10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2024
6. Bryan Danielson Vs. Jeff Jarrett - AEW Dynamite (August 7)
Every wrestler seems to do every move. Every style has bled into the others. The heavyweights started wrestling like the juniors years ago. Every emerging talent in the United States borrows from Japan and Mexico even if - and this is bleak - they don’t actually know it, and take inspiration from the tape traders and not the actual tapes.
Is the only way forward back? Should wrestlers perfect the less-is-more principle?
Hopefully, this is just a cynical man pushing 40 speaking, but that awesome TV match felt like last of a dying breed stuff. The old magic.
It started off as a fun concessions stand brawl powered by Memphis heat. It was entertaining - and then the tone shifted. Danielson and Jarrett didn’t do much that you’ve never seen. It was the method by which they did it that was so incredible. They used chairs, but the weapon hasn’t felt so vicious (nor painful) in years. The Dragon used it to crack Jarrett on the knees to break free of the figure-four leg lock. The collisions were brutal - almost full-force - but that was the theme of the match. It was a restoration of meaning.
Down the stretch, something wonderful happened. Danielson and Jarrett started punching one another. They started punching each other harder, and then even harder and faster. The worked punch was a lost art before this match; during the match, it was perfected.
The driving rhythm of this unvarnished, ferocious, minimalist exchange told the story of this all-too-rare scrap. You’re telling me I’m not ready? You want me to wake up? You think I won’t go all in?
Then stitch this, you c*nt.