AEW Five Fingers of Death 11/27 - 12/3

AEW Collision 12/2/23

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston

MD: As reviewers, critics even, it's not our job to find absolute truth. There are always going to be things we'll never know when it comes to input. This is pro wrestling, a carny, manipulative, secretive brotherhood, right? And that's ok. We're not going for absolute truth; we're going for relative truth. We're putting this match in context of its peers and of every other match we've ever come across. We're going for personal truth. We're trying to express what the match meant to us, what sensation it created. This is one place we're at odds with Dave, who tends to look at only the moment and for the moment. We're not looking for absolute truth but that doesn't mean there aren't patterns over time, even since the beginning of time, and that doesn't mean there aren't universal truths. We're not even looking to get as close to perfect or true as possible, but every truth we can discern or reasonably and consistently contrive can create a wedge that we can use to force understanding and meaning. It's a messy and dirty business where we are the blind men touching the elephant, but that doesn't make the exercise futile. That's art for you, right?

Any bits of input that we do come up with, or any lens that we are given to help see things through, is overall helpful. Regal's podcast, much like his AEW run, now feels like a fever dream, but it happened. It was quirky and meandering and often repetitive, but occasionally you'd get bits of real wisdom and which, as someone who writes about this stuff, can help to interpret it. Everything helps. In this case, he explained his idea of selling, which wasn't necessarily selling at all, but "reacting," the notion that if he is well enough trained and experienced and his opponent is the same, they can just go out there and naturally react to one another and create a match.

After Kingston vs. Danielson, I saw a lot of comments about how this was the twilight of an era and that we wouldn't see the likes of these two again. I also saw people going so far as to break down the strategy of the match, like I might do, and I just don't think there's the need here. This was entirely about two fully formed, three-dimensional, entirely fleshed out entities or characters or human beings reacting to one another. You can look at any single exchange, simple or complicated, from the initial feeling out kicks (and goading move to the ropes) by Danielson to Eddie's huge chop to Danielson's double leg, all the way to the more complex bits of the finishing stretch like Danielson going for the knee but slowed down by having to adjust his eyepatch or Kingston being unable to finish his escalating end sequence by being unable to hit the power bomb and having to go for the Uraken again.

At every single one of those moments, you can see the emotion driving it in the faces of the wrestlers. It's five hundred individual decisions, shaped by the entirety of their lives, by how they feel about one another, by how they feel in this moment, by their position in the tournament, by what they have to lose and what they have to gain. Every single decision they make in the ring is shaped by Danielson coming off of two injuries and living on borrowed time for his career due to the promise to his child and in a tournament they made for him and by Kingston who had reached his goal and now had put his belts on the line in order to create something beautiful that should have forever been beyond his reach only to now be in a hole and increasingly desperate. Every decision was driven by all of that, and so much more, including Danielson's feelings about Kingston and his comments and Kingston's feelings about Danielson, which were strong but not as strong as his feelings about Claudio or Punk or Hero, but now, coming out of this match, will be so much more so. And of course, it all evolved throughout the match by what was happening in the match itself.

Here's the cool thing for me. I think that every single member of the roster in AEW should study this, and guys on the cusp, like Swerve, or guys in a true moment of transition in their lives, like Copeland, should study it more than anyone else, despite their experience and success. I think that, and I study it too, but I have no idea how they do it. You can understand how someone tucks their head in on a spot or how they open themselves up to a reversal in a shootstyle hold. But channeling all that you are into a match like this? It's the middle ground between method acting, a complicated dance routine, and pure audience driven improv. It's a contradiction by definition. How do they tap into so much humanity, have it feel so honest and earnest, and still have it be coherent and compelling and meaningful? One some level, it's implicit logic, the notion that if these characters are real and they make the decision they would make in the moment at any moment, then a compelling story would naturally present itself. But you can just read that and see how flimsy it is. It's not plotting or planning. It's not performing or emotion. It's not dancing and reacting. It's magic. And I can't wait for the next one and there better be a next one.

Ring of Honor 10/30/23

Eddie Kingston vs. Lee Johnson

MD: This was taped before both of Kingston's tournament matches, if I'm not mistaken, and it was a fun proving ground match with "ace" Kingston against an up and comer. We got those same sort of reactions out of Eddie for the initial handshake, when Johnson got an armdrag or a dropkick out of nowhere, when he got a two-count on him deep in the match, in the most match handshake when Johnson kind of came in for a hug. You could see it on Eddie's face and hear it in his silent voice. "Yeah, ok, sure, we're doing this I guess."

What I liked about it most of all, however, was the way that he carried his mass and controlled the center of the ring. Johnson had to come to him. Sometimes it worked like with that dropkick or the jumping DDT. A lot of times, he ran right into a belly to belly or into the half and half that set up the Uraken at the end. It's what Jose Lothario did. It's what Lawler often did, holding court in the center of the ring like a force of nature. Eddie, in a lot of these proving ground matches, is bigger than his opponent, both in stature and in star-power and it allows him to control the match in an interesting way.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death Week of 12/6-12/12

AEW Elevation 12/6 (Taped 12/1)

Dustin Rhodes/Brock Anderson/Lee Johnson vs Cesear Bononi/Peter Avalon/J.D. Drake 

MD: Not a ton of Dustin here, but that was okay. He played his role, which was to back Nesmeth off when he was intervening on the floor and to let the kids get ring time while waiting for the hot tag. Once he got it, he cut through everyone like butter, including going astoundingly deep on the power slam on Drake. It's criminal we never got a Dustin vs post-turn Big Bubba in 95 WCW. That would have been a perfect feud if Dustin was around a few more months more. The rest of the match worked for me. Avalon fed well for Johnson at the start. Wingmen kept solid control on Brock, including the combo of Bononi's suplex, Drake's cannonball, and Avalon's splash. On the one hand, it's a little too early for Brock to be doing the punch fake DDT, but I guess you can cover it with the fact he's been naturally studying his dad. I like the Wingmen as an absolute bottom of the barrel heel enhancement team (well, right above Chaos Project). We're not in a world where people settle on getting a C house show main event with one of these guys against Koko B Ware or Hillbilly Jim or whatever, but people won't feel robbed if they get to see a middle of the card star showcase with someone like Darby getting put over by them. You need wrestlers like the Desperados and State Patrol on a roster.

PAS: This was a perfectly executed version of what it was. I haven't watched a ton of Elevation and Dark but the Wingmen are a hell of an enhancement team, solid workers, a lot of personality, can compete but not win. Brock being in the match a lot makes sense for his development, although he was clearly the greenest guy in this match, still you cant go wrong building to a Dustin hot tag, man he is great at getting in there and firing off offense. Drake is a guy I have liked in bigger roles, and he feels like someone who could work at a Garcia, Moriarity level as well. 

AEW Dynamite 12/8

Bryan Danielson vs. John Silver

ER: I was excited for them to get to this match, as Silver is clearly a Danielson acolyte (which really could be said about a 15 year swath of guys who got into wrestling) and at times works like a Little Buff Boy Danielson. The match delivered what I was hoping for, although I wish Danielson had treated Silver a little more seriously. It's not that he didn't respect him as an opponent, it just felt like nothing Silver did to Danielson actually got sold by Danielson (sometimes just not for very long, other times not really at all) even though Silver was throwing some of the best strikes I've seen from him. I don't need Danielson to give Silver 80% of the match the way Punk bizarrely let Lee NRFPT Moriarty do, but Danielson at times looked like he was just in a rush to get back to his part of the match. Both threw super hard kicks, and Danielson looked like he was going to go full Finlay when he yanked Silver over the apron and blasted him with an uppercut. I would have liked to hear what kind of heat Danielson was drawing, but the heat segment was (as usual) during the picture in picture break. We got some nice visuals of Danielson's infectious smile as he milked the (I assume) boos from the crowd, cranking a cravat and throwing a pointed knee at Silver's head, then throwing some sick grounded knees to the back of Silver's head and neck while holding him in place with a Chauvin kneel. Danielson kept going for missile dropkicks, making nice contact and sending Silver pinballing, before Silver absolutely plants him with a sitout powerbomb while catching a third dropkick. Silver's comeback looked good and it felt like he was working up to Danielson's speed and stiffness, making his 1-2-3 kick combo to a kneeling Danielson look tops. I don't think the match thread was as strong as other AEW Danielson matches have been, instead making this play like a match with great pacing where everything looked great. Great pacing and flawless execution gives a match a very very high floor, but I was left thinking Silver's big moments should have had more lasting consequences. 

MD: I'm going to start with the transition to comeback. As someone who rarely watches matches with the Elite, my least favorite spot in AEW is Silver's powerbomb counter. He uses it in almost every single match to start his comeback/enter into the finishing stretch and it's almost always done off the ropes where he catches a heel who doesn't ever do a Frankensteiner jumping up to do one. We're talking guys like JD Drake. It's the old "don't power bomb Kidman" thing, but even worse because at least Kidman was a small guy who was eminently power bombable. You were doing something to him, as opposed to doing something that's more on you that's totally out of character just to set another guy's move. Here, though, it was perfect since it came out of Danielson casually hitting second rope missile dropkicks around the ring on Silver. I'm going to have to give the credit to Danielson there (which is funny since he is a guy who could well hit a Frankensteiner anyway). Rest of the match was good. I liked the opening showcase of strength spots with Danielson doing well then showing ass. All of the strikes were great, both the back and forth and when each guy had an advantage. I had a lot of time for Danielson's take over on offense which was that thing we see a ton in French Catch from guys like Guy Robin or Pierre Bernaert where they're taking shots and just stay down so they can get a leg pick out of nowhere. The counters were fun and I liked the way they got into Silver's kick in the ropes/German combo which is probably my favorite spot of his when some thought is put into it. Most of all, I liked how Danielson interacted with Silver and the crowd. During the break, Taz said that he was feeling disrespected by them, but his disdain was more that his idea of wrestling, or at least the idea that he claims to have, is inherently disrespected by Silver (and the Dark Order in general) having all of this talent but wanting to have fun and goof around instead of being the best. That disdain came through so clearly in his wrestling and it made the match.

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AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 11/25/20

What Worked

-I liked most of Hangman vs. Silver, good way to start off the show. Silver is a fun guy to feature, a compact power pack who was really good at cutting off Page. One of my least favorite things in Page matches is how unnecessarily complicated some of his offense is, and how it is never reversed. I liked how Silver cut off a lot of signature offense, like hitting a rana to counter the rope flip lariat. It made Page approach things differently and made for a more satisfying story. Silver has a low center of gravity and can use it in cool ways, like dropping low to the ground to do a quick go behind and snap German suplex. I wish Page had treated Silver's kicks a little more seriously, as it felt like we were building to something really cool when Silver was kicking away at Page, not letting him up, dodging right when he needed to, landing a big hooking kick to the jaw, but Page kinda just stood up and beat him anyway. Also, Silver doesn't need to do the half gainer flip bump every time he takes a clothesline. He did it three times here and you really don't need to be doing the same signature bump three times in three minutes. However, he also planted Page with a brainbuster and took a nice high backdrop bump, and there was more than enough here to make it work. 

-When Lee Johnson makes it onto Dynamite, you know you're getting a nice squad match, because he always takes the best beatings in squash matches. I need to seek out some of his Dark matches to see how he does with actual offense, because I like the way he bumps for lariats and other big offense. He doesn't take intentionally athletic feather soft bumps, his bumps look like he is being hurt. He made that lariat on the floor look brutal, and I don't think Will Hobbs has a very brutal lariat. 

-I do like that AEW is the kind of fed that makes mention about how cool it is that Jericho and Chris Daniels are meeting for the very first time. That's always cool to me when two guys who have been in wrestling for so long finally cross paths in the ring, like Buddy Rose facing Kerry von Erich in WWF. And let me tell you, if this was the year 1999 or 2000, I could not tell you just how over the moon excited I would be to see a Jericho/Daniels match. But this 2020 version is probably about as good as could reasonably expected. Jake Hager was my favorite guy here, and Hager might be THEE guy that I am absolutely never excited to see on my TV screen who can actually deliver something cool. He always gets an "oh sheesh this guy?" reaction from me, but I can't deny how much I enjoy Hager's meathead mouth breathing style. The best part of this was when Hager was driving his knee right into Danielses' back while throwing fists right into the ribs. It looked nasty as hell. 

-The gear AND choreography of the Omega Sweepers has improved every week. It's really satisfying to watch performers get better at their craft in real time. Moxley beatdown was strong. I want Moxley to wreck this guy. 

-Shida/Anna Jay was better than I expected, mainly because Jay doesn't even have 20 career matches work. Obviously there are going to be some glitches, so I'm more impressed with the things she can pull off naturally. She is really strong at making up the difference when selling strikes, like when Shida threw a dropkick that landed a little low and Jay sold her jaw convincingly. She goes to the jaw/mouth sell a bit much, did it right before that dropkick when missing a charge into the buckles, but it's a strong looking sell so hats off. I liked a lot of the ways she would counter Shida offense, like blocking the running apron knee with a downward strike, and especially her shifting weight at the last minute to land on Shida after a vertical suplex. I thought it was just a bad looking suplex at first, but I love a reversal that actually makes it look like the move wasn't pulled off quite right. Reversals in 2020 wrestling are so clean that they usually don't look like they're reversing anything. This looked like Shida tried to do a suplex and wasn't expecting Jay's weight shift. The nearfall kickout by Shida was perfectly timed, actually got me to buy into Jay sneaking away with the upset. 

-Fenix running into Blade's awesome powerslam, that works.

What Didn't Work

-Taz dropping silly shooty comments like "creative has nothing for me" or "wish me luck in my future endeavors" does nothing for me. Taz does not come off threatening to me at this point, and there are too many guys on the roster who could have locked in a better looking submission. Cody's burn about Taz's son (Hook!) training with Cody and not Taz was strong. 

-I feel bad for all the people who have strongly backed Rusev and have been gifted Miro. 

-I love Jack Evans and would rather see him on Dynamite than any number of other less interesting flippers that have been featured. But it's also really weird to give Top Flight a big Dynamite match last week ago, a match that got them buzz and made a big impression, to then bring Evans and Angelico back to Dynamite just to beat Top Flight. I don't think the match worked as a match, as all of these AEW flyer vs. flyer matches feel so same-y. I don't think Top Flight does much of anything that comes off natural, can't adjust on the fly; They can either do long semi-complicated sequences that end with something dumb like kicking Angelico in the arm, or they do weird things like adjust their several feet while rope running. It all comes off like guys just running through some spots that don't always feel like they belong to the same match. I did like the way Angelico went after Daunte's leg, thought his roll throughs to trap Daunte in leg locks and holds looked super cool and felt like old IWRG bleeding into AEW. Also, it is supremely annoying to give these guys names like Darius and Daunte, because there is no way I'm going to remember which one is fucking Daunte and which is Darius. Air Wolf I can remember, but Darius Martin? 

-I didn't think Fenix and PAC looked good as a team. They're two guys who, from their styles, seem like they would complement each other nicely, but their set ups felt long and things missed the mark. But I thought Butcher and the Blade looked good as heel opposition, thought Butcher looked great as a fist swinging bully, thought Blade worked some nice sequences with Fenix and especially loved Fenix aborting a flying attack off the top, jumping past Blade, and running hard into a great snap powerslam. But the match overall felt scattered and like it would have been a real mess without Butcher and Blade. 

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Eddie Kingston's Rude Ass Carries Three Weapons, He'll Give Your Face a C-Section and Keep Stepping

Eddie Kingston just main evented a PPV that got a lot of buzz, and it felt like a good time to find any Kingston AEW matches we hadn't yet watched and review them, for the purpose of science. 

Eddie Kingston vs. Lee Johnson AEW Dark 9/8/20 - FUN

PAS: This was Eddie's first singles match post being signed, and he methodically worked over Johnson, gave him his one run of offense and then finished him with a running knee and backfist. Johnson's had the least impressive offense run of all the guys Kingston squashed, but he did seem to move well, and took a solid beating from the King. 

ER: Kingston is a guy who fights from underneath so often in his matches that it's cool to see how he works shorter squash matches. He's really punishing with hard chops and a cool delayed high crotch lift suplex, but then runs temple first into a back elbow and jaw first into a boot, and it's cool that even in a one sided match he plausibly worked in Johnson hitting a blue thunder bomb. I dig how much of a comeback he's given to the kitchen sink. He's been using that low running knee to set up the backfist. In a promotion where Omega does 6+ running knees to the face in every one of his matches, Kingston has shown the value of one expertly timed knee to the breadbasket. 

Eddie Kingston vs. Brian Pillman Jr. AEW Dark 9/22/20 - GREAT

PAS: This ruled, unlike the other AEW Dark matches, this was back and forth and competitive, and Kingston is a master at the Tenryu style beat a rookie into looking great matches. Pillman gets in all of his spots and has a bunch of moments, but Kingston is fully kicking his ass throughout. I loved Pillman firing with a bunch of huge overhand and traditional chops and Kingston responding with line crossing slaps to the ear and face. At one point Pillman lights him up, turns his back to celebrate and Eddie half clotheslines and half punches him in the back of the head.  Kingston used the running knee to the stomach as a set up for the backfist in all of these matches and this was the nastiest, I thought Pillman might puke blood.  BPJ looks so much like his dad in his movements, this at times felt like a time machine match. Man, a Brian Pillman Sr. versus Kingston feud would have been incredible. 

ER: Damn have we seen Kingston in the sleeveless Mad King duster and rosary beads before? He's like a character in a Robert Rodriguez movie. I thought this was great. This felt like if WCW had given us Dick Murdoch vs. Brian Pillman in 1991. Kingston gave Pillman such a hard beating that at one point Tazz broke and just started laughing, saying that Pillman must owe Kingston money. Any time you get an announcer to genuinely break character to marvel at the violence it's always memorable violence. Pillman really does take a beating in this match, a real sit up and take notice Kingston beating. He kicks Pillman in the back, lands heavy chops, and then really steps it up with a thunking downward strike clubbing arm to the back. He throws a few of those clubbing downward shots and every one of them looks and sounds painful. 

Kingston also has the kind of excellent, honest selling that keeps brawls interesting and avoids ever feeling same-y. He doesn't react the same to every shot, he really tailors his reaction to a specific strike. Pillman hits him with a weak overhand chop at one point and within a split second of it landing light he was already shaking his head and asking him to re-do it. Most strike exchanges are sold by selling each shot by guessing ahead of time how hard it will be. Kingston's candid selling gives this really one sided brawl a great energy, and makes Pillman's comeback feel like a big deal. Pillman gets a great nearfall off a nasty inverted driver, and Kingston had this dirt off shoulder way of dealing with Pillman. He hits this intentionally sloppy bodyslam, just scooping and dropping Pillman, drops him fast and low with a hotshot on the guardrail, and late in the match hits an all time great uranage. The kitchen sink used at the end of this match is one of the best running knees I've seen. It was a straight running shot right below the bellybutton, not a running blow with the leg held out to the side. He just runs knee first into Pillman's stomach, like a knee to the balls that went high. Is AEW Dark harboring a bunch of under the radar beatings like this one? 

Eddie Kingston vs. M'Badu AEW Dark 10/6/20 - FUN

PAS: Short squash, but nifty stuff. M'Badu is a big jacked guy listed from Nigeria, he had a good look and nice height on his Stinger splash. Mostly Kingston taking it to him though, and ending the match with a backfist and a kimura. Kingston gets on the mic and calls out Moxley, and says he will make him say I Quit with the Kimura like his buddy Josh Barnett. Certainly served it purpose, although a squash is a squash.

ER: This accomplished as much as a squash match could accomplish, and AEW is smart using some larger guys in squash matches and not just making it established guys running over juniors. I wouldn't mind seeing more M'Badu, and squash match Kingston is really good at giving guys one big spot (here an awesome rotating M'Badu powerslam). This finished with King's tried and true kitchen sink > spinning backfist, but I loved the wrinkle of him lifting M'Badu for before 3 and locking in a nasty kimura for the tap, looking into the camera while doing it. Heels need to make crazed faces while locking in a finishing sub, bring that Backlund chicken wing energy. 

Eddie Kingston vs. Baron Black AWE Dark 10/13/20 - FUN

PAS: Another squash match, which sees Kington end it with a really great looking backfist and front chancery choke. Black gets one Exploder and a spinning clothesline which looked OK, although I wasn't a fan of his chops. This was a 3 minute match which got it's point across. They must have a deal with Mr. Hughes' school or something, because they have a ton of black job guys but hardly any black people on the actual roster. I mean Eddie beat as many different black wrestlers on AEW Dark than are on the whole main roster. 

ER: Going through all of the AEW Dark Kingston matches is the first time I've watched any AEW Dark, and I didn't realize the show got its name because all of the job guys are black. I liked Black's spinning lariat/Exploder combo (the guy has a really strong Exploder), and while his strap takedown could use some work it's a good sign that he at least incorporates a strap takedown. This match continues the cool trend of a King kitchen sink/backfist combo (this was one of his best backfists too), then locking in a sub for the actual finish. Establishing Kingston as a guy with several ways to finish a match, not just a guy who needs to focus on the backfist. His standing front chancery choke looked sick, great finishing sub. 

Eddie Kingston vs. Matt Sydal AEW Dynamite 10/28/20 - GREAT

ER: I really liked this. I loved the looks of it on paper and thought it delivered in a bunch of cool ways. I wasn't sure if they had a singles match before (apparently they had one in 2005, anyone know if it's cool?) but they matched up great. Kingston starts us off with an effortless promo, calling out wrestlers at ringside, making inside jokes with sly grins at the camera, really the only guy who can do that kind of stuff and not have it come off like some dumb shooty shoot comments. Kingston is so great at being flustered by Sydal's speed, throwing clotheslines over his head, leaning cheek first into a great solebutt, staggering excellently into position for a hard dropkick; that Chikara background has always made him a compelling worker against speed guys (but really, is there anyone he is not compelling against?). I really loved Sydal's cradle and backslide variations. Sydal really moved around Kingston's body with grace, especially love when he slipped around out of a headlock and swung into a grounded crucifix. Kingston basically had only chops and elbows to work with, and the way he worked made it feel like something could end quickly if he just got Sydal's timing down. Sydal stayed ahead of him, got him on wobbly legs, flipped him off the top with a headscissors, almost took him out with knees. Kingston could not keep up, until I saw it in his face right when he was going to turn things. He missed a clothesline that almost seemed intentional and then knows right when to catch Sydal with a low knee and then locks on that bully choke for the tap. The bully choke is a great finish, really does feel like something that would leverage an immediate tap. Kingston is so good at fighting from underneath against any type of opponent, that even though it felt like Sydal took a ton of this it always felt like Kingston just had to catch that timing. 

PAS: This was a really solid TV match, I thought it was a step below the Pillman match, but not a giant step. I agree with Eric about how smooth Sydal is, he spins around Kingston's body like a breakdancer. I loved Kingston's wobbly leg sell of the high knee, and he has really developed that running knee to the gut/backfist as a television wrestler finishing combo. It is a nice adjustment to the change in his circumstances, he can use it to finish off the Baron Black's and Sydal's of the world, and it will make a great near fall in a bigger match. 

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE EDDIE KINGSTON

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AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 5/27/20

I didn't watch one cool second of the PPV, and I'm late to the broadcast tonight because it was my mom's birthday. How old is my mom? 69. How many 69 jokes did I make while visiting my parents? Not a single one.

What Worked

-Dead Stock Stadium Stampede Champions shirts is a funny joke concept, liked Jericho's delivery throughout the bit.

-I also laughed when Schiavone said "Yeah well a lot of us are fans of Wilbur Snyder" because JR brings up Wilbur Snyder the same way my grandpa would tell me the same story every few minutes toward the end of his run.

-Matt Hardy moves like he can't really bend his knees, but I can't deny that he is busting butt in AEW. He looks a little slimmed down, he cracked Kassidy with his big punch, he's quicker, and I loved his moonsault that landed perfectly across Private Party and Janela. I would like it if Matt kept up this Barry Darsow gimmick of cycling through his different eras. We need some plaid tights.

-Lee Johnson is the Job King of AEW, and I now want to see him get more ring time than the majority of AEW guys I see. This guy did not have to take a German suplex on the top of his shoulders, and yet he did. This man is wrecking his spine on buckle bombs and then decided he would also take a powerbomb on his neck. Respect this man.

-Britt "Roll Model" Baker is wonderful. I wasn't sure if something was actually wrong or if she was just playing her role in last week's tag really well, but this is making me an even bigger fan of hers. Although she started her rules for being a role model at #3. Feels like I missed a couple of important ones.

-If they have to put Kip Sabian, Jimmy Havoc, Scorpio Sky, and Frankie Kazarian on TV this much, at least they all end up in the same match. Wait, WHY do they have to put these guys on TV this much?

-Good battle royal with several noteworthy performances. Dr. Luther is a signing that people made fun of, but I've always liked him. Here he threw some nice right hands to send Marko across the ring, then threw him hard and bumped bumped huge for a chokeslam to the apron. Sonny Kiss had some nice stuff opposite MJF and also bumped big to the floor. Really this match was filled with guys taking big elimination bumps. Daniels generously bumped a Stunt rana to the floor, Cabana got tossed, several people did decent "hanging by a thread" dangles, Luchasaurus really went after MJF's throat on a chokeslam, and I liked Luchasaurus' punches and high kick during his showdown with Wardlow (the sequence itself was dumb, with both immediately going through a slow delay stand and trade, but the shots looked good). This was a good battle royal.

-Dug the Inner Circle segment as AEW bringing in a bunch of fighters is a completely awesome thing. Turn this shit into Zero-1 and bring in modern equivalents to Sean McCully. Vitor Belfort needs to come back and just kick the shit out of Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc in a handicap match. Give me a bunch of MMA guys with under 5 pro fights and let them shoot punch the Best Friends in the face. Dr. Luther is nuts, let's see Tyson speed bag his big head. This should be awesome.


What Didn't Work

-Hikaru Shida is a master at making her opponents awkwardly get into position for her offense. She cannot go two moves without her opponent needing to scoot several feet into the correct spot. Look at all that stuff on the top part of this show! Everything made it to the top! Look at how tenderhearted I am, praising nearly an entire episode of Dynamite! But Hikaru Shida is very much not good.

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AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 5/13/20

What Worked

-I laughed when Fenix ran out and hit a leaping Bruce Lee kick to the back of Orange Cassidy's head.

-MJF squash was a bright spot, loved how Lee Johnson bumped around for MJF (including really hitting his back on the apron while bumping to the floor) and loved things like MJF's stiff arm clothesline and his killer shoulder breaker finisher. MJF bringing a shoulder breaker back to prominence will go a long way towards making me a fan of MJF.


What Didn't Work

-The opening tag was at least brisk, even if a lot of things looked off. Luchasaurus needs to drop all strike combos (even though I get it, he basically has a similar size and skillset to Lance Archer so he has to come up with some different stuff to set him apart) but they always look dorky. Jungle Boy had a couple cool moments and Taylor's awful waffle is a nice finisher, and this was a perfectly fine short tag involving people I don't much care for.

-At this point I just feel bad when I see that a women's 4 way is happening, because I'm never excited to just dump all over the women's division and say shitty things about their sequences that ALWAYS get sloppier and sloppier as every minute passes. It's always the same, every time, where I start out thinking "Okay this isn't bad this is kinda working okay I liked that..." and then every minute goes by, and things start getting messed up, and then I say "why do they keep running these same 4 women in matches against each other where they have no chemistry, no in ring communication, no rapport of any kind." I'm starting to think Shida is the MAJOR problem here, as she really just derails every one of these matches. Not only does a lot of her offense look terrible, but her sequences are almost always designed to result in awkward wait times and awkward collisions. She waits awkwardly for offense, then she's like a scared rabbit who runs headlong into traffic and just panics. Statlander was already bumping to the floor, and here's Shida throwing Baker right out on top of Statlander - literally any other part of the ring would have been fine - and Baker has to completely alter her bump just because Shida had to rush the sequence. Why did Shida have to rush? Why, to get into position several seconds early to take a missile dropkick. Every spot Shida is involved in requires the other participants to slow down and stand still, it's unbearable. Statlander has a lot to like about her, and she really tries to put over some of this bad offense (like her almost going full scorpion off a DDT) but there is always at minimum one strength spot that winds up looking completely compromised, and at this point maybe she should just accept she is not great at strength spots. The interactions between her and Baker were fun, Ford at least tries and always seems to get hung out to dry in these matches. Baker is a great personality who needs to drop some of the shittier parts of her offense (that slingblade is brutally bad) and stick to clawing at mouths and noses. Just STAHHHHP leaving them out there to work through a commercial break, literally every one of these things has fallen apart after just a few minutes. Either the ability isn't there, or they're biting off more than they can chew.

-I know we can't push every team all the time, but I was hoping for more of a showing against Omega/Hardy than Santana and Ortiz got. This felt structured as an Omega/Hardy showcase, and I cannot think of many guys who need less of a showcase than those two.

-I'm an inconsistent motherfucker, as I get so sick of seeing Omega work these long competitive matches with people who shouldn't be so competitive, and yet I actually wanted to see at least 5 minutes out of Jericho/Pineapple Pete. I've been hearing Jericho amusingly call this guy out in the crowd for a couple months, I wanted a little bit of a payoff. I didn't need to see Pete beat Jericho, or even come close to beating Jericho, but for whatever reason I wanted an actual WCW Saturday Night, Winner Never in Doubt, 5 minute match. 90 seconds of Pineapple Pete isn't going to cut it. WCW knew how to do fun matches where the winner was never in doubt for a second, and AEW can't get that same tone.

-Daniels looked really slow in the main event, and why shouldn't he? He's still wrestling the exact same style with the exact same moves as 20 years ago. But this was the first time I've actually been alarmed at how slow he was running the ropes. Daniels would have stood out as slow if he was opening an All Japan show teaming with Haruka Eigen against Momota and Rusher. Lee still has the worst gear in the biz, non-Tamina division. Can anyone actually explain what his gear is supposed to mean? It looks like a day camp crafts project where all the kids learned how to draw scars.

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