9 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam

3. IT'S STIIIIIIIIIIIIING

Sting FTR
AEW

62 year-old Sting wrestled like prime TNA Sting, somehow, in another actual live match that was actually awesome. This version of Sting somehow doesn't even need well-worn, timeless shortcuts.

Darby Allin did not get the piss beaten out of him for minutes on end to build anticipation for the hot tag in which Sting didn't have to do anything but play the hits on the wave of the feeling. Sting didn't just sell himself, using his ability to project emotion to obscure his lack of movement. He flew around that ring, at times literally, as the star of the match. The real stars were FTR, but FTR know their role. They made Sting look like the star.

FTR were incredible. They entered their best performance outside of Full Gear with their incredible positional skill, timing, and big-bumping conviction. Their feeding here was just exquisite, but that reads almost like it was a carry-job. It wasn't. FTR are cardio machines, and Sting worked a full-blooded FTR match. This was an excellent tag team match that just happened to have a 62 year-old dude in it. Allin's Coffin drop double team break-up, Sting's heart-pounding awareness of the steel chair: the drama here was so great and so well-timed. This was shockingly great.

The 62 year-old dude reduced a crowd of adults to an enraptured childhood state. There is no other word for that than magic.

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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!