AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 2021 Match Ratings and Commentary
Queens, NY—Arthur Ashe Stadium
September 22, 2021
(Credit: AEW)
Let’s look back at what some feel was the peak of AEW in 2021, Grand Slam, where AEW held its biggest show in company history. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.
AEW Dynamite Grand Slam 2021
Kenny Omega drew Bryan Danielson to retain the AEW World Championship: ★★★★ 3/4
MJF def. Brian Pillman Jr.: ★★
Sting and Darby Allin def. FTR: ★★★
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. def. Ruby Soho to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship: ★★
Sting and Dax (Credit: AEW)
Show Highlight—
Omega/Danielson. What a classic match. You know good shit is gonna happen when all the wrestlers need to do is look at each other and the crowd is going batshit fucking crazy. Good technical battle to start before they went nuts on each other with stiff kicks, knees, and suplexes. This was Danielson’s first real wrestling match in so many years and he held nothing back. In 2021, all I could think about was what a tragedy it was that this man retired and might not have been able to do this again. Today in 2022, you look back at poor Kenny and you think how could this man get through a match like this and perform at this high of a level with vertigo and a litany of busted limbs. A great, near-fall pinning sequence was stopped expertly short to go into a surprise cattle mutilation by Danielson. They went to the outside, where Danielson got suplexed down the video screen on the entranceway and slid down so Kenny could get a running start for his most brutal v-trigger executed outside of NJPW. What held this back from five stars was not the time-limit draw per se, but the muffled announcement that they were at the 29 minute mark by Justin Roberts and then the lack of a sequence that built to a truly undone finish heading into the draw. The draw was the right decision to make as the belt needed to go to Hangman, but only in AEW could a fanbase still find a draw satisfactory because they knew the bigger picture and plans were in-play.
What Worked—
Arthur Ashe Stadium. That crowd was electric throughout the show. Even as a viewer from home you felt like you were part of it, too. One could argue this was the peak of AEW and perhaps its biggest show in front of what still is its biggest crowd. In wrestling, sometimes stars and fate and a collective energy all combine to make a special venue feel once in a lifetime and this was magic from start to finish. Big events can sometimes bring out bad fans, and wrestling crowds like the smell of their own farts sometimes, but here, seemingly nobody was out to spoil it by being self-referential, so the audience got to cheer and celebrate and sustain the magic all night long.
It’s befuddling that WWE never tried to run a show in Arthur Ashe as it’s a perfect venue for a big PPV. But their loss is AEW’s gain, and hopefully this can be the venue they go to for all their Grand Slams to come. Having a show in an untraditional venue makes all the sense in the world when you’re the “alternative” product (AEW would be crazy not to do a big show in another tennis stadium, minor league baseball stadium, even a MAC or non-power five football stadium).
Dapperst Don. Don Callis’s suit was godlike. He looked like he was profiled in Do’s and Don’ts from Vice.
CM Punk. Sure it was a bit rah-rah and babyface even at the time, but for seven years a sizable portion of the wrestling audience didn’t know how this guy was feeling and if he was happy ever. I’ve said it on our Podcast before had the gripebomb (I think that’s what it’s going to be officially called now) never happened, people wouldn’t be able to dissect every promo for sad irony. Uh, like this one… “I hear people telling me that I need to be mad, and I need to be pissed off, and they want the old CM Punk. And trust me, eventually, you’ll see him, but be careful what you wish for.”
Malakai Black. More will be written about what a missed opportunity he was in AEW. It was clearly larger than injuries or bad booking in a program against Cody, but goddamn the crowd wanted him to be AEW’s Taker. And Malakai was smiling multiple times during this match, soaking up the possibilities for what could be.
Peak Sting. It’s not like he didn’t have matches in 2021 already, but he just seemed alive and rejuvenated here like it was his WCW days. Credit is also due, of course, to FTR, who bumped and bumped for him and made him look great.
What Didn’t Work—
Lighting. So the spotlights were amazing and made the show look and feel epic. Anytime a guy came down to the ring you could say the production was equal to WWE in terms of looking fantastic. The crowd itself wasn’t lit as strong. AEW has made some mistakes in shooting their crowd in shadows where it doesn’t show the huge sellouts they do have. You would have thought at times the top deck was blacked out completely.
Show Cringe—
Cody in 2021 was brutal. A year in-passing did nothing to grow fondness for the portrayal of Cody Rhodes in AEW. Goddamn annoying. I get that he can’t just do a total 180 and go heel in this moment but the crowd was completely against him and he seemed like he didn’t know how to handle it. And it wasn’t the fickleness or impossible standards of the hardcore AEW fanbase that soured them. It was how Cody gobbled up all his opponents and the storylines by it always being about him and never his opponent, and the lengths in which he was protected—or perceived that he was protecting himself.
Let’s take the finish here. Yes, Cody lost and that was the right choice. But Cody was punching Black in the corner, and Cody went to hit the ref(!) and that was the distraction spot used for Cody to get ye olde mist facial. It made no sense for Cody’s character to hit the ref. The ref wasn’t concerned that Cody was hurting Malakai or being excessive, either. And having Cody not take the Black Mass as the finish also hurt Black’s credibility and withheld the crowd from popping and getting behind that as the finish of all finishes.
Cody, Brandi, and Arn (Credit: AEW)
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