Daniel Garcia picked up a controversial victory over AEW World Trios Champion Katsuyori Shibata during the AEW Saturday Tailgate Brawl special, but the win was anything but clean. The victory came only after his Death Riders stablemate, Marina Shafir, provided a crucial distraction that caused the referee to miss Shibata making Garcia tap out to a sleeper hold.
Adding to the drama was Garcia’s complete dismissal of “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard, who was on commentary for the match. Menard, who grumbled about his former closeness to Garcia before the latter joined the Death Riders, even left his seat to confront his former protégé, only to be ignored as Garcia remained focused on Shibata.
The nearly 15-minute bout was a hard-hitting affair, with the crowd vocally behind Shibata and chanting “you sold out” at Garcia. At one point, Shibata showed remarkable resilience, kicking out at just a one-count after being dropped with a devastating piledriver.
The match reached its climax when Shibata locked in the sleeper, forcing a clear tap-out from Garcia. With the official’s back turned thanks to Shafir on the apron, Garcia capitalized on the chaos, dropping Shibata with a Gotch-Style Piledriver before viciously stomping his head into the mat for the pin.