All the Right Moves | AEWeekly #228

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 and Collision, plus any social-media exclusives up until publication.

This week’s contributors are Larissa [@actual-swamp-hag.bsky.social] expanding on the Most Impactful Moment, and Sergei [@sergeialderman.bsky.social] talking about the Best Interview, as well as editing and organizing it all. In addition, we are joined by Greyson for Quick Takes on the above categories plus on Match of the Week, Intriguing Story Beat, Best Move, Best Call & Most Valuable.

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

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Our usual Match guy, Abel, got slammed at his real job and was unable to do a write up, but Darby Allin vs Myron Reed for the TNT championship was his pick for Match of the week.

Sergei: Ditto on Darby vs Myron. This was an absolute showcase for Reed's potential in singles. (See Move below for more…) It also showed how multifaceted Allin is: a wrestler who normally works a style where he needs a great base, is just as good turning around and providing an excellent base for his opponent. (See Most Valuable for more on that aspect…)

Larissa: Hayter vs Kross. (See Moment below for more…)

Larissa: Kross Kicks Hayter’s Head Off… (See Moment below for more…)

Sergei: I can't pick one! Myron Reed's somersault senton over the turnbuckle onto Darby Allin? The Hang Ten from the guard rail to the floor? Catching Darby's tope into a cutter? The cutter over the top rope to the floor? Or the nobody-home senton to the steel chair? DAMN!

"Before Memories..."

by Sergei.

On Dynamite last week, Andrade El Ídolo had a few words to share about his legacy:

I was born with pro wrestling, with lucha libre, in my blood. Before I even have memories, I knew the sounds, the smells, the scenes of the arenas – the stretching of the ring ropes, bodies crashing into the hard wood.

First off, damn that's evocative! Plus he does a great job of reminding us that being part of a legacy can mean more than just a foot in the door of a career. For many second or third generation wrestlers, it can mean a deep and personally meaningful connection to the art form of wrestling as something a whole family and community grow and nurture over the course of generations.

Since beginning to tease a face turn several months ago, Andrade has been gradually adding bits to his presentation that are adding up to a really entertaining and appealing character: the “how you know?” catchphrase, the selfies with “hot girl” plants, stripping his pants, etc. He's garnered a lot of fan support with his swagger, sex appeal, and humor. But going back to his return to AEW at the beginning of the year, he has frequently claimed that becoming World Champion is his destiny, but it's never been clear exactly why that would be… until now:

When I say it is my destiny to become World Champion, understand it is not just my destiny, it is the culmination of generations of sacrifice… and no one can stand in the way of the destiny of mi familia.

There's really no arguing with that!

Sergei: Sometimes in pro wrestling a great call is just saying some outrageous nonsense that's somehow also kinda true… As in this call from Daniel Garcia challenging for Andrade's National championship on Saturday night:

Garcia's the type of guy that would fight a Bengal tiger in a phone booth.

– Paul Wight.

Greyson: Just a quick shout-out to Excalibur for still using the term “Men’s World Championship,” keeping a small but very positive change from Hangman’s second title run alive.

Greyson: I have been following the evolution of Jon Moxley and the Death Riders’ philosophy and approach for some time now, and how it has seemed to wax and wane from week to week. Now I believe we have one of the clearest signs yet that the shift away from the overbearing version of Moxleyism – insisting on him oppressively controlling AEW, “my way or the highway,” that started this whole storyline – is durable. After the loss to Hangman and his Continental Championship win, he seemed to move towards acknowledging and seeking to build the strength and value of the AEW roster through intense challenges, what he aptly termed on this week’s Collision “the gift of friction” … but still as recently as this past July at Redemption, he went back to the infamous plastic-bag tactics that started it all. Now, on Dynamite, Moxley told our Men’s World Champion Will Ospreay “I never wanted you to follow me, I wanted you to lead,” words the Moxley of a year and a half ago would have never uttered, certainly not to someone who left his group and rebuked him. Now the question still remains on how big this shift is and whether it translates into actions, as later that night he went back and forth on keeping a hold on Akira post-match – a classic Death Rider tactic and a perfect metaphor for the struggle between “old” and “new” Moxley. This internal conflict within Moxley will certainly play as big a role as the complicated history between him and Ospreay this weekend at All Out.

Sergei: Speaking of Moxley's “gift of friction,” the big beneficiary of that gift this past week has been NJPW guest Francesco Akira. Since the “Chaos in Canada” Dynamite in April, he has appeared in 4 AEW matches… but I'll admit that until now, I never really noticed him. He was just “Ospreay United Empire ally #3” to me. The first I noticed him was the promo with the UE team on Wednesday, and what really stood out was just how out of place this unassuming little fellow looked standing between two of the biggest stars of pro wrestling. But then – over the course of the main event Wednesday, and then coming out to make the save (alone! Unarmed!!) on Saturday – he really made an impression, via storytelling: put the Character in Situations. Once you do that, suddenly he's not just some little flippy guy, he's that little flippy guy with heart. Unsurprisingly, for a big chunk of the fanbase, this took Akira from some guy with a funny name to Small Italian man I would Die For.

"Kross Kicks Hayter’s Head Off"

by Larissa.

I can’t think of a moment this week that had more literal impact than the way that the match of Jamie Hayter versus “Colossal” (are we calling her that now? I hope so because that rules) Lena Kross began. It was obviously going to be a brutal contest with those two heavy hitters in the ring. They don’t say “Hayter Hits Hard” for nothing; the Brit has built a reputation for being one of the stiffest workers in the division, which matches her loutish in-ring character perfectly. And Divine Dominion have quickly established themselves as the biggest monsters in the division. Their feud with the Brawling Birds has recently been the best part of the women’s tag scene in AEW.

No sooner had the bell sounded than Kross delivered a kick to Hayer’s throat that sent her soaring backwards into the ropes. It was one of the nastiest kicks we’ve seen recently. Kross’s height means she can deliver some real doozies. Personally I wouldn’t like to be on the receiving end of one of those! I’ve really been enjoying Kross in AEW. She has a feral expressiveness that her Divine Dominion partner Megan Bayne lacks; where Bayne seems arrogant and occasionally bored, Kross comes off ruthless and genuinely nasty. Of the two of them, I’d say Kross is more likely to cut the brakes on someone’s car… (Feel free to use that, Tony!) She’s great as one-half of a tag team, but she really shone in this singles match. Her ferocity was the perfect foil for Hayter’s swagger. The women’s division is under a lot of pressure to make the most of their minutes, especially on Dynamite where they’re typically only allotted one match per show. Kross’s big boot immediately had me rapt. It set the tone early for the hardest hitting (and in my opinion, the best overall) match of the week.

Sergei: For years, Orange Cassidy has (nonverbally) said “save a horse, ride a cowboy.” Last week Hangman finally got him back, saying (also nonverbally) “actually, I'm the cowboy, so you be the horse!”

Sergei: For me, this week goes to Darby Allin, and the rationale is how he's doing multiple important jobs well: raising the intrigue of the tag division while also keeping the TNT title relevant with hard-fought defenses. Meanwhile, he's also helping along two of the hottest rookies around, playing the mentor role with Steve Borden while also acting as the perfect foil for Myron Reed to show off his crazy moves!