25 Best Wrestling Shows EVER
1. AEW Dynamite: Brodie Lee Celebration Of Life
A masterpiece of a show you wish you never had to watch.
Held to honour the life and career of Brodie Lee, who had passed away on December 26, 2020, it was flawless. The in-ring action was superb. In a tremendous exchange, Eddie Kingston and Evil Uno threw forearms into one another’s faces as if charged by grief. Those exchanged crackled with an electricity as beautiful as it was ugly. John Silver, already an explosive worker, wrestled with such ferocity that it was as if he’d have collapsed into tears if he stopped for a millisecond.
Brodie’s Dark Order stablemates won every match in the beautiful show-long storyline. The hapless dorks he had terrorised throughout the year in brilliantly cruel comedy segments had finally made him proud. In a great gag - not one opportunity was lost to pay tribute to Brodie - Dr. Britt Baker invoked his nickname. She winked at the camera as she said that the results were a “big rig”.
Erick Redbeard’s cameo, in which he chased off Wardlow, will never not make a generation of wrestling fans burst into tears.
Brodie left behind a young, grieving family. His eldest son, Brodie Jr., was old enough to feel a profound sense of bereavement but young enough to get lost in the magic of pro wrestling. In a very bold spot, the ultimate risk/reward scenario, MJF removed his Dark Order mask and spat on it. In an immortal moment, Brodie Jr. cracked MJF over the head with a kendo stick. The beaming look on his young face was a sort of impossible magic.
For that moment alone, the Celebration of Life was the ultimate example of the power of the medium.