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

12. Bryan Danielson Vs. Ricky Starks (All Out 2023)

Bryan Danielson is so great that it’s unfair on every other wrestler.

A lot of wrestlers have marketed themselves as the “best”. Kenny Omega actually does boast the best big matches; Bret Hart’s technique and sleight of hand is unparalleled.

But there was none better than Danielson at actually being the best. Danielson in his best performances is so accomplished and sadistic that barely surviving him feels like a career breakthrough.

Ricky Starks was meant to wrestle CM Punk. That, obviously, did not happen. In stepped Danielson, who understood his assignment as the last-minute replacement: perform so brilliantly that the fans forget Punk even existed.

Since Punk was as much an inescapable, ominous shadow as he was a main event talent, this was difficult. Danielson achieved the objective by committing a murder, live on pay-per-view.

This was vile.

At one point, with Starks suspended in the tree of woe, Danielson charged at him with multiple consecutive dropkicks. Ricky’s head looked like a scarecrow’s bobbing in a violent wind.

The rhythm of the strap duel was incredible. Danielson looked like he was done for, his face bloodied and his eyes flickering. And then he gnashed his teeth and stood up. He hit Starks so hard in the face that it was as if he was trying to remove several layers of skin from it.

More so than any pandemic cinematic match, or any match worked by a supernatural character, this played with actual horror.

Ricky’s facial expression was sensational as Danielson choked him out with the match-winning, strap-assisted Yes! Lock. Starks looked like he was in the process of having his neck crushed by a vice in some elaborate torture porn horror kill.

The Dragon killed Ricky Starks, and Ricky Starks got over by taking a long time to die.