Every Major AEW Show RANKED From Worst To Best

8. Bash At The Beach 2020

Kip Sabian Jon Moxley
AEW

This two-week event captured AEW in exquisite storytelling form: Bash At The Beach was the first stone paved towards the genuine euphoria of Revolution.

Across two scintillating and very different matches - a furious multi-man cloudburst and a tense war of unravelling sportsmanship - Kenny Omega and Hangman Page were crowned World Tag Team Champions. In a tremendously low-key post-match segment, the Bucks were clearly furious about it.

The first part sagged at the midway point - a nine-minute Mel match will do that, it was senseless exposing her for that length of time - but a glorious six-man tag booked to develop the MJF Vs. Cody rivalry picked things back up. It was hardly a classic - it was a fun 10 minutes built around DDP's nostalgia pop and MJF's sh*t heel win - but it was a live-action illustration of AEW's deft, alliance-heavy narrative approach that makes every match make sense, and delays and makes premium the big matches. The PAC Vs. Darby Allin main event was exceptional; Allin takes a battering better than anyone, and PAC administers one better than most.

The Cruise was a better spectacle than show - the long and physical PAC Vs. Jon Moxley main event wasn't best suited to the party atmosphere - but the Mox Vs. Chris Jericho programme was plotted exquisitely to incorporate the visual of Mox, on a boat, wearing an eyepatch, without it being a one-note joke.

 
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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!