The Many Enemies of Maxwell Jacob Friedman (AEW Five Fingers of Death 6/1 - 6/7)

AEW Dynamite 6/3/26

MJF vs RUSH

MD: Conflict in Literature:

MJF vs Nature (RUSH): This is what MJF was up against: RUSH, a rage-filled, ungovernable beast, a monster, the white bull. He had faced men like Darby Allin and Brody King and Mark Briscoe who walked a certain line, but RUSH was deeply over it. Years ago, MJF would have cowered and run from him. Now, he saw himself as the great hunter, as a matador, and he meant to wield his own esteemed civility as a weapon. He provoked RUSH backstage before the show. When the bell rang, he charged right in. When RUSH won the first exchange, MJF spit in his face. When RUSH caught his foot, he poked him in the eye. RUSH kept coming, yes, but MJF was ready for that. He wanted him angry. He wanted him enraged. He wanted him making mistakes. It was RUSH that pulled off the corner turnbuckle pad, but it was MJF who was able to use the referee as a stalking horse to slam RUSH's head in and open him up. Even after RUSH took over, MJF was still laying snares, catching him in the corner to drive down upon his arm and injure him. Down the stretch, when all looked lost for MJF, when he had just barely survived the Horns dropkick in the corner and when RUSH was about to hit it again on the outside, MJF sidestepped at the last moment, one last triumph of man over nature, allowing him to hit the tombstone, the beginning of the end.

MJF vs Man (Rush): Where MJF may have miscalculated is by overlooking the fact that underneath the bestial exterior was the heart of a man, a man with pride, a man who could make calculated decisions. Andrade had tried to focus Rush before the match, had tried to remind him of who he was and what he was and why he did this. A beast knows fight or flight. A man can draw on something deeper. A man can learn from mistakes, can adapt. Even bloodied and reeling, Rush was able to steal MJF's own trick: when MJF pushed Bryce aside to try to do more damage with that exposed turnbuckle, Rush turned the tide and tossed him in head first. Later on in the match, with his arm so damaged, instead of fighting blindly or fleeing and quitting, Rush used the ringpost to relocate his shoulder and stay in the match. It's what pushed him to hit that straightjacket pile driver on the apron. That wasn't the wild act of a beast. It was the driven, focused precision of man. Even at the very end, he refused to quit, showing his defiance as his body gave way. Yet, despite it all, Rush's humanity had its limits and it was by drawing the beast back out of him that MJF forced those mistakes that allowed him to win the day.

MJF vs Self (MJF): The other factor that allowed Rush to get back into the fight was, of course, MJF himself, his own hubris, his own mistakes as a character, his inability to get out of his own way. That's how he got into this fight in the first place, by getting right into Rush's face. That's how this became a no countouts match, by him pressing the matter further. On some level, yes, it was all part of a ploy to drive Rush to distraction and to make mistakes, but in the heat of the moment, maybe there's a little beast within MJF too. It's one that needs to preen, that needs to lash out at everyone and everything around him, that demands recognition, that cares about legacy because it's the only way to prove everyone wrong about him, most of all himself. It was one thing to make Rush angry. It was another to rub it in with the crowd, to make horns after his eyepoke, to drape his arms over the ropes in satisfaction after laying a shot in, to talk into the camera, to taunt whenever he had a moment. Maybe that's the entire point? Maybe if MJF's not rubbing it in, he's not really alive. Everything is a means to that end, to prove some sort of ridiculous point. Maybe he's just that insecure. Every time he lost that battle with himself, however, it gave Rush a chance to come back, gave him another shot at victory. MJF was able to steady himself in the end, through necessity as much as anything else, and lured RUSH in one last time, but he made the road bumpier than it had to be along the way.

Max vs Society: And yet, even with that, the fans still cheered for him now and again, still chanted MJF when he was being announced. That was after Max went out of his way to have Justin Roberts pause that announcement to insult the crowd twice. It's why he gave Rush so many openings through his character's emotional weaknesses, because he has to constantly hammer it through the crowd's head that they're to boo him, that they are to get out of their own way, not try to be smart or difficult or go into business for themselves. MJF is formidable and dangerous, full of bluster but able to back it up, but it's all on Max to constantly stay on his toes so as not to give the crowd anything tangible to latch on to. Rush, despite being a rudo if not a heel, gave them so much, constantly embracing the moment and letting everyone come along for the ride, appealing not to them but with them, letting them scream and chant along. Yet even then, at a key point in the match, they stopped cheering for him and decided that everything was equally awesome instead. MJF was fighting man, beast, himself, but Max's real enemy is that crowd.  

MJF vs Author (Max): Except for sometimes, it's himself (Max) as well. This could be reality, too, couldn't it? Maybe it's society? But to blame anyone other than Max is to embrace nihilism. Yes, there is structure, but he has agency. Max has the power. He's the wrestler. He's the one who conducts the crowd. So yes, he's on a so often card with exhausting high-spot laden, counter-heavy, 5+ star classics, and he has to stay true to himself and try to get a reaction out of these crowds other than "This is Awesome," something more visceral, something more meaningful, something that will last. Sometimes, he becomes his own worst enemy there, trying to keep up, trying to match other former PPV main events to get in front of cagematch scores and (other) critics, and what we end up with is something overly bloated. It's understandable, human, even if it means he's following the trend instead of creating it. On TV, though, there's less of that perceived need, and that's why he's right up there with Darby with best TV wrestler of the year. I'd say he's probably got him beat, but that's just me. Certainly on this night, Max made sure that MJF shined in all of the right (which for him almost always means "the wrong") ways. He gets it as well as anyone going. He just has to refuse to blink even when others don't get it.

MJF vs Technology (The yellow cord): This is a stretch, and a very literal one at that, but yes, that yellow electrical cord did come into play, and yes, after MJF lured RUSH in again and hit a drop toehold on a chair, he ever so casually kicked it back under the ring. I always warn against checking boxes, but this once I wanted to check a box, sorry. He not only beat technology there, but made sure not to give the fans anything to latch on to in the process. No candy for them. 

Max vs God/Fate: Life happens. It happened after All Out 2022 where Max's return got upended. It happened to Adam Cole, a fluke injury that derailed Max's first title run. At some point in the match, it happened here too and Max came out of this with a hurt knee. This has been a great year for Max, a great title run, and now the start of a second, with what seemed to be really good Briscoe and Andrade matches ahead of him. But he's out there fighting the crowd, fighting the last thirty years of history, fighting every card that he's on, and fighting, yeah, himself. What's fighting god and fate in the face of that? It's just one more fight, and he's got plenty left in him. He's just getting started.

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Found Footage Friday: FUNK~! RHODES~! APACHE~! ANGELICO~! NAVARRO~! PSICOSIS II~! SOLAR~! HYSTERIA~!

Gran Apache vs. Angelico Arena Lopez Mateos 2011

(Facebook Link) 

MD:  This really benefited from Black Terry, Jr. getting us so close to the action. Apache is so great to watch up close. First and foremost, the strikes are so damn good. Every time he rears back for a punch or a slap, it's an event. But I love watching him lace one limb over another and grapevine in to lock in a hold. There's just such confidence and assurance to it all. Meanwhile, it never feels given. It simply feels taken. Angelico, on the other hand, really worked to unlock one hold or another. He'd grind his elbow down or work the arm in order to get the leg and it always felt like he was accomplishing something of meaning. That was made all the more so by Apache selling after each and every hold. Even if he was only in it for a second, you'd see the toll it was taking on him. Eric had written about how hard Scorpio landed on Sabu last week and maybe that was on my mind, but there's a senton of the turnbuckles that Apache hits here that was absolutely thudding. Late in the match, Angelico pushes him off and Apache hits basically the only good roll in wrestling history because it prevents Angelico from being able to capitalize, and then he just clocks him again. Finish had a bit of distraction but they still went the extra mile to have Apache go for one last (distracted) punch only to end up contorted and pinned for his trouble. It's a joy to watch Apache work up close and personal. 

ER: We knew Black Terry's handhelds as the best place possible to see guys like his father, Negro Navarro, Los Traumas, but I don't think I recall seeing a lot of Gran Apache footage. Now we've got two new early 2010s Apache singles matches and I would love it BTJ just kept releasing more. This is a damn showcase for the man, a great look at all the ways he could entertain a crowd in a full singles match. I think we were too harsh on Angelico back in the day. We weren't ready for his Afrikaans llave and were repulsed by his tagger culture appearance. He's a great canvas for Apache to attack, whether it's Apache throwing punch varieties or slapping him on the back of the head (which happens a dozen times) or seeing how Angelico can get untied in honest ways. The camera work is incredible, giving us intimate glimpses at every step of their process. There was this amazing double bridge, where Apache rolled Angelico into a trap arm cradle and bridged up for leverage, only for Angelico to bridge his feet up onto Apache's bridge. We were closer than the referee for it.  

I was exciting to unlock some of the secrets behind Apache's punches or slaps and even with the closest possible view I was unable to. I watched several of his punches several times, watching what both hands were doing, trying to see how he was making it happen...and I couldn't. Apache's close up magic stays undefeated. He knows it too, as every time he throws a loud punch he looks off somewhere in the crowd with a grin, playful in his violence. Apache was in his early 50s here and his quickness and ability to spring to his feet was impressive. Moonsaulting off the top and landing on your feet in a lucha ring in your 50s? That's a crazy man, viewed as closely as possible.  

Hysteria/Psicosis II vs. Solar/Negro Navarro Arena Lopez Mateos 1/19/11

(Facebook Link) 

MD: BT, Jr. had released this previously but I don't think we've ever covered it. Pairings here are Solar and Psicosis and Navarro and Hysteria. Solar and Psicosis keep things flowing, lots of ins and outs, lots of motion. Navarro gets the sort of reaction you'd expect right when he gets in there. All the twists and turns (of his opponents') body that you'd expect too. There were a couple of escapes where I had to rewind to see them again and I'm still not quite sure how he got out of a hold but I believe it because I believe in him. The magic of Negro Navarro. When Solar made it back in, he got too close to the corner and the rudos started acting like rudos, beginning a beatdown. Psicosis and Hysteria worked well together (and had clear camaraderie) but they went too far, going after Solar's mask. That led not just into a comeback (Solar's quebradora and Psicosis bumping huge off the rope for a Navarro punch) but the rudos having their masks undone too. Fun finishing stretch where Hysteria whacked the post by accident, letting a bit of spirited pairing/cycling happening before a double pin and then a clutch Psicosis submission out of a cazadora finished it. Fun match which switched things up given the beatdown and cleaner lines.

ER: I'd never seen this. This is flat out some of Black Terry Jr.'s best work. This was a great match that Terry brought to full life. It is one of the most well-filmed wrestling handhelds I've ever seen. He's the closest person to the match and frames every exchange in full vision. It's a hard worked, impressive match with stiff submissions and long chain sequences to a quicker pace than I'd expect on a Wednesday night winter show. This crowd is hot, and these guys all bust ass. Negro Navarro looked so tough, stoic and strong as he worked through holds and hit harder than the others. When Histeria fakes a late match foul, Navarro can only stand and shrug into the distance, the toughest guy ever to work Teller physical comedy, When the loud, molten crowd is cheering his name, he handles it the same. His composure and focus is there in perfect frame, making Navarro's hidden reaction feel seen. 

Solar and Psicosis II are strong together, every exchange. Psicosis II was a very good worker that would probably be talked about more if he wasn't the second Psicosis. He is great at working with Solar, working up to Solar to his strengths, going up multiple times for Solar's strong delayed overhead backbreaker (one directly into Black Terry's camera like it was planned). Solar's selling during his near unmasking was sympathetic and led to a hot home stretch. Every stretch was hot. The Solar/Psicosis opener was 5 minutes that set a steep pace and they held it. Everyone's work held up to the closeness of Terry's camera. It was incredible how tight all of this looked. Psicosis locks Navarro's into such a wicked, contorted lifted submission and we're three feet away from where Navarro's body gets dumped. I don't often think about how pro wrestling is filmed, but this match was so good, and everything about how the action as filmed was to the match's benefit. It was all the angles I wanted to see of every exchange.  

Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk [Texas Death Match] PWF 5/6/89

MD: Bob Cook of all people coming through and supplying this to us decades later. This has such a great feel and look and mood to it. They came down in street clothes without any music. There's no fanfare, no pomp and circumstance. They're just there to fight. And fight they do. The first half of this is in and out of the ring so we can only catch glimpses of the violence when it veers back into to screen. I love how organic it all feels. Funk brings in a table but it doesn't feel like a "spot." It's just him setting it up however he can to slam Dusty's head into it and then he tosses it out when he's done with it. Entirely different than the sort of things we see today in a way that I'm not even sure that I could explain to someone who's mostly only seen modern wrestling. The plunder is a means and not an end. It's just part of the path of violence that they're walking. It's opportunistic. They get bloody so quickly and the falls come quickly too but maybe you can buy the one for the other. They fight on the apron and Funk gets tied up in a microphone wire and it's all brilliant stuff. Dusty knows how to make the most of it spinning him about and whacking him with the mic. 

The rules here are a thirty count after the pin and then you have to beat a ten count, which does break things up but also leads to what is almost a clever finish. Dusty gets a roll up out of nowhere, which is the last thing you'd expect in a Texas Death Match, because how does that even work? Where's the drama? Funk just got rolled up. Obviously he's going to beat the count. But he goes after the ref and Humperdink comes in. The timekeeper is keeping the count, not the ref, so it keeps going while Humperdink tries to use an illegal object on Dusty. Dusty moves. He gets Funk. It would have been a perfect finish because it would have used that 30 seconds for the backfiring interference and then Funk wouldn't have been able to answer the ten count when he would have otherwise been fine, but they complicate it somehow and start the 30 count again. It's a great finish in theory though. And from what we got to see here, it was pretty wonderful over the top bloody violence.

ER: So this is what Funk was up to the day before Music City Showdown, where he created one of the greatest angles in wrestling history. When I found out this match existed and found out it was Texas Death rules, I knew we were in store for a Terry Funk master class on how to fill time while selling long counts between falls, both when he is the one counted down and when he's the one waiting. The shaky roving camcorder footage is not the best way to catch every detail of this match, but it adds something intangible to a fight between brawling legends. Seen by our eyes for the first time nearly 40 years after it happened, it is incomplete but the fuzziness makes it feel even more like lost lore. When we eventually see Dusty in full unobstructed view, he is already bleeding. I don't think I saw how the blood started, we just get a large bloody Dusty emerging from the people, and then all of the stumbling and swinging and artistry of falling we'd expect from Terry. 

Both men look perfect for Texas Death. Terry is in the red Bunkhouse Buck variant gear while Dusty is in all denims, the wrapped left knee over his jeans one of the subtlest and greatest Texas Death looks possible. Both men strip the clothes away of the other, Terry ripping open Dusty's shirt, Dusty ripping off half of Terry's pants so half the match is worked with the right cheek of his briefs exposed, along more leg than we'd seen of his since 1978. Funk's selling is expectedly excellent. During one of the falls, Funk spends the entire count flopping as if he's failing repeatedly to do a kip up, before pulling himself up from his back rope by rope, until he's pulled himself on top of the ropes, which lets Dusty kneelift him immediately to the floor. When Dusty uppercuts Funk in the balls, Terry crouches down into a beautiful strut away from Dust, before scrambling back at him in the same ball selling crouch just to get punched back down. Funk even goes after a security guard at one point, who has no idea what to do and just laughs nervously while keeping his eyes on Funk. Everyone was keeping their eyes on Funk. How could you not? 

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Jaguar! Ripper!

Volume 3 

10. Jaguar Yokota vs. Monster Ripper (WWWA Singles Title) 4/7/82

K: I'm a bit lower on early Jaguar Yokota than some other Joshi heads. I definitely don't think she was one of the best wrestlers in the world in 1978-81; historically her matches with Jackie Sato have been talked about almost like Jaguar was elevating Jackie, when in context it was more the other way around. If you wanted me to pinpoint when exactly was Jaguar one of the best wrestlers in the world, this is the match where she's definitely JAGUAR.

The opening minutes of this were very effective. If you hadn't seen anything from these two before, everything you need to know gets established when Ripper tries to jump Jaguar from behind as she's walking back into her corner after Monster ignored her offer of a handshake. But Jaguar has eyes in the back of her head, she dodges, not one very several swings at her head. She's smart. She's fast. She's skilful. She grabs Monster's arm and does that move where you run up the ropes and flip backwards into an armdrag thing, I've seen Mayu Iwatani do it many times but she could never execute it as crisply as Jaguar does here. Monster's raging like an angry neanderthal at this, but Jaguar stares her down looking determined and tough. 

One of those starts to match I can replay in my head. Seeing the training skit on AJW TV the previous week makes this a bit better as you can more easily imagine what Jaguar is thinking as she fights to counter the onslaught Monster’s gonna throw at her. Not long after the start she grabs Monster from behind slightly at the side and executes a takedown, just about, in a way which made her seem more skilled as a wrestler but struggling to overcome the size differential. There’s another moment when she has Monster in a Boston Crab, Monster is powering out of it, and realising she’s not gonna be able to hold it in, Jaguar instead switches out of the crab by doing a lightning quick handstand roll to put her back on her feel with momentum to launch another attack. It all emphasises her strengths and makes her look like she’s just The Best.

I've talked up Jaguar enough so I should also note that this is also Monster Ripper's best performance so far. Might just be the best performance of her career actually. She takes all of Jaguar's highspots very well, she's not just some lumbering big girl in reality even she sticks to portraying on in kayfabe. We get a bit of limb-selling from Monster as Jaguar is focused on her knee. This wouldn't be a big stand out in most promotions but in the AJW context where it's not part of the 'going through the motions' formula it feels noteworthy, especially when it results in a big turning point (the backbreaker hurting Monster's knee), and arguably the finish as well. She takes things up a gear effectively when she smashes Jaguar's head into the ring post on the outside, and works on the cut when they get back in the ring. 

The other bit of psychology is Monster going for risky moves after Jaguar hitting on and it backfiring on her. Jaguar's flying hip attack doesn't work, for example, because Monster is so big she just bounces off her. But then Monster tries her own but Jaguar is too fast, ducks, so Monster crashes and burns. Monster also goes for a big top-rope splash after she got hit with a tope just earlier (Jaguar was successful this time), but we get another crash and burn that Jaguar pounces on for the finishing stretch. When she gets the win she gives out such "Yeah that's why I'm the champ" aura that I don't think we'd seen from her yet. As if she's saying, come on, despite everything Monster put me through, you didn't think I wasn't gonna find a way to beat her, did you? 

I believe in my champ.

****1/4

MD: This was absolutely a big match with a big match feel, and it was very different than, let’s say Jackie vs Ripper. Yokota was a different wrestler with different skills. She had to use her quickness and she was going to be more prone to be tossed around. That said, there was a clear sense that she was not going to be able to defeat Ripper with speed or even speed and technique alone. She would have to find something else within her.

Throughout the match, from the moment Ripper first caught her after some initial dodging, it was clear what this match would be. Ripper would lean on her, would dominate. Jaguar would escape, would get in a shot or two, but be unable to really do any damage. She’d keep Ripper on her toes for a minute but there’d be a cut off. 

Yes, that was the size, but it was also that Ripper just had so much stuff. She had wildly varied offense here and it all looked great. She’d press slam Jaguar onto the top rope. She’d pull her back into a quasi surfboard/tapitia. She’d hit a neckbreaker drop off the ropes to cut her off. She had a hundred ways to damage Jaguar and to keep her reeling. When Jaguar was able to toss her into chairs or hit a ‘rana out of nowhere, or even get a monkey flip (all of which Ripper took really well), Ripper had an answer. 
At one point, that answer was to toss Jaguar around on the outside, opening her up. That gave us some of the first real woundwork we saw and the commentary found it shocking and horrific. With the VQ, we don’t get a great sense of the visual power of it, but everyone knew it was what was happening and it did feel striking. But maybe Ripper got too laser focused on it, because it allowed Jaguar to start in on the leg, with a figure four and wrapping it into the ropes to attack. 

Perhaps that made Ripper desperate and take chances and those chances, having failed, opened her up for a straight up missile dropkick, not the sort of front one we so often see. With Ripper staggered, Jaguar, who had tried (and failed) to hit a double underhook suplex earlier in the match, got Ripper up for the airplane spin and then hit her with a bridging belly to back to win it. It felt like she had climbed a mountain and truly accomplished something. And she did it not just through bounding past an opponent or getting a fluke roll up, but by projecting herself as an ace in the end.

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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.

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Found Footage Friday: I SHALL RETURN TO YOKOHAMA~! TIGER MASK~! ANJO~! DANDY~! SCORPIO~! SABU~! TAKAYAMA~! ABBY~!

Tokyo Pro 8/25/96

MD: This is more Found than New, with the Scorpio vs. Sabu match being the one most seen/known. Some of this you can find online.

First Tiger Mask/Yoji Anjo vs. Takashi Ishikawa/Yoshihiro Takayama

MD: Of course this is Takashi Ishikawa but that's ok because Takashi Ishikawa is still great. Here he's even older and has a mullet, grizzled as can be, trademark purple trunks a big more voluminous. Anjo and Tiger Mask are such a weird pairing, but they crack each other up in the pre-match interview and it's charming. I'd like to see a sitcom with these two. Anjo can be such a jerk. Sayama can be such a jerk, but it's weirdly wholesome when they're together. And of course Takayama is imposing and looks here like he could have been the villain from Karate Kid Part III. 

I'd love to say that my favorite stuff here was Tiger Mask up against some unique opponents, but we don't see him a ton against Takayama (mostly grappling when we do), and it just doesn't clear Anjo flexing. He does pretty well against Takayama honestly, but it's Ishikawa chopping the hell out of him in the ropes that stuck with me. Actually, Takayama wailing on him with forearms did too. I do love to see Anjo get beat up, sorry. That's not to say that Tiger Mask vs Ishikawa wasn't great, because it was. Tiger Mask did his spin out drop toe hold and looked as good as ever. He bridged up on his head just to show everyone he still could. He had his blue gear here, looking more inspired by Liger than inspirational to him. Finish had Anjo break up an Ishikawa Scorpion but then Ishikawa not break up Anjo's cool modified figure four, instead shouting for Takayama who had to tap. Overall, unique and a lot of fun.

ER: What a great mix of personalities and stiff work. Ishikawa looks so professional in his sit down interview because you can't see the mullet, then in the match he looks like he's doing Riki Choshu cosplay and it rules. It also rules that he clearly can't stand Yoji Anjo. Anjo is a guy who it seems a lot of people cannot stand, a babyface here only because of being teamed with Tiger Mask, but otherwise a man who is clearly miserable and cocky in equal measure, and I love that kind of self loathing overconfidence in a dangerous wrestler. Takayama during this era is the closest he ever can to being Hot. He had the slick back in the ponytail, his face wasn't yet entirely messed up, still had the one weird eye, but he wasn't as lumpy and horsey as he'd become in a few years. 

This was short but intense for the full nine minutes. Takayama and Anjo really went at it, loved the ways Anjo would drop fast hard knees into Takayama's legs (leading to the eventual tap) and the way Takayama started punching down to Anjo after letting him up from an armbar. Ishikawa only wanted to fight Anjo and Anjo hilariously played it off nonchalantly. When Ishikawa locked in a Scorpion Deathlock because he is TPW Choshu, he points over and yells at Anjo to no reaction from the crowd, and Anjo just kind of ignored it, shrugged, and adjusted his gear. I loved When Anjo threw several stiff kicks as the illegal man, dashing three hard shots off on Takayama before calling for Tiger Mask to throw a sweeping kick to finish. Tiger Mask looked good, and I was especially impressed by this wild physics-breaking moment where Takayama had him in a heel hook, and TM did his front roll kip up to escape, while Takayama never let go of him. I don't know how TM made it to his feet so smoothly while being trapped in a submission. 

Sabu vs. Black Wozuma

MD: This is Scorpio under a mask that has a bit of a stormtrooper or Stuka vibe to it. I don't know why Scorpio is under the mask but it doesn't hinder his work. He does a bit more with body language or head movement to help, but it's clearly Scorpio. No one else moves like him. This was exactly what you'd expect it to be and exactly what you'd want. Sheik is on the outside. They mat wrestle to start, and it's pretty gritty but it's not really what you came for. When things pick up, they really pick up. Sabu goes for a triple jump dive to the floor and Scorpio tosses a chair at him. After that, they play the hits. Sabu flies all over the place. When Scorpio flies, it's interesting, his slingshot somersault splash (which I've only seen Tiger Mask do so it's fun they're on the card together), a twisting splash, a splash allllll the way across the ring. Sabu hits an amazing triple jump back DDT. Scorpio catches his once with his side body attack but then gets nailed off the top rope with it a second time. Sabu goes through a table that doesn't look like it should break. That's when he gets the chants from the crowd, by the way. The hits played well for a game crowd. Post match, after he wins, Sabu tries to go through another table that looks like it shouldn't break and this time it doesn't, even after he keeps trying. They appreciate the effort. I'm wincing decades later. Wherever he is now he's still feeling that.

ER: What a strange happening in the uniquely cursed PACIFICO Yokohama. Why are the ceilings of this convention center so high? What happens in this building? Why would the ceilings possibly need to be so high and what kind of gas are they pumping into this preposterously cavernous room to make the crowd this quiet. This was the quietest crowd I've ever witnessed, in the most echoing building created, and it led to a fascinating study in Sabu and Scorpio having a full conversation in the ring. You didn't get to used to see something like this. Supposedly 4,500 people are there. It looks like 1,000 but the building is haunted and someone clearly fucked up a measurement somewhere so maybe there are 4,500 there who knows. Whatever is happening, there appears to be a moment where Sabu and Scorpio are working to get people involved, and they aren't really getting there, and the silence as they ramp up the action means we get an inside look at two greats calling their way through a match. 

At first, you get simple spot calling like "Watch the kick" and then it grows into an amusing back and forth between two of the best. Scorpio waffles Sabu with a clothesline and as he's pinning him says,"I got you there. You okay?" And as the hits get bigger, the banter evolves to a couple guys who sound like they're having a goof, while also killing each other with shots. Before Scorpio's slingshot splash, as he's dragging Sabu into position, he says, "It's gonna be stiff." It is! When he sets up much too far away for a top rope splash - I mean way across the ring - Sabu is chanting the entire time, "Oh you're gonna kill me. You're gonna break my ribs." It's an incredible look behind the curtain of two guys stiffing the hell out of each other, Scorpio landing heavy weight on Sabu's ribs a half dozen times, Sabu takes multiple bad crashes on moonsaults and takes a dive through a table on the floor. By the time this was over, Sabu had gone through three tables on four attempts. The fans catch up with them as the landings got worse, and the entire time our heroes sound like they're just having a laugh while beating each other up. I loved their fist fight after the bell and Scorpio's heavy pescado, Sabu still feeling the need to put himself through unbreakable tables in 1996. He moonsaulted ankle first onto a table that didn't budge, but I'm not sure it was worse that Scorpio doing a tumbleweed crotch first onto a chair. 

El Dandy vs. Gekko

MD: Gekko is Masao Orihara. He came out with a mask and then took it right off. This went five minutes or so before they did a great ref bump where Dandy move out of the way and Orihara flattened him with a dropkick to draw a DQ. Then Orihara went nuts including really lawn darting Dandy into the chairs and they restarted the match. He was maybe on the verge of victory when the bell ran again for the time limit and he obviously didn't like that. 

Along the way, Dandy looked like a million bucks. He was just hitting killer lariats and then clapping after the fact. He controlled a lot of this and everything he did looked great. The crowd didn't seem to want to go up for it until after the ref bump but afterwards they were with him. Late in the match he had a Gory Special on and brought the arms together and it looked pretty nasty. Orihara was a bit more all over the place, but he his springboard moonsault on the outside and was game taking all of Dandy's stuff. He almost won it with a kappo kick out of nowhere, but it wasn't meant to be. I'd call this a good Dandy showcase made better by Orihara's antics.

ER: This rocked, all of it. All of it rocked. Orihara is one of my very favorites, for his sincere punk attitude and the authenticity he brings to any match. He's extremely tough, works fast and stiff, and wears his emotions externally in a way I respond to (and crowds and wrestling officials seem to respond to). He's a menace in every way, attacking Dandy before he's announced and throwing him with a cool unstoppable overhead belly to belly. Everything Orihara does in a match is fueled by spite, and his sequences are so tight. Every landing looks hard, and yet he's clearly not unprofessional. He throws working punches, he feeds for Dandy when it's time for that, but in between he's just a damn menace. My favorite thing about Orihara is his commitment, specifically the way he commits to missed offense. He threw a missed clothesline here that was so beautiful I watched it a half dozen times. I don't tend to judge people negatively for poor missed clothesline, but I praise a wrestler to the heavens if he has a great one. Orihara's miss is one of the greatest I've seen. He swings so hard with his miss that it sends him off balance careening into the ropes, and he gets up looking pissed that it didn't land, just before he gets wasted by Dandy's. Everything about it was perfect. 

He's just a menace. His stomach kicks might be the best in wrestling. There's never light, always a firm connection, great placement. The way he strings his offense is so tough, the kind of guy who will suplex you but then run and drop a knee or senton on you before you even know he's approaching. His moonsault is a wrestling gift, never thrown with any kind of arc, just a violent fast whip onto Dandy. I even got into his (ever-present) beef with officials of all kinds. The way he dropkicks the ref to draw the DQ was such a great spot, as he had previously back elbowed the guy and shoved him across the ring, but this miss was another Classic Orihara Miss, where the dropkick landed flush while also looking like a complete accident. Great way to set up a mid-match DQ. When he convinces everyone for 5 more minutes, one of the first things he does is hit Dandy with a truly disgusting piledriver, dropping that man right on his head  and leaving Dandy looking like a man who did not expect to be dropped on his head. Maybe the thunder fire powerbomb after will snap him awake. When the time runs out on Orihara's second attempt at beating Dandy, he again argues with the ringside official for more time, and the exhausted look to the side this man gives is perfect. I'm surprised Orihara didn't knock him over the table.  

First Tiger Mask/Yoji Anjo vs. Abdullah The Butcher/Daikokubo Benkei

MD: Past a couple of Six-Mans from 82, this is the only Tiger Mask vs Abdullah encounter (and one more tag in September), and if youw ant to see Tiger Mask stomp and kick the crap out of a grounded Abdullah, this is the match for you. Overall, he wasn't in a ton. Pre-match, Abdullah did a promo backstage in English talking about how tough his partner was, or at least repeating it a few times. Always surreal to see. The joy here was Abby taking the fork to Anjo and then Anjo fighting back. Just when that was getting good and Anjo was getting revenge on the timekeeper's table with the fork, Benkei broke it up. Overall, he was fine, a big solid dude, but he's not the guy we were here to see. The previous tag was for the #1 Contendership and this was for the title and Anjo won it turning a bodyslam into a great Fujiwara Armbar. There are other encounters in Tokyo Pro between Abby and Anjo and now I'm curious if any made tape.

ER: A good match with a solid formula of cutting Anjo off from Tiger Mask, that would have benefitted from more Tiger Mask involvement. Daikokubo Benkei is a unique man with an extremely large head, but he is also not great and not a guy I'd like to see working the bulk of a tag. During the pre-match promo it really seems like Abdullah knows next to nothing about Benkei, referring to him almost exclusively as My Partner before eventually referring to him by a name that almost sounds close to Benkei. Tiger Mask's match opening work with Benkei might be the best part of this, as Tiger Mask shoot punches Benkei twice in the stomach while Benkei looks like he might toss his cookies. When Tiger Mask tries to snapmare him after, Benkei blocks it like a badass and stays standing. Anjo punches him in his giant head and hurts his hand doing so, it's the best. 

When the match settles down into a southern tag, it's from Abby stabbing Anjo with a fork while shrieking in the echoing Pacifico. Yes, this match settles down when the stabbing starts. Abby gives Anjo a tour of ringside so everyone can see how hard Anjo is getting stabbed and it gets good when a bloodied Anjo starts fighting back. But it's crazy how Abby somehow seems more violent doing his taped up finger strikes than he does literally stabbing someone. There was a slick moment where Abby caught a kick and swept Anjo's plant leg from under him. It got more heated and electric whenever TM would come in and save Anjo or fight off Benkei, and it was a great moment where Anjo started spiking Abby and drew the man's poisoned blood, leaking it all over the timekeeper's table before dropping several knees into his cut. I love how Anjo started shrieking like Abby during his comebacks, and how much louder Abby started shrieking while Anjo was driving knees down onto Abby's arm. Sick style clash, I had no clue how seldom Abby and TM ever crossed paths, and I wish we got them truly going at it. Glad we got what little work we did.  

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Lioness! Mimi! Yukari! Masami! Matsumoto! Ripper!

Volume 3 

9. Devil Masami, Kaoru Matsumoto & Monster Ripper vs. Lioness Asuka, Mimi Hagiwara & Yukari Omori 3/30/82

K: This is the main event of the go home show before the big Monster Ripper vs. Jaguar Yokota WWWA Singles Title match. This made the set mainly for that reason, but it's also nice that it's a good match with Lioness Asuka and Kaoru Matsumoto in, thus fulfilling my rule that there been at least one match from them in 1982 so viewers can track their development.

I wouldn't say the first fall was all Monster, but it almost was. While the other pairings had some back and forth, whenever Monster Ripper was in the ring she was just demolishing everyone and never looked to be in any real danger. This starts right from the beginning when the heels get trapped in the corner and hit with a sequence of running splashes, but when Omori jumps at Monster she just bounces off her like Monster's made of steel. The closest thing we get to Monster looking like she's in trouble - and even then, not really - is one point where she goes for the flying hip attack twice, but Lioness Asuka rolls underneath her the second time so she crashes and lands. I'll also note that whenever anyone gets Monster into a pinning predicament, she immediately just kicks out before the referee can even begin a count.

Kaoru Matsumoto has a decent showing here for the little that's expecting of her. She doesn't have much in the way of offense, but I thought she threw a pretty mean lariat at Asuka early on. And something about the way she walks around the ring just feels like an arrogant strut, and it's not even clear that she's doing a strut.

Mimi Hagiwara was easily the best on her team, no surprise there really. Her and Devil Masami keep up their good chemistry. I think Devil might actually be physically stronger than Monster despite not being as big, Monster at least looked like she had a bit of a struggle lifting Mimi over her head, but for Devil she just goes straight up into the military press like she's picking up a co-operative 6 year old. I have enough recent experience to know the "co-operative" qualifier was very important there. Mimi also does a funny little butterfly suplex move, or at least that's what I'd call it from the set up, but Mimi doesn't go over with Devil for it, she just drops her straight on the mat. Looked painful actually.

Matsumoto gets the most focus in the 2nd fall, kinda makes sense since if they're going to level things up she's the obvious heel to take the pin, so might as well give her some ring time. She gets a bit of work to do with everyone, but we get an AJW 'flew too close to the Sun' finish pretty quickly where she's trapped near the babyface corner, gets hit with move after move until Omori gets the pin as Mimi and Asuka mark the heel corner to prevent a break-up. I like how they incorporate teamwork into tag matches like you probably would do if this were a real sport. Omori gets the win on Matsumoto, starting the most heated feud in AJW history :)

The 3rd fall is just the heels getting revenge for losing the previous fall. Monster Ripper looks especially awesome going on a rampage including having a chair wrapping around Asuka's neck and swinging her around the outside and onto chairs, before Matsumoto gets her on top of the announce table to pose looking all proud of herself. Bit of stolen valour in there. Omori is the victim here and gets taken out. Heels stand tall.

This would have been a better match if the 3rd fall had more to it than just the babyfaces getting demolished. Might have undermined the wider purpose of the match, but I'd say pulling that off while milking a bit more drama out of it would have been the bigger challenge, and more impressive to pull off. But for what it was, this was good stuff.

***¼

MD: I thought Matsumoto was on her way here, even if she was on her way to a different place where she’d eventually get up. She was very good at asserting herself and using her size. Sometimes it was a little rough around the edges but she was additive to the super powered heel team that was Masami and Ripper. Those two were in matching black and despite the size difference, there were times where for a split second, I thought Ripper WAS Masami, solely because she was doing something so vicious and cruel. There was a point where she wrapped a chair around her opponent’s neck and dragged her around ringside and it’s exactly the sort of thing Devil would do.

I honestly think she had not just improved tenfold since her run a couple of years earlier but was actively great at times. Once Mimi hit her cross chop and Ripper didn’t just no sell it, but she dusted herself off like she was Samoa Joe or something. Coolest person in the room. The match started with everyone charging at all three heels pressed into the corner and it worked right until Ripper simply stepped forward and made it work no longer. And she had all of the huge offense like the press slam backbreaker. Devil contributed more than enough too of course.

Mimi continued to stand out on the babyface side. She was not quite an ace but she was very good at this point. I’m going to have to see more out of Asuka especially but I know that’s coming. This was a means to an end to heat up Ripper even more and it certainly achieved that goal even if that came at a slight cost.
 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 5/18 - 5/24 Part 2

AEW Double or Nothing 5/23/26

Jon Moxley vs Kyle O'Reilly

Imagine being Kyle O'Reilly.

Last fall, he'd stared down the biggest villain of the last few years, maybe the greatest warrior of his generation. He fought a monster, perhaps a wounded monster, one with his back against the wall, sure, but a monster nonetheless. 

He fought the monster, defeated the monster, and yet, unlike so many others, he didn't become a monster in the process.

He stayed true to himself. Kyle O'Reilly has grown into a man who cares about his friends, who would rather smile than scowl, who thinks there is still good in this world, that there's something worth fighting for. He lives his life. He stops and smells the flowers. He sees the possible beauty inherent in everyone and everything. He's a breath of fresh air in an increasingly bleak world, someone who can smile backstage and then lock in when the bell rings, but as someone who never forgets what he's fighting for and what he stands for.

And yet, while he was gone, Jon Moxley has somehow turned public opinion back his way. Did he do it by apologizing? Did he do it by hitting bottom and losing everything? Did he do it through the sort of acts that Kyle O'Reilly would consider heroic?

No.

He won. And he won. And he won again. He won the Continental Classic, coming back from a deficit, including overcoming the injury O'Reilly had given him. Maybe his victory over Fletcher was suspect, as Fletcher defeated himself when he couldn't find the Callis Family Screwdriver, but he defeated the "Greatest Tournament Wrestler Ever" in Okada, and then gave a speech full of empty platitudes that the masses (and his own followers who had seemed otherwise on the verge of betraying him) ate up. 

This is Jon Moxley, the man who ended Bryan Danielson, the man who poured bleach down the throat of Kyle's good friend Orange Cassidy, the man who, after losing to Kyle right before the start of the Continental Classic, rushed back into the ring to cruelly and pettily put Kyle himself out of action.

And now only was the crowd seemingly okay with all of that, they were chanting Mox's name just as much as they were chanting Kyle's. 

Imagine being Kyle O'Reilly and hearing those chants. 

You had taken Moxley to the limit a week before, but this time, he didn't quit. 

And why would he? The Moxley from last fall was a man who had felt the walls closing in. This was a Moxley who was breathing air that he hadn't earned, save for through combat, save for by lying to everyone around him, save for by lying to himself most of all. 

Might equals right. The Continental Championship, with its barring of interference, was the ultimate arena to prove might. And thus, Jon Moxley was obviously the most right of all. Just ask Daniel Garcia. He had been at the bottom of his rope, had pushed Mox to the limit, and now he was under his tutelage. Just ask Will Ospreay, who Mox had taken out. Just like he'd taken out Kyle.

Just ask the fans. They'll be more than happy to tell you. They were more than happy to tell Kyle on this night.

It would have been one thing if they booed Kyle and chanted for Mox. It's a New York crowd. We live in dark times. Things happen. Kyle could have looked past that. 

But they chanted for one and then the other, back and forth. They saw Kyle O'Reilly and Jon Moxley as equal, as equally worth their adoration and support. Moral equivalents.

Imagine being Kyle O'Reilly, who came back from his injury and immediately helped his friends win the six-man titles, who now was coming back to take what else he felt he earned. To right a wrong that no one else seemed to care about anymore. Imagine hearing that. Imagine feeling it.

In his previous matches against Moxley, he did everything right and pressed Mox on his weaknesses, on his shattered nerve, capitalized on every mistake.

Here, now, months later, in a world that he never made, in a world that betrayed him and his positive outlook, O'Reilly was a little off his game, all while Mox was drinking deep in the confidence of his own Kool-Aid.

They fought even at first, but when they got to the floor, when O'Reilly finally pried off an advantage and pressed it, Mox managed to get under his skin. The middle finger wasn't about defiance. It was, I think, a momentary admission, a peeling back of a carefully clung mask. O'Reilly had won his battles. None of it had mattered. Mox was winning a much greater war of hearts and minds. 

O'Reilly lost his head, throwing wild kicks. Mox moved and O'Reilly's leg crashed into the post. 

Everything after that was academic. The match ended with both men in simultaneous leglocks. This time, Mox could be bolstered by his own bullshit that he could once again buy into completely. In the face of that, O'Reilly, brave, caring, tough, skilled was only human and what can a human do in the face of an idea, even one that can only exist in an unfair, unearned, decrepit world.

That wasn't enough though. Post-match, Mox stood before O'Reilly, spat out his platitudes, and held out his hand. And O'Reilly, who wants to see the beauty in all of us, took a breath, and let the world sweep him under. It was easier to believe. It was easier to forgive. It was easier to accept. He shook Jon Moxley's hand.

Which leaves me. Here I am, chronicling this story month after month, left to wonder how much longer can I too possibly hold out. You give the devil his due long enough and even a naked, fallen emperor has enough capital to buy himself new clothes. 

Jon Moxley is precariously close to getting away with all of it.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 5/18 - 5/24 Part 1

AEW Double or Nothing 5/24/26

Darby Allin vs MJF

MD: When you think about MJF's biggest rivals, you think Moxley and Darby and Hangman and Wardlow. Maybe you even think Punk. When I think of Maxwell Jacob Friedman's biggest rival though, there's really only one answer: modern crowds.

They're irony-pilled, celebratory, happy to be there, wanting to see great matches far more than they want to see a specific winner or loser. More often than not (most often, even), they want to chant for their own sake and pop for spots more than they want to get invested in the story being told in the ring, no matter how good it is. The well's been poisoned since the mid-90s by babyfaces who wanted to steal the show in order to get over and heels who walked around cool and uncaring. AEW was built upon the premise that the fans were smarter than pro wrestling, that the wrestling was meant to be smart for the fans, great matches, five stars. Sheet darlings. Excess on top of excess on top of excess. All highs, no lows.

The owner of the company, for all of his good qualities, tweets out every "This is Awesome" chant. Sometimes a match isn't supposed to be awesome. Sometimes the fans aren't supposed to be awed. Sometimes they're supposed to feel other emotions beside elation for what they're seeing. But that's the measure of success in the company, everything being Awesome. 

And so many of the wrestlers, having grown up in this post-modern environment and having found success in it when maybe they wouldn't be able to find success any other way, don't see this as an issue, don't see it as a problem. They want to pop themselves. They want to pop their buddies. And yeah, they want to pop the crowd. And pop it again. And again and again and again and again and again. Let's face it, it's easier to burn something down than to build it up. It's easier to keep people buzzing so you don't have to pay attention to details and build something that stands on its own.

That makes it all the more impressive then that Max wants something more. He can hang. He can have spotfests. We've seen them, usually to his detriment as a character and a wrestler. He certainly has to survive on a card which is full of these things. He has to deal with crowds that are conditioned by them and by a critical underpinning that rewards them over and over, a perfect circle of spot-driven slop where the true emotion that fueled wrestling for decades is kept secondary, not because of any loss of kayfabe but because of fans', wrestlers', and critics' self-consciousness finally driving them to present a sort of wrestling that makes the spots into the ends instead of the means.

He's reprehensible as a character, yet even in the best of cases, fans pop for his music, shout along with the ring announcer saying his name, and chant for him half the match. He has to constantly jab at them, show vulnerability, avoid being cool, cheat, cower, give them nothing to latch on to because they'll latch onto literally anything they can to stop themselves from feeling something genuine and to instead feel like they're on the inside and cool for watching wrestling. It's like they, much like many, many wrestlers are afraid of looking down, are afraid of falling, but it's in the falling that we let go, that we let ourselves get swept along by the thrilling and wondrous rapids below, that we let ourselves truly feel and experience the joy of professional wrestling.

And all Max wants to do is to make people feel that, to have them react so he can feel it as well, to create that perfect feedback loop of a heel in front of a crowd that lets themselves, even just for one night, hate him, that lets out all of their pent up aggression and frustration at the world in the direction of a sin eater who is willing and able to take it all off their backs. It's the greatest gift any wrestler can give any crowd.

But they sure don't make it easy for him. The world doesn't make it easy for him.

Thankfully, he's up for the challenge, the greatest challenge that there could possibly be for any modern wrestler.

Let's look at how he did it here. 

They stacked the deck. That's the entire point of pro wrestling. You're not supposed to leave things to chance. You're not supposed to go out there and have a great match and let the fans lean one way or another. You stack the deck.

They created value. Darby's reign had value. Fans are getting a great match every week, sometimes two. They don't care about much but they sure as hell care about great matches. They care about great matches more than just about anything.  If Darby survived this, there was going to be another month of them. And Rush was next. I wanted to see Darby vs Rush. I was invested in that. An unstoppable force and an object that gets battered all over the place. Beautiful mayhem.

They created stakes. MJF put his place in history, his legacy, his need to be at the top and remembered (because his character cannot accept any other sort of more human and intimate love or recognition) up against his hair. That's no small thing and his vulnerability over it is everything. He has Hollywood aspirations. It's a heel showing weakness to admit or at least let others allude to the fact he went to Turkey to stop the natural weight of time. Darby forced the issue since he wouldn't accept anything less than MJF's total humiliation. MJF did everything he could to avoid the match being made along those terms. There's nothing cool about that. It's a heel letting himself care as much as possible, both about the title and about his own hair, even if both were entirely for the wrong reasons. That's great character stuff right there. Total investment with nothing for the fans to latch on to and everything to revile. Meanwhile, Darby was fighting off opponent after opponent, often a physical underdog, his own body giving out, giving the fans everything to latch on to.

Even then, they had to go a step forward. This was a PPV crowd, a festive crowd, a New York crowd. Thus the pre-show angle with Foley. MJF came out, got cheap heat (having to use every tool at his disposal) by insulting the Knicks, ran down Foley, and then when Foley stood back up to him, hit him, not cleanly or honorably despite the age and physical differences but with a low blow. Then, when Darby ran out, he ran off. 

When it came time for ring introductions, Max cut off Justin Roberts to make sure that his introduction was as insulting as possible, trying to completely obliterate whatever was left of a homefield (or heel-field advantage). Even then, the fans still shouted M J F. But they cheered more for Darby. And that was no small thing.

The match was worked about as smartly as possible, starting with headlock takeovers and building upon the last month of Darby's matches. Ten years from now when people are watching this for the first time as footage, I'd suggest they go through the entire title run before getting here. 

There were a number of little callbacks and payoffs. Darby has been winning these matches by getting his opponents to get out of their comfort zone and put themselves at risk. He was able to manage it with MJF here, the package pile driver on the stairs hurting MJf almost as much as it did Darby. MJF could have just power bombed him instead but he got lost in the moment. That's the power of Darby. Allin had won matches by hitting the Coffin Drop immediately after an opponent survived the Scorpion, and Max was ready for that, knees up. Likewise, Max has been so dirty and underhanded with low blows, but for the second time in a month, Darby almost won with one. Darby had been using a clutch guillotine to make up for size or speed advantages against his opponents and that's what he used to set Max up for his insane balcony dive. And finally, he had collapsed in the Scorpion very early in the match against Sammy a week or two ago (allowing him to survive the physical lapse) and here it happened deep, deep into the match and was probably what ultimately won it for MJF as much as anything else. 

And of course, they did a great job teasing the top rope tombstone early so that they could pay it off late. Details matter and the match was full of clever ones that were meant to play upon the fans' understanding and push them where they needed to be.

Yet still, they struggled to get there. As the match entered the last third, as Darby was making a big comeback, the fans were chanting for both men. That's when things really threatened to go off the rails. This was an apuestas match, a grudge match, but it was also a title match and sometimes some people feel like at title match needs certain things. This didn't have matwork necessarily, but because the eventual pin mattered so much here, they decided (I imagine Max did but I can't say for sure), at the very worst time possible, when the fans were chanting for both men and losing the plot, to do a roll up exchange. It was fun. It was exciting. The fans enjoyed it. It was the worst thing they could have done at the worst time, something that might have felt inescapable, but really, truly (trust me) was possible to avoid.

Thankfully, through hook or crook, through careful planning or sheer happenstance (I don't know which), Max was more than ready and up to the task to get the fans back aligned for the finishing stretch. Right after the roll-up exchange, MJF ended up at the floor and Darby went for his third dive of the match (the first was redirected, the second hit clean). MJF, in his only (successful) truly underhanded move of the match, pulled the cameraman in front of him to use him as a human shield creating an amazing visual image as Darby careened in. That got the crowd where it needed to be. Details matter. I think, in this case, Max had made it a bit harder for himself with the roll-ups and the subsequent stare-off, but maybe, just maybe, that had just lulled the fans into a false sense of security so that MJF could be devious and reprehensible all the more. What followed was his attempt to go for the clippers and his comeuppance with Darby's massive dive: stage set and deck stacked for the tragic finish of Darby collapsing and MJF taking advantage like a vulture picking at the bones. 

Max is 30 years old. I watch a match like this and I think he has mostly (mostly) won the battle against his own youth and the lack of discipline that comes along with that, against all the easy answers that have plagued so many of his peers, and through them plagued pro wrestling over time. But I watch a match like this and I listen to the crowd, and it's plain and obvious that there's still a greater war ahead of him, a war to convince them that it's in their own interest to let go and feel, to go along for the ride in the moment, to get that perfect, wonderful experience that you can only get from pro wrestling where you cheer a babyface and boo a heel and invest in the story unveiling before you. He lets himself be vulnerable in ways that so many of his predecessors were afraid to. The war is going to be to convince the fans to trust in him and their own hearts and the wonder of pro wrestling and do the same. 

I watch a match like this and I think maybe, just maybe, with time on his side and his own battle already won, it's a war he might well win.

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Found Footage Friday: OMNI 83~! ZBYSZKO~! ORNDORFF~! ARN~! BORNE~! WILDFIRE~! ROOP~! GARVIN~!

GCW Omni 5/15/83

MD: Unfortunately, we're missing the six man which had Hansen and Murdoch teaming, plus a random Killer Brooks vs. Brian Blair match apparently, a testament to how the territory was a bit down and some guys were doing double duty, but we're going to be thankful we got this at all. 

Brett Wayne vs. Joe Lightfoot 

MD: It feels a little much that Lightfoot is a "Chief" too. Not everyone can be a chief. This started as a babyface match and the first thing we hear at the bell is someone shout from the crowd "Now don't you do any bodily harm to one another." which is some beautiful Georgia wrestling right there. And this was a pretty solid babyface exhibition for the first five minutes, headlocks into headscissors, that sort of thing. There was one nice moment where Lightfoot jammed a monkey flip in a way you don't usually see and there was a sense of struggle. That struggle boiled over and Lightfoot got more and more chippy, sneaking in a punch, hitting a chop, and then finally hitting a cheapshot from out of the corner. The fans did not like that. Wayne did not like that. They skidded into roll up exchanges before things could get too heated though and Wayne snuck one out with a jackknife. They more or less made up post match. If this had one or two more minutes for Lightfoot to lean harder heel and be in control, it would have been more memorable but it was a good opener. 

ER: Boy this really did end right when it was picking up steam. Brett Wayne has been one of my favorite "discoveries" of the Omni shows, and his talents admittedly shine brighter when he's in against a guy he won't be/shouldn't be beating. Underdog babyface fire and ability to take heavy thudding beatings are two things that won't be necessary in a face vs. face match with Joe Lightfoot. While I appreciated their work in the opening minutes, some snug headscissors and - importantly - always honest work, it got a lot better when Lightfoot started getting really bothered by someone in the crowd. I don't know exactly who it was but someone was getting under Lightfoot's skin - multiple times including post-match he flapped his hand at someone, telling them to Keep Yapping - and that little shove into being a heel made this temporarily catch fire. The honesty of the exchanges and the firmness of the contact suddenly meant a lot more. I like how they handled a blocked O'Connor roll, Lightfoot holding the ropes and Wayne not rolling back but splatting to his back, legs in the air for a kip up that never came. Lightfoot, picking up on Wayne's landing, pulls an inside cradle that looked like it could have won. The energy and weight for the actual finish was excellent, with Wayne kicking out of a sunset flip and pouncing into a jackknife pin. You watch enough Guerrero/Malenko roll ups sequences - and brother, that is a thing seared into my brain folds - and get used to the visual of the last 20+ years of Divas level copycat versions, and suddenly Brett Wayne shows what the sequence can look like when someone actually wants to win a match. 

Brian Blair vs. Chick Donovan 

MD: Blair came off as straightlaced and sound, a bit of a competent babyface bully on the mat. Chick preened and stalled to start. When they finally locked up, he tried to screw around with Blair. Blair showed him why that wasn't a good idea, clearly out wrestling him. He worked a hammerlock for a while and you got the sense he could do whatever he wanted with him. Eventually Chick got a few cheapshots in and took over. Blair was maybe a little less interesting working from underneath but his comeback was good with a leapfront, a huge forearm that knocked Chick into the ropes, and then catching him with a sleeper on the way back. Not only did he whack him to wake him up, but he did it with a second rope kneedrop to the back of his head as Chick was seated but unconscious, which was a great bit.

ER: Chick Donovan must have been poured into that coat OR bought it when he was less shredded because he is forced to enlist the referee just to help him out of it. Even with an extra man, it is still a full production. I've never seen a man take so long to get out of a jacket. Love the pack of women in the crowd screaming for Chick. Dude looks great, like the middle step of Jeff Jarrett evolving into Flair, and he wrestles like the best possible Jarrett. Chick was great bumping around for Blair and the bumping was made even better because Chick had no problem hitting a stiff back elbow or other stiff cheap shot, gain nothing from it, and then go back to bumping. I thought Joe Lightfoot had a nice kneedrop in the opener, but Blair had a gorgeous kneedrop that looked Harley Race level. I was still thinking about it when Blair smothered Chick with a sleeper to win, and was not expecting Blair to hit an even cooler kneedrop after the match. Matt's right, it's a great bit to put someone to sleep and then hit a move to wake them up, and I cannot say I have ever seen someone hit a kneedrop off the middle turnbuckle to a seated opponent. Blair's kneedrop has to be precise for the bit, but also seems insanely dangerous to even attempt. Blair leaps several feet away to perfectly place a pointed knee to Chick's cerebellum, snapping Donovan awake. 

Ron Garvin vs. Bob Roop 

MD: First time I caught this it was on a bus home from DC and I fell asleep a bunch. I don't think that's fair to the match but it's also not too surprising as a lot of this was Roop armwork and some of it was more compelling than others. Him actually chipping away at the arm was compelling because of how Garvin fought back. He was always threatening to throw a right hand and there were some bits, like Garvin having his foot caught and jumping over multiple trip attempts that I loved.

All of the hope spots were so good too. Garvin was fighting with one arm. Sometimes it meant he just got one punch and that was enough. Sometimes it meant he got Roop on the apron and could clubber until Roop draped his other arm over the top. Sometimes it meant a flurry of right handed punches followed up by a huge headbutt. The comeback was a headbutt to the groin and man did he ever thrash Roop after that, including the Garvin stomp. Fans were very much into all of it and it led to a fun finishing stretch where he tossed Roop off the top and when Roop tried it to him, he rolled him up. Maybe this got a little long in the tooth at times, but maybe they needed that for the comeback to work as well as it did? I don't fault the match for me being tired on a Thursday afternoon. 

ER: This was a slow burn that went up in hot flames the moment they wanted it to. For the first 12-13 minutes, Roop methodically worked over Garvin's arm in the kind of way that would potentially put you asleep after a long day at work, but was rewarding to someone watching with a fresh cup of coffee. Roop is Shooter Ned Beatty and all his arm work was honest and tough, jamming his shoulder into hard surfaces and not letting it go, working like Regal without the flash. Garvin endured and sold expertly throughout the long control, and the sudden payoff was incredible. Was the payoff even better because of the slow burn? I thought so, and loved how suddenly and explosively it came, with a Garvin headbutt that sends Roop backpedaling all the way to the other side of the ring, where Garvin stalks to meet him with a kick right to the face. Garvin's high kick is such a cool piece of offense that no other brawler used. When you had a great punching babyface - or any brawler outside of Takayama - they were never working kicks into their punching attacks. 

But if you want to talk about great punching wrestlers, we must discuss ALL of Roop's punches. How about his overhand right to back Garvin up, fanning out his hand after because he knew how fucking good it looked? His head movement to miss Garvin's response. His falling hammer fist into Garvin's throat, the punches in mount while holding onto the back of Garvin's head, every straight right to the head directly at the hard cam, busting Garvin open and leading to an even bigger comeback. Nobody talks about Roop as a great puncher but it's all here. He sets up the biggest comeback possible, the Garvin Stomp and big followup elbowdrop getting a big reaction, but nowhere near as big as Garvin biting Roop on the face after. Garvin is back raking and striking Roop all over the ring and we should all love how much Bob Roop absolutely refuses to fix his singlet after the left strap first falls, then is pulled down by Garvin. Roop works the rest of the match with his singlet falling off and I can't see that kind of stooging happening today. 

Tommy Rich/Ray Candy vs. Arn Anderson/Matt Borne (w/ Precious Paul Ellering)

MD: This was the one match on the card we had clipped already, but we did only have a few minutes of it and as best as I can tell this is our first full Anderson/Borne arena match.  Bleached Blonde Borne is a weird look for a guy who had so many looks. I really did love this though. It's a wonderful match. Rich's shine where he's ducking things and throwing fists and Arn and Borne are flying all over the place for him while the fans go nuts and "ooh!" for every punch is perfect pro wrestling.

It's amazing how good Arn was already, the way he moved his hands or looked at what was going on. He just got it so naturally. Such rich and vivid reactions to everything. None of it felt fabricated or overwrought. He had grown up a wrestling fan and I think he understood so intimately what connected with him and how not to play at a wrestler but to inhabit the character of one completely.

This had double heat on Candy where they were able to manage through quick switches and either riding him or clubbering away, tagging whenever he started to comeback. It was very effective because of the dissonance. You wouldn't think they'd be able to keep him down but they did it through hook or crook. Then there was a heat on Rich to finish it, with hope spots and all, before he got a roll up out of nowhere with Arn already celebrating on the apron since he thought they were doing great. Really good stuff all around and I like how unconventional the structure was overall. 

ER: Great stuff, great look at Destruction Inc, which happened when Borne was a better version of Arn than Arn. Young old man Arn and Borne working fully in sync, going after Candy and cutting him off, Wildfire raging on the apron for the hot tag, it's the perfect use of everyone. The Tommy stuff was a great way to start, Borne and Arn feeding perfectly for his wild fire, the way Arn and Borne moved into and fell away from Rich was electric. It's been said that wrestlers today are far better athletes but I don't understand that at all. The movement seen from ab-less 1983 wrestlers was such a better use of motion than anything in modern wrestling. Every strike led to a big recoil, selling happening constantly, everyone great at occupying themselves while feeding. 

When it's time for Destruction Inc to cut off Candy, Borne and Arn work the mat with him like they're specifically trying to gas Candy out, making him work through scrambles and pushing him to a pace he would never be able to handle. It's great psychology and a great way to use Candy, forcing him to be a tired monster swinging at two men who don't look like they'd be so fast. Paul is cheating from the floor, and I love how Candy falls when Paul grabs his leg from the floor, a real crashing wave that looked like a man actually thrown off balance by an unexpected full leg grab. Destruction are so good at keeping the ring cut off and the heat strong. Several moments stood out, but I loved one of Candy's big attempts to fight his way to Rich. Candy was punching at Borne while back elbowing Arn on the apron to escape their corner, and as Borne goes down from a punch he scissors Candy's leg as he's falling. When Rich finally tagged in it was a great as expected...but I did not expect them to then work a heat segment cutting off Rich! Great little twist, could have watched another 10 minutes of it. 

Paul Orndorff vs. Larry Zbyszko

MD: Larry's so great here. People complain about the stalling. People are, of course, fools. He doesn't do a lot of it here, but he does complain and grumble and get frustrated by everything. In college, my roommate, who did not like wrestling in the least, had to put up with us watching Nitro, and at one point Larry, on commentary, said "It hurts to live." and he loved that turn of phrase. Well, Larry sells life. He sells absolutely everything. And he's so damn active about it. If he takes a bump, he then flails his legs and slaps his arm against the mat and walks it off like he has ants in his pants. Early on he stumbles into so many different stooging scenarios. My favorite is him dropping down on his stomach, then on his back, which you never see, and then hitting a clunky front dropkick (Erik Watts level) as Orndorff catches himself on the rope, making Larry eat the bump. It's beautiful stuff.  

The transition has Larry sidestepping and Orndorff careening out. We don't see the bump into the guardrail but we hear it and it sounds nasty. Larry plays king of the mountain, of sorts, after that, heading out to the apron to lay shots in until Orndorff pulls the leg out. Larry gets up first and catches him on the way back in. He cuts him off one or two times like that but Orndorff is persistent and Larry is playing vulnerable. Orndorff has very stilted, staccato style attacks. Big sweeping stuff that doesn't really feel chained together. Drumbeat attacks so the last row can see (and hear). 

Larry, of course takes a beating. In the ring, out, onto the announce table, until he can shove Orndorff into the ref from the outside and then pin him with his foot stuck in the ropes.  That's a fake finish though as Tommy Rich comes out to tell the ref and they restart the match. Orndorff sells the leg from having had it caught in the ropes and Larry targets it, Orndorff fighting back on one leg really well. Larry keeps wanting the figure four but he wants it too badly and gets rolled up for his trouble. Fun match. Fascinating to watch both of these guys do their thing.

ER: I love these looks at Zbyszko, who looks and works almost like a normal size Buddy Rose in these environments. I love the way Larry moves, love how he feeds, love how he throws kicks and punches with similar to so many French Catch workers but perfectly distilled into a southern setting. Anytime the mics pick up Orndorff yelling about Zbyszko he sounds like Boomhauer because he hasn't yet had his New York Training. Zbyszko is so good at selling befuddlement while working out of holds. When he tries to push off and Orndorff holds onto a headlock, our Ordinary People couple in their same front row center seats actually have a rare small exchange, Jane Fonda pointing something out about the exchange while Donald Sutherland stares forward, emotionless. They are Georgia's two biggest wrestling fans and their demeanor never rises above that of a pair ordered to be there as part of some creative court mandated punishment. 

It's not always productive to view wrestling this way, but sometimes I watch a guy and think, "why doesn't anyone do this now?" I never actually know what those things might be, what things will get my attention. I don't always have a set criteria for Preferred Execution. It can be something simple or something complicated that someone makes look simple. Often it is concerning a common sequence done in a way that is so far removed from modern interpretations that it feels almost completely foreign. Here, it was the way Larry handled a dropdown/dropkick exchange, specifically the way he moved and got into position. He did two dropdowns then missed a dropkick, but it was this incredibly fast, incredibly tight work of clownery, and again I must compare Larry Zbyszko of all people to French Catch workers who he has surely never heard of in his life. His first dropdown was stomach down, but he took a back bump into his second one, and when he sprang up for the (missed) dropkick he did a flat back bump dropkick that made the whole sequence felt like it was evolving organically to the payoff of the specific way he fell.  

I loved the way he fought underneath, like trying to break a cravat with a hair pull that got him punished much worse, Orndorff dropping the hole and elbowing him in the nose before snapmaring him into a fistdrop. When it was Larry's time for control, he threw these great kicks while holding the ropes and keeping Orndorff in ring ropes purgatory, almost whipping his leg into Orndorff's body. Zbyszko does offense with his entire body, and that's the kind of thing I watch and think "athleticism". Using your whole body in the service of making all your actions more impactful. When I watch modern wrestling I predominately see athleticism used so frequently in the service of just getting into position for offense that all feels like wasted energy. No energy in this match felt wasted, even Larry reeling on his feet like a goofball for Orndorff's fire. 

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Jaguar! Jumbo!

Volume 3

8. Jaguar Yokota vs. Jumbo Hori 3/30/82

K: This is a strange match because it’s worked like an international friendly before the World Cup. For those not familiar with soccer/football, a friendly is a game which isn’t part of any competition and the outcome doesn’t really matter. The main reason why they happen in international football is the teams don’t play/train together regularly, so it’s really for them to get some practice and try some new things without worrying about losing the game too much.

The purpose of this match in kayfabe is Jaguar getting to wrestle a much larger opponent as like a practice run for the Monster Ripper match. But in reality, they only work like that half the time. We do see it in that we got to see Jaguar pull out a few rarer moves/holds, but also she seems to get mad and vicious a bit too much if this is the story they’re going for. It probably did make the match better that she did that, even if it did undermine the narrative a bit. The real probably actually is doing a match with this narrative and having it go to a 30 minute draw. 30 minutes is just too long for a match where they’re just feeling each other out/getting warmed up for Monster. This might have worked better if it had a 15 minute time limit or something, or they just dropped that warm-up angle and just made it a regular heated match with Jumbo really wanting to make a name for herself by stealing a win on the champion. That would have been fine. But if anything Jaguar felt more determined to get a win that Jumbo did.

There was a very good crowd reaction cut where Jumbo hit Jaguar with that reverse FU move where she just launches her from up high onto the mat. He looked startled that that is even allowed.

**1/2 

MD: I don’t know about this one. They certainly worked hard and were aggressive. Things got heated quickly with Yokota pulling hair and trying to dismantle Hori, though it was all within some reason. For instance, Hori had a damaged shoulder and it wasn’t until Yokota was more desperate down the stretch that she started in on it. Instead through most of the match, she went for the legs. Even then, that wasn’t her first gambit. She bounded through almost immediately and tried to avoid Hori. Hori was able to catch her and toss her about a bit. 

That’s when things spilled to the floor and Yokota managed to toss Hori into some furniture. Then came the legwork. Some of it was very cool, such as Yokota’s short leg scissors, but she just couldn’t do enough damage and Hori was able to bound back to her feet to hit a Russian Leg Sweep. Then when, Yokota tried to toss her into the announce table, thinking, maybe, that she was bigger than she was (or her heart was big but her body wasn’t), Hori just jammed it and tossed Yokota in instead. That was just a momentary setback for Yokota landed on her feet (mostly) off of another fireman’s carry toss and used a legscissor to take her down. She finally got the figure four then, and Hori finally sold. 

You know, for about a minute on the floor before she came back in and did some rope running and absolutely crushed Yokota with her lifting twist bearing slam and a power bomb. Yokota turned the second bomb into a rana for a nearfall and then went in on the shoulder, far more desperate. She came close, maybe, with cobra twists and what not, but things ended up skitting to a time limit draw of desperate pins. Good fight but not very good consequence especially since there was some big stuff in here. I think maybe just don’t make the whole match about legwork if the leg won’t be sold for more than a few seconds? They hadn’t quite worked that bit out yet.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 5/11 - 5/17 Part 3

AEW Supercard of Honor 5/15/26

Survival of the Fittest: Athena vs Billie Starkz vs Maya World vs Yuka Sakazaki vs Trish Adora vs Zayda Steel

Chapter 1: Zayda Steel

When opportunity knocks, Zayda Steel answers the door. She bet on herself, left the possibility of artificial glitz and glamour to rekindle her love for Pro Wrestling and start back at the bottom. Hard work is rewarded and she found herself under Christopher Daniels' tutelage. She lost a proving ground match to Athena back in April but found herself with a second chance, defeating Hyan to take the injured Persephone's spot in Survival of the Fittest. 

The match itself began with Athena and Billie at odds, Billie not wanting to tow the line. After a bit of shoving, Athena dragged Billie out to the floor by her hair to try to get her back on the right page, her page. Zayda saw opportunity knocking once again and she, Maya, and Trish surrounded the two of them. Athena tossed Billie into Zayda and ducked Maya and Trish's blows. 

Later on, opportunity would present itself again. Athena had survived the onslaught of Maya, Yuka, and Trish and was standing dominant in the ring. Zayda, throwing caution to the wind, slipped in with a chair and tossed it right at the champion's face. With some effort she lodged it in the corner. Maybe it took her just a bit too long, as Athena was able to reverse the subsequent corner whip. Zayda crashed hard and Athena pinned her, feet on the ropes. There would be other opportunities, other days, and Zayda would be there, ready and waiting.

Chapter 2 - Trish Adora

Trish Adora made her own opportunities. After crashing into Maya when Athena ducked, she sat out, watching Billie and Yuka criss-cross and rope-run against Athena and Billie. She asserted herself when the moment was right, chip on her shoulder, power coursing through her, and took out Billie and Zayda with a double spear. 

After Zayda was eliminated, Athena tried to continue on with the chair on Yuka. Maya may have been the one to come in with a Kendo Stick to break it up, but it was Trish who snatched it from her and flexed and stretched with it, beating Maya first with the stick and then with a chair. 

While she was busy with Maya and Billie was fighting with Yuka, Athena set up a lego set of chairs on the floor. Satisfied with her construction and feeling far more animosity towards Maya than Trish, Athena suggested a fortuitous alliance, Athena and Trish leaning down hard on Maya. But Athena doesn't have allies, she has minions, and Trish Adora is no one's minion. Refusing to let Athena berate her on the apron, Trish fired off on the champion and chokeslammed her through her own chair tower. 

Billie, initially at a loss, became enraged and targeted Trish. She had set up a table and had been working to put Yuka through it, but now she turned her all of her attention to hefting Trish up onto the announce desk and putting her through the other table. Trish fought her off, smashing Billie with a Death Valley Driver onto an announce desk that did, much like Trish herself, simply did not break. 

Back in the ring, Trish went for the kill on Yuka, throwing the Lariat Tubman at her. Yuka ducked and it hit a stumbling, still recovering Athena with the lariat instead. Trish went to capitalize but Yuka caught her with the Merry-Go-Round and pinned her. Trish had been a force in the match. She had the champion beat and it was only due to an interloper that she didn't have her pinned and eliminated too. There's more on the bone there. Athena needs challengers, and Trish, like always, has a point to prove and the strength, skill, attitude, and wherewithal to back it up.

Chapter 3 - Yuka Sakazaki

Yuka drifted through the match, the smile on her face tempered by a grit of her teeth. When everyone surrounded Athena early, it was Yuka who picked her moment and came off the apron to actually get her. She fought evenly against both Athena and Billie as the match went on. After Billie failed to put Trish through the table, Yuka successfully managed to put Athena through it, not just insult to injury after getting chokeslammed into the chairs, but injury to injury as well. 

When Trish hit the Lariat Tubman on Athena, Yuka could have hung back and let Athena get eliminated from the match, ensuring a new champion, but that's not how Yuka operates. She meets the challenge before her. She is a creature of action and motion, of life itself. Athena had tossed a trash can into the ring and despite Athena pleading and begging Yuka not to do it, Yuka struck true. Yuka may be good natured, but she wasn't about to have the wool pulled over her eyes. Instead, she took trashcan in hand and maneuvered to the apron, hitting her magical girl splash with the can. Again, Athena was saved, this time by Billie.

Thus ambushed, her moment lost, Yuka quickly fell to Billie's Avalanche Starfall cradle facebuster. But as she went to the back, she knew that she had the champ all but beaten and that she could hold her head high.

Chapter 4 - Billie Starkz

Which brings us back again to Billie. Billie, Billie, Billie. Twice rebelled against Athena, twice defeated. Inaugural TV champion, lost the belt. Made it to the finals for the inaugural Pure champion, lost. 22 years old and woefully lost. A new college graduate, but forever a MIT Student. 

Her defiance here was feckless and quickly subsumed. Her fire? It came and went. She fought hard against Yuka, only to get swept under and choked in the ropes. She was infuriated by Trish's action and went right at her, only to be dropped onto the announce desk with a Death Valley Driver. She saved Athena with a chair, but those chair shots seemed to lack a certain amount of heart. 

After eliminating Yuka, it was now two-on-one against Maya. Athena was hurting so maybe Maya had a chance, but Billie was able to come out on top in their exchange with a Destroyer. That meant when Athena did make it back into the ring, two kendo sticks in hand, things looked very bad indeed for Maya. Athena tossed one to Billie, dark master to apprentice. But where Billie's heart is clouded, Maya's is pure, and she fought back, right to the point where she was jousting with Billie on the top, chairs draped upon the mat beneath them. Athena went to strike Maya. Maya moved. Billie got cracked and then crushed with a powerbomb off the top. 

Maybe there's a light off in the distance. Maybe there's a path towards it. But for Billie Starkz, it seems so very far off.

Chapter 5 - Maya World

This left Athena and Maya. While she is, in her own way, an apprentice to Athena, Maya's never been a minion. Instead, she's become the possible heir apparent that Billie no longer is, the Final Girl who might be able to not just survive the horror story that is Athena, but to be the one to actually end it. If Billie is looking for a light, Maya glows all on her own, a light to combat Athena's darkness.

But she wasn't going to be able to defeat it here, not in a match like this. Up until this point, the threat to Athena had been the numbers, the unpredictability. There could well be a final encounter between Athena and an ascendant Maya, but not on this night and not in this way. 

That's not to say she didn't account extremely well for herself. She did. She turned the tide very quickly. Athena had used every weapon imaginable (save maybe for the ladder that she and Billie had set up in the ring), leaving her just her own precious belt left. Maya ducked it and took over with a nasty DDT on the apron. She hit her Reinera slam but couldn't put Athena away. Then she went for the ankle lock. 

Athena can sometime be craven, can often be underhanded, but she was no quitter. Billie, holding a white towel, on the other hand, is prone to being overcome by emotion, and she had so much to feel here: the sting of defeat and disappointment, the further sting of her defiance once again deferred, her honest care and affection towards Athena, no matter how she treated her. Put all those together, and she had every reason to throw in the towel. Athena wouldn't let her though, not just stopping her but altogether dragging Billie into the ring.

That was the distraction Athena needed, and one giant O-Face from the top of the ladder later, Maya, her own brightness temporarily extinguished, was staring up at the lights, and Athena had survived another day.

Chapter 6 - Athena

Diamante rushed out to help Athena celebrate. They browbeat Billie, though not with any real malice or seriousness. As things stood, it was all well past the point of that. For the most part, Billie had come through. 

More than that, through hook and crook, Athena had come through. She had defended her kingdom, had stood strong in the face of maybe her greatest challenge. The numbers were against her, and yes, at times she hid behind Billie, but at others, she faced three people down at once, running from corner to corner to inflict damage and pounding her chest in victory after the fact. 

That led to her getting a chair thrown at her face by Zayda, of course, and in truth, she had terrible luck (hubris?) with the weapons in the match. Every time she tried to escalate, furiously kicking the set-up chair out of the corner to use it as a weapon (that organic, alive element of unpredictability that Athena brings to her matches that almost no one else in wrestling can match), setting up the chair tower, the table (well, that was Billie who set it up), bringing in the trash can, trying to use the belt... it all backfired on her. She survived, but only because Yuka saved her once and Billie the second time. 

Were she just a queen, she might fall to circumstance like this: a plot, a conspiracy, the odds being against her, but she's more than that. She's the forever champion, the fallen goddess. Someday she will fall, someday she must, and yes, her own hubris might be a large part of it, but it will have to be both epic, and this war was epic, and personal and intimate, in all the ways that this was not. 

As a match, it was smartly put together, mostly solved the multi-person problem of people just laying around (in part, by eliminating Zayda relatively early so that the numbers were off and Athena could either be convalescing or setting up contraptions to be used later), and was extremely character driven. 

As a story, it call came together fairly well, leaving much on the table in the best way. Yuka, Maya, and especially Trish all have a claim for the future. Billie's tension percolates all the more as she desperately grasps at light now even further beyond her grasp. 

As a defense, it is another giant notch upon the largest belt in wrestling, as Athena shakes the dust of her peers off and marches ever towards the greatest legacies still left before her. 

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