6 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (17 Aug)

3. Dragon On Dragon (Slayer) Violence

Here's where the real high-end Ups start coming.

Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia worked a magical best 2 of 3 falls match last night, taking themes established in their latest bout and building something greater from them. This was fiercely competitive, technical wrestling from one master of the craft and another with the potential to hit that level, and a chess battle on par with anything ever put out beneath the Dynamite banner.

A slower start made sense after Bryan racing out of the blocks in their previous encounter actively contributed to him bumping his head and losing. This was proven a sound strategy from Danielson until he abandoned it and lost the first fall as a result. Eating a back suplex on the floor after getting a little too rowdy, the American Dragon, after much jostling, passed out for the first fall, succumbing to a Dragon Sleeper after having his head driven into the mat with a piledriver.

The second fall was a triumph of ring IQ over head trauma. Danielson succumbed to punishment a few weeks ago but evolved here, rolling Garcia's shoulders into the mat for a pinfall when Daniel put a little too much weight into a chokehold, perhaps getting carried away with himself. 1-1.

Spider German suplexes, missile dropkicks, topes, and other bombs came out in the third and final fall. Danielson had seized control of the match despite almost collapsing in a great countout tease. When Garcia's fragile ego drove him to mimic Bryan's signature trapped stomps, Danielson reversed, working his opponent to the mat, and, after some tough, gritty grappling, got the LeBell Lock for a decisive win.

A post-match show of respect was not taken well by Chris Jericho, who ambushed Danielson as Garcia was about to take his hand. Next week, Jericho will meet his protege in the ring to settle their issues, perhaps leading to a pay-per-view match between Chris and Bryan.