The images of defeat
The images of defeat
What it looks like when we realize this one isn't going our way.
Darby Allin is the self-imposed defeat.
All or nothing. That’s how the announcers describe him. That’s Darby’s thing. Even when it leads to his own demise, Darby wouldn’t have it any other way.
There are so many moments in Darby Allin matches where he suffers the consequences of a risk he takes. When he does, you might find that your mind races with a series of frantic questions.
Is he OK? Is he crazy? Is he made of rubber? Will that cost him the match?
When it comes to that last question, the story has gone both directions. On Wednesday night, the risks did not pay off. As the match unfolded, there were a couple images that told the story. They told the story of a man taking big swings, going out in the only way that he knows in a main event wrestling match.
In today's Kanefabe newsletter:
Three different images of three very different losses, all marking the defining moments of those defeats. On we go.
The loss that just really hurts
Looking to gain the upper hand in the match, Darby Allin crashed to the floor on a missed dive out of the ring, landing on the exposed concrete. That is not a spot you can fake. Then his opponent, Jon Moxley, flipped him onto the top of the steel ring steps.
This is where we found Darby after the second crash landing.
Darby lost the match. In the process, he lost his chance at a future championship match.
In the convoluted angle that culminated with this match, Darby Allin did not exactly come across as a strategic mastermind. He put his world championship opportunity on the line against Moxley when he didn't have to. He fought like the underdog, befitting his whole character, but he never had to be in that fight in the first place.
He sure fought like the underdog. Nobody does it like Darby, getting rag-dolled around the ring and then making comebacks because of his willingness to throw his body around and take big risks. That's what he tried to do Wednesday, battling back from a relentless beating. It just didn't quite work out.
The image of him lying on the exposed floor marks the moment when that all started to set in.
The loss with the extra weight of a bunch of losses
The Detroit Tigers are surging towards the American League playoffs. They are a young team. They came out of nowhere. It's a fun story. I wrote about it last week.
Alas, the fun story of a team stealing a spot in the postseason often comes at the expense of a team that is tumbling down the standings. This year, that team is the Minnesota Twins.
Once firmly in the middle of the playoff race with a strong hold on a wild card spot, the Twin are six games below .500 in the second half of the season. They are 9-14 in September, losing to some bad teams in the process.
Up here in Minnesota, the whole thing has been kind of a bummer.
With the wild card race in a virtual dead heat, the Twins took on the Boston Red Sox in a doubleheader at Fenway Park this past week. They badly needed to win those games. For the first game of the day, they seemed to have the right pitcher on the mound.
Pablo López started for the Twins. It didn't go well, with the big blows coming in the form of multiple Triston Casas home runs.
The game wasn't over. But it felt dire. It got late early, as they say.
The baseball season is long and grueling. It doesn't come down to one moment, one game, or even one series. But there are moments that stand out, moments that seem to mark a turning point. Or maybe they are just striking because they feel representative of the larger trend that has been developing.
This shot of López felt like one of those moments:
The Twins dropped both games that day.
The feeling when you lost because you wouldn't let you friend stab someone with a screwdriver
Sometimes the good guys win because they do the right thing. Sometimes they lose.
On Wednesday night, Will Ospreay wouldn't let Kyle Fletcher cheat to defeat the Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team championship. Such as these things go, their opponents did cheat shortly thereafter and steal the victory.
Now these two friends have some things to work out. We all know how that goes. Although maybe not this specific dilemma. But we all know that things don't work out sometimes. And we know what those moments feel like when that reality sets in.
