10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2023
3. MJF Vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW Revolution
Holding the crowd under a vice-like grip for the entire duration, MJF and Danielson worked towards several thrilling dramatic peaks after a lung-bursting display of cardio-driven, technically accomplished mat wrestling.
Danielson struggled through the pain in his shoulder and throughout the first half hour drew on his marathon match experience and skyscraper ring IQ to lull MJF into errors. MJF, impetuous, burning through ideas, went against his in-ring code. Aiming a moonsault at Danielson, he jammed his knee when Danielson escaped before lunging into a spectacular dive. MJF, in plain sight, took several - too many - water breaks.
In one blinding sequence, MJF, again betraying his code to win, took to the skies. He smashed Danielson through a table with a flying elbow. Then, in an awesome spot, one that lent the match an improvised and realistic feel, he drove Danielson head-first into the wreckage with a jumping Tombstone. The plunder wasn't assembled in a distracting, contrived way. MJF made it seem as though he had stumbled onto an opportunity in the moment.
The momentum constantly oscillated until the last 10 spellbinding minutes. With the score tied 3-3, Danielson and MJF worked an attritional, blood-soaked submission struggle. The selling, tension and suspense was so expertly worked that the crowd generated a booming ovation for a prolonged spell of exhausted selling. MJF and the Dragon weren't even fighting when the fans chanted "Fight forever"; they were registering the effects of a war that located the sweetest spot imaginable between content and pacing.
The finish was incredible. It's difficult to recall a match so dramatic that looked destined to only end in one way, MJF was done. He'd ran out of time, but Tony Khan allocated more. From formality to an ingenious twist nobody saw coming, since the instrument was only introduced after the hour had expired, MJF used the oxygen tank with which he'd been treated after normal time to blast Danielson in the head.
This was his Walter White moment: the arch villain had escaped, somehow, in a development only the author could see coming.