AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 7/6 - 7/12

AEW Dynamite 7/8/26

Konosuke Takeshita vs Kyle Fletcher

If you want a good example that literally any match can be criticized, for years people had one major complaint about Savage vs Steamboat. If you come into it blind, not knowing about the angle that drove it, it's hard to find fault. If you have the context of Savage destroying Steamboat with the ring bell, however, it raises questions. Why did they wrestle it so athletically, so much like a title match? Shouldn't it have been a blood feud? Shouldn't Steamboat have been out for revenge? Shouldn't that have meant something more than just taking the title from Savage?

There is an answer to that but it was one that actually required quite a bit more context, context that was sourced over the years that followed as we obtained and organized more and more footage from the televised house shows leading up to WrestleMania III. They had already worked those heated bloody matches around the horn leading up to the big show. They had gotten it out of their system. Crowds throughout America had seen it. Steamboat (and the fans') bloodlust had been abated and now it was time to hit him where it hurt the most by taking the title in a wrestling match.

-------------------------

Takeshita had coexisted with Okada for half a year, more. He had lived through transgressions: Okada cheating (the use of a deadly weapon, not just pulling the tights) to defeat him in the C2 semi-finals, disparaging his skills and honor and brotherhood with the rest of the Don Callis family including getting between him and Fletcher, contriving to overshadow him at the Tokyo Dome even though he was the IWGP champion, dissension in a tag team match at a PPV.

Finally Takeshita had earned his match, finally he had him one-on-one for the International Title. And given that honest, earnest chance, Takeshita triumphed. He upset the balance of the Don Callis Family. It seemed like it was going to lead to something more than dissension, to betrayal. He was ready for that though, ready to fight them all off it need be. Then, Kyle Fletcher's music hit. He made his triumphant return, stood side by side with his brother, Takeshita. And then he struck him down. A brother may have been enough for Takeshita, but Fletcher needed the comfort of a broader family. 

AEW is a company full of stories but that has less angles than one might think. This was a clear angle however, and despite AEW's tendency to move right on to the next thing, it was one that could lead to even greater matches. 

---------------------

Kyle Fletcher is one of the best heels going. He's shown instincts to inhabit the space of a match, both the feeling out process at the start and the down period of a commercial break, that almost none of his generation (or that prior even) possess. He's excellent at working to a crowd, at reacting in the moment, at creating inciting incidents and then rolling with the results of them. 

His warm up match against ELP was full of this, even despite later knowledge that he was having a bit of a panic attack during the match. ELP began the proceedings by doing his best Bret Hart impression and giving a girl at ringside his tricked out glasses. Later on in the match, when Fletcher had scored a kick out of nowhere and reversed a whip on the floor, he went right over and menaced the girl, getting in her face and drawing heat. Maybe I'm wrong, but it feels almost impossible this was something that was worked out in the back. He saw an opportunity, understood the purpose behind it in ensuring the crowd was turned against it, and he took it, damn the plan, damn the risks. 

--------------------

Konosuke Takeshita is a generational talent in specific areas. At his best, he evokes presence like almost no one in wrestling today. He radiates intensity and energy. He combines size and speed and power and ease of movement in a way that is reminiscent of Barry Windham or maybe even Jumbo Tsuruta. I tend to find his instincts far more suspect than Fletcher's, his matches becoming bloated and wasteful, not nearly as efficient as his physical movements across the ring, but I also can't (and wouldn't begin to want to) deny what he excels at and what makes him stand out.

He's one of the greatest raw talents of this decade certainly. Lately, he's been firing up by punching himself in the head repeatedly. He did it during his tag match with Hechicero in Mexico not long ago, and he would do it here as well, and I can hardly think of anyone else that could do that with so much earnestness and verve. Against the right opponent and in the right setting, he's phenomenal. And very much to his credit, even in the wrong setting, doing the wrong things, he's still undeniable in certain ways. 

------------------

So here they were, bolstered by a hot angle, two incredible talents, both off strong recent performances, ready to achieve in the middle of a big card, a supercard so far as weekly television went, title on the line.

And they wrestled. They locked up and chain wrestled for a bit. 

Ah, but then after a few exchanges, Fletcher got a hand up in Takeshita's face and things threatened to boil over, like they should, into a forearm exchange.

And instead of letting really reach a fever pitch, they went right into stilted moves and counter attempts, a tease for bombs that would come later in the match. 

Things spilled out to the floor. Takeshita got distracted by Callis. Both men drank water. Takeshita missed a shot and hit the ringpost. Fletcher worked the arm for a minute. Takeshita came back and hit a big dive and smacked his face, fired up. They went to commercial.

The match would go on with them starting to hit those bigger bombs, including a huge one on the apron. Takeshita would get an advantage. Don Callis would grab his foot. He'd hit his finisher anyway. Fletcher would get a foot on the rope and then, more or less cleanly (despite those two arguable blemishes that did not lead to the finish) would win the match as the commentators noted how good a match these two had wrestled.

Where was the Kyle Fletcher of the ELP match? Why didn't Takeshita's intensity lead to bloodlust? How did any of this stem from the betrayal? What were they even doing here? 

---------------

On my first watch, I was so thrown by all of this that I was going to come in hot, come down hard. 

I've subsequently watched again and I have softened on the match. 

Occasionally you see people say that matches shouldn't be criticized on the basis of "what you want" and I don't think I agree.

You want what you want for a reason. You have expectations coming into a match for a reason. You have a baseline in your head and a best possible scenario. You have those things for a reason, based on your understanding of other matches, of the story at play, at all the possibilities inherent in the artform. These are all completely valid things to judge a match against. That said, I think it's worth trying to understand the match that they did wrestle. If you're going to judge it against the vision in your head, at least go out of your way to wrap your head around what they gave you.

There were a number of factors at play here. This match was premature. It was premature because Takeshita's about to go off and do the G1 for a month. It was maybe premature because they wanted to ensure the International Title was taken off of him for that period, maybe so he didn't eat a bunch of tournament losses while he had it, maybe because it would be more valuable to AEW on AEW TV during this time. Fletcher had never been supposed to lose the TNT title. That was due to injury. If this wasn't going to be the blowoff, having Fletcher win could potentially just heat things up more for later, get more heat on him in general. This match was a supporting player to the main event title change that was Omega vs MJF and it followed another grudge match with a bit more plunder and chaos (and that probably needed it more to be good) in Jericho vs Ciampa. 

Plus it was hot. It was so damn hot out there in the admittedly cool outdoors setting. You could tell. I've seen thousands of matches and you only see guys actually drink water (presumably for cramping reasons) once in a blue moon. You always saw them spit it back out in World of Sport for a reason.

----------------

Those would all be excuses, but none of them would be drivers. 

There are absolutely wrestlers who go out to wrestle the best match possible on paper, that try to check as many boxes as possible, to try to make things as conventionally exciting as they can, story be damned, character be damned, moment be damned.

While it's tempting to think that's what happened here, I don't think it actually is.

You can make the argument that this fit their characters perfectly. Takeshita only ever wants to prove himself against others. Fletcher, on the other hand, has a constant chip on his shoulder, and a need to prove himself. He did against Ospreay. He did in the Continental Classic. He does here. They wrestled this match like brothers, not trying to hurt each other, necessarily, not trying to maximize harm, but instead trying to outdo the other. Outwrestle. Outstrike. Outbomb. 

Here, the heat helped matters. It gave everything an imposing, sweltering tone. It pushed down upon them, pressed them into a corner. It gave everything more weight. Maybe it forced them to focus directly at the task at hand, at the title on the line, and it melted animosity and turned it into a blind sense of competition instead. 

It made for a good match, a very good title match. It distilled their youth and passion and a certain desperation to be seen and recognized into twenty minutes of combat over the International Title. 

I was going to lean hard into the idea that while this was a great match, it wasn't good, because it didn't live up to the build and the potential. I was going to use the timing of it as an excuse.

On a second watch, I don't think that's fair. I think it was both great AND good, that it was plausible and believable given who these two are, where they are in their career, their overall relationship with one another.

--------------------------

But I don't think it was RIGHT.

I don't think it was the right match for the moment. I think it was shoehorned in due to externalities, due to necessities. 

The betrayal was too recent, too raw, too deep. They hadn't gotten it out of their system yet. 

This is a match that is built to, just like Savage vs Steamboat from Mania III was a match that was built to. Maybe the outcome would have been different, but this the sort of match that should have followed the grudge match and the chain match and the lumberjack match and the cage match. 

I don't think Takeshita should have the bloodlust out of his system yet. I don't think Fletcher should be past the self-delusion and the spite. This match had competitiveness and even moments of brutality but it lacked cruelty. 

They can bring Takeshita back later, have his music hit, have him ruin one of Fletcher's moments, have him make some sort of save, have him get a pop. They can do another angle to get heat back on this.

But they can never have this specific first match again. They can't go back to the start. Fletcher betrayal was answered by Takeshita here by having the best darn wrestling match he could. And yes, it was valid, great, and good. He tried to show his brother up, show that he was better. 

But even that didn't come close to matching the moment. 

They left the blood on the table, chose to honor sweat instead. This was one of those times that blood would have been everything. 

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 5/25 - 5/31

AEW Collision 5/30/26

Konosuke Takeshita vs Daniel Garcia

Konosuke Takeshita is a very special wrestler.

While size is relative when comparing modern wrestling to the wrestling of old, Takeshita clearly jumps off the screen. Whether due to sheer height or the combination of size and his theatrical presence, he towers over opponents in a way that most current wrestlers do not. When it comes to his athleticism, he reminds me of Barry Windham at his prime. There's an electricity to how he moves, to the intensity he brings to the table. Given his size and his proclivity (academic and practical) for the German Suplex, you might compare him to Jumbo Tsuruta but his seething stares and alacrity of motion reminds me more of Riki Choshu. 

He's a star. He looks like one. He moves like one. Most often, he carries himself like one. Yet, he is a star specifically made for AEW. He balances the brooding seriousness with a super indie excessiveness in his match layouts (for good and ill) and under the surface of it all is that DDT-crafted smile.  In a perfect world, he would be in that Conglomeration opening credits tron instead of Ishii. 

But this is not a perfect world. It's one where the character of Konosuke Takeshita felt spurned by New Japan, spurned by the Blackpool Combat Club and the Elite, where he allowed Don Callis to whisper dark thoughts in his ears on what he needed to prove, on how he needed to prove it, where he went from a young man who found his way to America and fell in love with Cinnabon to the Alpha of the Don Callis Family. What he found, time after time, was that no matter how much he proved himself to the world, there was always something else. He always came up unsatisfied. 

He rose all the way to IWGP Champion, but he was overshadowed by Okada when he walked in to the Tokyo Dome to defend his title. Even that might have been fine; Okada was a legend after all, but despite being stablemates, Okada rubbed salt into the wound again and again and again. Takeshita could find no peace. Then, finally, after defeating Okada for the International Title, his found family turned on him, his brother-in-arms Kyle Fletcher being the one to turn the knife. 

So he stands on his own, reconnected with the fans, holding the International Title once more, but in other, more important ways, alone in the world again.

Daniel Garcia is a very special wrestler. 

All of those things Takeshita has? Garcia's got none of them. He fails the airport test. His music hits and the fans don't quite pop, not really. He's stumbled from one identity to another (in character and out), picked up a sports entertainment dance, lost it. Tried to pop people with triple superplexes no matter how far away that his from his own personal true north. 

But.

Unlike almost everyone else in pro wrestling today, he's move over by the end of a match than he was at the beginning. 

We're trapped in a world where people are arguing that WWE matches should be shorter and entrances should be longer. That sort of world would drive Daniel Garcia to extinction. But he defies it. He gets people to care about what happens in the ring at every moment, not just finishes and looking to the back for run-ins. He gets them engaged in a way that has nothing to do with "This is Awesome" chants or even "bald" chants. 

Why? How? First, he's genuine. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He's relatable. He's not a big superhero. That's his strength. He's a guy who put in the work, who loves pro wrestling, who cares, who picked himself up from a car crash and dragged himself every step up the way to being on TV. You see it in his reactions. You see it in his face. What you see is what you get and in a world built upon fabrication, that stands out far more than any Phoenix Splash or Fosberry Flop ever could. Far more than any triple superplex might. 

Second, he's pays attention to details. He's going to stay on a body part, and when he falls off of it, it'll be due to a character reasons not just to enact some cooler spot. He's going to set something up to pay it off later. He's not going to meander on a side trip. He's not going to do something for the sake of it. He's not going to fall into excess (except for those self-conscious triple superplexes). The thing is, he has to pay attention to details. Other wrestlers can lean on athleticism and pop the crowd again and again and play to the 5* Observer checklist. Garcia can't, not better than them. So he has to build something that stands on his own instead. He builds matches that are timeless, that work in the moment and move the crowd in the right way, that will still work in thirty years even while those other ones fall to the wayside as athleticism continues to advance.

Putting Garcia and Takeshita together led to one of those matches that will stand the test of time.

Takeshita does best against contrast. You give him someone else who is explosive, who will push him to the physical limit, and it often all becomes noise. Garcia was going to push him to emotional limits, to push his body in far more single-minded, driven ways. 

Early on, Garcia's reactiveness gave Takeshita so much to work with. They chain-wrestled to start. Garcia fell prey to Takeshita's superior reach but pulled hair to get out of a headlock and made sure to flex when he turned it into a headscissors. But they both had a chip on their shoulders, and as Takeshita escaped, he stared Garcia down and smacked him on the chest, sending a message. Garcia returned the message, piefacing and paintbrushing Takeshita in the corner before smacking his chest. Then, when Takeshita tried to take off Garcia's head in the opposite corner for his affront, Garcia ducked out of the way. Takeshita held the pose, forearm against turnbuckle, for just long enough for it to sink in with the crowd, a great visual. And then, of course, Garcia ran right into a big boot, because in this match, he was a heel and when it comes time for it, he was the sort that stooges to make the star bigger.

Takeshita would go for the running boot again but this time Garcia scurried to the floor for a time-out. You could see the panic and hesitation on his face as he did so. He laid himself bare for the world, vulnerable, human. Takeshita gave chase and Garcia went all the way from one side of the ring to the other. When Takeshita made it out to the apron, stomping away, Garcia took the blows (which made this feel less like a planned spot and instead like something more organic, something so important, and something he's so good at), and used the ringskirt to trap Takeshita's leg. 

Garcia attacking the leg and most especially using it to cut Takeshita off would drive the rest of the match. Of course, Garcia did it as meanly as possible, a bulldog, a shark smelling blood. He placed it on a chair on the outside and just stood on it. He refused to reenter the ring until he twisted the ankle one last time. He countered Takeshita's cradle tombstone attempt by turning it into an ankle lock. Likewise with the Blue Thunder into an inexplicable but amazing STF. He caught the running knee and took advantage when Takeshita stumbled on another attempt. Even when he seemingly lost focus, like when he started to pop off push-ups right over Takeshita's knee, he pivoted quickly and turned the motion into a kneedrop to punctuate the final push-up (even as Mox left commentary to yell at him). Focused detail-work. Once upon a time, maybe, you could give the crowd some more rope to work with. With someone other than Garcia, maybe you can do that and even if they don't get entirely where you need them to be, they'll still get somewhere nice and happy. Garcia doesn't leave things to chance. He ties it all up in a bow and presents it to the world, to history itself, like a present. He did that here and Takeshita was happy to go along for the ride, selling, wincing, limping, struggling the whole way.

Which brings us to the real moment of comeback, the elephant in the room, that pile driver.

Oh there had been a hope spot or two first. Takeshita created some distance with strikes but as he turned to hit the ropes, Garcia took out the leg. Then, of course, was the Blue Thunder attempt, where no one expected Garcia to turn things over with a headlock. Garcia had been using the legwork to control the match as the great equalizer, but it was also a key to unlock a door, and he meant to go through it with his pile driver. Takeshita had jammed it once, but he couldn't jam it on the attempt that followed so quickly after. Garcia hit it clean.

And then time stopped. Takeshita slowly, painstakingly, drew his head back, locked eyes with Garcia, rose, struck him down. 

And that's the cardinal sin, right? To "no sell" a pile driver, one of the most sacred and profane of all moves. It's one thing if you're Hawk (maybe not a good thing) and it's one thing if you're Clon and use technique to dull the impact.

Takeshita is neither, but he is, maybe, just maybe, the one guy on the roster who, now and again, should get away with something like this. He's so tied to the notion of fighting spirit, of carrying all of that brooding, seething power within him. He has the size, the presence. He's larger than life. Now and again, so long as everyone else isn't doing it, so long as no one else is doing it, he should get to assert himself and take up all the air in the room.

Rules are structural. They create a foundation where someone like Daniel Garcia can succeed, where everyone does better and everything matters more, where the spectacular can be grounded and have meaning. But they also give people something to push off of now and again, when it makes sense, when it will have an impact, when it turns a wrestler into a star. 

Konosuke Takeshita is meant to be a star and Daniel Garcia is so good at what he does that he can help make someone a star. 

Just as important, the detail work was there. Garcia had targeted the leg the whole match, not the head, not the neck. Those were healthy, strong, vibrant. Garcia had unlocked the door but he hadn't done the legwork (figurative since he'd ONLY done leg work) to drag Takeshita through it. In a different match where there had been bomb after bomb, that might have played differently. I saw people complain about Takeshita's selling as he looked up and pulled himself together, but given the context of the match, it more or less worked for me. When you're breaking all the rules, you're treading new ground. It was a callback of sorts to Takeshita escaping the headscissors early in the match. It cost him something but was worth so much more. 

It didn't feel like that perfidious tendency that is "delayed selling" to me so much as an act of defiance, of assertion, of staking a claim to something greater in this world. 

Just this once, it worked for me. Maybe next time it will to so long as it's built well enough and sits well enough within a match. Like anything else in wrestling, it is entirely situational.

Things moved into a finishing stretch from there. Garcia escaped a Blue Thunder. He positioned Takeshita for that Superplex, but Takeshita countered, only for Garcia to turn his top rope lariat into an armdrag and then, ultimately the Dragon Tamer. It was a great spot because it didn't feel rote. It wasn't a signature spot. It was the character of Garcia adapting in the moment. And then, after landing, he let everything sink in for a moment, letting the crowd take a breath after what happened and before what was about to happen: The Dragon Tamer. 

It would ultimately fail (Garcia's wrench back is the ultimate gambit; it either works immediately or costs him the hold) and Garcia's second attempt to hit a tricked out takeover on Takeshita would fail as well. Konosuke, channeling his preternatural strength, held Garcia there clung to him as time stood still. He slapped his own leg to give it life once more, and managed to suplex Garcia over. The beginning of the end.

Wrestlers are not one size fit all. There's not only one way to be talented, to channel that talent, to connect with crowds, to create matches and moments that resonate with people. Konosuke Takeshita and Daniel Garcia bring very different attributes and skillsets to the table. When you put them together, however, you can create a unique sort of magic built out of contrast and driven by details, one that highlights everything that makes Takeshita special by being underpinned by everything that's special about Garcia.

Read more!

Belief (AEW Five Fingers of Death 5/11 - 5/17 Part 1)

AEW Dynamite 5/13/26

Darby Allin vs Konosuke Takeshita

MD: Wrestling isn't about being real.

It's about being true.

And the engine of truth is belief.

Darby Allin is the rare sort of wrestler that makes us believe. It's in the name, definitional, right? A huge aspect of belief is making our suspension of disbelief as easy as possible. If our disbelief isn't suspended, we spend all of our time looking at the strings, thinking about how the trick is done, feeling like we're smarter than what we're watching, focusing more on the craft than the narrative unveiling before us. 

And that can be ok, especially on a second watch, but it's a level of distance, a level of disconnect. 

With Darby matches, we don't have to worry about it. Our disbelief is suspended. There are plenty of ways to accomplish it. I'll talk about some more when I get to Takeshita. But Darby? He does it the hard way. Maybe you could call it the hardcore way. He crashes and burns again and again in order to keep our eye on the ball, so that we stay focused, so that we don't blink. 

He takes hellacious bumps, not just at the hands of his opponents, but at his own hands, utilizing his own body as his deadliest weapon, making the diabolically brave and foolish calculation that whatever his opponent might take, he can take just a little more. He sells it all, grasping, crawling, scraping, writhing, and it feels like the sort of trick he can only do once, to blow himself up so that he can express that pain to the world and draw every viewer in. Except he does it again and again and again.

And over time, that builds up a second sort of belief, the belief that he can survive it all. Endless kickouts are a problem with all modern wrestling, but not with Darby, because Darby is the exception that proves the rule. With him, it never feels excessive, because he lives and breathes a different sort of more tangible excess, and it makes us believe that you just can't keep him down for three seconds. What's three seconds in the face of everything else he gets up from?

Then there's Konosuke. If Darby is reaction, then Takeshita is action, the other side of belief. He towers over opponents, has precise technique, moves with such ease and explosiveness. Darby Allin survives explosions. Konosuke Takeshita is the explosion. 

When he hits Darby with a German Suplex off the top and holds the bridge, it's a seemingly impossible physical act made believable, plausible, immersive, by his presence, how he carries himself, and that little extra bit of we know about him, the fact that he wrote his thesis on the German Suplex. 

In that regard, they're two sides of the same coin, both able to make the impossible seem possible and the possible seem incredible. 

There's another aspect of belief, however. That presence of Takeshita? It's partially because the character of Konosuke Takeshita believes in himself completely. He believes that he is the Alpha. He believes that he is a World Champion waiting to happen. He believes that he is better than Okada. He believes that he can beat Darby; he did so once before after all.

I'm not convinced that Ciampa believed that, that Brody King believed that, that Kevin Knight believed that, not deep down. PAC wasn't a rational actor to begin with, so let's leave him out of this. Knight wrestled conservatively, right until he couldn't. Ciampa compensated with a wild streak, Brody with a bestial streak. They overcompensated, overstretched.

Takeshita did not overstretch. He did not take foolhardy chances. When Darby tried to throw himself at Takeshita, Takeshita stood firm and swatted him down. He had answers for everything Darby tried and Darby had so few answers for the problem of Takeshita. Too big. Too strong. Too sure. Darby moved out of the way causing Takeshita to crash knee first into the stairs. Takeshita brushed himself off and took back over. Darby cleverly vaulted over him and then kicked out that selfsame knee and locked in a guillotine like he did with Knight. Takeshita just hefted him up and escaped. Too much.

Darby does outlast his opponents. He sends them both through the meat grinder and he comes out of it, sinew hanging off of bone to match his painted up face, more in his element, more able to survive. But he outlasts them another way as well. He breaks their spirit by surviving all of their best offense, their best attempt to put him down; by kicking out again and again. 

Eventually, Takeshita (being too much) finally did hit that power drive knee. And Darby kicked out. Takeshita was not shaken. He had other tools in his arsenal. Or maybe he'd just slam his knee into Darby's skull until his head was no longer attached to his shoulders. He had options. 

Don Callis, however, did not have that same sort of faith. He had been provided the Dynamite Diamond Ring before the match, an extra piece of insurance from an MJF who does not quite believe in himself enough to put his hair upon the line, not unless he has absolutely no other choice. Once Darby kicked out of the knee, Callis' belief in Takeshita was shaken and he enacted Plan B. Clon rushed to ringside to distract the ref. Callis gave Takeshita the ring. 

In doing so, he did far more harm than good. Takeshita refused to use the ring, for to be forced to need it would shatter his confidence in himself. And he was momentarily distracted in getting rid of it, which helped to let Darby recover.

There was a bigger issue at play though. He realized in that moment that Callis did not believe in him nearly as much as he believed in himself. Darby may have been able to survive up until that point, but he couldn't crack Takeshita's armor, armor forged through faith and confidence, through belief. 

Callis did that hard work for him. 

And Takeshita, instead of pressing on, went back to the well, back to the stairs on the outside even though the gambit had failed before. Thus shaken, he fell to the same overcompensating, overstretching, of Darby's previous opponents. Darby reversed things, and Takeshita ate a Scorpion Death Drop onto the stairs because of it.

The beginning of the end.

Belief is everything. Wrestling is not just a series of loosely connected spots. It is action and reaction. It is a building built over time. The cement that holds it all together is belief. Sometimes it is created by bumps, selling, execution; sometimes by confidence, presence, body language; and sometimes by the characters' belief in themselves and how that shapes a narrative and touches our hearts out in the crowd or through a screen.

You may think that what makes Darby Allin great is the daring, the bumping, or even the selling, but those are just the means. You may think what makes Takeshita great is his execution, his intensity; even, I suppose, simply his moves, but those too are just the means. 

Darby and Takeshita are great because they are so good at getting us to believe.

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 3/9 - 3/15 Part 2

AEW Revolution 3/15/26

Jon Moxley vs Konosuke Takeshita

MD: Who are we as a people? What do we deserve? What do we demand? What standards do we hold ourselves to? What standards do we hold others to?

The most pernicious truth of the last ten years is that the worst thing a public figure can do is apologize. At best, he can tell people that he's sorry for how his actions made them feel. So long as he doesn't look down, doesn't hesitate, just posts through it, then even in the worst case, he will likely survive to enjoy the fruits of his actions with very few consequences.

What does this have to do with wrestling? Everything. Wrestling has always been a mirror of society, a morality play where wish fulfillment fantasies of justice finally being done could play out in the form of violence and stooging comeuppance.

What does it say about AEW and what does it say about us that Jon Moxley was allowed to get away with what he did without true punishment, all because he worked hard, spouted platitudes, and most importantly, won?

Let's recap some of what he did again. He betrayed a brother, committing regicide and fratricide all at once, ending a man who even on the downswing of his career had reached the pinnacle through his own efforts. And why? Was it because Danielson had lost sight of the goal? Had left promises unfulfilled to achieve personal gain? Was it that the inner peace Bryan found made him complacent and lazy? Was the world still on the wrong trajectory, the Jack Perrys of the world getting title shots instead of the truly deserving? Was the only course correction possible one of betrayal and destruction?

Or was it something else? Jealousy of not just this brother but all of his brothers near and far? Jealousy of the peace Bryan found when his own heart was roiling? Fear that he was being left behind? That those things he claimed to believe in mattered less than ever? 

Maybe it was a little of both. Every crime has motive and opportunity. That inner peace of Bryan Danielson? That provided the opportunity. I don't buy that it created a valid motive. 

So a bag went over Danielson's head. Cleaning solution went down Orange Cassidy's throat. Darby Allin was tossed down stairs. Mark Briscoe was crushed even after dedicating victory to his children. Will Ospreay's neck was shattered. Lies were whispered again and again in poor Wheeler Yuta's ear.

And the hypocrisy went hand-in-hand with the fell actions. Private Party were bullied into elevating themselves and not a word from Mox for their triumph. The belt was locked away. No one under thirty was getting title shots. 

Instead it was Cope and Cope and Cope again. And with Cope came the baseball bat with nails on it, Spike. But as Spike came down upon Mox's back, fear found its way to the forefront of his heart.

That fear created an opportunity for Hangman Page to defeat Mox and restore the belt to its proper place, to bring it back to the people.

The fear didn't fade. It made Jon Moxley tremble as Darby Allin got revenge, delayed as it was. Having tapped once, he found his back against the wall, first against Daniel Garcia (who he was able to recruit instead of vanquish, more whispered lies) and then against Kyle O'Reilly. Running, hiding, tapping. He was a wounded animal on his (damaged) back foot. Yes, some, like Darby had gotten a measure of revenge on him. Yes, even Bryan Danielson had come back to help ensure he didn't leave All In with the title. But was that justice? Had he truly gotten his comeuppance? Even looking the coward, even looking WEAK, had he truly paid for what he had done?

He had reached a sort of bottom, a physical bottom, a reputational bottom. But had he paid for what he had done?

And what about his claims of justification? Had he made AEW stronger? Better? Maybe. Or maybe its strength was always in plurality. Many different styles. Many different voices. Many different views of what pro wrestling is and what it can be. 

See, maybe it was never about AEW at all. Maybe it was always about Jon Moxley. Maybe he realized that the world was leaving him behind. Maybe it was a last, desperate grasp of a conservative man to hang on to relevancy, to force meaning itself back into a shape that he could recognize, that he was comfortable with. 

So at the start of the Continental Classic, he was a man who, to the world, looked like he had so little left to lose, but that too was a lie. He had lost so much but had never truly paid for what he had done. He was, in many ways, right back to where he had been before betraying his brother, except for now, it was all revealed to the world.

Maybe that's what he needed after all. A reputational bottoming out. To gain something tangible and then lose it. To be pushed against the wall. Maybe he needed to build something up, a false castle of sticks instead of stone and see it all burn down so that it might burn with it the brush that had grown around his soul. 

Hobbled, he entered the C2. No interference. No compromise. No surrender. None of the crutches of the last year. Just a man against other men. A man against nature. 

And after an initial deficit, a fallen man falling even farther, he triumphed. He triumphed through one battle after the next. Sometimes he got a bit of help from the machinations of those around him, Fletcher's failed attempt to cheat, how far Takeshita had pushed Okada (before his successful cheating attempt), but he triumphed none the less. And then he stood in the center of the ring and pretended like it was enough, that it was all his doing, that this was the world he had made through his wretched actions, a world of warriors, of valor, of hard work. 

And here's the thing. I think he may well have believed it. The fans had started to support him again, and they'd only support him more and more in the weeks to come. After all the underhanded chicanery of his world title run, he had insulated himself through the rules of the Continental title. 

The worst thing about all of this wasn't that he had a title again, wasn't even that the Death Riders hadn't turned on him for his weakness, the monster he created devouring him. It's that he found a delusional sort of peace through it all, a mockery of what Bryan Danielson had actually worked for.

--------------------

Actually though, the worst thing was that we, as fans, were just meant to accept it. That's how it looked at least. Maybe the worst thing was that we were accepting it. The Continental Classic had been masterful. It took a Moxley at the end of his rope and had him climb, hand after hand, inch after inch, all his way to victory. 

He earned it. He earned the title. But that didn't mean he earned the speech. That didn't mean he earned forgiveness. 

But in front of crowds who are just happy to be there, who just want to cheer for all the wrestlers and see awesome things, it was enough. He was an awesome thing. His struggle was an awesome thing. Crowds were in awe of it. 

It was a babyface turn that wasn't earned. A turn without a turn. In many ways, it mimicked both Hangman and Statlander's journeys, where the crowds went for them before they did something worth going for. Where they got their prize before apologizing (in Hangman's case) or deciding to stand for something again (in Statlander's). 

Moxley is a star. He is a presence. The fans want to cheer him. 

It left the Death Riders high and dry. They didn't turn on Moxley to cement it, not at his lowest or not when he won the title and started spouting off in ways that went against everything they had done in the previous year. It meant that instead of two months of Wheeler Yuta hiding hiding his hair from the world, he had to reveal it quickly, his own heat muted because Mox is a de facto babyface. It means that we're back to the early days of the BCC where they can be babyfaces one day and heels the next, good hands that can be fit into matches, interesting matches even, but that don't actually mean half as much as they could in the grand scheme of things. 

And it meant that we had this very strange match where a babyface who acted like a heel went up against a heel who acted like a babyface.

---------------

Takeshita wanted what Moxley had, redemption (true or false) through combat. His sins weren't quite as bad. He had betrayed Omega years earlier, had been a bully and a rogue, was trapped in an association, a family, that no longer valued him as it once did. 

But he was a man remembering his honor and he wanted what Moxley had, a shield against all the evil of the world, including the evil within him. Being Continental Champion meant no interference but still having plausible deniability to his own family members for why they couldn't be there to do dark deeds in his name. 

He had taken Moxley to the limit but that wasn't enough. Takeshita wanted this badly. Moxley needed it, for the second he lost the title, he would lose this shield to hide behind. No longer able to hide from the world, and especially from himself, his peace would be shattered.

So they fought, and it was a clever, clever match, both the parts I enjoyed and the parts I didn't. 

They met in the center of the ring to begin, forearms smashing into one another's face. Usually, this was exactly where Moxley loved to be, in the midst of a strike exchange. Takeshita was younger, larger, stronger, just as tough, and Moxley was forced to retreat. 

One thing that's incredibly clear to Mox now, however, is that it didn't matter how he wins. All that mattered was that he does, so he honed in on Takeshita's damaged eye (damaged in a battle with Claudio). He pounded it. He bit it. He dragged it across the top rope. The eye opened up the leg. 

And the leg was supposed to open up Takeshita completely, was supposed to allow Moxley to hit the Death Rider, a Pile Driver, his stomp. It didn't though. Takeshita refused to bend. Moxley could chip away at him but not hit bombs. Takeshita, on the other hand, hit his bombs, the cradle tombstone into the German, the Blue Thunder Bomb. But he hit them as hope spots he couldn't capitalize on. 

They went into a second strike exchange and this time Takeshita's knee gave out. Moxley couldn't hit that stomp the first time on the apron, but he powered through and got it the second, opening Takeshita up both literally and figuratively.

As they passed the twenty minute mark, the match went off the rails and became a fighting spirit epic. Takeshita came back to get the best of a third strike exchange, and both men not just hit bombs, but hit them in a way to show their over the top toughness. They kicked out of finishers. Takeshita even kicked out at one. They popped back to their feet and hit move after move without consequence until both fell over. It's all the stuff I tend to have no use for because it inverts the narrative weight of moves the deeper the match goes. I get the value of it. I get the excitement. I get the warrior spirit it represents and how it highlights adrenaline and toughness and everything else. I just don't think it's worth the cost relative to showing the escalating weight of moves down the stretch.

Here, though? Here, maybe it was worth it, not because of anything specific they did, but because it was very much Takeshita's match at this point, his world, and because Jon Moxley survived it.

Jon Moxley endured it. Jon Moxley powered through it, forcing that leg to give out one last time, finally locking in the choke, finally stamping down Takeshita's final act of defiance to lock the arm, finally making him pass out to win the day.

Once again, toughness, grit, determination, endurance were shown to matter more than anything else, including conventional morality. Once again, might made right.

And so Jon Moxley was rewarded. He put out his hand, and despite his better judgment, despite his first instincts, despite all the emotion in his heart, Takeshita returned to the ring and shook Moxley's hand. 

Peace through combat. Fabricated peace in the soul of Jon Moxley. So long as he continued to win, he'd never, ever have to look down again.

It's the perfect crime for our modern world.

----------------

But then the lights went off. The video package played. The whole arena went green. The music hit. And there was Ospreay. 

A loose end. 

And I don't know what to think. I really don't. Look, there's an amazing story here. Jon Moxley did horrible things, unforgivable things. He burned it all down to build it all back up, all for his own sake, and he was finally at peace for it. The fans were back behind him. He had gold once again. The Death Riders were by his side and a willing, even loving, part of his glorious facade. He hadn't done a single thing to earn redemption except for to fight and win. He hadn't owned up to anything. And yet, he had his cake and ate it too. It was the perfect modern male fantasy in so many ways. 

We're months into it now and he's up against heels. He made it past the point of no return. Over the border. He's safe.

Yet here's Ospreay, a ghost of his past, someone the crowd will support, someone who theoretically can call Mox out for all he did, and all he had become, and all he still was, no matter how much he won. He could beat him, but in a perfect world, he could remind him what that would mean again and again before he did. Even in pro wrestling, justice can and should be more than just putting someone through a table.

But it's Will Ospreay, who for all of his charisma, innovation, athleticism, and enthusiasm, has the nuance and subtly of a brick to the skull. It's not a good "moral high ground" month for Will either, given some of what happened in EVE recently. And the fans are already firmly behind Mox, so to call him out in all the ways that matter and that will make them uncomfortable, the ways that matter not just for this storyline, but also in restoring a moral underpinning to literally every storyline AEW does, an essential cornerstone that is already weak and frayed, preventing emotional investment and narrative coherency from audiences in ways that matter most (and that may not fully register with the creative forces within the company, I hate to say)... 

Well, I guess time will tell, won't it. Maybe, unlike Jon Moxley, we're getting what we deserve after all.

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 6/2 - 6/8

AEW Collision 6/4/25

Bandido/Outrunners vs Kyle Fletcher/Konosuke Takeshita/Hechicero

MD: We had a RUSH trios and an Athena proving ground match but I figured I'd spend some time with Kyle Fletcher and Hechicero instead. This was a bit of a time filler as there's no program I'm aware of right now save for a slight feud with Bandido and the Don Callis Family (maybe Archer goes after the ROH belt? They've suggested that previously) but it got to showcase Fletcher and Takeshita, had Bandido looking like a star, and gave us Hechicero hanging out with the DCF and honestly, that's all stuff I can go for. Wrestling for the sake of wrestling is not a sin. It's a joy. It's a mitzvah. It's a blessing. That some bad faith actors online have shaken the foundations of it at times is the opposite of all that. Screw them. This was a blast. 

For one thing, Bandido and Hechicero is a unique pairing. They've only had one singles and that was years ago. Their last interaction was something like five years ago. They match up extremely well. Hechicero can base for Bandido's stuff. Bandido can flow through all the llave and strange style that Hechicero can throw at him. This started with feeling out matwork between the two of them like a proper lucha trios and I loved it. From there everything picked up with the heels all stooging their way out until they caught Bandido and crushed him. Callis was great on commentary putting over Hechicero and showing derision for Bandido (which of course creates the opposite effect because everyone hates Callis).

The heat was lovely, as they beat the crap out of Truth Magnum. People may love big bomb Takeshita in crazy matches that go way over the top but hanging out with Fletcher brings something out in him that I love. Southern heel Takeshita is my favorite by far. He's got swagger, can play around with ref positioning, can let things settle in after the fact. And of course, Kyle Fletcher is the hero of the day, right? Posing, preening, heatseeking by pulling Truth's hand towards the corner when no one was there and following it up with a body slam to control the moment, and then when it came time after the hot tag, he happily looked the fool in a way that made him seem not happy at all, but instead as aggrieved as could be. 

I love the hierarchy at play too. Bandido was able to hold his own and Truth got some big moments, but when it came to slamming Takeshita, for instance, that took an extra bit of effort. Likewise, they weren't allowed to do the double elbow drop even though it would have been a crowd pleaser. I really do believe this stuff matters. Everything has to be earned and has to be consummate to the levels at play. If they were in there against Rocky and Trent it would have made more sense. Against Kyle and Takeshita, it has to be earned more than they could manage on this night. That means anything that anyone else actually manages to get on them later means all the more because it was held back here. I really, truly believe this stuff matters over time. It only matters if they make it matter and if the commentary picks up on it and everyone goes along with it but it's worth trying. It's worth doing things with care, and despite all the bluster and despite the occasional maximalist tendencies, Fletcher and Takeshita are doing things with care. It's going to pay off so long as the company cares too and allows it to. Even the increasingly elaborate ways to set up the Don Callis punch are more and more of a highlight every week (this time it was like a Rube Goldberg machine). My hope? A few months down the line when Eddie Kingston is fighting Kyle Fletcher for something meaningful, Willow gets to be handcuffed to Callis. Just imagine it.

So yeah, this was a blast and wrestling is the best thing going and I hope Hechicero gets to hang out with the DCF more.

Read more!

2024 Ongoing MOTY List: Darby vs. Takeshita

 

4. Darby Allin vs. Konosuke Takeshita AEW Dynamite 1/3/24

ER: I spent most of this match thinking "this is way too much damage for Darby to be taking, Takeshita is a big guy expending way too much energy and taking far too much time to beat this guy and it's only making Darby Allin come off like the ultimately undefeatable babyface and only making his own offense look weak because......"

But my brain was operating on the premise that of course Darby was going to win this match. Darby is such a good babyface that my brain doesn't necessarily expect victory in every match, it just expects him to...not lose. We know he's going to take punishment, and we're not sure if we've seen someone who can take punishment like him. Takeshita punished, but I believe in my little guy so much that he's just never out of any match. Takeshita is a big guy and I wish he commanded his size better. It's easy to forget how large he is because he still works toe to toe with smaller guys. Every Darby Allin opponent seems to understand that no matter what size they are - from Mike Bennett up to Brian Cage - that Darby is the ultimate Small Guy and they are The Big Guy. Takeshita seemed to understand this less than the others and wanted to work more of a Black Taurus/Hijo Del Vikingo match with Darby, but luckily Darby is great at working that match too while bringing drama to all of the spills and kickouts and Takeshita is good at stunt bumping just like Darby. Not just like Darby, but a guy who is willing to do stupider things than he needs to be doing. Takeshita could get by without doing an Estrada bump into the timekeeper's pit but I'm glad he doesn't. 

Takeshita's Match doesn't work if Darby isn't Darby, so in that fact he knew his opponent. Even if the match didn't hit its peaks or put some of the parts in the right order, once Darby tope'd into a Takeshita jumping knee and Takeshita timed the thigh slap so well that it sounded like a quick snap of Darby's jaw breaking? I knew the cool shit in this match was likely going to make most of the structural failings seem foolish to complain about. Not everything has to be To the T. I want Darby to survive moves he shouldn't be able to be kicking out of, because I want to see Darby survive to take more moves he shouldn't be kicking out of. I thrill at the damage, and I thrill at the perfectly crafted moments of Darby almost pulling out a 3. Darby is so good at taking damage and making moves look as painful as possible, that no matter how many of his frequently excellent matches I see, he still has a way of surprising me with an out of nowhere 3 count. Darby Allin is the master of pulling out a win and a master of placing nearfalls in his matches. He reminds you just often enough that he will weather any avalanche suplex or suplex on the ramp or suplex on his head and pull out of your soul an entirely plausible 3 seconds of distraction that we still don't see coming. When Takeshita took that Akiyama knee into the timekeeper corral and barely made the 10 count, only for Darby's expertly timed Code Red to hit him in exactly the right way at the exact perfect time? I thought this shit was over. I went from not seeing how Darby could pull this one out to being shocked again when ol' Darby Allin wriggled his way out of this skeleton damage. Takeshita selling a knee wouldn't have been able to make me believe, the way Darby's nearfall set ups and close 3s make me believe. This kid has the best babyface instincts since Rey and it's a beautiful thing to watch. What else could matter. 

2024 MOTY MASTER LIST

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death 4/15 - 4/21

AEW Dynasty 4/21/24

Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay

MD: I've had RVD on my mind lately. They used him on the 4/20 Rampage. I haven't gotten to that yet. There's been a lot of wrestling to watch and I only caught the back half of Rampage so far because it more directly led into the PPV. I'll go back for it and for Yuka vs Emi because it sounds like an amazing Emi performance in difficult circumstances. When I think about RVD, though, I think about his PPV match with Benoit. I haven't rewatched it in decades and I have no desire to now, so bear with my memories. You have to understand what it was like to be a fan on the internet in the late 90s and early 00s. Benoit wasn't just a wrestler. He was a representation of a counterculture, of a certain sort of identity. He was put up on a pedestal. We put him there. He represented everything we thought we wanted wrestling to be; if wrestling was just that, we would feel good about ourselves for being fans of it. The match, as I remember it, was a disaster. Benoit did what he generally was supposed to, worked over a body part for the entirety of the heat. RVD no sold it on his comeback. Of course he did. We were furious. At the time, we blamed RVD. Twenty years later, it's obvious that the blame should go to Benoit for structuring a match that not only RVD wouldn't play along with, but that, if he had, would have actively blunted what made him special.

To some degree, that was Danielson's challenge here. The "dream match" portion of Danielson vs Ospreay was always going to be the high octane back-third: the counters, the finishing stretch, and harnessing Ospreay's physicality and athleticism in ways that only Danielson's mind could devise that would play into the weight of the crowd's expectations and the importance of Bryan Danielson in history and in people's hearts. While it might make sense strategically in character to target Ospreay's leg, it would have kneecapped the match and frustrated people one way or the other; either he would have dropped the selling (believably or not, probably not) or he would have sold and worked the finishing stretch at half speed leaving people who wanted the full Ospreay experience disappointed. So they built it by targeting the side instead. The announcers mentioned ribs or the liver, but to me, it was purely a wind issue. Danielson caught him as he was coming off the top with a kick. It took the wind out of Ospreay. Danielson was therefore able to control and contain and focus the middle section of the match, using gut shots to open up Ospreay's face, prying at the legs or twisting the fingers, but doing overall damage instead of limiting Ospreay's motion. When he recovered, it was a matter of timing and opportunity, of recovering his wind because of a lucky, skillful shot or two or some amazing feat of agility like landing on his feet out of the top rope 'rana. Then, later on, Danielson honed in on the arm, in part to set up the LeBell lock. It's easier for Ospreay to limit his upper body motion than his lower body motion and he adapted accordingly. He dropped it for a bit when it did no harm to the narrative and brought it back in a key moment when it could help it. I saw early criticism of the match attack his selling, but I didn't see it. It worked for me, but it worked primarily because it was set up to go with the flow and to not limit him in the ways that mattered for the expectations of the match while still allowing Danielson to be in control and the match to have shape and form. Danielson worked to Ospreay's strengths and minimized his weaknesses. 

What was far, far harder to work with was this crowd. When you see even the most excited crowd, a crowd that is buzzing and chanting away, they usually react to the actual action in the ring. That's true even in the early stages of matches. A clean break will garner applause. A slap instead will give you either boos or oohs. A wrenching hold will draw one reaction when it's put on and another when it's escaped, and then back to the chanting and buzzing they'll go. The "This is Awesome" or "AEW" or "Both These Guys" chants will come at the end of a sequence during the standoff. That wasn't at all the case here. These two were feeling one another out in front of the loudest vacuum I'd ever seen. They would chant whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, even and especially over meaningful emotional beats. This crowd was drunk on the idea of a dream match regardless of what was occurring. They were celebrating the finishing third before the match had even begun. It didn't get better even once they got going. Danielson took a nasty bump off an apron exchange and they were setting up Ospreay hitting a hidden blade from the apron to the floor while Bryce was trying to steady him. It was hugely important to the overall story of the match given the eventual finish. Meanwhile, the fans were chanting "We're Not Worthy!" For the first two-thirds of the match, the crowd was unquestionably excited, but the wrestlers didn't have the crowd. Whatever they were doing, no matter how good it was, no matter how smartly it was put together to be the best of the both of them combined, to be better than the sum of their parts, it wasn't compelling enough to guide and control a crowd that was there so that it could have bragging rights about seeing one of the best matches ever. It wasn't a case of looking to the back for the entire match waiting for a run-in; instead it was looking to the future, to that last third, and taking for granted what was actually happening.

And, of course, that last third was absolutely excellent. If the first two-thirds were, in part, to minimize Ospreay's weakness, that last third completely highlighted his strengths. Danielson was able to push himself up to new heights for specific spots by pressing off against Ospreay's athleticism. Things like the Mistica LeBell lock or the top rope Tiger Suplex or the Busaiku Knee counter to the Oscutter were out of this world and stand up to any spot in any Danielson match ever. By that point, the fans were completely tuned in. I'm not sure we've ever quite heard the "Yes-No" chants as they manifested here and they were just the soundtrack the last third of the match called for. Then there was the finish, which to me was absolutely perfect. At the end of the day, that's how the match had been presented: Danielson was a legend but Ospreay was younger, faster, hungrier. So at high noon, after a war that neither man had been able to win, they had an old fashioned standoff. Ospreay, with his Assassin's Creed trappings, is perfect for this sort of over-the-top theatricality. We get endless strike exchanges and fighting spirit bits in wrestling, but this wasn't even a samurai showdown where both fighters would pass and one would fall after the fact; no, it was right out of a western with the younger upstart having the quicker draw. Given what the match meant to accomplish, the passing of a torch, it was the perfect ending. Maybe, just maybe, it was even the perfect match too. It was, unfortunately, just one that couldn't overcome the frothing anticipation that the fans in the arena had for it. It was their loss and ultimately it was ours too. 

AEW Collision 4/20/24

BUNKHOUSE BRAWL

Bryan Danielson/Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kyle Fletcher/Konosuke Takeshita

MD: On a nexus with Connelly vs. Demus on one end and the Jarrett vs. Briscoe in the Concession Stand Brawl on the other, this would be in the middle but definitely closer to the former than the latter. I write a lot about my own personal preference for wrestling that feels organic and where you can't see the strings and that's much more of what we had here. There were numerous moments in this one where someone (more often a member of the BCC or Takeshita) would spot something in the corner of their eye and work it into the match. That's not to say that Fletcher didn't put up a good effort; he did, it's just that this probably was a lot less natural to him both from what he had seen and what he had done. You had Claudio picking up action figures or spotting a hammer (used previously) on the ground and making use of it. I do think that Fletcher has some good natural instincts in working the crowd but this wasn't the sort of match to do that in the way one usually did it. Takeshita, on the other hand, is someone who drives me absolutely nuts with his match layout: too much, too soon, all at once. But the reason why he drives me nuts is because he's so physically impressive and visually effective, dynamic and explosive. If he could just get out of his own way, he could be absolutely amazing. Here, he understood the mission, a constant violent push forward. 

I also talk a lot about the duel-edged sword that are the commercial breaks. In most matches, I actually think they help more than they hurt because they force things to slow down and the heels to lean into their characters and the heat they're trying to get. It prevents the matches from devolving into constant noise from bell to bell. Here, you kind of wanted that though, but what we did get during the break was pretty great, with Takeshita working over Danielson's would for minutes straight. I see people complaining that Fletcher didn't rub the blood into his hair, but to be fair, Danielson came out of that commercial break with a much more interesting crimson mask than he came in, all thanks to Takeshita. Unfortunately, the timing of the break ending meant that the camera couldn't linger on Takeshita about to brainbuster Danielson on the ramp again. That was the key emotional moment of the entire match, the reversal and subsequent DDT, but the folks at home needed at least a second to understand why Claudio wasn't there to make the save. While the quick cuts between the two scenarios were a plus for most of the match to add to the chaotic feel, it did hurt a little there.

Moreover, if Fletcher needed a bit of education, the crowd did as well. They were pavlovianly shouting for tables; sometimes giving them what they want isn't the same as giving them what they need, and Danielson did that at each point, diverting them away either through yes chants or other bursts of engaging violence. If they run something like this again, on the second or third time, people will be excited for the possibility of the powder or the chain or the wire to choke with. In some ways, all that wrestling is at its very core is the conditioning of an audience over time and then the utilization of that conditioning for the sake of manipulation. Again, that's almost the opposite of some of the maximalist, pandering performances that get over so big today, but it's that carny tugging at heartstrings where the greatest artistry can be found. On this night, through violent creativity and adaptability in the moment and a commitment to the chaos at play, these four (and yes, I mean all four of them and Moxley and Hobbs for good measure), did their part in retaking just a bit of the old ways so that they might be used once again, not to pull pro wrestling back into moldering darkness but to help push it forward back towards the light.

Adam Copeland/Eddie Kingston/Mark Briscoe vs. Top Flight/Action Andretti

MD: I really like it when they run a warm-up/showcase match for a one-time trios before a PPV. It's very likely that we never see Copeland/Kingston/Briscoe again after this and this match gave us a chance to see them highlighted against a very different sort of team than the House of Black in a babyface vs. babyface match. Top Flight/Andretti are a set unit and had the superior teamwork and the speed, but they had both a size and a presence disadvantage. We've seen Ace Kingston pushing around younger guys. Mark Briscoe, here, came off as a total beast, like the Briscoes of old, just running through Dante when he had the chance. This was maybe the first time, even through a series of Cope Opens, where Copeland got to be a giant in the land of the new normal height-wise. I probably need to go back to see his work against Rey at some point, but here he was working big. There was no ultimate opportunist here. There was a running power slam instead. 

There are a lot of things that can and should make AEW Copeland different than WWE Copeland, and he's been doing an admirable job of embracing more and more of them every week, but I don't think I've seen him look quite this imposing as of yet and it was great to see. I want more of it. No one even played de facto heel here; yes, the bigger makeshift trio sort of bullied, and Top Flight double-and-tripled teamed but it wasn't personal. There was a little bit of control on Copeland and a lot on Dante, but it was back and forth and never wore out its welcome; plus, Andretti has that Tom Zenk thing about being particularly punchable. When things broke down in the end, the fireworks were exciting but also well-placed. Even the triple double clothesline felt a little novel relative to some of the spots you see in this scenario. I'm sure that anyone who didn't blink and miss it loved Dante jamming his leg on the backflip to let Copeland hit the Impaler. It was a little detail, probably unnecessary, that still added to the match. And of course the finish of the Uraken into the Spear, with Copeland sneaking Andretti into the center of the ring for the Froggy Bow, was just a perfect highlight reel combination. If we'll never get Copeland/Kingston/Briscoe again after the PPV, at least we'll have gotten two very different looks at them.

 

AEW Dynasty 4/21/24

Adam Copeland/Eddie Kingston/Mark Briscoe vs. House of Black

MD: I dug the layout for this one. After an initial tease of Copeland vs Black before the match got going, we led into initial pairings like a lucha trios. Matthews was paired with Briscoe and King was paired with Kingston. I'm not entirely sure that the build properly set up these pairings, but both the announcers and the wrestlers leaned into them. And, of course, it was all underpinned by the delayed gratification of Copeland getting his hands on Black, which is one of my all time favorite things in wrestling. I love it in Mexico (one of the best trios setups). I love it in Japan (all those Eigen/Rusher matches I've been watching lately). I love it here and they worked it wonderfully towards the finish. The pairings, generally equal, built to a real shine where Mark Briscoe took out everyone and did the amazing, terrifying chair-assisted dive over the post on the apron, which, in and of itself, led to the heat on Briscoe. He finally fought his way out of the corner to make the hot tag and everything broke down. I could have maybe went without the tower of doom spot, but I did like how they twisted it by bringing it back to Copeland and King and the Superplex. Otherwise, it was all sequenced well, centered around the subconscious notion that if only Copeland could hit the Impaler on King, he'd be able to get his hands on Black. It took three tries and an Eddie Uraken but he eventually got it, only for Mark Briscoe to come in and get his hands on Black first in yet another little inversion. That just ramped the pressure up all the more for the the spear cutoff to Cerberus' Bite (which is what we're calling the House of Black's triple corner dropkick now if you didn't get the memo) and the ultimate inversion, the misting out of nowhere just when the fans were going to get the satisfaction of Black vs Copeland. The entire match built to that rug-swept-out moment and that's just great aggravating pro wrestling to set up another show. You have to appreciate it. This maybe needed just a bit more Eddie but other than that, I enjoyed it.

Read more!

2022 Ongoing MOTY List: Kingston/Akiyama Before Kingston/Akiyama

23. Eddie Kingston/Ortiz vs. Jun Akiyama/Konosuke Takeshita AEW Rampage 11/18/22  

ER: Ever since Dream Match Wrestling started in 2001 with King of the Indies, the most common way it's been naturally presented is as Matches Paying Customers and Internet Fans Want to See That Maybe Haven't Happened. It's much less commonly presented as Match Participant's Dream Opponent. Eddie Kingston's dream opponent is Jun Akiyama, and fighting a 53 year old Jun plays into every part of Eddie Kingston's 3 year + retirement tour. We never got any of Kings Road Eddie against the All Japan or NOAH rosters we all loved. We missed out on dozens of Eddie Kingston singles matches against Baba acolytes because Kingston only went to Japan for a week with Osaka Pro. Kingston's only singles match in Japan at the time of this match was against Kanjyouro Matsuyama, one of those Japanese wrestlers who has wrestled a couple thousand matches but is still obscure and only spoken about by real freaks. You have never brought up a wrestler as plain sightedly obscure as Kanjyouro Matsuyama, and we should instead all be talking about Eddie Kingston's fun but disappointing singles matches against Takeshi Rikio and Keith Walker. 

Well, now Eddie actually gets to fight Jun Akiyama in a singles match, and this match is the great teaser tag the night before that match. And what's great about it, is how they perfectly understand that it's a teaser to the singles match, and they work every little tease of Eddie and Jun going at it. What's even better is that Eddie and Jun don't even go at it until the end of the match, and I also think it's the weakest part of the match. More focus and dedication was placed on making the teases special than the actual brief squaring off: Kingston throwing a running elbow at Jun on the apron after tagging out, Akiyama kicking at Kingston on the apron after tagging in, Akiyama bailing on a pinfall attempt after a piledriver on Ortiz to not give Kingston the satisfaction of breaking up said pin, Kingston taunting Jun while giving Takeshita a nasty face lock and then not giving Jun that satisfaction by stopping his own pin. It was all hugely entertaining, and again, more so than their actual exploder trading at the match's conclusion. 

I thought Ortiz looked incredible. He looked great in peril, he looked perfectly in sync with Kingston during their runs - hitting a cool neckbreaker drop and throwing Takeshita into a neck-breaking Kingston DDT is the kind of spot that never looks natural but was smooth as silk here - and he fed for Akiyama brilliantly. I don't think Akiyama is washed. No, he seems to be working as smart as ever and seems to know the limitations that come with being a wrestler in his early 50s. But on Akiyama's hot tag Ortiz did an incredible job feeding for him, bringing all the speed and completely hiding the fact that he was moving all around Akiyama. Akiyama wasn't exactly Steven Seagal standing in place forcing everyone to run at him, but he wasn't not doing that, and I think Ortiz completely masked it. The match ending breakdown was a lot of fun, and for a guy I don't typically connect with I thought Takeshita's had an Actually Great Kawada sell off Kingston's wicked backdrop suplex, and I appreciated that his best elbow of the match was used to shut down Ortiz'a fire. It's a risk to run a Dream Match Teaser right before actually running the Dream Match, but this was an excellent tease.  

2022 MOTY MASTER LIST

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 4/17 - 4/23

Ring of Honor 4/20

Lee Moriarty vs Konosuke Takeshita

MD: I'm a low vote on Takeshita. That's probably not entirely fair. I'm a relative low vote, which I suppose is what being a low vote means in the first place. Eric manages to be aloof and carries more of a purity in his reviews than I do. I'm as low on Brody because of what he does in the ring (bumping without selling, crummy looking offense, dragging down AJPW tag matches that look fun on paper with his antics), but it feels like a personal crusade because of the pillar he's put on by people who don't revisit his matches. If Takeshita wasn't an absolute darling of the community, voted most Underrated, and looked at as unquestionably (or at least unquestioned) great, he probably wouldn't bug me quite so much.

But he is, but he does. I'm happy to admit it. Just like I'm happy to admit the positives. He has size, to the point where he stands out against the AEW roster. His stuff generally looks good. He stays in the moment and throws himself into his matches and connects with the crowd. The whole "wrote a thesis on the German Suplex" concept is very good when used smartly. There's a lot of upside. In fact, even down to his emoting, he reminds me a lot of Adam Page, not in who he is, but in both a lot of the upside and why he doesn't work for me in many matches. With him, it's just too much, too soon. When he's in a position to work from underneath and have to fight to earn things, the build and the payoff is there. When he's against an opponent whose idea of wrestling gels more with his own, it's a lot of noise and not a lot of resonance. Pop ups and strike exchanges and Germans flying freely. It's kinetic and exciting and I probably would have loved it twenty years ago, but there's no meat on the bone and no substance to the action; engaging in the moment but forgotten with the next spot. So he has great raw talent but instincts that bug me and probably, like Page, a real pride that what he's doing is the right thing. It gets a reaction, doesn't it?

Thankfully, Lee Moriarty is having a pretty solid year so far and he has enough skill, stuff, and focus to keep Takeshita engaged and interested but sticking to a plot. It was a pretty good one too. The AEW house style is one of tease and tease and payoff. Sometimes the payoffs come too early. Sometimes that still works due to the idea of a reversal later on. An early payoff should be momentous and impactful, should change the course of the match. Too often, Takeshita hits something bit early and it doesn't matter nearly as much as it should. Here, he went for the Blue Thunder Bomb twice and Moriarty was ready for it, driving the arm down and opening up the match. Takeshita has a tendency to drop limb selling for bursts of offense, and while he, as the protege of Akiyama can get away with that, it's not often something I personally want to see. Selling isn't something to be done dogmatically for no reason; it's the definition of "reason" within a match. It's the primary way to express consequence to action. Actions are fine. People like actions. Reactions are what gives the story weight. There's a narrative gain to shrugging off selling in order to hit a burst of offense but there's a cost as well, not just to the match and everything that had happened in it, but to every match as it conditions fans that moves are actually not impactful. For guys with a lot of big offense, it's shooting themselves in the foot in the long term. 

Point being, that didn't happen here. Takeshita used the need for a crutch (or at least a splint) as a crutch and it helped explain Moriarty's cutoffs and why he might be able to hit a move but not capitalize. Everything was harder for him. Everything was more interesting as he tried to overcome. He was protected despite having the size advantage and letting Moriarty take so much of the match. Lee looked like a precision killer. The counters and reversals were compelling. Because he was starting from a detrimental point, Takeshita's kickouts and escapes and reversals actually seemed gutsy and resilient as opposed to just it being his turn to get stuff in. You really got the sense it could go either way or that Moriarty had a clear advantage until Takeshita jammed one reversal too many from Lee and dropped him on his skull. Even after that, there was a question of how Takeshita was going to put him away with one arm and without the bridging German (The answer was a knee to the face). Good showing. I don't need every Takeshita match to be limb-based, but because he was willing to commit fully here, it gave him an easy focus to lean into. I don't care what that focus is in most of his matches, so long as it's there and consistent and grounded. Here it was and it made for probably my favorite Takeshita match ever.

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death 1/9 - 1/15

AEW Dynamite 1/11

Bryan Danielson vs. Konosuke Takeshita

MD: Takeshita's raw physical abilities makes him sort of anything for anyone. Eddie Kingston had a very specific match that he wanted to have with him. Adam Page did as well. So did Mox and Claudio. I think his own pro-wrestling instincts are a bit much for my tastes, but I'd love to see what some of the other 5FoD like Punk or Dustin might do with him. I think it was pretty clear to anyone paying attention what Danielson wanted, someone to push him as far as possible so they could have a high octane, hard hitting match. That's exactly what he got. 

Coming in, knowing that, I was ok with the end product, give or take a few nitpicks, but overly impressed by a few points as well. For instance, I think they filled the time on the top rope during the commercial break and ending with that amazing lariat off the top exceptionally well. Timing was perfect; you didn't know where it'd end up and were happily surprised by the eventual place; it never felt cooperative; it always felt perilous. I liked the little bits of mat sections early. Takeshita's strength and flexibility meant that Danielson could really stretch, both in his own bridging and with the Romero special into the dragon sleeper. The one place where it fell apart was the ugly spot on the floor, and even then, Danielson recovered beautifully at first by selling his leg. It would have been even more beautiful if it was all a ruse and, after the knees up on the flipping senton in, he had dropped the selling completely. Instead, he dropped it conveniently, not selling it after that spot to set up the LeBell lock, selling it immediately thereafter, and then dropping it for the rest of the match, including after he landed on his feet after the German. It would have worked way better as a feint but obviously, it's a lot to keep track in the moment. Not every conversation about Danielson has to be about whether he's the best in the world or not, I suppose.

Instead, it was nice to see Danielson against a handpicked opponent, getting time and fully flexing his pro wrestling interests. On some level, I miss a more mat-based, hold-based, Danielson, one that would really dismantle an opponent, but it's still thrilling to watch him do what he wants to do most.  

AEW Rampage 1/13

Darby Allin vs. Juice Robinson

MD: This felt like the match needed for the specific moment. It was a reset after the ladder match with a big bloodbath to come. It was a nice little title match too. I've heard from a lot of people that Juice is better positioned as a babyface but I think he adds a nice bit of contrast and there's a real sense of escalation in his offense as the match goes on. They started out on the mat, giving it a bit of a title match feel, shifted with one huge bump by Darby, and then went into an extended control period by Juice which was constant and consistent. Darby is a guy who doesn't necessarily need to get in a lot of hope spots because the fans are behind him and because half of the joy of his matches is watching him take stuff. When there is a comeback and a cutoff, it means all the more for it. Juice started with the double axe handle building to the sentons (which he went for initially too early to start of the match and then paid off later) and ultimately the Harlem Sidekick. When he couldn't put Darby away, because who can, he went to the top, made a mistake, and Darby took the win. Just a good straightforward match which gave Juice a lot of room to stretch, gave Darby another win (a bunch in a very short period of time) and got the crowd recalibrated for what was to come next.

Malakai Black/Brody King vs. Eddie Kingston/Ortiz

MD: Lots of moving parts here. A lot like the Cassidy vs Sabian match from last week, they did a good job of playing out the story with the actual ringwork. AEW's roster is a dual-edged sword. You'll get Eddie wrestling relatively short enhancement tags on the webshows (even if sometimes the opponents have been great) and then you suddenly realize that you never knew you wanted him to face off against Malakai Black. This was more of a tease than a real payoff, but it was a hell of a tease, culminating with the drop into the seated position and King interjecting to lead into the commercial break and the heat. Eddie kept coming back, kept getting assists from Ortiz, kept refusing to tag. I'm not sure anyone in wrestling today could have portrayed this level of stubbornness, defiance, and toughness than Eddie. His face was visibly banged up; he kept throwing backfists wildly; he stood tall and foolish and prideful and people believed in him and suspended their disbelief and let themselves get frustrated at him and hopeful for him. That's what Eddie Kingston could do. Everyone else played their role perfectly, especially Ortiz who took it to Brody at the start and worked the apron like an all time tag worker and including Julia with picture perfect timing and a resonating scream when a lot of people were probably expecting the mist. I'm glad this is getting time and look forward to see how it all plays out.

Read more!

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.

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death 11/14 - 11/20 Part 1

AEW Dynamite 11/16

Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson/Claudio Castagnoli) vs. Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho/Sammy Guevara)

MD: Just a high quality, functional tag to start the show and set up the PPV 4-way. The ultimate goals were to make Claudio look strong coming in, make Jericho look vulnerable, and lean in hard on the preexisting vulnerability from the previous week with Danielson's eye. All three factors will likely come into play in the title match. They've mentioned the idea that Sammy might go into business for himself, but that wasn't really touched on in the text itself here. I mentioned last week that in some ways he's the perfect 2022 Bryan Danielson opponent, even if he's not the wrestler I'd like to see him up against the most. It's not far off to say that about Claudio too. The hangtime he was able to off of Claudio's power on a few spots (like the pop up uppercut) was just amazing. Outside of that one specific pairing, the other three have been married to one another off and on over a good chunk of this year. Again, it's maybe not what I'd want for Danielson, and even, at this point, not what I want for Jericho anymore (I was all for the idea of a JAS vs Neo-Pinnacle w/Joe feud back around the Canada shows), but familiarity, at the very least, can breed creativity. Three matches in, Danielson's able to twist and contort certain spots and a certain comfort level on things like dives. Sammy hit a spectacular one on Danielson to get the two of them out of the way for the Claudio/Jericho Giant Swing/Walls bit. Danielson hit a visceral tope on Sammy to get them out of the way for the finish. Likewise, that giant swing spot with Jericho holding the bat and Aubrey recoiling back into the corner so she didn't get clocked by it on the rotations was brilliant. So there's value in the continued pairings. So when I truly, deeply hope that with the ROH PPV up coming, if not this PPV ahead of us, we're at the end of this feud, it's not necessarily because the content is stale or no longer worth watching. I'm just ready to see these four wrestle other people.

AEW Rampage 11/18

Eddie Kingston/Ortiz vs. Jun Akiyama/Konosuke Takeshita

 

MD: Different people will give you different answers about this, but if you forced me to come up with a single, unified theory of pro wrestling, it would be this: Pro wrestling is about anticipation and payoff. Here the anticipation was for seeing Jun Akiyama and Eddie Kingston fight each other. And the payoff? Well, we only got a taste of it as it was, in the best and carniest pro wrestling fashion, building towards another show and another match and another moment. I have to admit that the anticipation was pretty glorious in and of itself. They did everything they could to keep Eddie and Akiyama out of the ring together, starting with Kingston vs. Takeshita, with heat on both Ortiz and then Takeshita so that partners could cycle in and out without the two facing. Ortiz knew the match wasn't about him but also that he'd have to carry a lot of it in order to prevent the teased pairing and he rose to the occasion, hitting hard, but taking all of Akiyama's stuff. Akiyama was sudden and decisive in his violence. For all of the anticipation in the match, when he struck, it was without flourish or hesitation. He'd reach for Ortiz and spike him with a pile driver with no pomp, just impact. Kingston let himself get distracted but then shut down every opening. His eyes wandered. His fists did not. All of my issues with Takeshita tend to be structural and almost all of them were alleviated by this being a tag match. 

The match built and built to the possibility of Kingston and Akiyama facing off. When they did it was to prevent the exploder, with Ortiz still the legal man and Eddie doing his best Taue impression to rush in and break up an opportunity and break down the match, the way so many All Japan tags broke down. The encounter disappointed only so much as it was a tease for something more. As a tease, it was everything you might want though: thrown blows, traded exploders, with Akiyama's snap quick, tight and snug. He didn't take shots as you so often see, but registered them and sold as he fired back, and if anyone watching this in the back learned anything from him here, I'd hope it was that. But in the end, the payoff was all just a tease after all, bringing us back to anticipation for what yet remained ahead. That's pro wrestling too.  It never ends and it always leaves us wanting more.

Read more!

AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends): Week of 8/1 - 8/7

AEW Battle of the Belts III 8/6

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Konosuke Takeshita

MD: There was a lot of AEW product this last week but none of our guys. Punk's still out and we're between big Danielson (vs. Garcia) and Darby (vs. Brody in his signature match) matches. Eddie cut a promo to set up his Sammy PPV match and hyped the crowd between BOTB and Rampage. There was Serpentico putting over Cole Karter and a fun Emi/Nyla/Shafir vs. Storm/Willow/Shida match on Elevation, the hard hitting Emi vs. Shida match on Thursday Elevation, and a Pac match on Dark I stopped watching after a really early brainbuster. Someday, maybe I'll do a C+A of Emi tags on the web shows, but not this week. I wasn't as high as other people on the Dynamite women's tag, but thought the Rosa vs. Hayter singles was pretty good for what it was. 

Still, I was coming into the main event of BOTB not sure what I was going to write about this week. I figured I was going to go back and cover Garcia vs. Yuta and Martinez vs. Deeb from the ROH PPV as I liked both a lot, and especially liked the series of oneupmanship tags on the web shows leading up to Deeb/Martinez. And why, you ask, was I not looking forward to Claudio vs. Takeshita all that much, given that Takeshita is the 2022 golden boy of AEW? Mainly because I've only liked two of his AEW matches this year. I wrote up the Kingston match a few weeks ago and explained why I didn't think it worked at all. I'd call the Page match even worse: just two guys hitting stuff with no build, no rhyme, no reason, no point. So there's the short JD Drake match - which covered a lot of ground in less than four minutes, but it was all grounded ground - and the Mox match, where he was forced to survive within Mox's formula of getting chewed up while trying to find openings. 

Claudio's the guy who's in career matches for people like The Miz, but I just figured that we'd get a bunch of maximalist noise that people would eat up (and they're certainly allowed to; I'm the outlier!) and that it wouldn't be for me. Instead, we ended up with a pretty balanced title match. Around five minutes of chain wrestling, five of Claudio working the back through the break, around five of Takeshita coming back and getting cut off more broadly, and then a finishing stretch. It's not quite as balanced as that. The stretch was a bit longer than the climb back and cutoff, but wrestling isn't math, even if sometimes a little bit of math can't help. Claudio played up both his own strengths: his literal strength and also his ability to take a limb and lock on a hold, and Takeshita played his strengths (athleticism, size, flexibility) in the opening exchanges. They weren't going in and out of holds evenly so much as Takeshita ending up in a hold and having to get out only to end up in the next one. They were going so hard and intensely that Claudio almost lost Takeshita on the monkeyflip. Both guys looked good, with Takeshita gaining an advantage once the pace picked up. The back work played into Claudio's control, was at least paid lip service to throughout the match, and informed the finish, but it wasn't religiously adhered to. That's fine, as Takeshita is as much of a guy who can believably channel an adrenaline burst as anyone. 

My favorite moment in all of this was one of Takeshita's first hope spots, during the commercial break when he blocked a Claudio suplex and really fought for one of his own. It showed all of his heart and determination but earned him absolutely nothing. The effort probably cost him and his hurt back more than if he had just taken the suplex. All he bought himself was a little bit of space, just a few seconds, before Claudio charged back in. But it said so much about who he is as a character and the legacy he carries that he had to give it all to try to reverse it, no matter the cost. 

My least favorite part was probably when they did the roll through/pop ups down the stretch with the delayed selling, but that was twenty seconds of a twenty minute match, done only once, with one or two moves each. Frankly, they're each such physical wrestlers, channeling so much emotion and adrenaline and heart, that done in a very  limited way that it added instead of detracted from the match. The key moment of the finishing stretch - Claudio catching Takeshita in mid-air to block the knee - was one of those things that *only* Claudio could do. As physically impressive as it was, what's more impressive to me was how much he centered and focused the match, bestowing meaning upon things that might just have been intense and impactful but a less meaningful spot for some other wrestler. I though the Moxley match did a good job of asking what would happen if Takeshita was forced into Mox's crucible. This one did a much better job of taking Takeshita's strengths (and he does have many) and crafting a compelling title match where he had to fight out of them from underneath.

ER: I thought Takeshita looked pretty bad during long stretches of this, but also thought it was one of the great Claudio performances. Claudio has been having these type of great matches with overhyped Speed & Agility guys for at least 15 years now, but he's so good at finding new ways to have those matches. He has the brain and strength to muscle around an athletic flier to great things, and knows how to catch and sell their offense so well that there are few finer at crafting near 3 kickouts. He's so strong at working a 70/30 match while making an opponent with loose offense look genuinely damaging, great at working an opponent's athletic strengths into his own. Takeshita's best athletic strength is his hang time. You give Claudio a man who can hang in the air, and Claudio will find several ways to make that hang time end with a bang. The most compelling parts of this were Claudio working over Takeshita's back. Claudio throws men into some impossible moves, and his backbreakers all stung. They fought real well over a vertical suplex (sadly in picture-in-picture) that ended with Takeshita victorious but still holding his back in even worse pain than before. It's that hard fought battle over that suplex that really stood out. The hard work matwork at the very beginning stood out in the same way, as they worked over knuckle locks and looked like they were each pushing back with equal force and strength. That level of fight isn't there in a lot of Takeshita's suplexes and other offense. His offense is something that only looks as good as the athlete he's up against. Not everyone can take his offense, whereas you can probably count on one hand the people who Claudio couldn't do his offense to. 

But Takeshita has some real moldable strengths, and as I said, every piece of hang time ended with something spectacular. Claudio uppercutting him out of the sky or Takeshita flying to the floor with a flip dive, or the way he would almost look weightless to set up a huge Claudio moment. Now, Claudio's strength can make a lot of guys look weightless, but that running leaping knee that was caught by Claudio and turned into a brutal Death Valley Driver? That's a real Two to Tango situation and was one of several things that Takeshita added to. The Ricola Bomb reversal was a tremendous nearfall, and I bought into at least three of Claudio's kickouts, his body language so good at making it look like Takeshita was going to get his first big AEW victory. Claudio was at least a Top 10 guy for most of his time in WWE, and it's exciting to think about him bringing that into a roster with entirely new match-ups. 

2022 MOTY MASTER LIST

Read more!