It's Maya World... | AEWeekly #215

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 Abel [@loza3.bsky.social] covering Match of the Week and the week's MVP, Larissa [@actual-swamp-hag.bsky.social] expanding on the Moment of the Week, and Sergei [@sergeialderman.bsky.social] exploring a key Story Beat, as well as editing and organizing it all.

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

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Maya World vs Athena

"...We’re just Living in it…"

by Abel.

This week’s Match of the Week wasn't the most high-flying or the most physical – even if it did have some spots that made me wince from the pain I felt telekinetically across the country. No, the match of the week was the most compelling match. Even though it was spoiled for me – as Collision was taped right after Dynamite on Wednesday – I was still glued to my television as if I didn't know the results. The courage it took from Tony Khan, Athena, and everyone else who made the final decision to pull the trigger on Maya World needs to be commended. It could have been really easy, a layup, to have Athena vs. Mercedes Moné in the Owen Hart Finals. Instead, they zigged when most would have zagged.

​This week’s Pro Wrestling Musings’ Match of the Week is Maya World vs. Athena in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament semifinals. The result, I think, is also only half the reason why this match stood out to me this week. While, of course, the surprise upset win was memorable, it's not lost on me that, standing in the ring after the match, were three black women wrestlers closing out the show and headlining an AEW show. This type of representation matters in pro wrestling, and all three women created an all-time moment they can be proud of.

As for the match itself, both women laid it all out on the mat. Maya and Athena have great chemistry together, which makes sense when you consider that it's mentee vs mentor in the ring. They were able to use every bit of that arena to tell their story, and it came across as authentic. Each woman took control of the match at various points, and both came off as powerful performers. For me, the spot of the match was Athena’s uranage on the railing. No matter how much padding that edge might have, I just know that hurts. This was the climax of the match, and even though she took the bump, it was the turning point in favor of World.

​Athena’s own hubris cost her the match. She had Maya down, ready for the pin, and decided to play with her food. In true underdog fashion, World took advantage of an opening and pinned the heavy favorite to advance in the tournament. I did not see this coming. If you remember in my MVP section from last week, I did not believe World would win. Not only did she prove me wrong, but Maya also has momentum heading into the tournament finals.

​You knew that as soon as World beat Athena, that friendly stuff at the end of the match was just for show. Mercedes and Athena teaming up to beat down World only gives credibility to the rising star. Athena teaming up with Mercedes, even if just to beat up on Maya World, I think, will give us a last-minute tag team match on the Collision before Forbidden Door. That could transfer some of her shine to her tag team partner, Hyan. It could also catapult them to a tag team champ run later this year.

​Will Maya win on Sunday? At this point, who knows? It would be a great story if she does; however, even if she doesn't win, this was still a great platform for World to advance her career and immediately be in the mix in the middle or at the top of the card moving forward. Remember, kids, opportunities will be there when you say "yes"!

Maya World

"No Cinderella..."

by Sergei.

On Wednesday night, they played a pretape promo reel of Athena and Maya World talking about their upcoming match (that went on to be our Match of the Week above.) It included a phrase from World that I found really interesting – she says: "I ain't no Cinderella." Now, being a "Cinderella Story" in sports isn't normally what anyone would consider a bad thing… it just means advancing further than people had expected. And people had already been calling World a Cinderella story even before her win over the Forever Champ… based on being a last-minute substitute to be in the tournament at all, plus her fighting past grief and tragedy, plus her win over Skye Blue in the first round already being considered an upset by many.

But – not to toot my horn or anything – I found World's wins far less surprising than many (such as my teammate Abel.) That's because of the structure of a knockout tournament for storytelling… For example, take the Men's division side of this year's Owen. When they showed us the brackets and we saw that Mark Davis was up against Jack Perry in the first round, in a vacuum you'd think that could go either way. Both men had wins over the other and they aren't inherently at different pecking orders. But looking at the whole bracket? I'd have put my money on Davis if his opponent had been the second coming of Bruno Sammartino and Rikidōzan. Why? Because this Men's Owen is very obviously a coronation to send Ospreay to Wembley, and Davis has history with Ospreay where Perry doesn't particularly. More important, Davis owned a win over Ospreay that the Assassin would need back before moving on. 

Similarly, World may have seemed an underdog to get to the finals of the Owen, but not so much if you view it from the perspective of "who would make a more interesting matchup in the next round?" Athena vs Skye would've been heel / heel with no particular backstory. Athena and Moné have been rivals, but what juice is there that hadn't already been squeezed last year?

But why would World say that she's "no Cinderella"? It's certainly no bad thing to advance further than people expected… but being called a "Cinderella Story" could also be seen as patronizing. By denying "Cinderella," Maya is saying that she is MORE than a scrappy underdog, she's not just a heartwarming story. She's a legitimate contender who has outpunched her weight class because of her skills and heart, not just because of the power of story.

Well, Sunday will be her opportunity to prove that. It's not just that Mercedes Moné may be the biggest star in wrestling today. But looking from the wider perspective – "which win sets up a more interesting story?" – is a lot more inconclusive this round. The winner between World and Moné will go on to Wembley to face … World Champion Thekla (barring some unlikely hotshot taking Thekla's title first.)

And there we see the great storytelling flexibility of a tweener like Thekla. The disrespectful and self-involved toxic spider belittling and overlooking the scrappy underdog? Writes itself! The anti-corporate rebel versus the CEO? ALSO writes itself! Which leaves Sunday's outcome truly unpredictable. The perfect setting for Maya World to prove if she really is so much more than a Cinderella…

Will Ospreay (derogatory)

"Clean yourself up, darling"

by Larissa.

I'm calling Will Ospreay's promo on Dynamite the "Moment of the Week," but that doesn't mean I thought it was cool. Usually I'm picking a moment that stood out in a good way – a huge jump from Kevin Knight or a goofy spot from Orange Cassidy, for example. I chose this week's moment because it brought out the absolute worst in the AEW fan community.

I've written and rewritten this post a few times now; sometimes it's longer, sometimes shorter, sometimes I use more or fewer exclamation points. The really insidious thing about sexism is it shows up in such tiny, petty ways that sometimes it doesn't even feel productive to point it out. It just feels so, so tedious. But I'm going to do it anyway, even though we've got bigger problems as a society and all. And frankly I'm annoyed that I'm even doing this, because Athena vs. Maya World was also this week, and it was totally sublime, and I'd much rather talk about that. But man, sometimes you guys are really annoying.

Brief context here: Will Ospreay cut an unambiguously heel promo on Dynamite, which he began by bragging to Tony Schiavone about fucking his wife, NJPW Women's Strong champion Alex Windsor, (last seen sobbing on Ospreay's shoulder in an unusually sweet moment.) "I took her upstairs, smashed the life out of her, and said 'clean yourself up, darling!'" Ospreay crows, then mimes tossing Windsor a towel. And when some women on the Internet dared to point out that hey, this was a little demeaning, the IWC at large went nuts. Probably no one has ever thrown a towel at you after sex, told you to clean yourself up, and then bragged about it to your coworker in front of thousands of people; maybe you're such a sophisticated Sex Haver that it wouldn't bother you, in which case, congratulations! And I'm sure that Ospreay ran that by Windsor before saying it. But it was still kind of gross! It didn't add anything to the promo and turned Alex into a sex object, flattening her character at a time when the women’s division needs all the development it can get.

But one thousand times worse than Ospreay's comment was the way dozens of keyboard warriors fell over themselves in their rush to call women who took issue with it pearl-clutching prudes, or harridan scolds, or frigid shrews, or whatever. Why do you care so much? Did Will Ospreay donate a kidney to you or something? I find it beyond disappointing to keep running into this bullshit. My husband says that's just any fandom and that they’re all toxic. But man, even the AEW community on Bluesky was pretty rancid the next day. Bluesky! There's like 30 of us total! Why is the idea that someone might respond to a moment differently than you so threatening? Why is the phrase, "I didn't see it that way, but I respect your opinion" so anathema to a certain type of fan?

Anyway, the rest of the promo was good. Heel Ospreay will be fun.

Mercedes Moné

"C.E.O. M.V.P..."

by Abel.

I was maybe a week too early for Maya World – if I hadn't just written her up last week, I think this would have been the perfect time to make her my MVP of the Week. However, this week, there is someone just as worthy to be called Pro Wrestling Musings’ MVP of the Week, and that is Mercedes Moné. Since her return from her hiatus after losing all 13 of her belts, Moné has been on an absolute tear in AEW. Specifically, this week, not only was Moné involved in what many would consider the most exciting match of the week against Hazuki, but she was also involved in what might be the most interesting storyline in AEW at the moment.

Keep in mind that she has been able to do all of this without cutting a promo this week. Not once did she pick up a microphone, and yet she has been able to tell some wonderful stories. Coming out on Collision and joining in with Athena to beat up on Maya World solidified that Mercedes is as ruthless as ever. I think turning the crowd against her since her return has been masterful professional wrestling. In her return match, the AEW crowd fawned over Moné and were glad she was back, cheering the former belt collector. Mercedes has done a fantastic job of keeping the crowd at bay by maintaining a high "dastardly" meter.

Alongside Athena, she has successfully built Maya World as a legitimate contender for not only the Owen Hart Tournament winner, but also the AEW Women’s championship. Only those scared of their opponent would team up with an enemy to take them down. Again, just to reiterate my point: all of this was done without picking up a microphone. Mercedes is truly one of the best wrestlers in the world. She can carry the momentum of an entire tournament on her back, all while having people eating out of her hands.

I'm really excited to see where Mercedes takes this rivalry on this week’s edition of Dynamite and Collision before her big match-up on Forbidden Door. I would love to see a tag team match between World and Hyan vs Athena and Mercedes. I think that would be a great way to continue building this match at the Pay-Per-View. In a recent interview, Tony Khan was asked to name his new four pillars of the company. To no one's surprise, TK mentioned Mercedes as one of the new pillars. Even those who might have doubted it before will, after this week, have no way to deny that reality. 

Moné is now on her way to Forbidden Door to fight for the right to go to Wembley. Will this finally be the moment where she wins the one title that has eluded her? If I were a betting man, I would put my money on yes – she finally wins the title. However, even if she doesn't, the ride to All In alongside Moné has been a fun one, and weeks like this prove why Mercedes is one of the best wrestlers in the world, in any division.