10 Best AEW Matches Ever (According To The Internet)
4. Hangman Page Vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW Dynamite: Winter Is Coming 2021 (9.54)
Hangman Page's AEW World title reign was a disappointment, sadly.
The idea that the money is all in the chase is bullsh*t - in AEW alone, Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy's lengthy babyface reigns are among the highlights of a company that has peaked at the all-timer stratosphere - but Page's journey was so compelling that there was a finality to it all when he realised his goal.
It also didn't help that CM Punk was doing the best work of a polarising yet glittering career in his seminal feud with MJF.
The reign wasn't great, but it got off to an incredible start with an ironic shortcut: AEW's decision to immediately cast Page as a World champion in the mould of the territory Iron Man was strong. Page's Winter Is Coming hour-long draw with Bryan Danielson was a classic; Danielson throughout handed Page a lesson in how to be a big match sh*thouse, but spent too long flexing his amazing cardio and working over one too many limbs in order to negate the Buckshot lariat. This accomplished several things:
It strengthened Danielson's sudden heel turn (he had deputised for Jon Moxley). The story of the match - Page barely surviving a lethal if unfocused Danielson - created scope for a rematch. And the first went an hour!
The story, elegantly broken up to peak at various points in order to work within the constraints of commercial breaks, cast Page as an unsolvable puzzle who could not be denied. Danielson working over every part of Hangman's frame also informed every comeback. They effectively created a sense that Page couldn't do anything, so when he did, he generated an eruption of a pop.
Everybody knew Page wasn't losing his first defence. Nobody felt that as the match, brimming with tension, unfolded.