11 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Mar 31)

7. A Nice Thing Is Also An Improbably Pretty Good Thing

Moxley Bononi
AEW

Cezar Bononi had a sh*tty 2020, to cap off a sh*tty WWE run in which they treated him really badly, and he is currently experiencing a tragic 2021. His wife is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant, and Bononi is struggling to make it happen in his homeland, Brazil, which is gripped in the worst throes of the pandemic. AEW has booked him in successive Dynamite matches to take his mind off it and afford him the exposure of his plight.

Now is an awful moment to analyse his work, but it happens to not be great generally. Last week's loss to Hangman Page was a very short but respectable bit of business, but this, bar the odd weak strike, was a damn solid longer effort of which he should be proud.

Moxley carried him, but Bononi did very well to sell the oh-sh*t plight of the match-winning choke. Mox used his smarts to lull the hoss into errors. Mox clobbered him with a barrage of stiff forearms - this was a snug fight Bononi had never worked before - and then slapped him in the face. This enraged Bononi, but Mox countered the charging lunge with a killer German suplex.

A benevolent gesture that doubled as a logically-threaded giant-killing, this was as nice as it was good.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!