AEW Five Fingers of Death: Week of 8/15 - 8/21

AEW Dynamite 8/17

Bryan Danielson vs Daniel Garcia 2/3 Falls

MD: Everyone saw this and it's gotten a lot of coverage, so I'm not sure how much I have to add. On the other hand, it'll probably show up somewhere on our MOTY list so it's best to pull out some hopefully meaningful snippets. I loved the intersection between implicit and explicit storytelling here. So much of what happened in this match, or really any post-comeback Danielson match, feels very implicit, almost Hansen-esque in it being about the struggle in the moment. Who has momentum? Who wins each exchange? Can someone withstand Danielson? The more explicit bits of storytelling: an injury, repeated moves of strategies, what Danielson as a character is trying to prove or show, then bookend or punctuate, serve as transitions and big, memorable moments or help create a skeleton that guides you towards the finish, even as the more implicit storytelling makes up much of the actual meat of the match. 

From a kayfabe perspective, there wasn't a moment in the first fall, from the initial grappling over kneebars all the way to the pile driver and dragon sleeper, that Garcia didn't have a strategy. At the very least, I was able to connect dots I saw and walk away with the impression that he was working three moves ahead. Danielson, on the other hand, wasn't necessarily there to win so much as to punish Garcia for his transgressions, to overwhelm him and outwrestle him as he had so many other opponents. Garcia, knowing he couldn't win in a straight match against an unleashed dragon, tried goading him in with a slap or insulting kicks, and eventually it worked, albeit with a price. He took big shots in order to turn a top rope 'rana into a sunset flip nearfall. He ran the risk of being trapped in the triangle choke in order to hit that pile driver. And it worked. 

It was a marathon instead of a sprint though, and once he had Danielson, he wasn't entirely sure what to do with him and he couldn't properly keep the pressure on. He became over-exuberant in what worked and let himself get rolled up out of the second dragon sleeper attempt. From there, with Danielson's comeback, everything shifted. No longer would Danielson be goaded in. In some ways, he didn't have to, because Garcia, in seizing that first fall, had gained his respect. Now it was no longer about punishing Garcia for past and current transgressions but instead about the thrill of competition. Once that moment came, Danielson was freed to achieve a state of zen, down to the yoga poses and absorbing shots, and the result became inevitable in the best of ways.