10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2023 (So Far)
3. The Elite Vs. Blackpool Combat Club - AEW Double Or Nothing
A blistering tour de force of a match, the second Anarchy In The Arena was different from the first.
It was a wild brawl, emphasising blistering workrate deeper into the match, with broadly comedic elements early. In two great slapstick moments, Bryan Danielson was slid down a guardrail before being thwacked with a dustbin. Then - in a moment that rewarded prime PWG hardcores, but functioned more generally as an omen that anything can happen - referee Rick Knox was bloodied when eating an unintentional chair shot to the face. Matt Jackson and Claudio Castagnoli's sequence saw the tone shift.
The work was still raucous, leaning heavily on the entertainment aspect - Matt got swung into bin! - but the violence started to really seep in. This allowed the subsequent emotional beats to resonate through contrast; were the match too intense too early, the heartwarming, exhilarating Kenny Omega and Hangman Page reunion would not have soared as highly as it did.
Matt Jackson's idea to hide an explosion spot was ingenious. It was a true Holy Sh*t moment, tied into the history of the Elite's wider story with Jon Moxley, and let to the most nasty spot of the match, in which his sole was punctured with thumb tacks.
The match then took on a more serious tenor as events converged in the ring. The awesome Omega and Page reunion sparked a white-knuckle series of near-falls, an awesome sequence of hugely protected finishers, traded furiously, broken up at the last nanosecond with flailing saves. Pulsating big-time ultra-violence, chaos and narrative elegance threaded together seamlessly, Anarchy In The Arena II was a masterpiece.
An incredible war informed by character and story to set itself apart, the second match underscored that Tony Khan has pioneered his own WarGames: the new modern standard of a big-drawing gimmick spectacular.