AEW Booms/Duds: The gritty brutality of Moxley vs. Hager

A much ballyhooed no holds barred match between champion Jon Moxley and challenger Jake Hager for the AEW World Title headlined the show. Did it live up to the hype? I’ll discuss that and more in this week’s booms and duds.

I know I’ve been saying a lot changes in a week recently, but wow, the past week was a whirlwind.

First, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida deemed sporting events closed to the general public “essential” businesses, including WWE (overturning the decision of Orange County where the Performance Center is located). It was then revealed this may be due to a Linda McMahon-led political group “American F1rst Action” running an 18 million dollar reelection campaign in Florida for President Trump; McMahon previously served on his Cabinet.

It was also revealed the Orange County Sherriff’s Office had been called multiple times to the Performance Center (PC), including Monday’s RAW, saying WWE was not in compliance with an existing Executive Order on gatherings of people. Because of DeSantis’ decision, WWE was not cited.

This was also shortly after Wade Keller reported a member of WWE staff had tested positive for COVID-19. He also corroborated reports from Pro Wrestling Sheet that WWE was to resume airing live, beginning with the most recent RAW.

Second, and specific to AEW, WrestlingInc reported that the following wrestlers were not present at the extended tapings held a few weeks ago: MJF, The Young Bucks, Adam “Hangman” Page, Death Triangle (Pac, Lucha Bros), Nyla Rose, SCU, Big Swole.

Remember that Tony Khan advised talent they could stay home and not face any repercussions. AEW also avoided using talent from places like New York and California (Bucks, SCU) because of those were the hardest-hit states at the time of the tapings.

More power to those talents for putting their health, and that of their families, first. This doesn’t mean I am criticizing the talent that did appear at the tapings, mind you; I just don’t think any sporting company should be running shows.

This also means stories those wrestlers were involved in prior to the pandemic (and Rose is the Women’s Champion after all) are pretty much paused and we may not see these talents until stay at home/self-quarantine orders are lifted.

Third, AEW announced Double or Nothing will still take place Memorial Day weekend on PPV, but NOT in Las Vegas. This most likely means AEW, following DeSantis’ lead, will tape in Florida and Jacksonville, specifically.

Fourth, as I was writing this intro, WWE released or furloughed a slew of wrestlers, producers, and other employees Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say, it was a rough day for many.

(For more coverage on the sudden and substantial releases from Daily DDT, please click here, here, and here.)

Even with my opinion that wrestling should be shut down, since the promotions are moving forward, we do have an obligation to cover their on-screen product and off-screen happenings.

With that long preamble aside, let’s turn to last night’s show and the main event, which Tony Khan not-so-subtly claimed will be the “most brutal and memorable match” in AEW history and “best empty arena match ever.”

As a reminder of my criteria, I’m not going to run through each match/segment. Rather, I will identify a couple of segments that either worked (“boom”) or didn’t for whatever reason (“dud”).

My criteria includes quality of match/segment and how it starts and/or builds stories. After all, we watch partly to be caught up in the stories. If a great work-rate match happens with no context or bearing on the stories, it’s going to be a miss.

Also, just because something is a hit/miss doesn’t mean it was an overwhelming choice. The selection could be 51 percent hit, 75 percent miss, and so on.

There are other subtleties to my criteria, but those are pretty much the parameters.

Boom: a predictably brutal and gritty World Championship match

Dud: too much hype weakened by a tepid start

I think the hype for Khan unnecessarily raised my expectations for the match. Was it the greatest empty-arena match ever? No. Was it a good, perfectly serviceable match? Yes.

What threw me off was that the match started with grappling exchanges. I understand this makes sense considering Hager’s amateur background and both Hager and Moxley being trained in professional wrestling.

However, the utter disdain these two have portrayed for each other through their physical interactions (powerbomb off the stage, being choked out with the arm triangle, etc.) and their incredible video packages last week had me expecting them to try and bruatlize each other right away.

Instead, the match took a bit to build and intensify. The pace only started picking up once Hager decided to eschew the grappling, drove Moxley into the corner, and began kneeing him on the left side of his abdomen. To Hager’s credit, Hager continually worked that area throughout the match.

Walking brawls aren’t necessarily my cup of tea, but this was fine. I was shocked that more weapons didn’t come into play, but also pleasantly surprised that the chair was really the only “foreign object” utilized.

It also played a role in the finish as Moxley hit his double-arm DDT onto the chair for the win (it looked like Hager actually hit the edge of the chair).

Remember, the Paradigm Shift is the lifting, angular DDT he hit on Omega through the glass table and on Darby Allin off the middle rope.

I think Hager did come off as dangerous, but also with a “glass jaw” so to speak. After all that damage he inflicted on Moxley, he falls to a single non-finisher DDT on a steel chair. This is even more concerning considering he no-sold the same DDT (sans chair) a few weeks ago and locked in the ankle lock on Moxley.

Also, was I the only one concerned about Hager’s stamina? He seemed like he was breathing rather heavily; then again, when was the last time Hager was in a 30-minute match?

On the other hand, this continues to build Moxley as the veritable indefatigable and uber-resilient champion that may reign for a long, long time. The question now is where does Moxley go from here, and who will be the next to challenge for his title?

The obvious choices are involved in other angles (Chris Jericho with Matt Hardy; Cody, Allin, and Lance Archer in the TNT Championship Tournament; Omega with “Hangman,” The Bucks, The Inner Circle, and now Michael Nakazawa again), so is this where someone like “The Exalted One” Mr. Brodie stakes his claim?

Boom: heel Britt Baker continues to shine

That is the creepiest dentist’s office I have ever seen. The first shot being that multi-colored poster of teeth made me shudder.

That was the goal, probably, and it worked.

Baker is taking the simple, tried-and-true heel playbook: blame her opponent for her shortcomings in a justifiable way. This latter part is important as I’ve discussed before because when heels have justifications for their personalities, tactics, and mannerisms, fans are torn because they can agree with the reasoning even if they disagree with eventual actions.

Last night, Baker blamed Hikaru Shida for breaking her nose last week, “forcing” Baker to “valiantly fight with an excruciating deviated septum.” She called it a dirty tactic even though we, as viewers, know it was just a casualty of physical battle. To be fair to Shida, it looked like she kicked Baker’s arm into her nose, causing the break.

Still, this provided even more reason for Baker to seek revenge on Shida, and I am looking forward to their next match. Shida even added to the fire with this tweet.

Small note: she only discussed rule #1 in “The Rules of Being a Role Model” presentation. Does this mean we will see more in the coming weeks?

To her match with Cassandra Golden, Baker bounced back with a victory after her loss last week. Baker has looked much improved in the ring the last two weeks, but how much of this is due to the shows being taped? I want to say not much, but we really won’t know until we see her live again.

It was also good to see Golden in AEW again, and shows AEW’s flexibility in working with talent that’s available. She did what she was supposed to do: make Baker look like a strong heel.

Golden seems to have a knack for good facial expressions during matches, and her selling Baker’s new finisher was a bit over-the-top, but also perfect for professional wrestling. I’m hoping she gets more time in the future.

Baker helped her own case with a stiff looking superkick (a move I have criticized her for in the past) and those wonderful heel mannerisms, particularly that evil smile and laugh.

Her new finisher is brutal, a callback to what she did to Yuka Sakazaki (should we call it the Rope Stomp or Tooth Decay?). What I really like is she maintains pressure on her opponent even as she is bringing her foot down so there is no chance for her opponent to escape.

It’s basically the opposite of the top rope double foot stomp where the opponent hanging on the ropes for some reason decides to just hang there and wait instead of countering or moving.

Baker’s turn from middling babyface to scathing heel has been tremendous and needed. I think part of the issue was that as a face, she was trying things in the ring that are probably beyond her current skill set. Focusing on being a heel and the (usually) more limited, less flashy move set has really allowed her to find her voice and character as a wrestler. I’m excited to see just what other layers we see from Baker.

Boom: Lance Archer is who AEW (and Jake Roberts) made him out to be

That intro video to start Dynamite last night with Jake “The Snake” Roberts really drew me in (and not just due to his gravelly voice). His words, coupled with the wonderfully produced clips of Archer decimating people, just add further gravitas and intrigue for his client. Roberts opening the show the past two weeks has been a welcome addition.

Archer continues to assault people on his way to or in the ring before he poses on the middle turnbuckle, this time taking out one of the faces in the crowd. He then proceeded to have about a 12-minute match with Colt Cabana where I never doubted Archer would win.

Sure, Cabana did well and had several near falls. His video beforehand was great (more on this later).

Still, Archer continually mocking Cabana by laughing and smiling when Cabana punched him indicated to me Archer, “The Murderhawk Monster,” truly revels in physical violence even if inflicted upon himself; he’s basically a sadomasochist in the form of a professional wrestler. He knew, just like I knew, that he was just playing with Cabana like a predator toying with his prey.

In-ring, Archer’s intensity and facial expressions have gone a long way in telling AEW fans that he’s a force to be reckoned with.

The height he is able to lift opponents for his chokeslam is astounding, and that’s even after taking his height into account; Cabana was a good seven feet off the mat! His Blackout inverted crucifix bomb finisher is impressive considering the amount of strength needed to execute the maneuver on a stockier guy like Cabana.

Roberts has continually reminded us that Archer is a brutal, decimating force here to wreak havoc on AEW and The Elite, specifically. Well, everything Archer has done since debuting (outside of the initial shots of him sitting ringside with Roberts) has proved Roberts correct: he is exactly what Roberts said he was, and he might be even more.

He seems set to clash with Cody in the finals of the TNT Championship Tournament, and that makes sense. In full disclosure though, I picked Allin to defeat Archer in the finals. Either way, the rest of the tournament (with two more first-round matches next week) should be fun.

-Boom: adequately using talent that’s available

With the last few weeks with these taped shows and the lack of available signed talent, AEW has done a pretty good job of using local talent during Dynamite. Most notable is Suge D, maybe better known as Pineapple Pete.

(Jericho and Tony Schiavone couldn’t figure out if it was “Suge D” or “Shooge D,” which made me laugh.)

Suge D had gained a lot of notoriety as one of the members of the face crowd and last night, he was able to increase that notoriety in a match with Sammy Guevara. Sure, he lost pretty decisively, but he did his job well: make Guevara look like a future star. D’s selling was good, and he provided a nice athletic counterpart to Guevara’s own athleticism.

Justin Law also did fine in playing the literal babyfaced jobber with a glimmer of hope of winning against Shawn Spears. Spears didn’t even remove his shirt, and nearly lost the match when he allowed Law to grapple him like an amateur wrestling match. Spears won with his C4 finisher (running Death Valley Driver).

This helped establish Spears even more as an overly cocky heel who vastly overrates his skill and potential. He’s supposed to win decisively against the likes of a Law or a Suge D only to be defeated by talent higher on the card, such as his loss last week to Cody.

With Golden’s appearance discussed earlier, these three talents filled in admirably and satisfactorily played their roles. I’m assuming we’ll see more of them through the go-home episode before Double or Nothing, and I’m looking forward to their appearances.

-Boom: a multitude of formats for video packages

https://twitter.com/AEWonTNT/status/1250585955855069185

The first and third boxes contain the real stars of “The Bubbly Bunch.”

Jokes aside, AEW continues to produce unique video packages so that we don’t become bored with the typical promo videos and vignettes. Still, starting shows with “The Snake” promos is always a win.

I appreciated the video for Cabana before his match with Archer. If you only watch AEW and know of Cabana only through his appearances in AEW, the video did well to highlight who Cabana is and why we should care about him. Further, for many fans who think of Cabana as a comedy wrestler, this really flipped the script by portraying Cabana as someone who is taking the tournament and his match with Archer seriously.

I already discussed Baker’s video, but that image of her with the glove on and squirting liquid out of that needle is…chilling.

“The Bubbly Bunch” was great in that The Inner Circle members know their characters: arrogant “holes of the ass” who think they’re cool and amazing, but come off as annoyingly narcissistic and grating. Being able to hear from Santana and Ortiz was welcome since we really don’t hear them on the mic very much.

Hager’s daughter was also the star of his scenes with her “I don’t care” demeanor and look of utter indifference on her face.

It was also another creative way to have wrestlers on the show without being physically present. Being able to film from their homes/cars has provided AEW with a trove of material for their taped shows.

However, the most unique aspect of the videos last night were the interspersed predictions from both AEW wrestlers and other well-known personalities, such as Bellator’s Mike Goldberg and ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.

While the notable lack of women’s voices is glaring, these videos were a nice change of pace in two ways. One, they presented more debate fodder for families watching at home by providing different reasons for the outcome of the match.

I also find it amusing when non-wrestling personalities try to apply real-world logic to match outcomes. Does it really matter Hager has been choking people out in MMA with the arm triangle, for example?

Two, it showed that AEW does have a presence and is instilling an excitement for professional wrestling many haven’t felt (and seen) in decades. It also crossed some barriers, bringing in voices from MMA and comedy, and from well-known brands like Bellator and ESPN. Unlike when celebrities will do similar videos for WWE, these didn’t seem scripted and the personalities really seemed like they follow the product and stories. That goes a long way for wrestling fans.

After the sudden news yesterday, it was nice to spend two hours focused on an enjoyable show helped by the fact AEW wasn’t responsible for what happened. Slight dud aside with the start of the main event, I was pretty entertained considering I wasn’t in the highest of spirits when the show began.

I guess in these times, it’s more important than ever to support the wrestlers we love. Let’s remember this as we continue to decide just which wrestling product(s) we consume. Until next week dear readers, please stay safe.