5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (23 Mar)

1. Pure Craft

CM Punk and Dax Harwood's shared love of Bret Hart yielded one of the most Bret Hart matches AEW has ever produced last night, as the duo delivered a careful, considerate bout to open the show, relying on craftsmanship and guile over fireworks and cheap thrills.

One of the many reasons why CM Punk is back at Best in the World level is because he sells matches weeks after they've happened. Here, he was still struggling from the impact of his Revolution bout with MJF, selling the back. Dax took advantage of this with such care that it made the no-selling in the night's other big men's singles match amateurish. Punk, too, was clearly labouring on offense.

These are two substance-first wrestlers - and we are lucky to have them.

Harwood's slingshot powerbomb got one of the closest two-counts you'll see all year. Later, he blocked the GTS, working it into a Sharpshooter to a roar from the appreciative crowd, though Punk clawing his way out of that, through a hand-fighting exchange, and into the Anaconda Vice meant he came up short.

A fabulous match that established threads, developed them throughout, and paid them off in the end, this was timeless professional wrestling.