10 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Full Gear 2021

5. A Merely Good Match

Ultimately, it's hard to work out who this confusing, not-actually-bad Cody storyline is benefitting. It's fascinating. Different.

But is it good?

The Cody & PAC Vs. Andrade El Idolo & Malakai Black match while good fell short of fairly big expectations. Some of the action was as spectacular as you'd expect, given the names involved, but by the design of the layout it was difficult to get behind anybody in it. The various very hard slaps that acted as tags were amusing, initially, but that theme grew old when the match devolved into a procession of cool action not helped by the fact that, in WWE style, the audience had seen a lot of the various combinations involved in stories with clearer stakes.

It was refreshing to see El Idolo and Black tease a fraying, only-professional alignment, but again: is it actually "good" that the relationship is considered weird in AEW canon too? Or is it just weird?

The structure was more confusing than complex, and the action wasn't great enough to just go along with the unfocused quality of it all. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" thread is half-baked, and if Cody is adamant that he won't turn, a match like this won't help.

Cody and AEW itself have earned the "let it play out" take that is a meme elsewhere. But this was just a bit odd, really - too good not to praise mildly, too weird to fully invest in.