Worst in the World: Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)

Before I start this, I feel like I need to clarify this; I love All Elite Wrestling. I genuinely think it is the best weekly wrestling show there is right now. And while it's not perfect, the majority of what is put on TV is at least good, in my opinion. That being said, AEW has had quite a few missteps since starting up. The Dark Order was dead on arrival before Brodie Lee showed up and resuscitated the group, Miro came in with a lot of hype following his WWE release, but his booking seriously underwhelmed until he broke away from Kip Sabian, and of course...

That. However, the biggest issue that AEW has had since its inception is by far its women's division. 
It hasn't been entirely their fault. Injuries kept Britt Baker and Kris Statlander out of the ring for a long time, while COVID-19 had kept women like Yuka Sakazaki and (until recently) Riho & Shanna out of the country entirely. Along with that, Kylie Rae seemed set to be one of the faces of the division before her abrupt departure. However, the booking can't be ignored. Whether it be the Nightmare Collective, which was like the O.G. Dark Order right down to nobody liking it, only with a feminine touch (also Luther was there, which made it worse), or Allie changing gimmicks & alignments four times in under two years (something that Paul Wight clearly sensed & signed with AEW so he wouldn't lose his schtick), or tournaments like the Deadly Draw Tag Team Cup and even the recent Women's Championship Eliminator tournament being mostly relegated to YouTube, to Women's Championship matches on pay-per-view having the bare minimum of build, the booking of AEW's women's division has done it no favors given the circumstances. It got so bad that AEW had to start bringing in women from the NWA to add some kind of legitimacy to the division. Things are looking up right now, as Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker just had a barn-burner of an Unsanctioned match, and also Maki Itoh showed up (and she's the best), but the early days of the division are one of AEW's biggest black eyes.

While the AEW women's division rough start has been bad, if there's anything positive to take away from it, it's that the in-ring action hasn't really been all that bad. It hasn't been great and there really aren't many must-see matches, but the actual wrestling could be a lot worse. It's mostly just how the women are being presented that's bad, and not so much what the women actually present. That is, except for this match.

I did a bit of research before writing to this to figure out what the worst match AEW has put on so far was, and there seem to be three frequent answers; Riho vs Kris Statlander, the Broken Rules match between Matt Hardy & Sammy Guevara, and Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Reba Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. Riho vs Statlander's bad reception has more to do with the interference from the Nightmare Collective than the actual in-ring work, while the Broken Rules match is primarily infamous for Hardy's injury and the gross negligence of allowing him to continue after a fall off a scissor lift. While both of those are bad (the Hardy incident, in particular, is probably AEW's biggest black eye), in terms of AEW matches that are bad purely for the in-ring work, this match takes the cake.

Big Swole & Britt Baker had been feuding for months before this match actually took place. Part of the reason for this feud went so long was, for the majority of the feud, Baker was recovering from a leg injury and was unable to wrestle. And that includes this match, as despite being listed as a participant in this match, Baker spends the entire match in her wheelchair at ringside. That leaves all the in-ring work to Swole, Penelope Ford, and Rebel. Rebel is Baker's assistant turned lackey, while Ford got roped into this storyline after Baker offered her free makeup and dental care to help her against Swole. Now, I actually do like Penelope Ford (her match with Hikaru Shida at Fyter Fest last year was a pleasant surprise) and while I wouldn't consider myself a fan of Big Swole and her name confuses me to no end (how can you be "Big Swole" when you are neither big nor swole), I don't dislike her and I think she has potential. On paper, this shouldn't have been too bad. And yet, here we are. Let's get into this.

Before the match starts, Baker takes the mic and says that if Swole wins this match, then she can face Baker in any match she wants. Baker then sings some Shania Twain as Rebel & Ford jump Swole. The two beat down Swole before Rebel sloppily gets into position for a double Irish whip. Swole dodges a double clothesline and fights off both women, only for Ford to catch her with a knee to the gut. The bell rings as Ford picks up Swole in a fireman's carry, only to immediately lose her balance and fall over. The match just fucking started.

Swole fights back and connects with a headbutt, but Ford keeps control with a kick to the gut. Ford chokes Swole against the ropes, allowing Baker to jab her in the face with her crutches. Ford tags in  Rebel before hitting a nice handspring back elbow. Rebel follows that up by slowly running across the ring and hitting a step-up high knee in the corner. CM Punk, she is not. Granted, in the limited amount of time she's spent in the ring in AEW, she seems better than she was in TNA, and I think she has some funny moments as Baker's sidekick, but I wouldn't go as far as to say she's a good wrestler. It probably doesn't help that she's working a gimmick where she's not actually a wrestler and is just Baker's lackey, but I digress. Rebel goes up to the top rope, struggling to keep her balance as Swole knocks Ford off the apron. Swole hits a Super Frankensteiner off the top rope, which Rebel sells and jumps off the ropes a bit too late for it to look good.

Swole makes the cover, but Ford's fiancee Kip Sabian distracts the referee. Swole takes the opportunity to take out Sabian with Dirty Dancing, a Ripcord discus forearm. I'm not the biggest fan of that move, but this one, in particular, looked really good. The distraction allows Ford to hit a bicycle kick and roll Swole back in the ring so Rebel can "hit" a moonsault for a near fall. The moonsault itself looked fine, but it's clear as day that there's no real impact behind it. Ford tags back in as Baker gives Rebel one of her crutches. The referee quickly takes it away, so Baker gives her the other crutch. Ford sets up Swole to take the shot, but Swole dodges it, causing Rebel to hit Ford. For whatever reason, Rebel sells hitting someone else with a crutch like she got knocked out, and rolls out of the ring. Swole makes the cover and gets the three for the win. She then proceeds to celebrate a match she won purely because the heels are incompetent by dancing over & kicking Ford out of the ring. Considering how this feud saw her both threaten with a chair, pour trash on, and kidnap and throw in a dumpster, a person in a wheelchair purely because she's annoying and obnoxious, that's pretty in line with Swole being a super unlikable babyface.

The Verdict

Shockingly bad. There are a couple of decent spots, but overall the match is not good. For every decent spot, there are two sloppy spots to compliment it. Rebel is Rebel, and I wasn't expecting anything good from her, and she does have some bad moments. Taking her out and just having a Big Swole/Penelope Ford singles match would've been a little better but not by much. Add on the confusing booking and it's not surprising a lot of people (myself included) think this is the worst match AEW has booked in its short existence.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

1. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
2. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
3. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
4. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
5. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
6. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
7. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
8. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
9. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
10. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
11. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
12. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
13. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
14. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
15. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
16. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
17. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
18. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
19. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
20. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
21. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
22. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
23. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
24. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
25. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
26. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
27. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
28. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
29. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
30. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
31. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
32. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
33. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
34. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
35. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
36. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
37. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
38. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
39. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
40. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
41. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
42. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
43. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
44. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
45. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
46. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
47. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
48. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
49. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
50. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
51. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
52. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
53. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
54. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
55. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
56. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
57. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
58. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
59. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
60. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
61. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
62. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
63. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
64. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
65. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
66. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
67. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
68. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
69. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
70. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
71. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
72. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
73. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
74. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
75. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
76. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
77. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
78. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
79. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
80. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
81. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
82. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
83. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
84. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
85. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
86. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
87. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
88. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
89. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
90.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
91. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
92. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
93. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
94. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
95. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
96. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
97. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
98. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
99. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
100. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
101. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
102. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
103. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
104. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
105. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
106. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
107. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
108. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
109. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
110. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
111. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
112. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
113. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
114. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-RAW (7/8/2002)
115. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
116. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
117. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
118. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
119. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
120. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
121. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
122. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
123. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
124. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
125. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
126. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
127. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
128. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
129. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
130. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
131. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
132. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
133. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
134. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
135. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
136. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
137. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
138. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
139. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
140. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
141. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
142. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
143. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
144. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
145. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
146. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
147. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
148. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
149. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
150. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009

Thanks for reading! Be sure to share if you enjoy and leave any suggestions for matches you'd like to see covered in the Worst in the World in the comments. Next time, I'll be taking a look at a match that just recently happened at WrestleMania 37. You know exactly which one. Until then...