8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Nov 9)

2. Bryan Danielson: Pro Wrestling Genius

Bryan Danielson is a genius.

He used his shoot medical history to intensify the anxiety that Guevara generated through his heat spot, which itself was such a great meta touch. Sammy opened up a gaping hole in Matt Hardy's head with that exact flying chair shot stunt in the summer of 2020.

A welcome departure from a worked brain injury - if only because he's told that story already this year - Danielson was savvy enough to draw from his gruesome history with Takeshi Morishima and sold, to startling effect, the possibility of a second detached retina. In a happy byproduct of this narrative choice, a double-down cross body spot looked all the better for being slightly awkward. Danielson couldn't see. The match was better in general as a result for not looking the cleanest.

In a further brilliant wrinkle, the story told was mutually beneficial. Guevara was an intentionally reckless, excellent heel here, and the fans were more than willing to buy that story beat. Danielson, barely able to see, played the role of a wrestler so instinctively great that he worked out where his opponent was intuitively to enable several, super-dramatic cut-offs. His Busaiku knee counter out of the corner was fantastic, as was his headbutt rampage moments earlier. Once he knew where Sammy was, naturally, he chose not to let go of his head, bludgeoning it into a pulp with his own.

While it wasn't quite the cleanest match, execution-wise, when it hit, it literally hit: Sammy's fall-winning GTH was as full-on as it gets. A great, emotive contest evolved into something exhilarating by the final three minutes: a spectacular exchange of moves fuelled by Guevara's desperation in the face of the dragon rising again. At times, booking Danielson to put over and mentor young technical prodigies can feel like a waste.

At others, like this, it makes sense: if there is a way to bottle his magic and attempt to impart it to others, you grab the nearest lid.