5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (8 Feb - Review)

2. Death After The Details

Bryan Danielson's latest television masterpiece was also possibly (probably?) the best match Rush will have all year even if Danielson could top it over 60 engaging minutes at Revolution next month.

With a kayfabe half a million dollars awaiting him if he could rise to MJF's challenge and finally beat Bryan, Rush wrestled as if every penny was real. Violent and pulsating in his prolonged assault, the freedom expression on offence and defence from the heel and babyface respectively was the type that could only really exist in All Elite Wrestling, and not because Danielson bled buckets after a brutal attack on the floor. This was spectacle, theatre and combat sports so seamlessly meshed that it asked questions of non-fans. Principally, why do you not watch wrestling?

Fighting one-armed throughout with a health meter that started empty stayed there, Bryan bled so effectively that it literally coloured the lens at one point, but fought through a losing game of human Splatoon to kick Rush's f*cking head in and beat him with the Busaiku Knee.

MJF bludgeoned him more with the Dynamite Diamond Ring and refused to release a Salt Of The Earth to inflict yet more damage on the arm as the best week for the story yet reached a thrilling and captivating climax.