10 Matches For The Ultimate NJPW Vs. AEW Supercard
8. Jay White Vs. Dustin Rhodes
Not every match on this (or any) show can be a blow-away, out-of-this-world banger.
Any promoter of note knows when to scale back the pace, and when to entrust its senior talent with wrestling a match for the equal benefit of the card and the audience. Dustin Rhodes is that man in the AEW camp; a sentimental favourite with the experience and selflessness to craft an absorbing—but not exhausting—story, he is the perfect choice with which to keep everything ticking along. He can use his psychology to work around the more spectacular spots and sequences best reserved for the major matches later in the night.
And somehow, at just 26 years of old, the preternatural Jay White is that man for NJPW.
A match for the purists, White knows exactly how to build sympathy for Rhodes, and Rhodes knows exactly how to exploit it. A protracted beatdown, marked by stalling and mugging, building to a crescendo in which Dustin unleashes a sunset flip powerbomb, would mean so much more than most any move on the night.
That’s because he has the know-how to struggle towards building it, and White has the despicable disposition to practically beg for it.