WWE SummerSlam 2010: Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Edge, John Cena, John Morrison & R-Truth vs. Nexus
The ending & the result are truly awful, but looking past that, this is actually a very good Survivor Series style multi-man elimination tag. The 35+ minutes they go fly by -- the action is solid throughout, and there's some flashes of greatness in there; Daniel Bryan was absolutely awesome for every second he was in there, and Bret Hart had a really nice short run too. He still threw one helluva punch, and I liked the way they eliminated him, even if you could argue that it made him look dumb. Also a shoutout to the future Ryback in one Skip Sheffield; I thought that out of the Nexus guys, he easily looked the best. Him throwing Morrison around was legitimately a lot of fun. I mentioned the ending being awful, and it sure is exactly that & left somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth, but all in all, the match is very good. ***1/2
EVOLVE 5: Bryan Danielson vs. Munenori Sawa
This was awesome & frustrating at the same time. Awesome pretty much solely thanks to Danielson, who was excellent as always. Frustrating because of Sawa, who brought the match down quite a bit with his lackluster performance; all of his strikes looked super weak, light as a feather, especially compared to those of Danielson's. Then as Danielson goes after his leg w/ some awesome submissions (absolutely LOVED all those counters he busted out, easily some of the best highlights of this thing), OF COURSE Sawa doesn't sell it at all. He just continues with his quick, shitty comeback bursts. Thankfully Bryan is the one leading on offense for the most part, and it's truly fantastic stuff when he is on the driver's seat, but my goodness, this is a yet another example of him carrying someone to something worthwhile. Makes me wonder how good this could've & would've been had Sawa been at least a bit better. ***1/2
WWE Night of Champions 2010: Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
I really like the beginning with Bryan pretty much running circles around The Miz, and Miz only getting the advantage when Bryan wasn't fully focusing on him as the ref was telling him to back away. Miz's gameplan becomes clear when he gets that one bit of offense there; he gets the advantage by wringing Bryan's arm into the ropes, and after that, he starts doing a big number on Bryan's arm/shoulder. Miz's work over that shoulder is amazingly compelling -- I've always loved this match, but after this most recent re-watch, I am actually pretty blown away by his performance. He wrestled like he had something to prove, and it really is the best single match performance of his career. The whole thing in many ways reminds me of a Bryan Danielson ROH World Title match circa 2006, but the funny thing is that the role of Bryan Danielson isn't played by the man himself -- it's played by THE MIZ. He's excellent here, and Bryan is of course on par w/ his role, bringing the energy up big time in every bit of offense he gets with that vintage explosiveness & intensity of his. His selling of the arm is also pretty much perfect, and I'd actually call it one of his best selling performances ever, even. The arm feels like dead weight, and rightfully so, because Miz truly had a laser-focused target on it. Excellent bodypart targeting & excellent selling. How bout that? I'll always sing the praises for this match; it feels like it's almost criminally "forgotten" in Bryan's catalogue, and even when people discuss Miz's best matches, it doesn't get the full recognition it imo deserves. It would be a top-10 match anywhere in almost any year ever. ****1/2
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