11 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Fyter Fest 2021 Night 1

10. Team Taz Implodes, Ricky Starks Explodes

Ricky Starks FTW Champion AEW Fyter Fest Team Taz
AEW.com

The Team Taz civil war was paid off here in red-hot fashion.

On a strict basis, this wasn't ideal. The idea was to babyface Brian Cage and position him to run through Team Taz. This was undermined, since Ricky Starks came of age on the Texas indie circuit and was received as a superstar in the H-E-B Center. But molten heat is the new selling point of AEW's new era, and this is a company with countless over babyfaces on the roster. Precedent informs us that the alignments will recalibrate over the coming weeks.

The match itself stumbled early, but Cage and Starks recovered to deliver something as fun as it was dramatic. The crowd bit on every well-orchestrated near-fall, and Starks in particular was on tremendous form. His facial expressions embarrassed the sub-Undertaker clichés that have infested modern wrestling. Cage's power game is such an asset - he stirs the old Silver Vision feelings - and Starks was a great foil.

They have better in them, and better is coming: Team Taz f*cked Cage over to award Starks with the FTW Title to heat up a storyline that has simmered since the post-Revolution Dynamite.

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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!