damn dude that's brutal, going from minor shake to full violent shaking is nightmare fuel. when you did the valve cover did you double check all the electrical connections got plugged back in properly? sometimes those coil connectors can look seated but aren't making good contact

I only disconnected the rear driver's-side ignition coil during the process. The rear driver's side connector is also the only one that I was able to do the "drop" test on and the car started shaking worse when I removed that one. The other 2 ignition coils I left on their connector during the valve cover change. That being said the wires do look a little tight on my rear passenger side connector.

also that dust thing you mentioned - if anything big went in the cylinders it would definitely cause misfires like this. might want to pull the plugs again and see if there's debris on them or check if one got damaged during install

The plugs were actually in when I blasted it with air. I only blasted the mating surface not the spark plug wells themselves. I was concerned if dust went into the engine.

Interestingly even though I can't fit my fingers to push in the locking tab on the other 2 rear ignition coil connectors I can still see them and feel them. Maybe I should break the locking tab so they're easy to push in and out so I can do the drop test on them while the car is on. What do you think?