2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Bryan vs. Sheamus

17. Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus WWE Smackdown 5/29

ER: Bryan shows up on TV, Bryan has an awesome match. He's the all star of the silent era, lifting up everyone he comes in contact with. I love how Bryan has taken advantage of the quieter arena (although at least WWE has finally picked up on the fact that 30 people of crowd is much better than 0 people), and his uppercuts, body kicks, and leg kicks have never sounded or looked better. And the coolest thing about Bryan is the stiffer he works the more he encourages the same from his opponent, and Sheamus is a guy who is going to be cool with that arrangement. I can get into a contest where two guys try to figure out who has the harder European uppercut (I give it to Bryan), but every piece of contact worked for me. Maybe the nastiest shots of the match were Sheamus rocking Bryan in the corner with a dozen or so back elbows, just dropping him to the mat one inch at a time, then starts dropping knees on Bryan's face. Hell yes. Was that my favorite part of the match? Maybe it was Bryan hitting a great tope and seeing nutbar Sheamus clearly whip the right side of his head into the barricade to ring his own bell going into the break. Sheamus yanks on Bryan's nose and upends him with a lariat (love how Bryan gets dumped by lariats), and we got a couple of solid nearfalls down the stretch. Bryan rolling through a crucifix for a pin looked like it could finish, and Bryan kicking out of White Noise felt like a big moment. I cannot understate how much having enthusiastic noise out there while these two are killing each other was an absolute boon to the match, making this thing work even with the lame "man distracted by another man" finish. These two always match up great, and this is their first singles match in over 5 years. No surprise, that match wound up on our 2015 Ongoing MOTY List.

PAS: I do love how Bryan has just embraced "silent crowd violent wrestling" and Sheamus is the perfect dance partner for a stiff fest. Sheamus has been gone so long, I kind of forgot about him, but he is still pretty great. The ghost white skin shows up every bruise and Bryan shoots to break blood vessels with every shot. I want to second the greatness of Sheamus's back elbows and knees, in a match built around stiff shots, those were on another level. I really hope Bryan's neurologist is top level. I could have used a more dynamic finish, but I will never tire of two guys trying to wallop the crap out of each other.


2020 MOTY MASTER LIST