2023 Ongoing MOTY List: Darby vs. Bennett

 

6. Darby Allin vs. Mike Bennett AEW Rampage 1/6/23

ER: Darby is such an excellent opponent for nearly any wrestler to paint a masterpiece. Mike Bennett is a wrestler who I like without also having much of an opinion on him either way. If I had been asked before this match what my favorite Mike Bennett memory was, I would say with no hesitation "his leather WWE ring jacket that had Maria and their baby airbrushed on the back". This is Valentine's Day. This is going to be the day I add a Mike Bennett match to a MOTY List. That perfect jacket and he/his wife's perfect WWE theme "True Love" are more highlights than many wrestlers I like. But those are things. That's me connecting to two things associated with Mike Bennett, not connecting with his wrestling. I don't think I've ever connected to Bennett in an actual wrestling match the way I did here. Part of that is due to Darby as an opponent, part of it is to Bennett going all out and taking a real fight to Darby. Importantly, this is not the kind of Darby match we've seen where he withstands a mad beating and body breaking bumps before eking out a win; it is a match where Darby withstands a mad beating and body breaking bumps while also going toe to toe with his opponent. 

I don't think I've written about a Mike Bennett match since ROH was airing on Destination America - a TV channel I am sure has not existed since 2015 - but this Mike Bennett is one worth writing about. Mike Bennett is great at being the larger man in a Darby Allin match (a role almost every Allin opponent is placed into) while making certain to work only so much larger. Bennett works this knowing he is larger and is almost surprised by Darby working as his equal. Several times in the match Darby catches him over and over with these awesome whipping punches, like the best version of Jeff Hardy's punches, thrown 3x the speed as Jeff's and able to land multiple times before Bennett realizes what is even happening to him. Darby, sitting on the top rope, starts whipping Bennett's face left and right and it's like it forces Bennett to start shoot punching him back. Later on when Bennett catches a kick, he stands there absorbing so many of these whipping punches that it's as if he's stunned by them, realizing they're happening but only realizing it after the seventh one lands. He finally just drops the leg but that leads to him immediately eating some of Darby's hardest elbows, and all the man can do is respond with chops thrown as if he was Drew McIntyre size and cut off more elbows with a single Kawada-like right hand. Darby's toughness seemed to inspire Bennett's stiffness, which inspired Darby's toughness. 

Both men got rocked onto their heels multiple times, and their execution and impact on everything was cleeeeean. Jaws rattled, Darby ploughing into Matt Taven at full speed with a low rope tope con giro, Bennett sacrificing both of their bodies with a side Russian legsweep off the apron, and of course Darby hitting a flat back missile dropkick from the top to the floor, Bennett prone in a folding chair, Darby knowing at best he is taking a 10 foot drop flat onto his back...I felt it all in HD. Every impact felt important. I loved the false finish bullshit to set up our real finish, involving Maria stalling the Coffin Drop by laying over Bennett so Taven could kick Darby off the top into a great Bennett piledriver. Two piledrivers on this Rampage that looked like finishers. Every finish to every Darby match is the best. He either dies biggest or crashes hardest and it always rules. Bennett gets greedy and wants the avalanche piledriver, but Darby turns that into an Avalanche Code Red, then finally hits that Coffin Drop as Tenryu hitting an elbowdrop. Crumbling Kingdoms, Wrecked Ribcages. 

2023 MOTY MASTER LIST