Perhaps there is no one that can argue that 2021 has indeed been a remarkable year for All Elite Wrestling. So many incredible matches; so many incredible moments and seeing that it’s the end of said year, we’ve decided to go ahead and review some of the best moments, matches and so on in a series of 3 articles…starting with this one: Best Tag Team and Faction vs. Faction matches of the year.
There certainly have been many, so it wasn’t at all easy to settle on these, but we came up with eight that completely blew our minds when they happened, and even now as we think back on them, they still amaze us, frame for frame. So without further ado…
8. Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express – Houston, TX (August 18th, 2021)
Jurassic Express are fan favorites for a very good reason (if not for a plethora of them), and although they would add to their success by joining forces with the incomparable Christian Cage as the year wore on, they already had an incredible thing going.
The Bucks—whom you will be seeing often on this list for obvious reasons—and Jurassic Express together—in one match, results in that magical feeling you can only get when you look at the greatest of artists painting across the canvas, the brush strokes the only sound and you watch…with bated breath, you watch, amazed with every passing second.
7. Jon Moxley & Lance Archer vs. Kenny Omega & KENTA (Falls Count Anywhere) – Daily’s Place (February 10th, 2021)
Jon Moxley in AEW makes Dean Ambrose from WWE look like an amateur trying to look tough and failing miserably. Of course we’ve now learned that that had very little to do with the man himself and more to do with the constraints set upon him by the machine that is WWE.
This match proved that he was in the right place for himself…where his creativity, his aggression and his talents are well used. This match had the legendary Kenta who was one of the first to pass through the ‘Forbidden Door’ and boy were people excited. The fact that this match went back to the kitchen, made me think back to fond memories of ECW.
6. AEW Double or Nothing (2021): The Young Bucks vs. Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston
Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley together are magic as well. Nothing really compares to that Tweener energy that they bring to the forefront of the matches and the feuds they enter in. Are they faces or heels? Hard to tell sometimes, but man, are they entertaining and talented.
Again, in this one you had The Bucks and remember what I said about them—nothing really compares to the conviction they bring to their work, so this one too is a no-brainer as to why it makes the list.
5. CM Punk , Sting and Darby Allin vs. FTR and MJF – AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash (12/22/21)
Past, present and future together in one match, taking on perhaps the greatest villain the pro wrestling industry has seen since Ric Flair in MJF, and they broke all the rules and for what? To give the fans something magical…essentially what everyone wanted. And I know I’m using that word way too much, but magic best describes the feeling when you see the legend and icon that is Sting walking out with CM Punk’s symbol on his face, and CM Punk walking out dressed as Sting….
It leaves you with that feeling that is perhaps a little childish yet justified: “They like each other too,” you say to yourself as the action unfolds, and yeah, maybe it’s a tad too childish to say but when your heroes respect each other something comes over you that makes you say: “Yeah it’s childish, and I don’t care.”
The action in this match was as good as it could have been which was stellar. Facing the facts, you have a man (Sting) who is older and his best competitive years are behind him, but he still brings it, still gives that same level of conviction that he always did, and we love him all the more for it.
Give us more of Sting, is all I can say. Sometimes we just want to see the heroes that made the sport what it is, and regardless if they’ve aged or can’t do in the ring as much as they did, we still want to see them. Like that guy that retires and every now and again comes to see the old stomping grounds and pats the young guy on the back and says good job…. Warm and fuzzy all over…which was how this match made me feel.
4. Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy vs. Kip Sabian & Miro (Arcade Anarchy) – Daily’s Place (March 31st, 2021)
Like Moxley, Miro is having his best years in AEW. He has come out of a shell that wasn’t really placed around him by his own hands. The limits WWE puts on its talent is quite apparent by now, and those limits were certainly placed on this young man, who should have a world title reign in the cards for sure.
This match really showed that in my opinion. All of the participants were amazing and the whole Arcade Anarchy thing was amazing, creative and fun…something that AEW has been since its inception—why we love them so.
3. Inner Circle vs. The Pinnacle (Blood & Guts Match)
WWE has shied away from violent matches, and that’s been the case since it entered into its PG Era. But innovators of violence they most definitely were. Add sex and at times unnecessary stupidity to that list and you’ll have WWE during certain periods of its existence described to a T. It is frustrating that they moved away from that though.
The violence needed to tell appropriate stories is shied away from with WWE; sometimes that’s necessary; very much like a transgressive tale of horror (very much like the ones I write, dear readers), and an action film, need that violence to appropriately deliver the message home to all viewers. This is what’s often missing with WWE’s current product, and that’s been the case for years.
In AEW that aspect is not at all missing and this match was proof of just that. Everyone played their part like DeNiro in one of his most epic performances…perfect, until the climactic end that saw the legendary Chris Jericho thrown off of the cage by MJF.
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
There is no denying that.
2. The Young Bucks vs. PAC & Rey Fenix (AEW World Tag Team Titles) – Daily’s Place – April 14th, 2021
Is there any wonder that The Bucks take up the top two spots on this list? I know there are those out there that are not fans of these two and I guess I have to understand that, but I certainly feel for you, as you’re all missing out. The Bucks deliver on all fronts and they delivered in this match…a successful title defense and yes albeit by sinister means….
Rey Fenix’s mask ended up getting ripped off during the proceedings, but a story was told, which in pro wrestling is often the point after all.
1. Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels vs. The Young Bucks – Dynamite, May 14, 2021
And in the number one spot…this marked the last time that the legendary Christopher Daniels was in an AEW Ring. His future is in question, but he has given it all in his two-decades plus career in the squared circle. This match proved that despite his thinking of “Laying this old body down,” he still had/has a lot in him.
The match was frame for frame a clinic. It got extremely physical and bloody and by the end of it, it certainly marked an end for Daniels and Kazarian—as the existence of their tag team was on the line in that one—but a new beginning as well. Who knows what’s next for Daniels?
So there you have it folks…and I guess an honorable mention would definitely be Cole, O’Reilly and Fish together again on Dynamite this week. That match occurred as I was putting this piece together, but O’Reilly’s in-ring debut was certainly a treat. Looking forward to more from all the gents involved in that one in 2022.
Stay tuned to this site for more in the series…next in line: Greatest AEW Singles Matches from 2021…dropping soon, folks.
NEXT: Tony Khan on Cody Rhodes and the Influx of Talent in AEW…can it ever be Too Much?
