10 Best AEW Matches Ever (According To The Internet)

Spoiler: there is somehow no space on this list - voted for by fans, not your author - for CM Punk. Does this mean that hardcore AEW fans don't appreciate an intricate, understated form of wrestling in which everything matters?

Not necessarily.

Ironically, given that Hangman Page is to Punk's mind an "empty-headed dumb f*cking f*ck", his second match with Bryan Danielson was an absorbing, brilliantly cerebral affair that did not waste a single second. This was refined, masterful wrestling as sport.

Sometimes, in a real sport, effective strategy can undo itself. As an example, consider the gegenpress philosophy in football. Relentless pressure can unsettle the opposition into making errors, but it can also tire out the team applying the tactic. The team can orchestrate their own downfall.

Bryan Danielson did here, which led to an awesome sequence informed by his deep thinking approach. He brutalised Page throughout, using a blunt force strategy after his limb work failed him in their first match. The problem is that Page was soaked with so much of his own blood that Danielson could not apply the LeBell lock. Page slipped out of it, and eventually won, but this was such a thoughtful way of getting over in defeat.

As great as it was, it still wasn't the best match they worked together...