[2010-09-26-Dragon Gate USA-Way of the Ronin] Bryan Danielson vs Jon Moxley

[SmartMark15]

Bryan's final match for DGUSA and it plays to the strongest facets of his indie and WWE run. For the indie side, you get the hot opening babyface shine with Bryan easily cycling through his signature hooked arms finishing sequence of the Cattle Mutilation/elbows combo. But when Moxley is able to take things to the outside and bust open Dragon, things become far more equal. Bryan plays a great selling babyface for Moxley and Moxley does a good job upping the character work and focusing on the brawling to maintain the advantage. When Bryan gets going as a fierce babyface though, there's really no stopping him. My favorite moment might be when he's hyping up on the mat before going into a kip up. It foreshadows how skilled he became at channeling a crowd's energy as a babyface that would pay off in spades in the WWE. Fun brawl with a satisfying finishing stretch.

****

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Moxley had been talking mad shit about Danielson leading up to this, which made the opening w/ Dragon just easily cycling through his signature spots, kicking his ass, feel all the more better. Moxley taking over was done well, and I loved how he went straight after the cut on Bryan's head when he noticed the blood there. His selling of everything Bryan did was super good too; Bryan blasting him with those deadly kicks, uppercuts n' forearms would be great in any situation, but thanks to Moxley's awesome, character-fitting selling, it was even greater. The finishing stretch with Bryan destroying him with those kicks, stomps to the face & ultimately the LeBell Lock rules as well. Great match. Moxley more-than delivered as the scrappy, violence lovin' street fighter looking to pull off the upset & Dragon was a rockin' babyface to go against that. ****