10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2021
6. Kenny Omega Vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam
A dream match that was paced as a dream.
When Justin Roberts announced that there was just one minute remaining, it scanned as a mistake, like that sense of confusion that cloaks you when you first wake up.
Kenny Omega Vs. Bryan Danielson, a preposterous match to have actually happened, was the quickest 30 minute match of all time. Set against a gorgeous open-air stadium backdrop in front of AEW's biggest ever house, worked between two of the best wrestlers whose paths you never thought would cross, it would be very corny to describe it as a hallucinogenic experience - but isn't that exactly the sort of feeling a dream match should elicit?
It met enormous expectations.
Omega targeted Danielson's neck, as if he was intent on proving that Danielson had made a mistake by leaving behind the promotion where a talent makes money and not a legacy. He drilled him on the ramp with a snap dragon, sprinted down it to blast him with a V-Trigger, and in an amazing spot, pivoted from a buckle bomb to send him to the outside with a powerbomb executed against the top rope. Danielson's flailing bump was as sickening as it was compelling.
In the best reversal of the year, Omega countered the Busaiku knee with an instant powerbomb. The execution was phenomenal. So often, the wrestler performing the move that gets countered doesn't look like they're about to actually hit it. Danielson did, and Omega's timing is unparalleled.
Danielson's selling was exquisite. He looked concussed. He wasn't. He was just that brilliant at drawing fans into the depth of his struggle.