Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Chris Jericho (Jericho must retire if he loses), from AEW All Out 2021

If the essence of pro wrestling is getting heated reactions from people without the performers hurting or even exhausting themselves, this is wrestling manifest. I swear MJF did more pelvic thrusts than holds and Jericho is looking more like someone he’d have a field day cutting a promo on twenty years ago than the guy that closed out a WrestleMania, but they got huge reactions without breathing hard while also doing the service of telling a cohesive story. That doesn’t make it a MOTYC by any stretch of the imagination, but this was a little better than I was expecting.

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