AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 7/28 - 8/3 (Part 2)

CMLL Viernes Espectacular 8/1/25

MJF vs Averno

MD: There is wrestling and then there is wrestling. And this, my friends, was wrestling. I smiled for about twenty minutes straight (past two moments of audibly mumbling "Cut him off, cut him off. Yes!" at the screen, which if you ever wondered how deeply I get into a match or how I deeply get into a match, probably sums things up more than I'd like to admit). This was about as joyful a 2025 pro wrestling experience as I've had. It was primal. It just worked. Look, I love a lot of modern wrestling, I do. I honestly do. But almost every match contains some form of personal compromise. "You have to do X because of Y (and Y is so often the crowd or the fear of the crowd's expectations)" even when it'd be better if you just didn't. But there's a magical place where you don't have to do X because Y doesn't exist, and that is the hallowed halls of Arena Mexico.

And that joy? That included the pre-match. Yes, it was cheap heat, but it was the most expensive cheap heat you could buy. Or the biggest value for cheap heat you could get? I'm not sure the metaphor is sticking. But what did stick was Jon Cruz. I liked Rocky well enough last time MJF was around, but then he was just trying to keep up. Cruz on the other hand was full on craven majordomo who took MJF saying he spoke multiple languages and translated it into saying MJF spoke twenty languages. My only regret is that we didn't get him translating Averno's stuff back to Max (it wasn't necessary) just to see what sort of ridiculous things he'd say in order to not anger MJF. And guess what? The crowd went from maybe not sure if they felt like supporting Averno on this night to absolutely getting behind him 110%. It worked. It worked big and that was on all three of them. Cheap heat? Sure, but look at what it bought them! (That metaphor was better). They popped huge when Averno threw that first fist and Max sold his jaw like it'd ended up in the fifth row.

The match that followed was beautifully minimalist. Max retreated. The crowd booed. Chills up your spine. Max got in a cheapshot trip. The crowd booed. Max got an eyepoke. The crowd booed. Max hit his swagger groin pushover (you know what I mean), and the crowd got absolutely irate. Averno started to come back at that and Max cut him off and pro wrestling is the best thing in the world, it really is. Max started in on the Irish Whips, basking in the effect of each one as Averno crumbled in the corner. 

But then Averno turned them around, Max backpedaled. He ate a dive. Back in the ring, Averno went to the top but Max kicked out the ropes (the crowd booed). He went up but Averno caught him and went for a Devil's Wings from the top. It turned into more of a pedigree bump and Averno's knee suffered along with Max's skull. Max took over, including with a nasty emotive half crab. Averno turned it in cross armbreaker (the crowd popped big). They made it back up. Max hit a truly lovely mule kick foul as he distracted the ref. Another half crab. A near instant tap, and past a few small wrinkles, that was the match. 

Averno is a rudo's rudo and him playing babyface has real early 00s Satanico vibes. I lamented when he left CMLL just as I was at my height of watching in 2014. He's someone who absolutely gets it, and here he was a great foil for Max. It's so obvious that MJF understands just what he has with the Arena Mexico crowd and with the wrestlers they put him up against. There's a purity to it and maybe I'm crazy, but I honestly think that purity can transfer back over the border if fans were just presented it without having to control for Y. But when it comes to this stuff, I guess I'm just a true believer. Can you blame me? It's hard to watch a match like this and not have faith in pro wrestling. Those boos are like nothing else in the world.

AEW Dynamite 7/30/25

Athena/Billie Starkz vs Toni Storm/Alex Windsor

MD: Nice purposeful tag match here, with a few interesting structural wrinkles actually. It started just how you'd like with Athena and Windsor chain wrestling. They had a very rough around the edges (in the best of ways) match on Collision that I was in transit for and couldn't cover but this was pretty smooth all things considered. It went right until Athena hit one of her super agile counters and celebrated with a big "Yay!" as she is want to do, which, of course, led to the tag to Toni and, after just enough shadowboxing to put the doubt of whether it might actually happen into the fans' heads, a roll and a tag to Billie. A lovely bit of heatseeking and dodging the champ. Big talk, big stalling, denying the fans their gratification just like a dangerous, delusional heel ought to do (and the whole way through this match, Athena was absolutely alive, reacting and acting and preening and getting shots in). 

Billie ended up outwrestled by the champ, who subsequently tangoed with Windsor right into a tandem kick in the corner. When Athena tried to intervene, she got scuffed up (for the first time) but immediately took a powder. Everything broke down from there, with Toni chasing Athena right into Billie's ambush and the heat starting on Windsor. Athena and Billie have been together for well over a year now (together being a fluid term) so it made sense that they'd have an advantage here. 

The back half of the match was built to the finish in a way that most matches aren't. Why? Because the finishing stretch was so abrupt in the sort of way tag matches could finish in decades past, right after the hot tag/immediate comeback. Toni was going to come in, quickly dispatch Billie with Mongolian Chops, and set her up in the corner for the hip attack and the Storm Zero. Athena picked up a blind tag along the way, however, and hit an O-Face for the win and to set up the title match at the PPV. Working backwards, that meant some of what would conventionally be in the finishing stretch actually happened before the hot tag. 

After some double teaming on Windsor, they knocked Toni off the apron setting up everything to break down and for her to come in and help Windsor into a momentum shift. The hot tag itself came only after Windsor had Athena down for a pin and Starkz hit her swanton to break it up. They both crawled to their respective corners after that. Because the emotional high point of the match was not Toni getting her hands on Athena but Athena sneaking out with the victory instead, they managed to sneak in some of the traditional comeback before the hot tag. I'm not sure it made for an overall "better" match, but it did serve what they were trying to accomplish (set up the PPV match) without shortchanging the crowd on action. Sometimes effective is more important than "great," and it was interesting how they got to that point here.

AEW Collision 7/31/25

Max Caster vs Rush

MD: Let's work through this together. The Caster Challenge is "Who Can Survive 5 Minutes with the Best Wrestler Alive?" so the general idea behind it is that they're supposed to make it through the time limit. The joke is that Caster is the one who has to survive and never does. It's a good joke. It's entertaining each and every week. Half a segment. Easy TV.

The initial purpose of the segment was Bowens redebuting with his new gimmick. It was used productively last week to show how the gimmick wasn't working and pushing forward whatever direction Bowens is actually going now. But here's Caster back out there. Along the way, the fans went from not chanting with him to chanting but then getting insulted for their efforts. Theoretically at some point, it all goes over the top and they start to get behind him and you've got a bulletproof lower-mid card babyface who can eat loses but still be over, right?

Anyway, fans chant, Caster makes a comment about Bowens (not helpful if Bowens is turning?) and insults the crowd, and out comes Rush, who had already won one of these. The goal here was to set up a post match beatdown on a sympathetic enough Caster so JetSpeed and Fox could make the save and set up a future six-man tag with LFI. 

But it was a bit of a weird way to get there. Caster ran away from Rush early, even mocking him by making little bull horns. At this point, he was booed. That worked right until he ran into Rush's fist. Then Rush destroyed him until Caster could get some distance and hit a dive. That got the fans behind him. Then Rush took back over and destroyed him again. That got the fans back behind Rush. This went on until the time limit expired as Rush was about to hit the Horns in the corner. Then people went from confused to vaguely happy for Caster. That wouldn't last as the beating followed and the save (people like JetSpeed, so that's good!). And then Caster raised his hand in the air from a prone position, which was equal parts defiant and annoying. 

There was the making of something really good in here, but it was either trying to be too many things at once or just thrown out there in a way that it wasn't trying to do enough, and it's a bad thing I'm not even sure what the answer was or what the long term direction for Caster could possibly be at this point. But I can't say I wasn't entertained because watching Rush destroy some poor schlub is always certainly entertaining. Just imagine if there was a little bit more focus and purpose driving this though?

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 1/27 - 2/2

AEW Collision 2/1/25

RUSH vs Max Caster

MD: I can write hundreds of words about how and why Bowens could be the Kobashi of AEW if he just believed that he could be, that he's the perfect wrestler for the back half of this decade, that he's the perfect wrestler to differentiate AEW from WWE, that he can be organic in every way they're plastic, heartfelt in every way they're self-referential, an underdog that gets closer and closer and closer to the goal with the fans behind him every step of the way.

But Anthony Bowens was not in this match. Max Caster was. And I think maybe he turned a corner here, weirdly enough. The consistent low key matter-of-fact confidence, the denial of reality around himself, the way he put his hand up to do the LFI salute in a kind of "yeah, yeah, right?" way. "Go away" heat is a thing, and I don't quite think Caster reached that point yet. What is "Go away" heat? There's something I like to call the Samoa Joe test. Would the fans rather see a wrestler get beat up by Samoa Joe or would they just rather not see the wrestler at all. For instance, I do not think the fans would currently want to see Chris Jericho get beat up by Samoa Joe more than they would just not want to see Chris Jericho (Here is my major thought on 2025 Chris Jericho btw: https://x.com/MattD_SC/status/1886137775092584452). I think they still would very much enjoy seeing Caster beat up. I think they liked it here.

Speaking of wrestlers pulling from the past, I half think that Blake Christian is well on his way (if he wants it and he should because it fills a niche) to becoming another sort of sleazy player/coach in a Chicky Starr vein, but maybe it's Caster that can bring in a heavy (Mad Dog Connelly's still out there!) and shift half a step to the side. Because otherwise, I'm just not sure what the payoff is here. People will enjoy an open challenge where Caster gets thrashed as an attraction but only for so long. They had him lose right out of the gate so it's not like they're building to him getting comeuppance either. Nor does anyone want to see him redeem himself. So I just don't know... Unless the answer is him bringing in a monster and shifting half a step to the left to manage him, wrestling occasionally (while still proclaiming that he's the best of course). We'll see, I guess.

Which brings us back to RUSH. Love Rush. Loved him here. Loved him crashing across the ring to squash Caster. I talked him up huge a month or two ago and if you believe the internet news, he then got suspended for taking liberties (again) immediately thereafter. He is so visceral and unplanned (feeling) and dynamic. He's totally different from everything else in the company, certainly different from what WWE offers. The poster-child for that difference, but it's a double-edged sword and he leans too hard into who he portrays. You don't get the genius without the madness and all that, but I am not unsympathetic that they can't do more with him.

Now I have wonder if the answer isn't even to try. Use him like they use Suzuki instead. Let him wrestle in Mexico or New Japan (Strong?) or RevPro and then bring him back in as an attraction. I still think the way to sell out All In Texas is to pay LA Park to lose the mask to him, but if you can't do that, then just bring him in now and again to create a buzzworthy match where he can lose after taking his pound of flesh. I don't know what else can be done if he's not able to be counted on week to week. Maybe they should lean into the rumors, play up the idea that he's unpredictable and you never know what you'll get from him. You can't contain what makes him special. You can just hope to channel it in a positive direction.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 11/11 - 11/17

ROH 11/14/24

Dustin Rhodes/Sammy Guevara vs Love Doug/TJ Crawford

MD: Dutch having Dusty's cowbell as one of his last students is a good compelling real life wrinkle to the feud. I think on some level, I don't want to think about Dutch having a life outside of being a member of the Righteous though. It's not like they're wildly fleshed out as characters. I don't know why Vincent became who he is. He's just here fully formed and snapping, so it's kind of weird to think of Dutch in development doing promo class with Dusty. It'd be interesting if they were able to link this to how he fell somehow. I guess it's a sort of "don't open the door, unless you are willing to fully walk through it" sort of deal. Unless they're putting the belts on the Righteous, they're kind of okay as two dimensional characters who serve as physical threats. If they're going to try to do anything more out of them, I think we need to get to the heart of what makes them tick more. This could be a good step along that road or it could be messy depending on how this places out.

Likewise, the idea of Dustin and Sammy having a tag match and the Righteous having one on the same show, with a Righteous beat down after the former, is a pretty good bit of work too. Just nice, straightforward booking keeping things moving. Here it let them introduce the cowbell too, carried by the commentary. And the Righteous' new finisher which is Vincent picking someone up in a fireman's carry and then Dutch hefting both of them over his shoulder. 

The match itself was fun fluff with Shot Through the Heart feeding and feeding and feeding, with no care for the rules. Normally, I'd cry foul but they basically just kept running into Dustin and Sammy's offense, save for a brief respite while they were waiting for Sammy to hit a dive. It fit the characters. It fit the moment. It put Dustin and Sammy over strong right before they were about to get wiped out and the emotional element was to be introduced. Just good episodic pro wrestling TV.

AEW Rampage 11/15/24

RUSH/The Beast Mortos vs Alec Price/Richard Holliday

AEW Collision 11/16/24

RUSH/The Beast Mortos vs The Acclaimed

MD: The squash on Rampage was effective. We've seen Mortos basing for smaller luchadores and working against other talent equal, but it was very nice to see him just crushing people. The Buzz Sawyer-esque power slam stood out as much as anything else. 

The Acclaimed match needs to be unpacked a little more. Let's talk about the Acclaimed first. Something has to give. I don't know what that is yet. Traditional pro wrestling booking would have it look like Caster was going to go with the Hurt Syndicate and Bowens be the one to do it first. That would be a mistake. For one, Caster can't be a babyface. He took the FIP here and it felt GOOD. It felt great to see Rush take the cord and flip him over his head to the floor. That was one of the most refreshing, rewarding, satisfying moments of the year in AEW. You want to see him get beat up. And it's wrestling, so he can use that, not as some sort of edgelord heel like he's been as a face, but instead as a stooging, heatseeking, scummy, scuzzy Eric Embry/Rip Rogers type. It's obvious by this point that Perry isn't going to really lean into that so there's still a window. 

That leaves us with Bowens. I think Bowens could be a successful aggressive, athletic heel, sure. But why? He's one of the two most likable guys in the company off screen. He's got a great story. People want to get behind him. He's short which would be a detriment as a heel but works fine as a babyface who can go and who can bring it. Look, I get it. Whatever the company wants to do right now, it's not Tsuruta-gun vs the Super Generation Army. Maybe we'll get there in a few months, maybe not. Daniel Garcia is Misawa in that case. He's 100% Miswa, unquestionably Misawa. Maybe Hook is Kawada, maybe not. There was a world where Yuta could have been Kobashi but he's Taue now, the turncoat. Bowens is one of the only guys in the company that can be Kobashi, that can push up against monsters bigger and stronger with him through heart and intensity and passion alone. Just let him be himself and let him face off against all the darkness in the world. The fans will get behind him. They got behind the Acclaimed an idea, a concept, a hand gesture, an attitude. They'll get behind Bowens as a person. I'm sure of it. He just needs to believe in himself and to have the company believe in him. The fans believing in him? That's the easy part. 

And then there are RUSH and Mortos. Given what's happening with the Acclaimed right now and just the general positioning of LFI I would have much preferred a roll up pin after Mortos wiped out in the corner as opposed to him eating the Arrival/Mic Drop combo. It might be counter intuitive but one protects him more than the other. You can forgive a banana peel roll up more. 

Here's another "Look". Look, I get that RUSH has a history of... you know, everything under the sun, right? Being uncooperative, having a few injuries, supporting Cuatrero, all sorts of stuff. But if you're going to have him on your roster and pay him well and use him steadily anyway, USE HIM. There are maybe four people on the roster (with two of them being Mox and Athena) who can bring the same level of seething, immersive intensity. Rush is a generational talent. When he was gone more often then not, it was fine to use him as a sort of gatekeeper/mercenary for bounty situations because he's instantly credible just by showing up in the ring. Now that he's a more of a weekly character, he can't just be a normal guy. 

I'm pretty sure that one of the biggest matches they can put on for the Texas All In, at least if you care about walkup, is finally getting LA Park to put his mask up against Rush's hair. Rush's hair was one of the biggest draws in Mexico for years in the 2010s. Granted, I don't know the lucha politics nor do I want to in this case. The point more is this. He draws the eye. He captures attention. He has that feel to him of "Well, it's not all real, but maybe it's a little real when this guy is in there." Someone said a few days ago that if Rush knew what Caster had been saying on his rap, the match might have gone very differently. Obviously on one level you don't want that, but it's a double-edged sword. Genius and madness go hand in hand in pro wrestling, and you have to tap into the talent you have as much as possible. Give him a brass knucks title and feud him with the wildest people on the roster. Build to he and Moxley completely dismantling the set in the world's craziest no contest. Make him the threat that Bowens has to overcome over time like Hansen to Kobashi. Something. Anything. He's lightning in a bottle. Use him to light up the world.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death: Week of 5/30 - 6/5

AEW Dynamite 6/1

CM Punk/FTR vs. Max Caster/Gunn Club

MD: Obviously, it's hard to watch this one back and not be on the lookout for how Punk is hurt. They really build to him coming in the first time and he's there for the hot tag at the end, so there's not a ton of it but it was a little striking how often he went up to the top in that short time he was in there, a double axehandle to start, the body block back off the ropes, the elbow drop on Caster, the springboard attempt that goes wrong on his way in. The Gunns, Austin especially, with his manic energy, have a lot of potential, but they're not there yet. I've come around on Austin's chop block to take out the legs. The first times I saw it, it felt inadvertent, a move of opportunity that shouldn't come up every match, but now he seems to look for it more, as part of his overarching strategy. He's great at reacting when he knows something is coming, when it's a planned spots, but you never know when the crowd is going to start an ass boys chant and he's not always so great at organically working that in. Punk, on the other hand, old pro that he is, can switch a facial expression or little appeal to the crowd mid-sequence depending on how they're reacting. Most of the match was the heat on Dax, and it was good, with a great cut off to lead into the commercial as Dax knocked two of his opponents out of the ring only to have them rush around to take out Punk and Cash off the apron. The fact he put them in position to do so made it even better. Having Billy to sneak in a punch and Bowens to use the crutch only helped matters. Any issues with the match down the stretch were due to Punk's foot, and the internal feeling in your gut that we'll be missing out on what this pairing might have been the start of.

Matt Hardy/Christian Cage/Darby Allin/Jurassic Express vs. Hikuleo/Young Bucks/ReDragon

MD: This was the homecoming match for the Bucks and was going to showcase them while also theoretically giving a little attention to Hikuleo in advance of Forbidden Door, given that Cole is apparently banged up. It wasn't going to be for me but I thought the structure was generally effective for what they were trying to do. Here, there the sort of shine where everyone got to get their stuff in before the dives were all to set up the transition, by clearing the ring so that you were left with Christian and the Bucks. The most interesting moment in there was Christian interacting with Matt Hardy for a moment. Anyway, it meant that Christian worked as face-in-peril during the commercial which is always where they stick the heat, and even though it was a fairly pro-Bucks crowd, by the end of it, there was a chant for him because he's one of the best traditional babyfaces in the company. I know people are itching for the Express to lose the titles and Christian to turn on Jungle Boy but I've always much preferred Christian as a face and there's about another thirty match-ups I'd like to see him have in the company before such a turn. After the hot tag to Luchasaurus it all broke down like you'd expect, an extended, chaotic finishing stretch leading to the Bucks ascendant. Hikuleo got to show a few things here defensively, jamming the chokeslam attempt, catching a dive, no selling Hardy's slams into the corner, but he didn't do much of anything on offense which seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity. This wasn't anything I was particularly looking forward to but it gave the crowd things that they wanted and had enough good things that it did me no lasting harm.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death Week of 3/28-4/3

AEW Dynamite 3/30

CM Punk vs. Max Caster

MD: Real game crowd for this and Punk was more than happy to lead them through the motions, but I don't think this had the complexity of a lot of his AEW matches. For instance, when this one went home would be where the longer, more extended heat would start in a lot of his other recent bouts. That worked in this match's favor, though, as it never wore out its welcome and it'll make people buy into an earlier finish on Punk's future matches. If they're building him towards a title shot instead of into a feud with MJF about whether he still has it or not, winning some one-segment matches makes a difference. As a side note, he should definitely end some other matches vs. midcarders with that pile driver/Anaconda Vice combo. The early chain wrestling was probably the best executed part of the match, with things getting just a little rough now and again later on (like Caster's A for Effort high ambition dropkick off the top with Punk dangling). It was a hot crowd all night and this was straightforward and to the point and unquestionably moved them.

Bryan Danielson vs. Wheeler Yuta

MD: I'd been sitting on a write up of this one pretty soon after it happened as I anticipated having to watch a lot of other wrestling between Wednesday and Monday, but the CPU crashed and I lost it. Point being, I had to watch this again, and I came out of it once again deeply appreciative of the little bits of close-up magic Danielson does with manipulation of his opponent's body. What popped me most here was a little turn of the jaw that he did before laying a headbutt in. Just one shot but it was so great in the context of what they were doing.

As for what they were doing, it was masterful. You really need the right opponent to fit in all of Yuta's bits of offense (though he didn't do the "through the leg" bit here), but Danielson is absolutely that opponent, and it meant for fun, tricked out, still competitive early matwork and feeling out of each other. When Danielson started to really lay it in and brutalize Yuta through the break, it was as varied and interesting and violent as you'd want it to be. Yuta began to come back towards the end of the break and the second they came back, he was backing Danielson towards the center of the ring and meeting him head-on. The spot where he ate the rolling forearm only to skin the cat horizontally back into the ring and capture a German, only to end up in Danielson's very rare Dragon Suplex was the sort of exchange that can make a guy even on the wrong end of it. And then that defiant spit in Danielson's face as he knew the boots were about to rain down upon him took it the rest of the way. I've seen a lot out of Yuta including his hour long match with Garcia, but I've never really believed in the guy until this one. If he keeps down this path, pushed by opponents like Danielson, with more grit splattered over his indy flash, I'm really curious just what he might become over the next few years. In the meantime, Danielson remains the guy to get him, and everyone else, where they need to be.

ER: I'm pretty bearish on Yuta, and this felt like Danielson pulling out a minor miracle (which is something we are used to). Yuta is one of those modern Rocky Romeros (which Rocky Romero isn't really one of anymore) who is a jack of all trades wrestler of several current styles, who doesn't do any of those styles very well. I don't think he has good offense, I don't think he misses offense well, and I think there's often a disconnect on his selling and bumps. The man looks like a real gruber in the ring, and yet I could see him doing sincerely improving just by working often enough with guys like Danielson. I mean, he's already wrestled a ton of guys I really like (and been undeservingly lumped in as their in-ring peer) and hasn't gotten better through osmosis, but there were a couple signs here that was changing. Danielson brutalized him on every strike exchange, but Yuta didn't come off and wasn't supposed to come off as his equal, so I thought it worked when Danielson kept elbowing and kicking him and Yuta came back for more. The horizontal skin the cat looked incredibly stupid and is the kind of disconnect that will hold him back: Yuta taking a tornado elbow and then pausing, looking for the ropes, then jumping through them, making sure that his stupid reversal didn't look like anything that was caused by the actual elbow. But, when he spit up into Danielson's face right before his face got stomped in? That actually felt like someone reacting to the real moment, knowing that he was not getting out of this without a stomping, and doing the only thing he could do with his arms neutralized. Danielson's stomping, piledriver, and disgusting Yes lock (ripping back on Yuta's nose and mouth while sinking it) was deserved. 

Darby Allin vs. Andrade el Idolo

MD: While we focus on individual matches, at some point you have to stop and recognize that they're stacking these shows. These five guys are not the only guys we like on the roster, but they're almost always going to give you a good match or at least a good performance, and they're all over the shows every week right now. Moreover, these matches often feel very different week to week and within a show. This one was all about Andrade with the early ambush, one that he was able to press with his superior strength despite Darby fighting back. Everything before the bell was imaginative while just barely falling on the right side of the line of still being believable and natural enough. It felt like things these guys would do. Andrade then leaned into the beatdown methodologically, with a few hope spots and moments of Darby's endless resilience but Andrade coming off as a total package in how he cut him off. The pivotal moment of comeback with the crucifix counter off the top was spectacular. Darby will almost always make the decision to leap outside the ring onto interlopers instead of back into the ring against his opponent and it doesn't often cost him in tag matches but in singles matches, it protects him in a loss. Just well executed, high quality, straightforward (in concept if not necessarily execution) stuff.

ER: I loved the layout of this, with Andrade jumping Allin before the match with a high crossbody to the floor, and Darby being at a disadvantage all match because of it. I'm not sure there is anyone else in current wrestling who can believably come back from punishment the way Darby can, as we've now collected a ton of video evidence of this man taking bumps and levels of punishment that other people just would not recover from. Darby gets dumped on ring steps and ring barricades, and eventually he tries to crash into his opponents instead of into inanimate objects, and it always rules. I thought this was the best of Andrade in AEW. His impact felt much more immediate and he was less focused on cute offense, and more focused and running his boot and knees into Darby's torso. Darby took a backdrop bump so high that it flipped him into a 450 crash, and I liked the big and small ways he made inroads back into the match. His ollie across Andrade's back had to hurt like hell, his code red looked good and was sold appropriately and delivered with as much desperation as you can deliver that move, and his insane top rope crucifix bomb was something that easily could have ended the match (and probably a smart move by Andrade to flip all the way over into a moonsault rather than take it like a typical crucifix bomb). The interference finish (that everyone saw coming) knocks it down the MOTY List a bit, but I loved how hard Sting came storming in with a lariat (running gut first into the apron to slow his momentum) and how it kept Allin strong. 

2022 MOTY MASTER LIST

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AEW Five Fingers of Death Week of 1/17/-1/23

AEW Dynamite 1/19

CM Punk vs. Shawn Spears

MD: I get here first so I'm wondering if Phil or Eric will say five words about this? I'll say sixty more: I like that Punk didn't just catch Spears in a fireman's carry but instead teased his rotation neckbreaker and then did a double fake to get him up. Spears knew he was there for the build up and for the bump so he went full mechanic on that and sold the spasm. If they were going to do this, they did it about as well as they could.

ER: This was about as well worked as you can get with a 10 second match. The swinging neckbreaker twisted into a trapped arm turned into a GTS, and it's one of Punk's best thrown GTS in AEW (I guess I can technically say "in the past decade" and be correct) and I sincerely think Shawn Spears of all people took the GTS better than anyone in recent memory. I loved the way Spears took it under the chin and folded forward. 

Darby Allin/Sting vs. The Acclaimed

MD: Different layouts keep the attraction fresh. This one was pretty smart, with them taking Darby out early in a believable, over the top way and then getting the better of Sting by taking the top turnbuckle off. Then came the long heat on Sting, a comeback, a cut off, Darby flying in out of nowhere to save the day, and the big finish. While Darby got a couple of big spots and Sting had his big dive, this was all about showcasing the Acclaimed, and they had a pretty good mix of style and substance. Bowens works to integrate the deep voice trash talking in the match and I'm not sure the camera always catches it well, but him welcoming Darby to the Black Parade on the chair shot was funny stuff, as was Caster doing the Acclaimed Scissor-finger handshake with Bryce after a 2 count when he was holding the two fingers up during the PiP. Sting drew a few Let's Go Sting chants from underneath and I liked how Bowens had to work to knock him off of Caster during the Scorpion; it made everyone look better (Sting for holding on, Caster for not tapping, Bowens for hitting him hard enough to get him off). I like how everyone sold the beatings and injuries and comeback during the stretch. It wasn't just a bunch of moves at the end and despite the fire of the comeback, they would have beaten the hurt Darby if it wasn't for Sting recovering enough to make the save. Sting's dive over and through the table was pretty unique. Maybe not the most photogenic thing ever but that made it feel all the more wild and dangerous. If they're going to keep highlighting Sting and Darby in a way that feels special, they have to keep changing it up, and this one definitely felt different than the last. 

PAS: I am a big fan of the partner-gets-taken-to-the-back trope in tag team wrestling. I think it is pretty crazy that 62 year old Sting is in the workhorse role in this match, but he does a great job fighting off both of the Acclaimed, eventually succumbing to the 2 on 1, leading to Darby's awesome out of nowhere leaping return. I loved the camera angle on that explosion. Sting doing the biggest highspot in a match with Darby Allin was pretty unexpected, and it seems like Sting is stretching himself every time he goes out there. His stage dive was insane. Liked the Acclaimed a lot here too, lots of shit talking and bumping, and their offense looked pretty nasty. I think they are ready for the titles and could see them having a nice run with the belts.

ER: Crazy how much of this match was Sting working two tough guys 2 on 1, keeping a quick pace the entire time until Darby's return. It's unfathomable that Sting is this good at 62, as it's not just young guys bumping for an immobile man. Sting's missed Stinger Splash, with Bowens removing the turnbuckle pad, was an excellent bump that Sting made look like it was happening in 1992. Darby gets taken out immediately with a disgusting spot, getting run into the ringpost with a chair opened around his neck, and his return (coming out of nowhere to blow up Caster off the ring steps with a diving shoulderblock) was perfectly done. But Sting held this whole thing together by keeping things go go go and I just was not expecting that. I say that, but what I was truly not expecting was Sting breaking out one of his craziest highspots ever, doing a Superman dive through a table that was just nutty. I would have been perfectly happy typing "I really liked Sting's Scorpion Deathlock, with a really low base putting a ton of pressure on Caster's back" and instead we all get to talk about Sting reinventing the dive. Darby's big Coffin Drops looked great, The Acclaimed are becoming a must watch act, and I just had no idea the Sting/Darby team would have this durability. Blessed. 

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Matches from Beyond Wrestling Project Dolphin 6/3/21

Matt Makowski vs. Logan Easton LaRoux

PAS: LaRoux is a guy I saw live a couple of times in DC back in the day, and is really good at being hateable but is also a slick wrestler. He does the 2021 version of Mocking Karate by dickishly dropping into guard, only to have Makowski do a somersault into mount and reverse monkey flip him into an armbar. LaRoux was able to attack the knee with some low dropkicks and a knee bar, and the match became LaRoux attempting to tear the knee up before Makowski could catch him in a crazy submission. Great selling by Makowski and really nasty limb work by LaRoux, until Makowski catches him in a Razor's Edge throw into an armbar for a tap. Great little match, and Makowski keeps coming up with holy shit spots.

ER: This was a really cool style clash, with Makowski getting his knee worked over while still finding cool ways to roll LaRoux into submissions. The beginning action was a real trip, with Makowski hitting a standing moonsault into guard and then monkey flipping him straight into the air while catching an armbar on the way down. Makowski has really fast strikes, maybe the quickest and most impactful leg kicks in pro wrestling, and LaRoux had the exact right amount of leaning into some of the kicks and narrowly leaning out of a couple deadly high kicks. I liked his work on Makowski's knee (I think I'll always love anyone who does a single leg DDT) and Makowski had some really impressive selling. He was good at subtly paying service to the leg work, shaking out his leg and not putting weight on it during exchanges, realistic stuff that he kept up through the finish, wobbling out of the corner while carrying LaRoux in a Razor's Edge. There were several cool sequences (loved a Makowski O'Connor roll that LaRoux reversed by kicking out Makowski's knee) and the finishing leglock (thrown into it by the Razor's Edge) was disgusting. 

Slade vs. Max Caster

ER: Here's a really odd Submission Match that really caught my attention and mostly kept it. Slade is a very new guy who is already very over with the live crowd, and of course I was going to watch him because they are billing him as a Riker's Island convict who is not trained to wrestle. He looks like a cross between 70s Sid Haig and Paul Ellering and wrestles like a guy who is not very trained. And that stands out as pretty interesting right now. He doesn't seem to know how to bump but he has a crazy eyed charisma that obviously connects with people. Caster is an AEW TV regular who is basically Xavier (not early 2000s Xavier, but NEW Xavier when he worked much slower and didn't take crazy bumps), and he is tasked with working a submission match against a guy who is either not very trained or is very good at playing into the Not Trained part of his gimmick (I like it either way). It's a great premise, and their only misstep is that they insanely work a 15 minute match. SHANK isn't going out there working 15 minute matches man. You get an untrained convict from Riker's, who has an incredible farmer's tan and a good presence, you do NOT need to be the 2nd longest match on the show. 

This could have been great with 1/3 of the time cut, this could have been great with *2/3* of the time cut, but I'm still way down with Slade. He wrestles like early Taz, complete with walking around in between throws to effectively cover when he's not sure what move to do next. Slade has nasty body shots and made his worked strikes look really good. They brawl on the floor and Slade takes forever setting up a door spot but the payoff is great, with Slade getting shoved off by Caster's boy (who we could have done without the rest of the match but get a lot more interference) and taking a bump off the stage through a table like someone who has no idea how to bump through a table. He goes through knee, wrist, and shoulder first and it looked sick. That actually leads to the few submissions of the match as Caster goes after Slade's knee and Slade keeps fighting him off like a threatened cobra. Slade comes off like a real threat and I loved him fighting back. Still, inexplicable to go 15 minutes in this situation, and even with that padded time this was a cool match. 

PAS: I agree with this going a bit long and I don't think a submission match really works into Slade's strengths, but man he has some strengths. He has these incredibly sharp elbows that really look like he is taking someones head off, like I am not sure if that first back elbow was a work or he just loosened Caster's teeth for real, but my goodness. He hit a totally gross elbow to the back of the head as well.  Caster was OK, he did a nice job of looking terrified of Slade which is what you need in this match. Not a MOTY list match, but I have a new guy, and it is always fun to have a new guy.

Chris Dickinson vs. Brogan Finlay

PAS: Finlay is the 18 year old son of Fit Finlay and this was his 8th match. He was clearly still getting his sea legs, but had some nice moments. I especially liked him splaying Dickinson's fingers and jamming them into the top rope, and he also hit a nice Finlay roll. Dickinson is a guy who is great, but I don't really think he figured out this match. You really should work it like Tenryu, but he seemed to go back and forth between killing the kid and pulling his stuff. There was an especially long and bad New Japan elbow section which really took me out of it all. The finish seemed completely blown, with Dickinson hitting a Death Valley driver and the ref signaling that Finlay kicked out when he clearly didn't. Dickinson then DVD's the ref and counts his own pin on Finlay who is still lying there. I am not sure if he was supposed to kick out and got knocked silly or they ran an angle which didn't make sense, but it went over like a burp in a synagogue. If they ran this back in six months, with some more seasoning for Brogan, I imagine it will be good. 

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AEW Dynamite Workrate Report 3/3/21

What Worked

-Shaq went through a table on a Wednesday night, and I cannot not enjoy that. 

-Even with a truly putrid Luchasaurus performance and a dumb finish with clunky interference from a "masked individual" (the return from a several month absence of the legendary Shawn Spears), it was impossible to not absolutely love the performance from Tully and FTR. They even got JJ Dillon (great touch) and he blasted Jungle Boy with his loafer. But Tully wrestled so much better than anyone could have reasonably expected, and I honestly have no clue how this guy hasn't been putting in a few high profile indy performances every year of the last 25. He had great body shots on Marko and some awesome knee lifts, and was great at working bullshit from the apron (like standing on Jungle Boy's hair!), and for a quick paced match there was not one moment where it looked like things had to be slowed down for him. He was integrated into things perfectly, and that's not really too shocking as his timing has always been excellent. But seeing how good he looked here just made me want to see more, and also want to desperately know how he worked off any ring rust. And that was BEFORE he hit a slingshot suplex! Seriously how has he not been cashing in on indy dates?? FTR also looked excellent, really brutal, Cash Wheeler especially. He was great cutting the ring off, threw a fantastic uppercut, really felt the most like prime Arn I've seen in ages. FTR worked quicker than the much quicker JX, and managed to look punishing the entire time. Awesome performance for all three of them, even though the Arn Horseman fingers during the post-match couldn't have come off more forced. 

-Max Caster's pre-match rap actually got me to choke a bit on my coffee when he dropped the line about Lady Gaga's dog walker. Caster's pre-match raps are easily the best thing about his act, but it's a good part of the act. Match goes below. 

-Marq Quen is great at taking high backdrop bumps and beals, and that is a genuine skill. His regular backdrops look great, but his flipping 450 "backdrop" that landed him on his face looked amazing, incredible height and a wicked landing. Everything else he does goes down below. 

-John Silver had a fun performance in the main, a guy who can chain combos together without making it look like the opponent is waiting to get hit, and a compact powerhouse who believably launched Quen around the ring. Silver beal tossing Quen across the ring looked like Bradshaw throwing around Kaientai. 

What Didn't Work

-Mixed tag worked about as well as it possibly could have, but it was quite the mess. A fun mess at times, but a mess nonetheless. The sight of Shaq in the ring was enough to make me enjoy this, loved how terrible his form was on his overhand chop and it still sounded like the hardest chop Cody has ever taken. The Shaq powerbomb looked great, and I thought it was incredibly stupid that Cody was up seconds later and actually body slammed Shaq. Bodyslamming Shaq 4 minutes into his first pro wrestling match is definitely something that HHH would have done had the WWE been able to bring him in (and seriously, how the hell did WWE never make Shaq a big enough offer to appear at Mania!?), but that doesn't make it any less stupid here. Jade Cargill is going to be a big deal if she sticks to it, but at this point she is maybe almost as good as Midnight? Almost everything she did looked rough (although I liked her spinebuster), and Red Velvet was not the seasoned pro who was going to be able to lead her to anything worthwhile. Nobody else in the match did Velvet any favors either, and having multiple people miss a catch on a moonsault to the floor is something AEW has shown to be unparalleled at. The table spot was great, Cody riding Shaq down into the ground, but a lot of this was bad, even with the lowered expectations of having essentially two non-workers in the match. 

-Fenix/PAC squash match stunk, but at least it was over quick. John Skyler waited bent at the waist for a PAC sliding kick that didn't look good, and Fenix missed a legsweep kick by more than maybe any missed kick I've ever seen. Fenix later did a cool rope walk punt on Skyler's partner on the apron, and that missed by at least a foot. Thigh slap was there though. 

-Tully, you're 67 years old. Just wrestle without a shirt, buddy. Nobody cares if you don't have abs, you don't have to dress like a bike courier.  

-Women's match was rough, so many of the spots looked downright bad. Rose had a really nice face first bump off the apron to the floor for a convincing count out tease, and almost everything else in the match looked bad. Rose seems to have no lifting power whatsoever, her slams all looked like Mizunami was doing all of the lifting herself. The superplex was so bad, and if you can't make it look like you're at least attempting to suplex someone, maybe you should not do a superplex. Mizunami didn't look much better, and her guillotine legdrop may be one of the worst in modern wrestling. The bad spots kept coming throughout, peaking when Mizunami had to stay hung over the ropes for 15 seconds waiting for Nyla's kneedrop, like this was a year 2000 indy match. And for as much as the commentary crew were blown away that that kneedrop didn't finish the match, Mizunami sure was back on her feet immediately doing her own big offense. Bad layout, bad execution, bad match. 

-Ten vs. Caster definitely felt like one of those dreadfully dull matches that would happen before a Raw main event, so it was fitting that this went on at 9:35. Ten especially looked bad, looked like a guy who was wrestling with a concussion. He moved slow, threw bad strikes, and laid around a lot, really odd performance. You'd think a guy would be more excited to get on TV. Caster is real hammy, which is fine, but he needs some offense that actually looks good. Everything looks way too light, bad arm strikes, soft stomps, uninspiring arm work, bad at tying any of the action together. Nice brainbuster, which is something. 

-On a night with a lot of bad offense, Marq Quen had the unreservedly worst offense on the entire card. Show me someone with worst stomps or worst strikes, and I'll show you someone who should consider another profession. You wouldn't expect a non-wrestler to have offense as bad as Quen's, and in fact this show had TWO non-wrestlers with better looking offense! Honestly he should just be a manager. He can take a great backdrop bump while managing, and then wouldn't have to do any offense, which he can't do anyway. 

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