The Hero AEW Needs | AEWeekly #145

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, Sergei [@SergeiAlderman] covering Interview & MVP, and Peter [@PeterEdge7] bringing us the Story Beat & Moment of the week.

Our highest thanks go to Saul [@SaulKiloh] who is leaving the crew, at least for now. Over the past year and a half he has truly put his stamp on our Story Beat coverage with his distinct voice. His time, efforts, and thoughts have been deeply appreciated.

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

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Darby Allin

"That which does not kill us…"

by Tim.

My pick for match of this week comes from Dynamite, not because Full Gear didn’t have any good matches, but because the Pacific Northwest that I call home has been peppered with bomb cyclones this week and the chance of me having no power on Saturday night was high. While I missed out on the PPV, Claudio vs. Darby from Wednesday was a great David v. Goliath matchup that quickly turned into Godzilla vs. Bambi. 

Claudio’s strength is on display early as he just tosses Darby around the ring. In a super-impressive spot he puts Darby into a vertical suplex position, holds him there, and then walks up the ring steps to unceremoniously dump Darby inside the ring. It’s often been said that Claudio may be one of the strongest men in pro-wrestling pound for pound, and during this match he looked the part. Even simple moves like an armdrag when delivered by Claudio and sold by Darby, look like absolute death. Darby has to get creative to stay competitive and he does so via tangling Claudio in the ring apron, biting his face, and then hitting a pair of suicide dives (the second one almost resulting in Darby joining the front row). Claudio powers back though with a gut-wrench avalanche suplex and then he goes for a giant swing which Darby counters. Darby with a code red (I don’t think anyone does this move better) and he’s doing okay, holding his own, until the action spills to the outside and Claudio hits that giant swing. To be more precise, he hits the steel steps with Darby via the giant swing. Claudio then clears off the announce desk (I love how wrestlers take time to clear away that expensive A/V equipment) and hoists Darby up into a guerilla press before launching Darby through the time-keeper’s table. The referee almost counts Darby out but Darby gets just enough energy together to run back into the ring, only to catch a King Kong lariat from Claudio. Claudio gets the pin, the giant has won. 

It feels like Darby is on a path that will eventually lead him to Jon Moxley and the AEW World Championship. This journey won't be a quick one and a sentry like Claudio isn’t going to go down easily. It’s like when I play Elden Ring and want to go explore Shadow of the Erdtree, is it easy to just get into the DLC? No, I have to beat Mohg, Lord of Blood to access the bonus content. Despite beating him on earlier playthroughs, he can be challenging. He can be infuriating. I mean why do I have so much trouble with him? I level up my character, I equip the right talismans, and yet I enter his arena and all I get is fire, blood loss, and the reach Mohg has with that stupid trident. Do my summons help? No! They’re holding back doing jack all while I’m bleeding out and the arena is on fire and all I want to do is run around the Cerulean Coast filled with blue flowers but there I go dying again!

But I digress. Darby’s story is going to be filled with setbacks but eventually he’s going to get past Moxley’s lieutenants and then it will be him and the King of AEW. It’s a story that’s going to take place over the next several months and we’re barely out of the early chapters. Setbacks are to be expected at this point and this match told that story expertly. Darby’s got a lot of challenges ahead — Claudio was just the first of many.

Daniel Garcia's Mom

"Your mother should know!..."

by Sergei.

Daniel Garcia hasn't had a straight or easy path to wrestling success, but the audience following along with every bump and dead end has helped us to get very invested in that success. But not every chapter in that story has been equally compelling. And even though the latest chapter with Jack Perry seemed about to (and did!) lead to Daniel Garcia finally holding singles gold in AEW, it hasn't really been the most gripping stuff.

But right before the PPV TNT Title match, we got a pretape of Daniel walking the streets (of Newark, I presume?) listening to some words of encouragement through his headphones that I found genuinely riveting. This advice wasn't from a mentor from the wrestling world, like a Matt Menard. But rather, they were the words of his mother.

Ms. Garcia's sentiments definitely arrested my attention when I had been wondering if this story was worth a share of my limited time and attention. But, while it's maybe safe to assume pretty much everybody has or had a Mother. But Daniel Garcia's mom specifically seemed to have popped up (as a relevant part of his storyline) sort of out of nowhere. Or that's what I thought at first, until I Googled to find this promo and discovered that, as an AEW character, Daniel's mom has had a bit of a journey herself!

The first mention of Daniel Garcia's mom was almost a year ago. On January 26, Matt Menard cut an amazing promo talking about why he always looks out for Garcia. It was a social exclusive that I completely missed at the time, or it would have been a lock for Promo of the Week for its week:

But even deeper than that, y'know, I made a promise — Daniel doesn't know this, he'll find out when he sees this — I made a promise to his mother. I made that exact promise… to his mother. That no matter what happens, that I'd have his back — that I'd act with his best interests at heart, that I'd try to guide him and support him the best that I could, just so that he'd never be alone. She did a great job, y'know, she did a great job: raising a young man, a single mother. I can't imagine the burden of that. And to watch her son, y'know, blaze his path in professional wrestling… and to watch everything that he goes through, y'know, the bumps and the bruises and the pain and the heartbreak… to watch him overcome in the Continental Classic… 

Ms. Garcia next appears in AEW programming in June, on the occasion of Dynamite emanating from their hometown of Buffalo. New York. Before the show, a package aired with DG talking about his upbringing in Buffalo, including his appreciation of his mother finding a way to take him to all of the pro wrestling shows…

But then, after the show, we actually see Daniel's mom, for the first and only time!

DG is pretty elated, as he had just beat the Butcher in a battle of hometown boys and before that both MJF and Ospreay had offered him opportunities, one at a Wembley match-up and the other at a title shot the following week. He's walking backstage with his family on their way out of the arena when an interview crew catch up to them. When Garcia brings up the possibility that the World title might be on the line if Ospreay defeats the current World Champ at the time, Swerve, and becomes double champ over the weekend, Garcia turns to his mom and asks: "Mom, we got enough room at the house for two titles?" Lol.

Things with Ospreay and MJF of course did NOT go the way Daniel Garcia or his mom might have hoped. Which led to some darker chapters in DG's story. Which dovetailed into the current situation where all of AEW is going through a rough time, and DG's mom couldn't help but notice:

Hey, it's your mother. I don't know what's going on over there. But I'm sitting here, seeing all this chaos happening… honestly, it's starting to worry me a little bit.

After establishing that the chaos and uncertainty of the overarching story is weighing on the competitors' families as well, Mom gives some really interesting advice:

I know you always try to think about other people… and help the people you care about. You even try to help the people you don't care about. But sometimes… you have to realize… it's time to do what's best for you.

Peter and I both talk about the dearth of heroes in AEW right now further down in this article. So one might take this as the typical role of the caregiver family member in a narrative: advising the protagonist to refuse the call. It could even be uncharitably interpreted as advising selfishly ignoring the needs of others. But I don't think that's the right interpretation.

I think this is the "oxygen mask" principle: the flight attendant explains you must always attach your own mask in a decompression event before attempting to help anyone else, even your own child — not because you don't care, but because you do. And in that situation you will quickly be in no position to help anyone if you don't make sure to help yourself. I think that advice is VERY relevant to the "Death Rider" era of AEW, as well as to the world at large.

Hangman Page & Christian Cage & Jay White

"Pick your poison..."

by Peter.

After Jon Moxley's victory over Orange Cassidy in which Jon Moxley's philosophy came to the fore (it involves as much outside interference as a House of Torture match) as per usual the thoughts shifted to what happens next in the World Title picture and while we usually have to wait til the next Dynamite to find out, we might have got a big hint to what's next in terms of who will have the chance to be the "saviour" of AEW and it comes in the form of three people, all three unlikely potential saviours for varying reasons, so we have to ask: do we trust Hangman, Christian or Switchblade to be the guy to take from Moxley, and then wield, the power that the AEW World Title affords you.

For the last two years, being in AEW has caused Hangman Page's mental wellbeing to deteriorate, but deep down he still loves AEW. Hangman was the man who unveiled the concept of AEW on New Year's Day 2019, it was Hangman who it is often said is the "main character" of AEW… but the Hangman we are seeing right now is a different Page than the one who won the AEW World Title three years ago at Full Gear in the company's ultimate feel good moment. Full of hate and irrationality, Hangman's mind has been warped to the point that we may never get a sane Hangman Page back. But deep down that love of the company that made him is there and maybe it had to take a man who is partly responsible for his sanity to go downhill holding the AEW Title and the company hostage, a man he despises almost as much as Swerve to make Hangman realise that. 

Hangman Page may be the hero we needed but we didn't deserve after what he's had to go through the last few years

Christian Cage came out and hit the Unprettier on Moxley. He was within seconds of signing the contract to cash it in. Seconds away from winning "Big Platinum" the first ever to win that belt, Big Gold and 10 Pounds of Gold. It would be a case of a lesser of two evils if Christian had taken the belt home with him. The fact Hangman was the guy to hand over the contract to Cage shows that Hangman knew it but he was scuppered by a man who still holds resentment for the moment when Christian injured him.

Jay White isn't a AEW loyalist. He is part of the section of the AEW that comes from NJPW, took a contract from AEW because they paid more money than anyone else. He didn't travel down to Florida and Georgia when the world shut down in 2020 and wrestled for the company when it was dangerous to be in public places. Jay White in a moment where the lesser of two evils could have been champion chose to prevent that because of a grudge.

With Moxley, Page, Cage and White all interacting at the end of Full Gear. The chances are the main event of World's End will be a 4-Way with those four. So who do you want to be the champ when the calender turns to 2025?

A lunatic whose rationality went to the point of no return.

A man who could have been the least deserving champ in AEW history had he not taken ages to sign the contract he had in his hand.

Or a man that has stabbed tag team partners in the back on multiple occasions.

In a land that is rapidly becoming one with no good men, we might have to pick a poison that isn't as destroying as the Death Riders on the final weekend of 2024. 

Anything to save AEW from the Moxley Way.

P.S- The right answer is the lunatic…

Darby Allin

"Where's the streetwise Hercules..."

by Sergei

As Peter outlined in the Moment / Story of the Week above, after Jon Moxley fended off the World Championship challenge of Orange Cassidy, three different men came out to the ring, one after another, to stake a claim on the next shot — and every one of the three at least ethically questionable, if not an outright villain.

We see the same thing in numerous feuds throughout the promotion. It may be clear who the antagonist in each subplot is, but their opponent is only a defacto "good guy" — Adam Cole being the quintessential example. So, now with Orange Cassidy — one of the few unequivocal white hats in the promotion fallen to the Big Bad, who's a fan to root for?

As if he heard our cries, at the very last moment of Saturday's PPV, the answer to this question came hurtling at the Death Riders' pick-up truck at unsafe speed in a morbidly-graffitied sedan.

Now, you may question if Darby genuinely qualifies as an unalloyed goodie, as he obviously has his dark side. But Darby is a dark hero, not to be confused with any form of antihero or shades-of-grey. If it were the Wild West, he'd wear a black hat cause he likes the aesthetic, but he would absolutely BE a White Hat.

Darby is always one of the most valuable in AEW, for many reasons. But he is especially the MVP now, when we need him most.