12 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Feb 5)
1. 10 Lashes In A 10/10 Segment
If you're going to get the full experience from a segment like Cody taking 10 lashings from MJF's belt, you've got to drop all cynicism and let yourself get worked. After all, if you're above getting worked, what's the point of pro-wrestling?
This was horrible to watch. Horrible. That's why it goes down as the night's biggest Up, and possibly the most effective segment of AEW's entire run. It was that good and succeeded not only by making this feud feel like the biggest thing in the company, but by hitting all the right emotional beats over and over and over agian.
As if ritually humiliating Cody with the lashings wasn't enough, MJF had a couple of little digs left for his rival, insisting they use Cody's own belt for the punishment then pulling out of his first lashing at the last second, toying with his prey. When the blows came, they were ghastly. Cody writhed, winced, and screamed in pain as the leather turned his flesh red. His performance was exemplary. Sure, these shots definitely stung him for real, but this was an elite-level selling job. He made you wince. He made you watch through your fingers, because you didn't want to see the hero going through this demeaning, awful experience. He made you feel his pain.
The locker-room started pouring out early on. Dustin Rhodes emerged deep into the segment, but was dismissed when he offered to take the remaining lashings himself. The Young Bucks emerged to will their boy on and Brandi supported her husband on television for the first time in months, nursing 'The American Nightmare' to his feet before the final lashing.
Cody rose, like a warrior, with tears in his eyes. The last strike came, and it was gutwrenching. Absolutely gutwrenching.
But he did it. 'The Grandson of a Plumber' took MJF's abuse like a man. He endured the punishment and the humiliation because that's how much he wants to destroy Maxwell; and by the end, the audience did too.
MJF was already a tremendous heel prior to this segment, but lashing Cody may have been the making of him as a world-class, high-level heat magnet. That last low blow was perfect, too. One final act of cowardice after he'd already torn down a man he'd spent fifteen minutes driving to the lowest point of his whole career.
Perfect pro-wrestling theatre.