10 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Fight For The Fallen (27 July)

1. An Expertly Engineered Upset

A ****1/2 main event on a Wednesday evening? Sure, why not.

Daniel Garcia's win over Bryan Danielson was the biggest of his AEW career. Even with Jake Hager's interjection (which conveniently sets the bruiser up to lose to Danielson in the future), it was note-perfect and the kind of thing AEW television could use more of. The predictable outcome is often the right outcome in this sport. You book this way to avoid worn-out Russo-esque swerves and ensure that when an upset does happen, it feels suitably huge. AEW arguably swings in the wrong direction too often, but not here.

Daniel Garcia, 23, beat one of the greatest wrestlers of all time to cap a great in-ring story.

Bryan Danielson did Bryan Danielson stuff. Five days after announcing his return from a suspected concussion, having struggled immensely with such issues in the past, the 'American Dragon' let Garcia kick his head in. Real-life concerns became pro wrestling drama weaved by a master craftsman. Nobody is as adept at leveraging such things into scripted fighting as Danielson, who understood the genuine concern for his condition, exploited that, and gave Garcia a believable pathway to victory in the process.

Bumping his head after an ill-advised missile dropkick flipped Danielson from dogged, domineering ring general to a wounded animal on the backfoot. His comebacks were those of a man who knew he was fighting with a severe disadvantage but kept swinging nonetheless, Garcia, that savage young punk, seized on the weakness, continually going after Danielson's concussed state with piledrivers, a DDT on exposed concrete, and more, until Bryan eventually passed out in the Scorpion Deathlock.

Garcia rarely gets the credit he deserves for working his character into matches. He's a sharp technician and psychologist who works lightyears above his experience level, but his persona is three-dimensional and layered. Vicious and snarling when he needs to be, he fights with fragile bravado that is easily broken, frequently making poor, ego-driven choices born of youth. Going for the hammer and anvils on Danielson was the best example of that here. Mocked by his opponent using his own move against him, Bryan was willed back to life.

Jake Hager is going to get his head kicked in, Daniel Garcia took a giant leap towards megastardom, and Bryan Danielson reminded everyone who the hell he is on his first night back. Brilliance.