AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 6/22 - 6/28

AEW Forbidden Door 6/28/26

Jon Moxley vs Bandido

MD: I want to be clear about something before we dive in. I don't actually think this is the story they're telling. I don't think they're telling any story at all, not really. I think TK is making matches. I think Moxley is flexing, enjoying himself, proving he can do whatever he wants and make it "work." They're slotting the Death Riders in wherever it makes sense. Can they do something down the line with Ospreay one way or the other? Sure. But the point is "one way or the other." It's the flexibility, the ability to make whatever matches make sense. 

Maybe one day that means putting the Death Riders against STP, United Empire, or the Don Callis Family as de facto babyfaces. Maybe another day it means Mox defending the Continental Title against Bandido as a de facto heel. It's exactly how they used the BCC for long stretches and while it's a matchmaker's dream, it's a booker's nightmare, because nothing resonates nearly as much as it ought to. Everything is ultimately wishy washy. There's no moral truth to the universe. There are never any real consequences. Jon Moxley didn't get turned on by the Death Riders because it would have been "predictable." 

Yes, Jon. It was predictable because it was good fiction, because your character committed unforgivable transgressions and then never fully paid for them. It was predictable because the appeal of a fictional world of pro wrestling is to get to live out and experience all of those moral consequences that don't really exist in the real life. We're dealing with this bullshit day in and day out in everyday life. We don't need you wrestling through it.

Yet here we are. And the fans are more or less going along with it (though far, far less than if there had been clean lines and true consequence, which is the true crime of it all). 

I should just accept it, should just move on.

But the text is the text regardless of whether it's truly going anywhere or whether there's true intention behind it. 

And I will call the text as I see it.

Which is to say...

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Jon Moxley sits on a throne of lies. He rules over a kingdom of dust. He is full of shit. Maybe he can back that shit up, but it doesn't make it smell any better.

He talks a good game. He tears down institutions not with anarchy or revolution but with nihilism. Then he builds himself up in their stead. 

Against most wrestlers, that's fine. Maybe they're not much better.

Bandido is not most wrestlers. Bandido stands for something. He wears a white hat and a white mask. He fights for justice. He never gives up. 

Jon Moxley doesn't even believe justice exists, not anymore, maybe never. And he succeeds, triumphs, gets away with it all, so long as he makes sure everyone else believes the same. That's the only way he escapes with his head held high.

Bandido has a good heart, sees the best in people, wants to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, even Moxley. The fans seem to want to give him that benefit and Bandido listens to the fans.

So he thinks this is going to be a title match like those he grew up on, a lucha title match fought within the rules. Matwork to start, escalation, two men pitting skill against one another, not an apuestas match, not even a heated trios. 

He starts it with swagger, winning an exchange and pointing the finger gun right at Moxley.

This isn't a game Moxley can play. This isn't a game Moxley can win. He knows there's no solid footing underneath him. He knows that his actions won't stand up to scrutiny. He needs the crowd to buy into what he's selling. He can't have Bandido outdoing him, outflashing him, out shining him. 

He tries to shoot it down, to put his middle fingers up instead. He refuses to play along with the Yay - Boo dynamic. He has to take the air out of the room. He tries to draw a line in the sand instead, tries to intimidate Bandido. 

Bandido does not back down.

Moxley tries to outquick him, to beat him at his own game, slipping his way back into the ring to hit a dive. Bandido hits a far more spectacular one.

So he gets his feet up as Bandido charges in and drops him skull first onto the ring stairs. This isn't a game. It's not a clean, honorable title match. Maybe Mox could win that. Maybe he couldn't. But he's too much the coward to take the chance. He can't afford to lose. He can't afford to look weak. He can't afford to let anyone, the wrestlers in the back, the Death Riders, the fans, doubt him for a second.

He tears at the mask. He makes that "white hat," and the white mask, and the white gear, turn red.

Yet Bandido does not give up, for Bandido does not give up. He bounds back at Moxley with superior athleticism. Despite the size difference, he presses him over his head with superior strength. He survives the Death Rider and then manages an astounding feat, taking Moxley over in a fall away slam from the top.

But while Bandido stands for something, Moxley knows the price of his own potential fall. If Bandido fully fathomed the filthy rancor delving underneath in the wretched heart of Jon Moxley, maybe he'd have risen to the occasion, maybe he would found a strength greater even than his own, but on this night, Moxley's eyes were the ones that were open, and he simply needed it more.

He caught Bandido on a 21-Plex attempt and pulled him back into a choke. Bandido's courage drove him to lift Moxley up and drive him down, but Moxley's fear meant that he hung on for dear life and won the day.

And post-match? Bolstered by the fans (and Bandido listened to the fans) and entirely despite the depths he dragged himself, the match, and the title, Moxley dared to hold his hand out as a sign of respect. He was wrestling through it again. And Bandido, with his good, forgiving heart, a heart better than any that we possess, expressed admiration and respect.

The King with No Clothes pulled the wool over everyone's eyes once again. Evil triumphed over good once more because evil believes in nothing and good cares far, far too much. 

So is there a payoff coming? Is there comeuppance? Is he just going to get away with this again and again and again and we are just to accept it as the new face of valor? 

I don't know. It's all sure convenient and easy isn't it? Maybe in 2026, that's all that matters.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 8/18 - 8/24

AEW Forbidden Door 8/24/25

Toni Storm vs Athena

MD: One of my favorite parts of Forbidden Door was the short film with Nigel McGuinness playing Chess with Johnny Saint (I'm more of a Marty Jones guy but that's beside the point), and I thought that played well into the Nigel vs ZSJ match and the comparison of rigid, tactical chess against an agile sort of jazz. That said, if you want to see a real example of human chess, look at the start of Athena vs Toni. 

Athena rushed in right from the get go, foot flying, but Toni was prepared for her, moving out of the way, giving her a quick mauling, and then using the hip attack to knock her off the apron. Strategic, stylized, tactical and character driven (more on that later). On the floor, Billie Starkz, and for the sake of this, we'll call her Athena's bishop and not her pawn, got right up into Toni's face. Toni, realizing the threat she was, rushed forth to take her off the board, hitting an abrupt Storm Zero out of nowhere. In doing so, however, she opened herself up for the same sort of flying kick that she was able to avoid at the start of the match. Athena sacrificed her bishop for the first two thirds of the match to get this early advantage. Chess.

Which is not to say that these were two measured, focused, clear-headed players. They're not. Toni Storm portrays a madwoman; there's no way around that. Yes, she's one that learned to love herself, learned to embrace the madness, learned to be canny like a fox, to lean into the trickster element of a Bugs Bunny or Groucho Marx, but she began this journey with a mental break and while she can ride the wave to success and skillfully employ mind games, one always sees the cracks within the character. 

Athena's not much better. She entered AEW with fanfare and excitement and quickly fell down the rankings. On one fated night in Canada, she pushed things a little too far on an Elevation taping, felt the bad faith backlash of misogynists and tribalists, and leaned hard into it, never looking back. Riding her own vehicle of madness, each and every crack just tripping her forward with more and more momentum, she became one of the most electric, unpredictable, unstoppable figures in wrestling. In both cases, there's a fine line between madness and genius, between being beloved and reviled, between being a hero and being a monster.

There was no lengthy shine here. It was a short burst ending with Toni taking Billie off the board and Athena taking advantage of the sacrifice. From there, Athena leaned down hard on Toni, focusing on her neck (already injured somewhat due to a prior pile driver on the steps). Toni, of course, fought back at every opportunity, like the champion ace she is, but Athena had one clever, athletic, and slightly askew cutoff after the next. She'd ride Toni's momentum and come back down upon the neck, would contort her body to sneak in a redirection or a trip out of nowhere. 

Toni represents the unbridled creativity of the human heart, embodying the spirit of old cinema: skilled camera tricks in a world before CGI, clever wordplay to get around the Hays Code, silent movie performances that relied upon the eyes more than anything else. Athena however, is the Fallen Goddess, chaos itself stuffed into a relatively diminutive frame, seething rage bubbling up when you least expect it, that magic forearm like its own version of Chekhov's Gun always ready to go off at any moment, loaded and primed by the sheer existence of this malignant and dynamic force of nature. 

And that rage drove her here. If she herself was a burr upon the world, an irritation, an agitation, Toni Storm was all of those things to her.  Athena had a historic reign like no others, but she had been banished to a paywall-locked show, too dangerous and unpredictable to be brought out into the light. Instead it was Toni who had the often literal spotlight. Athena was an athlete, gritty, tough as nails, agile, explosive, but Toni's over the top antics brought Storm flowers, fame, the love of the crowd. Her madness was embraced as genius. Athena's was not.

So while she pressed her advantage, the burr that was Toni Storm and everything about her pressed into Athena's soul. She started to posture and pose, to try to expose Storm to the world as the fraud that she saw her as. Prepared to add insult to injury, she lined Storm up for her own hip attack in the corner, clapping the fans up, posing ridiculously, and running right into Toni Storm's clothesline, right into the start of her comeback.

But Athena was mostly fresh and the two traded blows and bombs. Starkz, having been wiped off the board early on, found her way back up and showed her worth, distracting Storm to allow for Athena to hit a top rope 'rana. Storm went for the Storm Zero, Athena for her over the shoulder codebreaker, but neither worked. And Storm just barely survived Athena's Koji Clutch, her face, painted in white once again in ghastly homage to Baby Jane, itself a portrait of pain and perseverance, the eyes doing so much work.

Athena hit her forearm once. Storm avoided it later on and threw a jarring headbutt of her own, causing Athena to try to crawl away in desperation. In doing so, she yanked the apron cover up onto the ring, setting up Starkz to once again show her merit, pulling it back to prevent an apron Storm Zero. Storm, distracted, fell victim to an Apron O-Face over the top rope. She was left sprawled, half hanging out of the ring, as the ref and Athena had words inside. 

And here the match came full circle, right back to chess. Athena's bishop was causing havoc, about to crush Storm with a chair, but Storm's queen had been held back in wait. Mina rushed out to stop Starkz, driving her to the back and leaving Athena to face Storm alone. Starkz may be driven by fear, but Mina's loyalty comes from a place of love, and queen takes bishop and certainly takes pawn. All things now equal, king vs king (gender roles be damned), Athena managed to survive one Storm Zero, but not the Chicken Wing that followed. 

Storm's canniness had leveled the playing field early on but at the cost of falling to Athena's dogged aggression. Athena, consumed by her own fury, lost sight of the prize. That very force that drove her to such success, her unquenchable rage, here caused a misstep. Even so, she might have won the day save for Mina's intervention. Whether Toni showed herself to be the more masterful chess player or not, on this day, it was controlled chaos, composed madness, that won out, the light of a star driving Athena back into the darkness.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 6/24 - 6/30

AEW Forbidden Door 6/30/24

Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi

I was away the last few days and am just playing catch up now. I saw there was an aggravating discussion about bumping and selling going around though. It's probably a little bit overblown and not what anyone who comes here needs, but let me offer a framework nonetheless, as it's relevant to the match in question. Bumping is a truth framed by lies. Selling is a lie framed by truths.

And does Bryan Danielson ever love to lie. Look, I don't know the state of his neck (in this case, the truth framing the lie). Maybe it's hurt due to something that happened in the Ospreay match (Tiger Driver or otherwise) or one of the Forbidden Door TV multi-mans. Maybe it's not even hurt at all! But he's visibly taped up and talking about it in media appearances. It's remained an underlying plot point in Ospreay's journey. And now, with this Shingo match, it's become a centerpiece in Danielson's tournament.

When he faked the injury in the Okada match last year, it was because he was otherwise injured and had to cover for time, up the stakes, find another way to draw in the crowd since he couldn't perform at the level he wanted. He's done it after matches, in between matches (speaking of in between, he had his leg caught in between two rings for the hell of it; remember that?). This time, however, it was built directly into the blueprint of the match, into its very DNA. The lie was the driving force, the original sin that birthed the match's structure and meaning.

At the end of the early feeling out process, Shingo hit a draping, twisting neck drop onto the floor and the trainer checked on Danielson en route to him barely beating the count. Shingo pressed the issue, hitting a series of suplexes (and superplexes), all working towards the big, dramatic kickout with Made In Japan. It should be noted that Shingo, knowing that he should win a battle of attrition due to Danielson's damaged neck, chose moves that took a toll on his body as well. It was a calculated risk and looked like it would pay off towards the end of the match as Danielson could barely get back to his feet.

Bryan Danielson the person and Bryan Danielson the character both love to lie though, and that stumbling, fumbling, spasming sell drew Shingo in so that Danielson could reverse a kill shot into a shifted balance of advantage and momentum that Shingo would not be able to overcome. He did get to kick out of the Knee, a parallel to Danielson surviving Made in Japan, but the match was truly lost the moment that Danielson took a grain of truth (in this case fabricated truth, which may or may not have sat on top of real truth) and lied to his twisted heart's content.

On some level, he has been the boy who plays wolf, but with this match, it's shifted even further. There's a sense of premeditation here that I didn't feel before. It's gone from manslaughter to outright murder of the fans' trust to create a dramatic effect. And deep down, we love to hate and hate to love every second of it, because in a day and age when we know how every trick is performed, when the performers go out of their ways to show us the strings so that we can marvel at how impressive they are and how many stars they deserve, Danielson's looking us right in the eye and lying to us. The absolute bastard. What a guy.

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