Hitting a Grand Slam (?) | AEWeekly #137

Welcome to the #AEWeekly review discussion where PWM contributors reflect on the highlights of the last week in AEW. The eligibility week always includes the most recent episode of Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision, plus any social-media exclusives up until publication.

This week’s contributors are Tim [@TimmayMan] covering match of the week and exploring a key story beat, Sergei [@SergeiAlderman] covering interviews, Peter [@PeterEdge7] with the moment of the week, and Joe [@GoodVsBadGuys] giving us the MVP of the week.

 A page of links to prior installments may be found here: #AEWeekly

"Hitting a Grand Slam?..."

by Sergei

This week was Grand Slam week, and while Rampage was pre-taped, the two main shows came out of the big New-York stadium show, and in fact all of our awardees are from the Dynamite portion of that show. So the question is raised: did AEW hit a "grand slam" at Arthur Ashe?

The pretext for the name Grand Slam for this event is that it is held at the world's largest tennis stadium, and "grand slam" is a term from tennis… (much like AEW's first PPV being named after a poker term on account of emanating out of Las Vegas.)

In tennis (as well as in golf) a "Grand Slam" is a term for the accolade when a competitor sweeps all of the major tournaments in a year. But when we ask if someone "hit" a grand slam, we're talking about a very different definition— from baseball…

When the bases are loaded, if the batter hits a home run, the impact of the homer is quadrupled. So when I ask "did AEW hit a Grand Slam?" I'm asking if the show possibly had SO MANY scores it can't be confined within the normal bounds of choosing one highlight as awardee in each category?

Personally, I thought so, especially in terms of Match of the Week. When Tim let me know that his awardee would be the "awesome guitar solo" of a tag-team title match, there were two other matches entirely that I personally felt warranted recognition even more. Peter mentions one of them, in terms of the aftermath of Dynamite's main event being the stand-out Moment this week… but for me the match that led up to that moment also warrants a lot of praise for really taking the underdog trope up a notch in intensity, and for the kind of "hope spots" that are Darby Allin's calling card… where he can convince an audience in spite of all logic to believe that he still has a chance to win.

[photoshop meme below by @james]

The rest of the team (and, evidently, CAGEMATCH) did not agree that this show was that exceptional, so we won't be going with expanded coverage with different writers covering different matches that they feel were deserving of "Match of the Week." But if we had, my selection would've been the epilogue miraculously added to the Danielson X McGuinness feud after more than a decade, when such a thing had long since been assumed impossible, an aspect Joe talks more about in the MVP section below. Many would label this epilogue a minor chapter compared to the epics of their past, but I was enthralled by the storytelling myself, including the restraint involved in telling such a simple and unassuming story. I didn't end up writing that piece, but Matt D at the great Segunda Caida site said everything I might've said about the match, probably better than I would have— I highly recommend checking it out: "Five Fingers of Death, pt 1."

The Young Bucks vs. Ospreay & Fletcher

"A fireworks factory of a match."

by Tim.

We certainly had a plethora of valid choices for best match from the big Grand Slam show —from matches high in interpersonal relationships (the saga of Blackpool CC and Yuta,) deep history (Danielson X McGuinness,) and unique stips (lumberjack strap). My pick for Match of the Week though goes to the tag-team match from Dynamite that featured the Young Bucks vs. the remnants of the United Empire. 

On paper I wasn’t very high on this matchup. I’ve been less than thrilled by the latest Young Bucks title reign as I see at least a half dozen other teams I’d rather see as champions. As for Ospreay / Fletcher, I’d prefer to watch either one pursuing solo programs. In addition I’m really looking forward to the return of Mark Davis and an Aussie Open that is 100% ready in time for Australia's Grand Slam show next year. So going into this match, I figuratively had my arms folded with a snide “impress me” attitude. 

Boy howdy did these four guys impress me! Innovative and high flying, the match was a throwback to PWG matches where the goal was to fit as many cool moves as possible. The following sequence isn’t a collection of highlights, this is one sequence: powerbomb reversed into facebuster, 450° splash, Canadian Destroyer, Hidden Blade, all four men down.

Sprinkled throughout the match we also had stereo Styles Clashes, Ospreay escaping an EVP Trigger via Kip Up, and a variety of unique double-team maneuvers. My favorite double team in the match was Matthew hitting a dive on Ospreay who is suspended on the ropes, Ospreay then bounces into the waiting grasp of Nicholas who hits a sit-out powerbomb. Special recognition to the crew member who made sure the ropes were tight this night, as there were more springboards in this match than a Cirque du Soleil act.

This match was the killer guitar solo in the middle of an already good song. You can groove along to “November Rain” just fine, but when Slash hits that solo around the 4 minute mark it becomes transcendent, elevating everything before and after it. Indulgent? Perhaps. Necessary? Debatable. Awesome? Your mileage will vary but for me this was very awesome. The match concludes with a Don Callis appearance, who might as well be a cartoon devil on the shoulder of Fletcher with his screwdriver in hand. I do love how Callis’s master plan for these matches is just: “Here, go stab that guy.” Ospreay intervenes though and prevents Matthew Jackson from becoming a carpentry project, which leads to the champions retaining.

Incredible stuff, could have easily been a PPV match. If they do decide to revisit it down the line I will be anticipating it greatly. If Mark Davis returns we can either get Aussie Open / Young Bucks or even The Elite / United Empire. Plus we have the storyline of Ospreay vs. the corrupting influence of Don Callis. This match was great due to the physicality and action, but there are enough story elements there that make me look forward to the future. 

Montel Vontavious Porter

"The Villain Is Actually... Wrong..."

by Sergei.

A trendy type of plot deconstruction is to claim that "the villain was right all along." I don't mean when the villain simply has some level of justification… or the protagonist was never a "good guy" to begin with… or a twist ending where you're supposed to realize the "villain" was never really a villain at all. No, I mean when a critic claims that the narrative itself was wrong to cast the actions of the antagonist in a villainous light.

Once in a while they're right: Zaheer from Legend of Korra is an unjustly persecuted hero— you'll never sway me otherwise. But more often, they just want to justify the cooler, more charismatic bad guy. When the man with the initials M.V.P. interrupted Prince Nana's update on the status of Swerve Strickland, a lot of the reaction was along the lines of "MVP! Wasn't he cool?" But my thoughts were more "but! He was SO wrong! Like, the exact opposite-of-correct levels of wrong!" But, then I thought about it and considered that, as the antagonist, it serves the story for this character to be very, very wrong!

You may feel that MVP said some things that made a lot of sense to you, and may wonder why I feel so strongly about his incorrectness. So let's take another listen to his exact words:

Porter starts out by saying some uncontroversially positive things about Swerve, agreeing with Nana that Swerve is the most dangerous man in AEW, and building on that by saying that he's the promotion's most phenomenal talent, and that his title reign will be studied. He goes on to point out his recent setbacks—like it or not, simple matters of fact. But then he gets to his real point…

All of this was to lead up to his actual purpose: Montel Vontavious Porter believes that Nana has failed Swerve as a manager, on account of their lack of response to those setbacks. While the purpose of this complaint is transparently self-serving—Montel is clearly hinting that he would provide the type of proactive management that he's claiming Nana has failed to— the complaints themselves seem reasonable on the surface. The man's childhood home was burnt to the ground, and given that the unsanctioned cage match didn't go Swerve's way, it seems reasonable to wonder what he intends to do about it….

HOWEVER, Porter asserts more than once that he has seen what's been going down with Swerve because he's been watching the show. But some of his assertions make you wonder... He asks why the man who took Strickland's World Championship is "walking around… smiling?" …Bryan Danielson? Smiling? Sure, maybe... for less than a week… but then Jon Moxley choked him out with a plastic bag! Even if Swerve had nothing to do with it, Bryan hasn't had much reason to smile lately.

Then he wonders why Adam Page isn't "in the ICU"... and that's where I just flip out lol. So, Mr. Porter… what you're telling us… is that you've been watching the same AEW programming as we have… you've been watching as everything between Strickland and Page has played out over the past year… and the brilliant conclusion that you now draw… is that what these two men need… is MORE REVENGE???

There are several different technical terms for the bad guy in a story, and each term is focused on a slightly different role that the character may play in the narrative. A villain does ethically wrong things to highlight the moral of the story. A heel makes the audience hate them and want them to fail, giving us more reason to root for the babyface. An antagonist presents obstacles to the protagonist's goals to keep the narrative interesting. But a foil highlights the qualities of the hero because of their contrasting qualities. As Adam Page and Swerve Strickland have enacted their amazing but tortuous double turn, there have been many who have questioned: Is Swerve really a good guy now? I have spilled thousands of words on this very topic, and the short version is: in pro-wrestling terms, sure. He gets cheers and isn't trying to fight them, that's enough to qualify as a babyface. Much like film noir, you don't have to be terribly virtuous to qualify as the good guy in the milieu of pro wrestling. But I won't deny that his redemption arc feels incomplete, because he has yet to have occasion to express regret or take responsibility. I think that with his utter inversion of the moral of the Hangman X Swerve story, Montel Vontavious Porter could make an excellent foil for Strickland to prove that, contrariwise, he has learned from the mistakes that led to the two men's tragic conflict.

In fact, I was possessed by an irrepressible urge to write out my thoughts of how Swerve might respond to MVP's offer to manage him, as a "fantasy promo"...

…Which gives another perspective on my thoughts on how I expect that Montel's blindness might potentially highlight Swerve's perceptiveness… and perhaps even a new humility. But AEW often has very different ideas from me about the direction their characters should go… still I have no doubt that when MVP and Swerve do interact, it will be very revealing of who Swerve is now, in the aftermath of all this.

Wheeler Yuta

"The Saga of Yuta Skywalker continues…"

by Tim.

There’s no storyline in AEW that I find myself more personally invested in than the saga of Wheeler Yuta and the Blackpool Combat Club. Pro wrestling has been described as a soap opera for men, and while this comparison is very outdated (neither genre has exclusive gender fanbases,) I do look forward to where this storyline is going and how the character dynamics play out. Since All Out and the betrayal / attempted murder of Bryan Danielson, the question has been: where does Yuta go? Backstage interviewers have asked this very question and Yuta’s responses have been unfocused and unclear.

The responses of Claudio and PAC however have been laser focused. The pairing of these two is great, their killer looks and attitudes complement one another wonderfully. A smaller moment from Dynamite had Christian Cage running to the back and finding Claudio / PAC hanging out. Christian thinks better than engaging with the two and quickly exits. No words are exchanged. Christian may be a craven heel, but he’s smart enough to not tangle with a pair of wolves. It’s a fun reminder of the hierarchy within AEW. 

This brings us to the match from Collision where Claudio / PAC demanded that Yuta stand with them to defend their Trios Titles. They stated that Yuta would “do the right thing” — but the subtext is that if he doesn’t there would be a plastic bag with his name on it. Claudio / PAC entered via the heel tunnel, with Yuta arriving later via the face tunnel. During the match a story is told via the expressions from Yuta: disappointment and disgust at his fellow champions. He refuses to tag in for the majority of the match, joining the action only when Claudio forces him in via a slap to the chest. We’ve seen the giant swing/dropkick combo from the two before, but Yuta refuses this time. Yuta’s first offensive maneuver comes out of instinct as he kicks out of a surprise roll up from Isiah Cassidy. Great moment as Yuta shrugs, saying it’s time to go to work with all the energy of a night-shift warehouse worker. He does manage to get the win, with the Cattle Mutilation— a move he learned from Danielson. 

Where this storyline goes from here will be interesting. Yuta isn’t going to put up with this forever and that fracture is going to cost the BCC the Trios Titles. It may lead us to Yuta taking on PAC and/or Claudio which will make for some great matches. In the periphery, we have the upcoming Danielson / Moxley match where Danielson could potentially lose the title and end his full time career. How does Yuta react to that scenario? Does he go after King Moxley? Yuta isn’t at the stage where he would be a credible World Champion, but the story beats are there (there’s also a nice call back to the match where Moxley jumped Yuta into the BCC). This storyline has lots of forks it could take— we’re going to see Yuta’s name come up again in this category before the year is out.

Bryan Danielson

"...to Awaken a Sleeping Dragon."

by Peter.

With the jeopardy inherent in Bryan Danielson's Final Countdown—the knowledge that with one more loss, Danielson will no longer wrestle full-time— the intensity that you might expect from such a scenario has felt lacking. The reasons why can be debated elsewhere, but there is no question that said intensity is crystal clear in our Moment of the Week: the events after the main event Wednesday night.

We got a first look at the Moxley revolution at Grand Slam Dynamite, which apparently includes WWE-style distraction finishes. This win, however tainted, solidified Jon Moxley as the No. 1 contender for the AEW World Title, a title he declared for in that shocking moment at All Out with his betrayal of former BCC compatriot Bryan Danielson. We all figured that Bryan was going to be back—and once he was "cleared" …and the nagging obstacle of Nigel McGuinnes was negotiated… Danielson took his opportunity to turn the tables at the same sort of opportune moment that Mox had used on him—while the new No. 1 contender was celebrating a hard-fought victory. 

Equipped with a tie— a call back to the time his previous employer thought Bryan had gone too far— Danielson had a single, laser-focused aim: and that was to deny as much oxygen from Jon Moxley as the Judas had done to him. Such was the grip Danielson had, that Moxley's entire BCC-Version-2 faction struggled to loosen his grip 'round Mox's neck, in spite of numbers. Then the aggrieved trio of Private Party & Komander evened up any numerical disadvantage, and with Bryan poised to get his receipt in, Mox bailed. 

That revenge opportunity will come for Danielson at WrestleDream. Likewise WrestleDream will be Mox's chance to break the heart of the American Dragon in his home state… but in the minutes after Mox's coup of the No.-1-contender crown, his erstwhile friend and now foe made his statement. With Danielson's extreme actions, plus a nice f-bomb in his words, it appears that Mox might have re-awoken the "sleeping dragon" of Danielson's intensity.

Bryan Danielson

"Subtitle..."

by Joe.

With multiple references to his match with Nigel McGuinness earlier in this week’s entry, plus the moment of the week award for his post-match attack, Bryan Danielson is the logical choice for MVP. While I would agree with Tim that United Empire vs Young Bucks was the best match in a vacuum, at present, that match’s value mostly stands alone as a match. Bryan’s match with Nigel had a lot of emotional weight and significance to it, and so did his show-closing angle with Moxley and the BCC. 

Let’s start with the match. Had circumstances been different, where Bryan’s arrival was more in doubt, the entrance would’ve hit even harder, but it was still a quality classic old-time wrestling trick to have it teased that Bryan was going to lose by count out. The nice extra wrinkle was hearing Bryan’s standard Dynamite and Collision entrance theme first, and then the switch to the very special PPV theme of "Final Countdown." While not to the same heat, or volume, or intensity, the crowd buzzing for the match’s existence before Nigel and Bryan locked up reminded me of Bryan’s first Grand Slam match against Kenny Omega. That match was a dream match because it was often fantasy booked and at one point in time thought to be impossible because of Bryan’s retirement, and then getting entrenched into WWE. So it was fitting that for Bryan’s final Grand Slam match, there was a buzz again for another dream match, but one that had happened so many times before, and yet was still special. Why so special? Because even though Bryan and Nigel have faced off probably more times than Rock and Austin, they never got to do it on a big stage, and at one point, both of them were believed to be permanently retired due to injury. The fact that this match could even exist means dreams came true from a health and wellness perspective. With that being said, I would have been satisfied with this match being solid, but it was better than that. Bryan and Nigel filled their showdown with signature moves, sequences, and callbacks that were cool for first-time viewers, and nostalgic for longtime wrestling fans, especially long-time Ring Of Honor wrestling fans. Delivering such a quality match to honor a classic rivalry provided the value to Grand Slam viewers and attendees that this show was worth seeing, somewhat of a safety net to kick off a 4 hour live event on a Wednesday night that would be going into the next day for the live fans in attendance. 

As a bonus to ensuring a quality open to the show with a classic match against Bryan’s most storied rival, he closed the show against one of his most well-known friends. When Jon Moxley pinned Darby Allin, I felt very deflated, and received a text from my brother who was live in attendance feeling the same way. The idea of a potential Jon Moxley title reign seems so much less interesting and exciting than a Darby Allin one. Then, we were hooked back in by Bryan’s revenge attack with the tie that Peter detailed above. The American Dragon is showing that fire, and I’m now fired up to see him fend off that turncoat Moxley at WrestleDream (where I’ll be watching live on my birthday). While I wanted Darby Allin in the main event in his hometown, I will be cheering hard for Bryan Danielson in his home state against Moxley. Whereas in Danielson vs Darby I would’ve been okay with either outcome, in this case I will be fervently rooting for Bryan to fight on, not allowing his legacy to end this way, feeling like this is a must win in a very emotionally significant way. Much like at WrestleMania 30, WrestleMania 34, and All In 2024, Bryan Danielson has me rooting for him to fight back against the odds as somewhat of an underdog against this vicious version of the BCC, but with that extra edge he picked back up during his BCC run. 

So after proving once again that he is a man who can open and close a big show (like WrestleMania 30), Bryan has me looking forward to another one of his matches, and hoping this isn’t the last one. That ability to deliver on the present while building towards the future is pro wrestling gold, and that’s why Bryan Danielson is this week’s AEW MVP.