AEW Five Fingers of Death 8/12 - 8/18

Ring of Honor TV 8/15/24

Dustin Rhodes/Ross Von Erich/Marshall Von Erich vs Brian Cage/Kaun/Toa Liona

MD: Really fun studio wrestling. I have definitely loved the AEW ROH Studio tapings, both the first sets and these ones. It's a big dump of results that you know you're going to get. Here you didn't get results after the fact (less people sending them in relative to the Orlando regulars?). You got some of the match ups at least, but not even all, unless I was looking at the wrong places. So I knew this one was coming and I knew there's an 8 man next week, but I think I had the order a little confused. It's nice to be surprised now and again is what I'm saying, even if my natural inclination is to go out off my way not to be. 

This ended with a big heat mobbing beatdown angle in a way that you can only really do in a studio. First though, the match. The more I see them, the more I feel ok putting it down in writing. They're kind of sort of not the Von Erichs so much as they're the Fantastics; Marshall is Fulton, flashier, more charismatic, even if he has a bit of the size. Ross is Rogers, hitting stuff cleaner, a bit more workrate-y, a few more moves. Here that meant Marshall hit a slightly off dropkick, sure, but then worked well from underneath for a minute or two getting sympathy. He made a warm tag to Ross who hit some stuff clean (not a surprise), got the crowd fired up, and then carried the brunt of the actual heat after a smart sequence of first Cage and then Toa interfering from the outside. 

Kaun had carried most of that first bit, which made sense; he's not a small guy but his partners are bigger. After the double hip toss into a slam from the Gates, Cage and Toa leaned hard onto Ross. When Dustin finally did come in, everything broke down hard with each guy hitting a signature move. Dustin escaped a F5 from Cage (the second he went for as he had taken out a Von Erich first) and landed maybe the nicest set up destroyer you'll ever see. The physics somehow worked on it after he landed on his feet on his escape. Well, almost worked. It's a destroyer. Then as they were signaling for the triple claws (dubious if Dustin has mastered the technique), the Kingdom and Dark Order ran in, making it 7 on 3. Sammy, Angelico, Serpentico, and Fuego tried to make the save but the numbers were still against them and first the 6 of them and then security guards as well got absolutely demolished by the heels. I don't think they've run an angle like this since ROH came back and it came off like malicious chaos. You wouldn't want it every week but as a one time thing put some heat on the heels, it really worked; probably doubly so midway through a long taping where a lot of this would be paid off or paid forward throughout the day/night. Yeah, it's pro wrestling for pro wrestling's sake, but we all love pro wrestling. Pro wrestling is the point. 

Except for here, there was one extra point as well, because it led into...

AEW Collision 8/17/24

Dustin Rhodes/Sammy Guevara vs Matt Taven/Mike Bennett

MD: I liked the match. There was a nice bit with Bennett dodging Dustin's drop down punch early only for him to get both members of the Kingdom a moment later and Sammy dodging Bennett's apron recoil shot only for Taven to get him a moment later to start the heat. All of that was paid off by Dustin hitting the dropdown punch on Bennett after the hot tag. I could have done without Sammy kicking out of the proton pack clean (get a foot on a rope or have Dustin break it up). Otherwise, a nice tag in and of itself. 

That's not the main thing to talk about though. After Dustin and Sammy won, you had a few malcontents complaining that the titles had been sacrificed to this new team with an main roster regular and Dustin. This is a nice rehabilitation project for Sammy that should lead to good matches until they pull the trigger on a turn (if they pull a trigger on a turn; like I mentioned, Sammy's kind of Lugered, which is not good for a 31 year old). Dustin is the best in the world at fighting from underneath and as seen through the last few weeks of matches, is so inherently and outwardly good at so many elements of pacing, structure, placement, that everyone around him will be made better just by working with him. Sure, it made sense for the Texas Residency, but it also makes sense to keep him featured for the whole year leading up to something special at All In next year. 

Dustin in Ring of Honor feels fresh and I don't see any reason to pull back on it now. We've never seen what a Dustin Rhodes Pure Title Match would look like. Let's see him against Lee Moriarty. I have no idea what Dustin would do in Arena Mexico. Let's see him against Atlantis, Jr. There isn't a better person in the world to potentially be in a King of the Road 2024 match than the current world champion. Let's see him against Mark Briscoe. There's only so much time left to do these things. He's going to enhance the acts of every other member of the roster and potentially make them permanently better wrestlers. He has name value and star power and veteran presence. Use him now in strategic ways while you still can.

At times, the ROH titles serve the broader needs of the company, as they well should. Maybe that grated a little when the Mogul Embassy lost the titles after such a long reign with so many people put up against them (there was a real sense of "Who can beat them?" and then the answer was some top stars from the main roster to serve some other story), but the Kingdom had gone through every team in ROH, some twice. I like the Infantry as much as the next guy (Dean is perfectly solid and Bravo has something special waiting for the right presentation, I think; let's see him as a cocky heel), but they don't really need the belts to serve in their current role. 

This did serve a greater purpose, but not to advance a main roster storyline. The Texas Residency was a success. You got the sense that they were wrestling in front of the same fans week in and week out. Hologram was established. The longrunning ROH feud between Aminata/Velvet and Athena/Billie was paid off. Things were built for All In. And yes, the Von Erichs went from being guests to established players. That meant a celebratory moment at the PPV but also meant a grand finale fireworks spectacular here where, following from the big heat ending of ROH TV (recapped in full for those who had missed it), the rest of the Kingdom and Cage/Gates of Agony ran out only for the babyfaces to come out in force to counter. It created another crazy scene, this time in the match itself as opposed to after it, and gave the fans one last celebratory gesture before the residency ended. These fans deserved cake. Good for Khan to give it to them. Maybe it didn't need to be Sammy, but it did need to be Dustin. I don't think the Kingdom were more or less over for the titles. They're an established act looked upon at a certain level for good or ill. I do think it mattered to those fans in attendance that they got to see something so wild and got to celebrate something that even a month ago would have seemed an impossibility with Dustin. What are the point of the ROH Tag Titles if not to allow for moments like this? What's the point of wrestling if not to create this sort of emotion?

Now bring on Moriarty, Atlantis, and Briscoe.