AEW Dynamite Recap | 2/23/22 | From Bridgeport, CT

The Road to Revolution inches closer to endgame as we take a look at a Dynamite that featured MJF’s most passionate promo yet, Kingston v. Jericho, plus Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia, and more!

AEW Dynamite inches closer and closer to March 6’s Revolution PPV extravaganza with a stop in Bridgeport, Connecticut this week. On a night that featured MJF showing a side of him we never expected to see, Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia putting on a violent clinic, Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston engaging in a war of words, what went down this week? Read on to find out. But, as always, let’s take a look back at what happened last week.

Previously on All Elite Wrestling…

Dynamite featured CM Punk officially challenging MJF to a Dog Collar Match at Revolution; Santana and Ortiz defeated Chris Jericho & Jake Hager in an Inner Circle standoff; Thunder Rosa bested Mercedes Martinez in a No DQ match, but found herself a victim of a “no mercy” beatdown from Dr. Britt Baker and company; Bryan Danielson beat Lee Moriarty as Jon Moxley stated he wasn’t going to join anyone until he bled with them first; Wardlow advanced to the Face of the Revolution ladder match with a win over Max Caster; Sammy Guevara retained the TNT Title over Darby Allin with some unwanted help by Andrade El Idolo.

On Rampage, Adam Cole beat Dark Order’s 10 to open the show; Powerhouse Hobbs earned a spot in the Face of the Revolution ladder match; Jay White defeated Trent Beretta in the main event and teased a showdown with Orange Cassidy.

Match 1: World Tag Team Championship Battle Royale

Credit: AEW

The Story So Far

The first of two battle royales to determine which two teams will face Jurassic Express for the AEW Tag Titles at Revolution.

The Match

All the teams run into the ring as the bell sounds. Lots of brawling to start as Butcher and Blade beat up on Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta on the outside. We eventually get our first eliminations with Alex Reynolds eliminated by The Blade, who himself is thrown out by John Silver.

Austin Gunn is thrown out as Santana sneaks up behind Colten and gives the camera a funny thumbs up before throwing him out. Butcher takes down the Young Bucks and reDRagon with consecutive clotheslines before mixing it up with Trent. Swinging DDT blocked by Butcher, who hits the brainbuster. Chuck Taylor saves Trent from elimination and gives him a hug. They quickly eliminate Butcher.

The Private Party is eliminated from the match even after Matt Hardy saves Isiah Kassidy from an elimination. Matt again leaves them high and dry.

FTR and the Bucks have a staredown that’s quickly interrupted by reDRagon. The crowd whitles down until we’re left with John Silver, Kyle O’Reilly, Matt Jackson, and Dax Harwood as the surviving members of their respective teams.

Bobby Fish sneaks from under the ring to eliminate Dax from the match as Matt tries to get O’Reilly’s help to take care of Johnny Hungee. The two Elite members end up falling victim to a frenetic offense from Silver, who runs wild on O’Reilly and Matt.

Right as Matt Jackson eliminates Silver, O’Reilly sneaks up and throws him over to win a spot at Revolution for reDRagon.

reDRagon wins the Tag Team Battle Royal (18:25)

Post-Match – Storytime with Adam Page, Bay-Bay

The Young Bucks slide into the ring and start bickering with O’Reilly and Fish, clearly unhappy at the reDRagon duo’s method of winning. Before things can blow up, AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page runs to the ring and goes after both reDRagon members by himself! The Bucks are not in any hurry to help out O’Reilly and Fish, instead just letting Hangman beat them up. They walk out of the ring as Adam Cole tries to sneak up on Adam Page.

Cole attempts to superkick Hangman, but he gets caught and taken down instead. Hangman sets up for the Buckshot Lariat, but Cole’s reDRagon allies manage to get him out of harm’s way…. or do they? John Silver leaps from the apron to take down O’Reilly and Fish as he tosses Kyle back into the ring to eat a Buckshot Lariat from the AEW Champion.

With a mic in hand and a chair prepped, Hangman asks everyone, “Who’s ready for Storytime with Adam Page, bay-bay?” He starts by recanting the beginning of Adam Cole’s career in 2008, describing him as a “overconfident, smug little prick”. Cole became a world champion everywhere he went, but… as he could see the writing of the wall and his world crumbling around him, Cole clambered back to AEW so he could become AEW World Title.

But, as Page says, Cole was getting himself closer to a six-foot grave, one that the “better Adam” will put him in at Revolution. Hangman concludes by saying that the whole world will hear one sound: Cole’s body hitting the dirt from a freshly-cocked Buckshot Lariat. That sound is “boom.”

MJF’s Story

Making his way to the ring is the man who will face CM Punk in a Dog Collar Match at Revolution, Maxwell Jacob Friedman. He looks rather subdued than usual, asking for his music to be cut.

As the fans chant “CM Punk”, MJF says that he gets that it’s easy to boo him and to cheer for Punk, but that the fans should give him an opportunity to say his case here.

MJF says that it’s easy to assume that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The truth is, however, the only reason MJF got out of bed every morning was because of his love of professional wrestling. He says that the day he met CM Punk meant everything to him. It wasn’t just another Friday for him.

He takes us back to 2007, where he mentions that he had severe learning disabilities like ADD, but he was really good at football. MJF cites that he was one of two Jewish kids who tried out for the school football team and that he felt like he fit in because the coach started him at middle linebacker.

However, one day, he was approached by his teammates who held rolls of quarters in their hands. They decided to throw said quarters as hard as possible at MJF, yelling at him to pick up the quarters. So, he headed home to cry, but soon stopped when he realized that it was Friday, and that he was going to meet his hero, CM Punk. It was a day that meant the whole world to him, which led to MJF to promise to himself to be just like Punk, vowing to be The Best in the World.

Fast forward to December 2013, where MJF has gotten stronger, faster, with football scholarships coming at him fast. That didn’t matter, though. He was determined to become like CM Punk. He was studying tapes until his eyes bled and practicing promos until his voice was hoarse – all to be just like CM Punk.

“January 2014. You leave me. When I needed you most, when I believed in you… you left me! You left all of us!” MJF angrily shouts. He says that’s when he realized if Punk couldn’t do it, why can some “dumb, five-foot-nothing ADD-riddled Jew boy”? So, he buried his dreams and happiness and went to college like a good boy instead. He buried his dreams deep down until one day, he saw a picture of CM Punk shaking hands with Bryan Danielson.

Seeing this image angered MJF, which led him to promise that he was going to become The Best in The World – in spite of CM Punk. He made a promise that whatever outcasted kid at school was getting bullied, he would not leave them high and dry like that “gutless coward” Punk.

MJF says that no matter how much Punk makes him bleed at Revolution, he’s not gonna quit like Punk did… because his name is Maxwell Jacob Friedman, and he’s better than you… and you know it.

CM Punk walks out without music and looks at MJF before entering the ring. He enters and asks “is it true?” regarding Max’s story. Without saying a word, MJF walks off with a single tear in his eye.

Match 2: The Kings of the Black Throne (Malakai Black & Brody King) vs. PAC & Penta Oscuro

Credit: AEW

The Story So Far

This war between The House of Black and Death Triangle has been brewing for a couple of months now, with the latest chapter involving Penta El Zero M being blinded by Malakai Black’s mist during a tag team match against Black and Brody King a couple of weeks ago. This has seemingly had the effect of turning Penta into a darker, malevolent persona known as “Penta Oscuro”.

The Match

With different, darker music and a gravestone, Penta Oscuro makes his entrance with a similarly dark-looking Alex Abrahantes accompanying him.

Both teams get right at it to start before the bell sounds. Oscuro takes down Black and King with a diving splash on the outside as the match starts proper.

450 Splash by PAC gets a near fall on Black. Tag to Penta as he and PAC team up on Black in the corner. The faces(?) work Black over for a bit until Brody King gets the tag and takes down PAC with a clothesline. We go right into picture-in-picture.

Back to Dynamite with Brody doing a sort of one-man double team attack on both PAC and Penta. Suicide dive takes out the Death Triangle duo on the outside. Black takes out PAC with a kick and a German Suplex. Cover… but Penta Oscuro manages to break it up just in time.

With Brody King as the legal man, PAC is able to avoid calamity with an attempted Malakai knee strike – which ends up hitting Brody instead. We get chaos between all four men as things have broken down!

Penta almost falls victim to Dante’s Inferno, but PAC is able to make a timely rescue. Brody gets stunned by repeated superkicks, putting him in position for the Fear Factor by PAC & Penta Oscuro. Malakai Black tries to get involved by spitting the black mist… but Oscuro covers Black’s mouth and rolls him up for the win.

PAC & Penta Oscuro def. The Kings of the Black Throne – roll-up (7:31)

Post-Match – The Best-Kept Secret

Brody King attacks both PAC and Penta immediately, taking the both of them down easily. Meanwhile, Malakai rolls out of the ring and drinks water to wash the mist out of his mouth. With a shovel in hand, Malakai prepares to spike Penta’s throat with it as the lights go out once again!

As the lights come back on, we see Buddy Matthews standing in the ring! The fans are excited at what they’re seeing, but it seems Malakai has just seen a ghost. Buddy stares down Malakai for a bit before he goes right after PAC and Penta! Brody slides out of the ring to beat up on the security crew before throwing a chair in the ring.

The chair is placed in the middle of the ring as Black orders Matthews to finish Penta off by stomping his head into the chair. There’s some hesitation, but Buddy ends up stomping Penta into the chair! The lights fade to black, heralding the exit of the House of Black.

What is Success?

Eddie Kingston makes his way to the ring to a very raucous reaction from the fans. We see that there’s four security guards in the ring. Kingston mocks them by standing beside one of them.

Next up is Chris Jericho, who enters to the crowd serenading him with a singalong of “Judas”. Kingston: “Okay, we done now? Are we done massaging your ego with that song? Are we done now?” He asks what the deal is with the security. Jericho explains that the security is there to ensure that he and Eddie talk like men and not settle things like “common street thugs”. Kingston laughs at that notion.

Eddie says that he has no idea why they’re doing this. He’s no sports entertainer. He just wants a fight. But, since he knows Jericho won’t fight him now, Eddie asks for Tony Khan to send for Kris Statlander or Willow Nightingale so we’ll have women wrestling instead. He says that he and Jericho can fight, or Chris can go down the road so that he can be in a “sports entertainment company”.

Jericho says that they are indeed just down the road from Stamford, so maybe he will give Eddie a bit of “sports entertainment” – except it’ll be actually entertaining. He says he’ll tell everyone a story about Eddie Kingston. Jericho says that while everyone was excited that Kingston was coming to AEW, he himself didn’t share that excitement. He says that he thought people were talking about Eddie Edwards (of Impact Wrestling fame). Jericho says that once he saw Kingston, he thought he was a jobber.

But then, Jericho saw Eddie’s match against what’s-his-name (read: Cody Rhodes) and he heard his promo. And that’s when he realized that’s when he knew Eddie had what it takes to be a star in AEW and that people would love him as a babyface. And Jericho was right about it. Kingston: “What’s a babyface?”

It was such a feel-good story of busting his ass in the indies, overcoming physical and mental issues to finally sign a contract with AEW, making it to the big time… at the age of 38 years old. Jericho says that he didn’t give two shits about Eddie’s sob story. That’s because he reallized that Eddie was jealous of Chris Jericho. 

Jericho talks about how he made it to the show at age 22, and by the time he reached Eddie’s age, he was a big-time star in wrestling.

“Well, first off, Christopher, you talk about this main event stuff… you want a cookie for that? Guess who doesn’t care?” Eddie replies. He says the reason that Jericho was able to achieve so much was that he wasn’t there. Eddie says that he’s a different sort of cat, not a carny, and he does things his way, and that he’ll be himself until he dies. 

Eddie says that he does not want to talk to Jericho, because he’s sucking the blood out of him and that his blood does not pump Kool-Aid. The long and short of it, Eddie wants to fight Jericho at Revolution.

Jericho responds by asking Eddie if he’s heard of “achievemaphobia”. Kingston: “No, I got a GED, I don’t.” He says that it means “the fear of success”, and that fits Eddie to a tee. Jericho claims that Eddie is terrified of making it to the top like he has, because he’d fall off once he got to the top instantly. He talks about Eddie’s family history, mentioning that his uncle, father, and Eddie himself are all failures. Jericho says that Eddie’s problem is that he can’t win the big one, and that he is The Big One of AEW. He ends up accepting Kingston’s challenge at Revolution, saying that he’ll look him in the eye if he wins and shake his hand – because that’s the sign that Eddie has gotten over his “ultimate” fear of success.

Eddie laughs before warning Jericho that he doesn’t want Mimosa Jericho, the Jericho who got pushed off the cage by MJF… he wants the one who was AEW’s first World Champion, the Jericho who bled buckets in Tennessee, the one who got respect from Genichiro Tenryu over at WAR, the one that turned WCW upside down, the Jericho that his close friend “Levesque” (read: Triple H)… because if he doesn’t, he’ll eat Jericho alive.

Jericho closes things off by saying that Kingston is nothing more but a loser who will never win the big one, and he’ll prove it to everyone at Revolution.

Tornado Tag Match

We’re backstage with the A.H.F.O., who talks about Andrade’s upcoming TNT Title match against Sammy Guevara on Rampage. Matt Hardy also ends up proposing that he, Andrade, and Isiah Kassidy face Sammy Guevara, Sting, and Darby Allin in a tornado-tag trios match at Revolution.

Match 3: “Absolute” Ricky Starks vs. Preston “10” Vance

The Story So Far

The Face of the Revolution Ladder Match is filling up with some real meat. So far, Wardlow, Keith Lee, and Powerhouse Hobbs have earned a spot in the ladder match where the winner will receive a TNT Championship shot. Will the Dark Order’s 10 add to the beef with a win, or will we see more Team Taz representation with a Ricky Starks victory?

The Match

We start off with a collar-and-elbow tie-up before 10 pushes Starks aside. Against the ropes, he takes Starks down with a shoulder block. Starks takes down 10 with a shoulder charge, but 10 regains the advantage and gets the corner punch combination. Swinging DDT attempt by Ricky blocked as Vance turns that into a stalling standing suplex, bringing us to picture-in-picture.

Back on Dynamite as 10 levels Starks with a running shoulder charge to send him out of the ring. Leaping crossbody blocked as Vance turns it into a full-nelson submission hold. Starks tries to escape, but he gets taken down with the discus clothesline. Again, 10 applies the full-nelson submission, but Starks escapes by using the mask of 10 as leverage. With Vance blinded, Starks bounces off the ropes with the spear and the 1, 2, 3 to qualify for the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match.

Ricky Starks def. Preston “10” Vance via pinfall – Spear (5:56)

A Divided Elite

With the “Cutler Cam” rolling, we see reDRagon celebrating their win as the Young Bucks yell at them for their double-cross earlier on. The Jacksons are now motivated by wanting to kick Fish and O’Reilly’s ass next week when they enter the Casino Tag Battle Royal. Adam Cole admonishes reDRagon for the senseless bickering and that they all need to get along. He says he has a lot on his plate with the AEW World Title and they need to get on the same page already.

Match 4: TBS Championship – Jade Cargill vs. The Bunny

The Story So Far

Last week on Rampage, Matt Hardy made a challenge on behalf of The Bunny for Jade’s TBS Title, promising it would be a money match, which is how we got to this point. Aside from being the reigning and defending TBS Champ, Jade also holds a 27-0 record and she looks to keep that streak going here.

The Match

Cargill and the Bunny lock up to start the match, but Jade soon gets the advantage, wrenching at Bunny’s arm. Leg drop on Bunny’s leg as Jade shows off with push-ups with the arm hold still cinched in. Bunny sends Jade to the apron and hits a running elbow strike to send her outside. Russian leg-sweep into the barricade by Bunny sends us to picture-in-picture.

Returning to Dynamite, Jade hits a splash on the corner before lifting Bunny up on her shoulders. Bunny rakes at Jade’s eyes and hits a running knee lift to momentarily stun her. Another knee lift attempt, but Cargill catches her and gets the spinebuster. Jade goes for the cover, but Matt Hardy gets on the apron to cause a distraction, allowing him to throw brass knucks for the Bunny to use. Mark Sterling slides the TBS Title into the ring and starts to argue with Matt on the apron. 

Bunny attempts to use the knucks, but Jade blocks it with the TBS Title! Meanwhile, Aubrey Edwards ejects both Sterling and Matt out of the ringside area. Roll-up by Bunny gets a very close near-fall! Dual thrust kicks by the Bunny as she sets up Cargill for Down The Rabbit Hole. Cargill fights out of it and hits Jaded for the 1, 2, 3 to keep her unbeaten streak and the TBS Championship.

Jade Cargill def. The Bunny via pinfall – Jaded (6:50)

(Cargill retains TBS Championship)

Post-Match – Who’s Left?

Jade brags about her unbeaten streak, asking who’s next for her to beat. Better yet, who’s left? Cue the arrival of Tay Conti, seemingly ready to answer Jade’s challenge.

“I’m not just next. I’m the one who’s gonna beat your ass, bitch!” Tay says as she runs to the ring to get into Jade’s face. Bunny attempts an ambush, but she gets taken out with the TayKO from Conti. Jade catches her with the pump kick and takes her TBS Title. Anna Jay enters with a chair and appears to want a piece of Jade.

Match 5: Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia

Credit: AEW

The Story So Far

Bryan Danielson’s bid to get Jon Moxley to align with him faced a bit of a harsh reality last week when Mox suggested that maybe Bryan’s simply doing this because he didn’t want to face Moxley. However, Mox made it clear he wasn’t rejecting Bryan’s offer, saying that “he doesn’t join anyone until he bleeds with them first”.

Daniel Garcia was one of the names Bryan mentioned in his sales pitch to Mox, citing him as a young talent that could benefit from their tutelage rather than hanging around with 2point0.

The Match

We open with Danielson and Garcia sizing each other up for a test of strength before Bryan attacks his foe with uppercuts. He beckons Garcia to show him violence, to which Red Death responds in kind with some strikes of his own. Bryan wrenches at Garcia’s leg and hits him with forearms to the chest. Lebell Lock applied, but Garcia is able to use the ropes to escape. Mule kick to the head by Bryan is countered with strikes by Garcia. Bryan does the leaping dodge spot at the turnbuckle, but he’s clipped in the leg by a chopblock by Garcia, sending the action to picture-in-picture for the final time of the evening.

Our main event returns from the commercial with “Red Death” in control as he gets the American Dragon with a dragon screw. Garcia batters Danielson in the apron for a bit and tries for a suplex, but he’s taken for a ride instead by Bryan. Dragon runs and hits the leaping knee strike from the apron on Garcia. Back in the ring, Bryan flattens Garcia with the shotgun kick from the top rope. Heel hook applied by Danielson, but Garcia has a heel hook of his own. The two hit each other with kicks using their free legs as Bryan hits Garcia with elbow strikes to break the hold. 

Danielson nails the Tiger Suplex, transitioning that into Cattle Mutilation! Garcia is able to use his strength to pop his hips and break out! He applies the ankle lock on Danielson and stomps at his head for a bit. Danielson kicks at Garcia’s leg and does a test-of-strength pin for the near-fall. Both guys are locked together and they begin exchanging brutal elbow strikes! Palm strike by Danielson is followed by a rolling elbow strike that’s blocked. Garcia slaps Danielson and picks at the ankle for a Dragon Screw. Danielson is able to block it and ends up doing the Dragon Stomps on Garcia’s head instead! Triangle choke locked in as Danielson flexes. The referee stops the match.

Post-Match – I Don’t Need A Chair To Make You Bleed

Bryan says that Garcia showed exactly what he liked to see. He asks the crowd if Garcia was violent enough, but he gets attacked by Matt Lee and Jeff Parker of 2point0. They beat down on Bryan until Jon Moxley enters the fray! With his theme still playing, Mox waylays 2point0, throwing Parker and Lee out of the ring. Danielson intercepts Garcia, taking a steel chair away from him, allowing for Mox to hit Red Death with a Paradigm Shift.

Staring down Moxley, Danielson takes the mic. “So, in order for us to fight together, we need to bleed together?” he asks. He throws down the chair, saying he doesn’t need that to make anyone bleed. Bryan ends up accepting Mox’s challenge for Revolution, saying that we shouldn’t be surprised if Mox is the only one who ends up bleeding. 

This Friday on Rampage (2/25/22)

  • Face of the Revolution Qualifying Match: Orange Cassidy vs. Anthony Bowens
  • Serena Deeb’s 5 Minute Rookie Challenge
  • Thunder Rosa & Dr. Britt Baker DMD Contract Signing
  •  TNT Championship: Sammy Guevara vs. Andrade El Idolo

Next Wednesday on Dynamite (3/2/22)

  • Casino Tag Battle Royale for Final Spot in Three-Way Match for AEW Tag Titles
  • “Hangman” Adam Page, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver vs. Adam Cole & reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly)

Revolution 2022 Card (3/6/22)

  • AEW World Championship: “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. Adam Cole
  • AEW Women’s World Championship: Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. (c) vs. Thunder Rosa
  • AEW World Tag Team Championships: Jurassic Express (c) vs. reDRagon vs. TBD
  • Dog Collar Match: CM Punk vs. MJF
  • Face of the Revolution Ladder Match: Keith Lee vs. Wardlow vs. Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks vs. TBD vs. TBD
  • Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston
  • Tornado 6-Man Tag Team Match: Andrade El Idolo, Matt Hardy & Isiah Kassidy vs. Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin & Sting
  • Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson

“Open Mic Night” on Dynamite featured a strong set of promos from Adam Page, MJF, Chris Jericho, and Eddie Kingston, all of which did their job in building towards Revolution by furthering their respective stories.

With the Elite seemingly coming apart at the seams, Hangman Page’s promo where he riffed on Adam Cole’s “Storytime” by offering his own story might have not been on the same level as his previous promos, but it did a great job in presenting Page as someone not willing to take the crap Cole and the increasingly-divided Elite throw at him.

Jericho and Kingston’s verbal sparring match did not disappoint, with the former cutting one of the best promos he’s ever done in AEW. Establishing that Eddie’s one fear was the fear of having a lack of belief in himself (owing to the times that Kingston came up short in his big opportunities in AEW) gave Jericho a bit of an edge heading into their match at Revolution. It also helped to give fans more reasons to root for Kingston to beat Jericho, which I appreciated a lot.

Of course, the standout of the evening was MJF’s impassioned promo where he recounted how he was bullied in high school, but looked to CM Punk (and wrestling in general) for guidance of sorts for his future. The betrayal Max felt from Punk quitting wrestling only drove him to become better than Punk, and perhaps turning him into the smug “Salt of the Earth” we know him as today.

While the implication is that MJF is simply using his past experiences and weaponizing his trauma against Punk, the fact that he’s tapping into those painful memories add to the personal stakes that the feud has taken on. What started with Max making crass remarks about Punk wanting “to get in Britt Baker’s pants” has turned into a complex storyline about a young man who felt he was let down by his personal hero and now feels entitled to get some redemption at his hero’s expense.

Punk’s confrontation at the end of the segment where he questioned MJF on the authenticity of the story told was the icing on the cake on what was a well-done promo. It would’ve been really easy just for Punk to call out MJF on his bullshit, but the fact that he seemed moved by the story adds another layer to a feud that’s taken quite a few twists and turns on the way to this rematch at Revolution.

All that being said about the aforementioned promos, I appreciate that there is a stronger emphasis on emotional storytelling that goes beyond “Wrestler A wants to beat up Wrestler B”. There’s motivation and weight behind everything — whether it’s Eddie Kingston wanting to prove that he can believe in himself and overcome his fear of failure or MJF’s desire to prove his high school bullies wrong — and it’s something that AEW has succeeded with in terms of their storytelling.

It’s a style of storytelling that helps make AEW’s characters feel like real people with real motivations behind their actions aside from just wanting to be a champion. This added depth to the storylines helps ensure we can get emotionally invested with these characters beyond the confines of the face/heel dynamic.

Buddy Matthews’s arrival in AEW was a pleasant surprise – a best-kept secret, if you will. While the preceding tag match between two-thirds of Death Triangle and the Kings of the Black Throne was a bit iffy in how it was booked, it was nice to see the former Buddy Murphy enter the AEW fray. And it’ll be exciting to see him put on high-quality matches in this environment.

Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia was a worthy main event to close off another strong evening of action. Buffalo native Garcia held his own facing off against the current best wrestler in the world and showed everyone why he’s one of the hottest rising stars in wrestling today. The match was a brutal, technical showdown that embodied the kind of violence that Danielson’s currently seeking out.

The setup for Mox vs. Danielson was simple, yet effective. And with the possibility of the two forming an alliance out of all this still in play, it’s something to keep an eye on.

Marc Quill is the editor of RingCrashers, GateCrashers’ home for all your All Elite Wrestling and indie wrestling needs. He’s also the web novelist behind Skye Emery: Bluebird, which you can read here. You can chat with him about wrestling, comics, and stuff in general on @MarcQuill on Twitter.

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