2023 Ongoing MOTY List: Darby vs. Cage

7. Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage AEW Rampage 8/11 

ER: Maybe one day I will tire of watching Darby Allin fall in ways I don't think the human body should fall, but this tunnel is black with no sign of any light at the end. Darby Allin appears to not just lean into bad landings, he seems to relish aiming the plane directly at them. I can't get past it. Darby has this Low Ki precision to his landings, but Low Ki's landings were works of athletic physics that made his body spring across the mat and ropes with a violent control. Darby seems to have the same incredible control but opts to make his landings worse. When Prince Nana clotheslines his legs out from him on the top rope, there were dozens of ways he could have take a great-but-less-painful bump; he didn't have to get swept onto the back of his head from that high up, but he constantly seeks to aim the plane beyond the runway. That's important in a match with Brian Cage. Darby is the most ideal opponent for Cage, and again I must state that it is no coincidence that the AEW roster works UP to Allin. When Brian Cage asks himself "How do I view myself as a pro wrestler?" you can bet that he views himself as the guy throwing Darby's ass around in this match. If you wrote out The Whole Basic Idea of Brian Cage it would read like this match. Darby Allin allows wrestlers to achieve their full potential. 

I used to think Cage was a doofus who did too much and not enough at the same time, but he somehow means more to me in 2024 than ever. He's a real dummy, and I need gassed to the fucking gills lunkheads wearing silver face paint in wrestling. I need a freak with a distended HGH belly that leaves him prone for an apron Coffin Drop. Of course all of Cage's offense wouldn't be possible without a willing opponent, but I've seen plenty of guys hold back with very willing opponents, and Cage does not do that. That's important. I knew I would be writing about this match the moment Cage stopped a full speed Darby tope with a shoulderblock, like he was setting a screen against a guy on a moped. Darby bounces extra hard on every landing, and Cage throws him into landings that deserve that bounce. The way Cage threw himself into his inside-out vertical suplex from the middle buckle, running through a table like he was jumping into a swimming pool while wearing a Darby Backpack, and throwing Allin so hard into the turnbuckles that Darby hit them as fast as possible, sideways, on his neck, just seemed like what would happen if you were thrown by Brian Cage at his Fullest Powers. Darby Allin makes Brian Cage look like an Essential Worker. Darby Allin is a boon to American Prosperity, making everyone's dreams possible. 

2023 MOTY MASTER LIST