AEW Five Fingers of Death Week of 4/4-4/10

AEW Dynamite 4/6

Bryan Danielson vs. Trent Beretta

MD: I'm fairly certain that this is going to get lost in the cracks when Danielson's year is discussed, let alone his entire run. It was lost in the cracks for the night given the emotion and spectacle of the Mox vs Yuta match. It was good though even if I can't say that the commentary team being so big wasn't a little distracting at times. It was probably a small favor that Jericho wasn't there too. Everyone came off as a little awed by Regal, even Taz.

As for the match itself, there was a lot to like. Storyline-wise, there was animosity as Danielson had more or less besmirched Trent's unit, even if it was all indirect and even if Regal obviously expressed admiration for Trent through commentary. You get the sense that while Trent wanted to prove that they could hang and had a chip on his shoulder because of the entire situation, the fact that he didn't want Yuta in the Best Friends in the first place sent things just a little askew. Danielson vs Chuck would have been more straightforward. The crows was split but more for Trent given Danielson's heeling. 

The early feeling out process was effective, Trent matching Danielson, building each able to counter the other's dive. While the neck became something of a focal point after Trent crashed and burned into the steps, it was more to help explain why Trent's comebacks were cut off (as he had to sell after the Superplex or German, for instance). Danielson worked in a couple of moments of focus, like the dragon sleeper or capture belly-to-back, but he wasn't overly discriminating in how he hurt Trent. When they hit one another, they hit hard. Trent had more behind his stuff than Yuta would have later in the night, and he portrayed fire subtly but effectively with a thousand-yard stare. They teased and paid off both the tornado DDT and gotch-style pile driver, with the former really cementing Trent's comeback and latter being an exclamation point after the knee. Danielson switching things up on the LeBell lock to tweak the neck had more symbolic than visual value as it didn't look particularly more effective, but that's the joy of selling something different. The crowd and announcers went up for it, so it worked.