6 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (11 Jan - Review)

2. Another Tremendous Match

Bryan Danielson Konosuke Takeshita
AEW

To underscore how good Bryan Danielson is, realistically, he could work 50 matches against Konosuke Takeshita, and this might actually be the worst - and it was still an outstanding effort that very comfortably reached ****.

It was great immediately; Danielson countering a massive Blue Thunder Bomb with a headlock takeover proved his brilliance. He neutralised the size advantage, indicating to Takeshita that he would need to rely on every reserve of spirit to land that elusive, major win. Then, in an incredible spot, Takeshita went back to his power game and rocked Danielson with a blow so hard that the Dragon had to sit down. Danielson can elevate an opponent while sitting on his arse, that's how good he is.

Things threatened to go awry when they blew a spot on the outside. It looked as if they were trying to work a spot in which Takeshita was to catch Danielson's running knee off the apron and nail him with a powerbomb. It didn't work; they each collapsed, but with genius instincts, Danielson immediately fed Takeshita his crushed leg to hand him back the advantage, and they got back on track with Takeshita's gruesome brainbuster on the mats outside.

Danielson is so fantastic at countering unique offence, conveying the idea that he has the answer to everything, even that which a wrestler rarely deploys. This was the case when he got the knees up for Takeshita's stunning springboard senton atomico.

With the fans losing their minds, Danielson and Takeshita traded and countered big head-drops near the finish, which saw Danielson apply the Regal stretch to his unconscious opponent. That spot is going to be tweaked to awesome effect at Revolution.

They shook hands in the aftermath to convey that Danielson respects the best efforts of a motivated opponent, and couldn't respect MJF less.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!