that pro wrestling, at its very core, isn't about love; it's about cold, cruel denial onto people who already know so much denial in their day to day lives. What defines a babyface, what defines a hero, is his ability to burst through that most frustrating of walls and provide the fans the sort of satisfaction they can't get anywhere else.

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Select Matches from EVOLVE 75 12/11/16

1. Jeff Cobb vs. Fred Yehi

ER: Love these two and they worked a real fun 10 minute match, but it never really felt like there were any consequences. It was felt a little too rehearsed and set in stone. Everything in it looked good (although Yehi was too clappy on his dropkicks). The grappling was predictably cool, with Cobb reversing a go behind by grabbing a cravate, and Yehi going for a backpack choke which Cobb escapes by bending Yehi's wrist. There were a couple of really cool moments of Cobb catching a limb to block something, one where he blocked a Yehi forearm, and another late in the match where he blocked an octopus choke by grabbing Yehi's leg before it crossed his throat. Real cool visuals. Both men snapped off some impressive throws (shock!), with Cobb launching him on a pumphandle and Yehi snapping two low angle Germans. Match was quick and to the point and didn't doddle, but again it felt a little more like an exhibition than a dramatic 10 minute match. But I like the shit these two exhibit so NBD.

2. Chris Dickinson/Jaka vs. Darby Allin/Peter Kaasa

ER: A kind of messy but fun tag match. Props to Kaasa for rocking the 1993 Scott Steiner mullet. I don't love his feathery-soft-but-athetically-gifted offense, but I could see him getting better. Allin is a guy I've really started to love, feels like an early 2000s indy guy like Dixie, a dude with good selling and some quirky offense who will absolutely die on bumps. Phil is a big fan of creep mode Dickinson, and I still can't totally get a feel for Jaka but he and Dickinson make sense as a team. This had some cool stuff but also had some clunky "take a move and then plan my bump" kind of delays. Allin's standing-on-opponent senton is sick and I loved the ending of him doing his tope en reversa with Dickinson catching him. With more focus (they kept getting stuck with wanting a spotfest vs. wanting Jaka/Chris working an Andersons cut off the ring match) this could have been more, but as is it was decent.

3. Dick Togo vs. Ethan Page

PAS: Togo has wrestled random Italian crusierweights, DDT comedy scrubs,  and untrained Bolivians, but his greatest challenge might have been to get a match this solid out of the "Inexplicable" Ethan Page. Togo had the crowd behind him, as they seemed to be as irritated with this match being booked as I was. Dick was kind of a fun disrespectful babyface, he no sold one of Page's crappy punches, flipped him off, spit in his face. I did like how both guys did some cool counter wrestling, Togo caught Page's RKO attempt with an RKO of his own, and Ethan kept evading Togo's senton. Pretty entertaining match with Togo looking great. Didn't love the finish with Page hitting his rock bottom and pinning Togo clean, continuing the Ethan Page super push. Did Gabe see Owens with the WWE belt and decide to overpush his own Tubby Canadian with crap facial hair? Is this like when Russo tried to make Booker T the Rock? I did like how the Gatekeeper took the pedigree and senton, it felt like Togo v. Gatekeeper would have been the better match.

ER: "Inexplicable" Ethan Page is the perfect nickname, and would actually make him FAR more interesting as a worker. Just give him a self-aware "overpushed" gimmick. To me it feels more like Heyman pushing Justin Credible. Gabe's even celebrating the 20th anniversary of Credible beating Sasuke twice by bringing in another M-Pro legend to put over his own version. But this was good! Ethan can look fairly unathletic at times but sometimes it benefits the match, like when he sandbagged Togo on a backdrop to the floor, it instead made it look like Togo was really muscling him over, and then Page clunked nastily on the apron and into the railing. Page can throw some decent haymakers, and also some clunkers, and Togo was wise about picking and choosing which punches to treat like a big deal, and I liked the way they kept avoiding each other's finish. Togo hits a crazy delayed slingshot senton and splats Page with a tornado DDT on the floor, and I really liked a couple of Page's slams. Smart layout, still inexplicable why it was booked.

4. Chris Hero vs. DUSTIN

ER: A look into a text conversation between me and Phil:

Phil: Did you finish watching EVOLVE 75?
Eric: Need to watch Riddle match and curious what Hero can do with DUSTIN
Eric: I'm not going to watch the near 40 minute Gulak/Williams match though
Eric: If people were talking it up maybe, but I've seen them work enough good 15 minute matches
Phil: You are going to watch a DUSTIN match, and not a Gulak match
Phil: ?
Eric: Dustin match 11 minutes, Gulak match 36 minutes
Eric: And the match has Hero
Phil: Dustin match has Dustin
Phil: That match is Gulak's EVOLVE swan song, the climax of the Catch Point movement, the passing of the torch
Eric: Oh you watched it?
Phil: Fuck no, it's 36 minutes long

I love Phil, you guys. But yeah, it's true that Dustin was in this match. I don't care how much Dustin tries to look like Buster Posey, he still wrestles like serious Chuck Taylor. The problem with this match was that they worked things on equal terms, as if Dustin's strikes were just as powerful as Hero's. Hero sold the same for Dustin as Dustin sold for Hero. That's silly. We've seen a couple dozen Hero matches this year alone where he beats the shit out of someone who actually returns the stiff strikes. And now I have to believe that Dustin's strikes are hurting him? Dustin's clubbing shots to the back are some of the worst I've seen. I could just never by Hero being damaged by any of the strikes. But there were fun moments, because Hero got to find fun ways to hit Dustin. Hero threw a couple killer right hands, some great kicks, and awesome short knee, that nasty snap piledriver; it's Hero, the strikes will look good. Spot of the match: Hero gets a boot up in the corner and Dustin stops himself from running into it. Dustin laughs and makes a "that's your big plan?" gesture at Hero, and Hero immediately punches him. Match went the right length, just can't buy Dustin as any kind of threat to Hero. The moments that worked were Dustin trying to cheat to win, and really if this had been worked more like Akiyama/Inoue I could have seen myself loving it. Dustin is not Masao Inoue though.

5. Matt Riddle vs. Ricochet

PAS: I was looking forward to this on paper, but it didn't really deliver. This felt like Ricochet dragging Riddle into a Ricochet match, instead of Riddle getting Ricochet to work a Riddle match. There was enough cool stuff in there to make it worth watching, I really liked Riddle catching Ricochet's moonsault in a triangle choke, and the finish was neat. Unfortunately, most of this felt like dosey-do dance wrestling, with Ricochet sort of mailing it in. Disappointing.

ER: Yeah this really wasn't the match I wanted. This was sexy dance fighting. Both guys are good sexy dance fighters, and the way Ricochet strings together some sequences is really impressive, but sexy dance fighting isn't going to be the best use of either man's talents. The moonsault into the triangle was really cool, but that sequence in the middle where they were essentially running in circles taking turns kicking each other in different ways? You could hear the crowd get silent in the middle of it. My least favorite Riddle match :(

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