7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 2022
5. Everybody Loves The Acclaimed
The Acclaimed Vs. Swerve In Our Glory II wasn't as stunningly great as the original match, in either its craft or its heightened emotion, but it was still a dramatic and by the finish euphoric 15 minutes of pro wrestling television.
Perhaps because the adrenaline was too much to siphon for the hometown challengers, this didn't click in the same instantly magical way that the All Out match did. Throughout, the timing was very slightly off. Certain big moments, like a botched Keith Lee pounce, didn't register as heartbreaking close calls. It was messier than was ideal, but all AEW had to do here was deliver both the correct result and a worthy sequel. That last objective was just about achieved; some of the ideas here were fantastic and Billy Gunn is somehow just as over as he was in 1998.
Keith Lee striking with a flying headscissors early was fantastic. The shocking execution was great, the timing even better: it put him over as insurmountable. Then, when Max Caster hit him with the Brainbuster and narrowly avoided a spectacular moonsault attempt, it was as if he was draining the energy bar of the final boss. In truth, it was probably too rushed to convey that feeling as well as it could have, but the atmosphere was so irresistible - and Swerve Strickland on such immaculate form as a heel - that some not insignificant quibbles really didn't matter in the end.
The Acclaimed brought the necessary fire, heart and sense of struggle, even if it was abbreviated, to earn a reaction that was inevitable even if the match was dire - and it really wasn't.