2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Bryan/Rowan vs Heavy Machinery

40. Heavy Machinery vs. Daniel Bryan/Erick Rowan

ER: Fans going nuts for home state boy Bryan is fun to see, and continues the trend of the crowd starting loud for this show and getting louder. I am far more excited for this match than I should be, as Bryan vs. Otis is a match-up I can't help but get excited for. Otis is someone I'm really happy is on the roster, the type of shape that just hasn't been around enough lately (I mean his shape is plenty around, but you know what I mean). Otis' arms are shaped exactly like his legs, he has cool strength, and he seems like a great unique partner for Bryan. And I'm not wrong, as the Otis/Bryan moments are incredibly fun. The whole match is incredibly fun! This is another fresh match and it leads to a ton of new cool stuff. I could watch Bryan kick away at Otis's pork barrel chest all damn day, and Bryan throws more kicks on Otis in this match than any match this year, and Otis hits a big damn press slam, big powerslam on Rowan, big capture suplex on Bryan, the big high angle sitout powerbomb on Bryan was awesome, he passes off a vertical suplex to Tucker, and - even though the fans are booing Heavy Machinery the whole match (and I loved that Otis was somehow getting the most heat of the night so far) - he still did that damn worm. Tucker showed a ton of agility I didn't realize he had, there was this killer early moment where he somersaulted over Bryan to get into position to lariat him out of his boots, and later he missed a big moonsault, took a big bump over the top to the floor, and was a part of a neat double team powerslam on Bryan. I do wish they would have made slight alterations to the match structure once it was so obvious that the crowd was going to treat Bryan like the face and HM like the heels, it made things a little silly when Tucker was fighting to the Otis hot tag while the crowd booed. Still Otis clearly knew what was going on and made a bunch of faces to show that he was just rubbing it in to the fans. His dorky chunkster hype movements while Bryan was lacing kicks into his chest made me laugh, and I just thought the pairing was insanely entertaining the whole match.

PAS: I am not an NXT guy, so I hadn't seen Heavy Machinery before, and they were a bunch of fun. I love that WWE has a guy who looks like Earthquake Ferris, and the fact that Otis was a All-American Greco guy is even better, I hope he ends up having a grappling battle with Riddle or Gulak on some C-Show. He had some great looking throws, and his block of granite stuff with Bryan was a blast. Tucker was fun too, his somersault into a lariat was awesome and I liked his dive. Bryan was of course a king, and I like they way he still worked heel, but relished the crowd affection, reminded me of Bret Hart working in Canada. Finish was a blast with Bryan breaking out his old king of the small package gimmick from ROH. Really enjoyable tag, and I would love to see it run back.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST