Deep Dive 8 | STP vs Death Riders Cincinnati Street Fight

Deep Dive is an opinion and analysis series where I go RIDICULOUSLY deep (whether that be statistically, or with trope analysis, or with something) into some pro wrestling issue of the moment—usually relating to All-Elite Wrestling, but sometimes regarding other promotions. The goal is—while it does involve my opinions—to add some value beyond "that's just, like, your opinion, man," by genuinely exploring the issue at hand deeply.

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In the last #AEWeekly I wanted to write up a Match of the Week for AEW Collision's from 8 nights ago now. But the topic proved a little too big for the Weekly and that's exactly what Deep Dives are for!

Storytelling!

Saturday night, about a week ago, Shane Taylor Promotions had a big 5-on-5 intergender Cincinnati Street Fight against Jon Moxley's faction the Death Riders as the main event of AEW Collision. This match really blew me away and there are a number of aspects where it delivered well beyond a typical fun plunder brawl, but the most important among these is storytelling.

I believe that one of the most important aspects to making a match truly great is storytelling coherence. And there are two big parts to that: 1) that what happens in the match is coherent in the context of what was said and done leading up to the match, and in the context of who it's been established that these characters are, but 2) even more importantly, that what happens in the match leaves space for the performers to build new stories on top of that, coherent with all that's gone before. In my view, this massive brawl was a perfect example of that, and I'll tell you why...

(But it was also utter madness.)

A War that's been Brewing for Years

It's important to understand that the feud between Shane Taylor Promotions and the Death Riders has been going on a lot longer than there's been a "Death Riders," or a "Shane Taylor Promotions." Let's look back over four years to early 2022, when the two dominant factions in AEW at the time – Jericho Appreciation Society and Blackpool Combat Club – were struggling against each other to bring in the most promising rookies in the world in order to ensure that their vision of pro wrestling would be the one to be passed down to the next generation of top talent and dominate in the future.

The BCC lured Wheeler Yuta away from the Best Friends while JAS brought in Daniel Garcia. But BCC co-captain Bryan Danielson wasn't satisfied with that parity – he felt that Garcia (perhaps even moreso than Yuta) was someone who belonged in Blackpool Combat Club, where his potential would get the appropriate guidance and nurturing. Bryan treating Wheeler as chopped liver led to everything that was to follow – in terms of the later assassination of Danielson, and BCC transforming into the Death Riders.

But then two years later, cameras caught up with Shane Taylor after his first battle with the BCC – represented that night by their other co-captain, Jon Moxley. And Taylor had a question for both men, going back to that initial struggle for the best technical rookies in the game: "What about Lee Moriarty?"

Shane earned Interview of the Week for the chilling words: "You left Lee Moriarty to the wolves, but the wolves have his back now." And that's the basis of the feud between STP and BCC going forward to today, since from Taylor's perspective, jumping out Danielson and changing the name to "Death Riders" is irrelevant – to him, this is fundamentally the same group that seemed to only look to lighter colored faces as the future of professional wrestling. The biggest difference from that perspective being that they now have both Garcia and Yuta.

One Battle After Another

But that battle in early 2024 didn't go Taylor's way – this early incarnation of STP ended up defeated, demoted, and regrouping. In the two years since they've mostly stayed on the shallower waters of ROH that they could safely dominate. But the time has finally come for STP to re-open hostilities and relitigate this conflict, with a filled-out roster and a lightning-warfare game plan.

All of this led up to a post-match beatdown of Jon Moxley a week ago Wednesday including a belt-assisted chokeout that left him barely able to speak. Which left Daniel Garcia to be the one to make the challenge: to a Street Fight on Saturday. And (as awesome as the Continental battle one-on-one between Moxley and Taylor also was) that faction fight was more than Match of the Week for last week, it was extraordinary.

I know not everyone watches Collision, and I understand that choice, but if you haven't watched this match, don't continue reading! Go watch, it's something better experienced as unspoiled as possible…

...if you have HBO max???

...as a Soldier Kills...

You're back! Thank you!

There are two things that happen very early on in this match that make it very clear how much thought went into it – from the kayfabe perspective, how much thought Taylor put into learning from prior mistakes and putting STP's strengths into action to ensure a different outcome than past battles. The strength I'm referring to here is the military mindset. I don't mean some stereotype of regimented order, but the most ubiquitous military precept across culture and history: to avoid a fair fight at all costs.

A few weeks ago, in Story Beat of the Week, Lauren used some quotes from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga that strongly paralleled the storytelling of Moxley's methods for persuading Will Ospreay from enemy to ally. A Bujold quote is quite apt here as well, this time not from any of the space-opera Vorkosigan clan, but from a war-hardened hero of her Five Gods fantasy series…

“I don’t duel, boy. I kill as a soldier kills, which is as a butcher kills, as quickly, efficiently, and with as least risk to myself as I can arrange. If I decide you die, you will die when I choose, where I choose, by what means I choose, and you will never see the blow coming.”

Commentary often point out that most of the members of STP are military veterans, and you see that mindset at the start of hostilities here: before you attack, be sure you have every advantage, especially the advantages of surprise and of greater numbers.

Ambushed!

STP does exactly that in the beginning of this fight: ambushing the enemy from hiding when the Death Riders weren't even in the building yet, so before they were even thinking about the possibility of an attack so soon. And then the tag-team specialists Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo (The Infantry) quickly ensure that one of the most powerful physical threats of the enemy (the powerhouse Claudio Castagnoli) is neutralized and taken out of the fight, burying him under stacks and stacks of bicycle racks.

A Burial

The value of this strategy multiplies as the fighters naturally pair off – the leader against the leader, the madwoman fighting the other team's madwoman, (side note: are Trish Adora's crazy-eyes perhaps the craziest in the business?) the rookie versus the rookie. This leaves unfortunate PAC not just outnumbered two-to-one, but specifically facing alone the tag-team specialists of the team, the pair with the most emphasis on coordinated teamwork and double team moves.

(While we're on the subject of The Infantry and their military subtext, they also seem to have inherited from the sadly-disbanded EYFBO's specifically-for-Street-Fights Dead Presidents paramilitary face paint.)

This emphasis of sudden surprise ambush and ensuring numerical advantage, as well as game planning and reconnaissance in advance to use terrain to their advantage (bushes to hide behind, bike racks to bury Claudio) are all aspects of STP using their military experience as the edge they needed to upset the dominance of Moxley's motley band.

Instant Karma

As both teams brawl their way into the building and then to ringside, Daniel Garcia and Lee Moriarty make a bee-line into the ring… so that they can chain wrestle! Amusingly, this is RIGHT after Schiavone makes the commentary call: "the action is everywhere but inside the ring!"!

But as funny as it is to watch the two kids exchange holds and counters in a street fight, it also makes logical sense as a callback to the original reason for the two teams' beef. Years ago, Taylor rebuked Moxley for failing to appreciate Moriarty's potential, and prioritizing Yuta and Garcia. And here, Moriarty is once again working to relitigate the point and prove Taylor right by outwrestling Garcia, despite the incongruous context.

And, for the moment, Moriarty does just that, dispatching DG with a vicious-looking neck-wrench between his two feet. But as Lee claims the ring, rolling Daniel off the edge, he's just in time to face PAC, who had momentarily beaten the odds and gotten the better of The Infantry, tossing one out past the barricade.

PAC and Moriarty ALSO do technical stuff – high-speed running the ropes, single-leg picks, and arm drags – till Moriarty again gets the advantage, this time PAC powdering out after taking a high dropkick. But then Lee celebrates a little too much, which basically summons Moxley to deliver karma, in an iteration of the classic "he's behind me, isn't he?" bit.

Moxley pushes Moriarty into the corner, starting up the crowd-counting mounted punches, but then STP's numbers advantage finally catches up with him, with the other three STP men pulling him off their child and ganging up on him.

As the Infantry hold Moxley in place for him, Shane Taylor gives him a brass-knuckle assisted shot to the jaw. Which (somehow) starts his forehead bleeding.

An All Time Great Camera Shot!

At this point, Trish Adora is keeping no-nonsense Moxley bodyguard Marina Shafir fully occupied, while both PAC and Garcia are yet to return to their feet from having been pitched out of the ring by Moriarty. So with blood streaming from his scalp and three men ganging up on him, Moxley is in desperate straits, the perfect moment for a big rescue moment, which comes in the dramatic reappearance of Claudio Castagnoli, having crawled back out from under his bike-rack burial and still wearing his luchador-mask entrance gear.

Claudio has uppercuts for EVERYBODY, he has uppercuts for days… (Meanwhile, it's easy to miss, but in the periphery you can see Jon Moxley roll out of the ring to rest sitting on the ringside mat, his back leaned against the commentary desk, looking on the carnage. This isn't inherently important, it just happens to set up one of the coolest camera shots I've ever seen in a wrestling match, a few moments later.)

Claudio does a great show of strength by hitting a deadlift vertical suplex on doughty Shane Taylor, and then he strips off his shirt. The Infantry are each holding themselves up with their arms draped over opposite turnbuckles, so Castagnoli calls his spot by doing the point gesture to indicate he's going to run back and forth between them uppercutting repeatedly… But Trish sees this and isn't about to let that happen, rushing in to block his path. Crazy-eyes Adora gives Claudio the bicep flex pose and then chops him in the chest, putting him in a lose/lose situation. Chopping her back is what he would do with anyone else, and seems like the right call… but feels wrong!

Mystifyingly, Claudio's response is to finally pull off his entrance mask. Why? I guess he felt like he had to do something?

Trish then gives Claudio a bunch more chops, but by then Shane returns to his feet and gives him an elbow strike. This staggers Castagnoli, but more importantly gives him an allowable target and a chance to show off his strength again, this time hitting the hefty man with a powerbomb that puts him in position for his signature giant swing.

But Trish is still there behind him and not going to let that happen hitting him in the back with yet another chop

Then (seemingly randomly?) we get what may be the greatest camera shot to ever happen. It makes NO SENSE how great this shot is…

We switch to a close-up of Moxley still sitting at ringside watching everything go down. Schiavone calls "as the bloody face of Jon Moxley looks on" while the cameraman does a massive zoom-out pan, starting with that close-up and zooming from there all the way back to a wide shot of the action – coming out in between Claudio's legs!

I'm not sure why or how this shot happened – whether it was meticulously planned, or a happy serendipity? And I'm not sure if there's anything we're to draw from it meant to reveal anything about the story of the match? Maybe that Moxley takes the wide view and impassively waits for his spot to interject himself into the proceedings for maximum effect? But maybe not. But for certain: it just looks cool as hell.

Overconfidence Kills

Meanwhile, Adora chops Claudio a couple more times but when she goes for one more, this time he catches her arm coming in and holds it trapped, to which she gives him a nervous "hey, now, hey buddy…"

Now she has Claudio back in that lose/lose situation: will he be a sucker? Or a brute? But Marina – who can hit a girl with impunity – comes to his rescue. After Marina knocks Trish down, she gives Claudio the signal he should give her the giant swing… noteworthy for being a move that's not an actually an attack exactly, so he can get his own back without offending any sensibilities…

Then, once Trish goes around and around a couple spins, Marina gets to do the other half of the giant-swing double team, hitting the swinging Adora with the basement dropkick. Marina and Claudio fist bump, meanwhile bloody Jon is back on his feet and stalking the ringside area… when we cut to commercial!

We return to STP (somewhat foolishly) mugging and bragging for the camera as Death Riders regroup and set up a table behind them… Claudio picks off Dean from the group without them noticing till they hear him getting powerbombed thru the table.

STP then attempt to charge into the ring, but Death Riders do a series of keep 'em outs: a high boot by Claudio, a tope by Mox, and an Orihara from PAC. This leaves DG alone with Moriarty in the ring again, this time more slugging it out, but eventually transitioning into something more technical – an attempt at a leg screw blocked by Moriarty, transitioned into an armbar, which DG rolls thru into… a cover?

Oh, yeah! I don't know if I'm the only one who'd practically forgotten by this point, but this match is a one fall in the ring to a finish sort of affair… Garcia's cover on Moriarty was the first anybody had reminded us! After the kickout, they exchange attempts at a sleeper, which ends with Taigastyle leaning in the corner… which is the cue for all of the Death Riders to roll in to give him their lariat / uppercut train!

Now it's Death Riders turn to take their eye off the ball in premature celebration – the troops doing the ring-around-the-rosie huddle dance as their fearless leader struts around them in the bicep pose. This is the cue for STP to rush in from all directions and get the best of the Death Riders from behind, leading to everyone pairing up and brawling outside. PAC sets up a table for Bravo, but instead Bravo ends up splashing PAC on the table…

STP on the Up

Meanwhile, Castagnoli and Taylor are brawling near a set of steel steps that are ominously out of position. Claudio gives the steps thoughtful eyes and starts setting Shane up for a power slam onto the steps, but Moriarty comes to his leader's rescue, leaping onto Claudio and applying the Octopus hold.

Unfortunately for Lee, the Octopus stretch looks a LOT like the set up for a sidewalk slam, and those steel steps are perfectly positioned for Claudio to climb them and leap from the top… over the barricade to slam Lee through the time keeper's table. This would have been the clear signature spot of the match… on any other night!

(Note that at this point Mox has gone back to his watching-spot, observing the action while sat on the mat leaning against the announce table, waiting for the perfect moment to jump back in…)

Meanwhile Carlie Bravo and DG are fighting in the ring. Garcia is getting the upper hand, but then a very tall woman comes out to create a distraction. It turns out this is evidently a (relatively) new member of STP who spells "Christian" different to avoid confusion with Christian Cage – which wouldn't be an issue anyway, since she is very tall.

The distraction leads to DG getting the double stomp thru a chair by the Infantry, but then Mox breaks up the pin at the last moment. Mox fights the Infantry 2-on-1 and gets them with the double Death Rider. He's about to start wailing on them with a spare metal turnbuckle he's found somewhere, but then Taylor comes to their save from behind

(Note: Daniel is also now bleeding all over everything from his scalp.)

Now Taylor and the Infantry are again three on one against Moxley, so they do a deep cut to Mox's Shield days by doing the classic three-man high powerbomb thru the table, and then give him the patented Shield arm-together taunt, except with their middle fingers extended, of course.

Their Ignominious Downfall

At this point, STP are at their most confident… and that's their downfall. They've taken out most of the Death Riders with hits that should keep them out of the action long enough to finish it, and they see that Marina Shafir is all alone in the ring. They come at her from all directions and begin to circle like a school of sharks, but what they don't know is that Marina is entirely insane and completely lacking fear, so she immediately goes on the offensive, attacking STP one by one until Trish cuts her off by knocking her for a loop from behind with one of the prettiest lariats you're likely to see all year. (This is the moment Trish Adora made a fan out of me!)

And now we hear Taylor yelling "get the bag" and if you've watched much wrestling, you know this does not bode well… as Adora rolls back in with an ominous black drawstring bag, the guys are stripping off Shafir's boots and socks… an extremely unusual set-up, but as Trish taunts us by asking "what's in the bag?" it becomes clear that the point of the unshoeing is that it's going to be something very unpleasant to step on. Much less have your feet driven into at speed. This time it's not legos … but toy army men… and thumbtacks… AND glass!

(I love, by the way, how this is meant to make the pain  RELATABLE in an everyday way. Everybody has stepped on a small plastic toy, or a bit of shattered glass that didn't get swept up, or a thumbtack that fell off the corkboard. Well, imagine a hundred of that!)

Adora and The Infantry do basically an atomic drop on Shafir, but minus the knee up the middle, so that the impact is all on the soles of Marina's feet. And then they're like "how do you like that?"

The problem for them is this: you know how I mentioned before that Marina is completely insane? And in fact, she DOES like that! "Thank you my friends, you have given me new weapons to make my feet even more deadly!" Shafir then GRINDS her feet into the mat to make sure that the tacks and the glass shards are firmly stuck to the soles of her feet to use as weapons to make her kicks all the scarier. The expressions on STPs' faces change in that frozen moment from self-congratulatory looks of "we've got this one in the bag" to a panicked "we ain't got shit!"

And perhaps: "someone please call my Mom, I would like to go home now."

The Infantry look on, shell-shocked, as Marina kicks down Trish with her glass- and tack-infused foot, which makes the perfect moment for a recovered Claudio to rush the ring and double clothesline them. This leaves Shane and the Infantry huddled at ringside, so Castagnoli signals for PAC and then military presses the smaller man AT the three men!

Meanwhile DG and Moriarty return to the ring and Lee dumps Claudio out, leaving him once again one-on-one in the ring with his rival Garcia. This time they trade submission holds, with first Moriarty getting Garcia in his Border City Stretch, but then DG uses some glass shards from the mat to force him to break the hold, upon which he puts Lee into his own Dragon Tamer hold.

Moriarty is moaning in pain while Garcia stretches him and tries to force him to tap when Taylor breaks it up with a straight right to DG's jaw. But before he can follow up, Shafir jumps on his back to apply a sleeper. Shane throws her off, but then Moxley charges in and hits Taylor with a cutter.

When Shane pulls himself back to his feet with the turnbuckle, he's in perfect position for his adversaries to run the Death Rider clothesline / uppercut train again. Finally, Moxley hits Taylor with his Death Rider finishing move and a count of three later, Shane Taylor's new army with all their well-laid plans and tactics have once again fallen to the same result as before – ignominious defeat.

Lessons Learned

At first blush, this feels like an anti-Aesop: they learned from their mistakes and came back stronger and with a plan to no effect at all. After a couple weeks of Shane Taylor Promotions being all over AEW programming, in the week since this defeat, there hasn't been a peep and only passing mention. It seems that once again Shane Taylor has made some big threats and claims and again failed to back them up.

But somebody once said "I never lose, I either win or I learn." (People claim Nelson Mandela… seems dubious). In AEW, Kyle O'Reilly has quoted that quote – notably before going on a rare string of submission wins over Jon Moxley. At the top of this piece I claimed that the best storytelling in a match sets the competitors up for future stories. And even though they've already lost to (basically) the same group and learned from that experience, you could see in the storytelling of this match the things they still had to learn in order to finally make good on their threats to take down Moxley and the Death Riders. Simple stuff like keeping your eye on the ball and not getting overconfident. More advanced stuff like being prepared to deal with a mindset you can't personally imagine in Marina Shafir. But it makes sense that they are back to the drawing board once again now. But I can see them turning this learning experience into a truly AEW dominating run once they've processed this and prepared themselves anew.

Just, please, I beg of you Tony Khan, don't make us wait another two years for that!

Check out prior Deep Dives!

Dive 1 | Max and the Giant Contract 

5/15/22, MJF's contract dispute

Dive 2 | Redefining the Iron Man 

3/14/23, Danielson vs MJF

Dive 3 | BETRAYAL of the Tribe 

4/1/23, the Build to Wrestlemania 39

Dive 4 | This is Rampage!

6/4/23, the Future of AEW Rampage?

Dive 5 | Saturday Night's All Right

6/17/23, Anticipating AEW Collision

Dive 6 | Who Is Behind the Devil?  

11/18/23, the AEW Devil and tropes!

Dive 7 | Continental Classic Explainer

12/11/23, Helping Understand Round Robins