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AEW are doing rather interesting things in the ring. It would seem there are a lot of different philosophies of wrestling being played with and tried out. From Bryan Danielson's rule-breaking finishers to Kris Statlander's rejection of strikes, different things are happening statistically in AEW in comparison to the wrestling norm.
Today we are going to look at how two heel teams built heat in two very different ways.
Against the under-dog team of Anderson and Johnson, FTR picked up only 36% of the offence. Having watched this match you may be thinking this doesn't make much sense. Well that's because it's only half the story.
When FTR were in control of the match they didn't actually use much offence and that they did use was used very slowly. When Johnson and Anderson were in control they utilised high-octane offence and packed a lot in to shorter spaces of time. For example, FTR controlled minutes 4-6 utilising 10 strikes, whereas when Anderson/Johnson controlled minutes 6-8 they utilised 15 strikes, 4 grapples and a dive.
FTR's heel performance was of a duo uninterested in taking licks off their youthful opponents who were full of energy and purpose. They aimed to shut down their opponents, frustrate them and even just straight up avoid spending too much time in the ring.
Going into a match with the champions, Private Party's 'plan' was rather different. They did not go into the match looking to duck, dive and frustrate. Instead they went in with egos ablaze looking to take what they were 'owed'.
The Private Party performance built a mountain for Jurassic Express underpinned by their high foul numbers. By hitting a lot of strikes and grapples, Private Party could give off the impression of being a stronger team than Jurassic Express whose win would look like a fluke. However the fouls suggest that Private Party are only able to dominate their opponents via advantages gained by cheating.
This all means Jurassic Express get to utilised the hot tag comeback without seeming weak.
In-ring Statistics for Jon Moxley vs Anthony Bowens and Julia Hart vs Jade Cargill:
