30 Best AEW Matches Ever (So Far...)

14. Santana & Ortiz Vs. Best Friends (Dynamite September 16, 2020)

In this era, fans won’t accept a brawl as a constant barrage of worked punches, no matter how intoxicating the rhythm.

In no era should a match premised on violence resemble a hollow stunt show in which the wrestlers are very obviously getting their prized stuff in at the expense of the feeling.

Best Friends and Santana and Ortiz crafted the very best version of what a match like this should look like in the 2020s - and no less a luminary than Mick Foley agreed, describing it as a “world class brawl”.

They get their sh*t in, but they earned the high spots with a sharp attention to detail. The construction of the match was expertly done: every link on the chain connected together, and the unique environment of the parking lot minimised the need for dragged-out assembly.

Using the bumper of a pick-up truck as a platform for a tornado DDT on the concrete; using the same vehicle as a weapon with which to make a slingshot neckbreaker even more painful; using the roof of one car as a launchpad for a splash onto another; treating real glass windshields like the commentary table: this was gruesome and super creative without ever feeling too cute.

Until Trent’s mam Sue picked up her boy from his match and flipped off Santana and Ortiz, but what a moment. That’s the feeling.

Held in front of no paying fans, this was the pandemic masterpiece. With the exception of this, and the first Stadium Stampede, every other match was definitionally bittersweet. Not a single match wouldn’t have been improved upon with a packed house watching.

This was somehow better for its raw, howling intimacy. The worst of times still yielded one of the best moments in AEW history.