I can't be the only one that's been doing the Daniel Bryan highlights tour on the network today. Went to watch Bryan vs Cena at Summerslam 2013.

How good was Punk vs Lesnar on that card?

Seriously, that was when I was watching regularly. Was it that good at the time? Had honestly forgot how good Lesnar could be.

edit: what did Meltzer give that match? Struggling to see how it's much less than *****

He gave Brock/Punk and Bryan/Cena ****1/2. I'd give Brock/Punk the same. The finish was incredibly lame but the match itself was incredible. Punk playing the scrappy babyface was really good.

Yeah fair enough on the finish.

I always remembered that Bryan/Cena match as a classic, was just odd to me that I didn't remember the Punk/Lesnar match. I was a huge Punk fan at the time.

Crazy how good Lesnar is when he's not "suplex city". That Punk match was basically just a brawl and it was great. Can't understate Punk's part in that.

There's all the obvious ones... anyone got some lesser known Daniel Bryan matches? I could swear there was one against Dolph Ziggler at some random PPV that was awesome.

They've played the long game, they're getting their £9.99, I want my money's worth.

That was Bragging Rights. I forget the year.

Night of Champions 2010 vs. The Miz - ***1/2 from Meltz. Worth the watch
Extreme Rules 2012 vs. Sheamus - 2/3 falls - **** from Big Dave
Over the Limit 2012 vs. Punk - ****1/2

All 3 of those should be mandatory viewing that aren't thought of as his best matches. That match with Punk is just perfect.

2010

You're god damn right. 2010, cheers.

isolated, that Punk match is one I was trying to remember, slainte!

That Bryan/Cena Summerfest match is still great.

Has Bryan ever faced Lesnar?

N

Bryan vs. Morishima in ROH is the closest we'll come to that match. plz to be finding a way to watch that match from 06

Bryan vs Cena at Summerslam - that has to be one of the best matches of our era. Bryan baiting Orton afterwards was just perfect, Bryan had the whole crowd behind him at that point. We got the whole "corporate Orton champ" stuff, I might be a minority of one on this point but what if it was all part of the plan?

I know that's giving WWE far too much credit, I know they can't plan past next week but what if...

What if the whole Daniel Bryan angle was planned?

See... that's how I thought about WWE when I stopped watching a couple of years ago. Imagine how cool wrestling would be if we were all Russo'd every week?

Pretty sure I had a point when I started here

But, as always, it's Rusev day so I defer...

If you're referring to Bryan getting slotted into the WM 30 main event as a long-term plan, there's very little chance. Seems that he wasn't even going to get to work HHH at Mania until Punk took a walk. The crowds forced the issue and succeeded.

But what if.......

What if WWE weren't so clueless...

What if I wasn't wasting my life booing my TV every Monday night...

WHAT IF???

Daniel Bryan's been cleared man, seems like my "what if's" are better than yours

I'm going to be that casual fan you hate, I haven't watched Raw for years and now I'm here to tell you how it is.

*CLAP CLAP*

*CLAP CLAP CLAP*

I know that's true but I'll take it to my death that it's not.

Has everyone else googled this?

"you're gonna get your fu**kin head kicked in"

Kick those legs daniel-san!

isolated man what am I watching

Take a detour to Elimination Chamber 2014, queue up Batista vs. Alberto Del Rio (even just the first few minutes of it). You'll never be able to even suspend disbelief as to the possibility that they weren't trying to brute-force crowds into accepting Batista as babyface title challenger at Mania.

I absolutely love your posts in this forum by the way. You, personally, have been a huge part of me not tapping out of wrestling. I've never told you but it's true. Your old Raw reviews, best matches etc. I think about tapping out, you remind me what Bret was doing when I was 10. I smile and give it another week.

That being said... I know it wasn't real. I was there for that Batista ****. I LOVE suspending disbelief and Daniel Bryan was my last opportunity to do that. He's back now and honestly, every single person that moans about Roman is done now. So... lets do it together... YES! YES! YES! YES!!

Well thanks very much for the kind words; certainly appreciated. And really, I totally get wanting to believe that they masterfully orchestrated that Daniel Bryan arc. It would have been an amazing master stroke if it was all deliberate.

oh my gerd! ROH uploaded this match:


Danielson gets his eye socket legit broken at the 6:25 mark of this video and finishes the damn match. By god that man has a family (in the future). This match started a legendary feud that culminated 18 months later in a hardcore match. Every interaction between the two was gold.

So lets do it together... YES! YES! YES! YES!

why's iso got to bring eye sockets into it, bloody hell...

Honestly... I love the line "favouring that eye"

Damn you! Got me watching this match. Amazing how realism adds to the match. Morishima's so stiff in the ring and knowing Bryan's legit hurt makes this hard to watch. Great stuff.

Is he an actual Jap(anese) famous guy? (non racist terminology hopefully)

Watched some of the very old Punk ROH stuff, nothing like that

Sad fact: Bryan's never had a match rated 5* by Da Meltz. This match vs. Morishima's ****3/4. Another match vs. KENTA from Glory By Honor V Night 2 is also ****3/4.