[2019-11-24-WWE-Survivor Series] The Fiend vs Daniel Bryan

[ShittyLittleBoots]

The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) defends the WWE Universal Title

The Fiend's matches vs. Rollins were extremely silly, but if there's one person in the entire pro-wrestling industry that can be trusted to make all of that shit work, it's Daniel Bryan. And he sure made all of it more-than-work here. The match starts off fun w/ Bryan immediately rushing Fiend with those kicks & corner dropkicks, but the Fiend takes over quick. His control segment is solid; Wyatt has always had some nice viciousness to his offense, and Bryan sure does his best to make everything lashed out at him look all the more vicious. Then--THEN! the match really picks up when Bryan busts out his big comeback; that ROAR after the Missile Dropkick fired me (& the crowd) the fuck up -- the whole atmosphere after that went from 0 to 100 real quick w/ the Chicago crowd going crazy for Bryan, and that added so much magic to the whole thing. The chants during the YES Kicks & especially the Busaiku Knee corner set-up were amazing. Talking bout amazing stuff -- they definitely did the Fiend no-sell stuff MUCH better here than w/ Seth (wow, what a surprise lmao) -- I actually liked that after each no-sell pop-up, Bryan just went back to it again, each kick sequence more vicious looking & sounding than the one before. Then there's the two AWESOME counters during the finishing stretch; first Bryan countering the Mandible Claw into an Armbar on the ropes, and then the last nearfall w/ the roll-up reversal to a Sister Abigail attempt. A GREAT PIECE OF BUSINESS ALL AROUND w/ the GOAT doing his thing & all. ****

[cactus]

I really dug this. WWE has done a great job rehabbing The Fiend since Hell In A Cell. He comes across as a monster here, and a lot of has to do with Daniel Bryan being as amazing as he is. Bryan having to bust out the Yes chants was a cool moment, and there was a few times when I thought Bryan might actually pick up the win. 

★★★¾

[Boss Rock]

The contrast in presentation between Bryan and Rollins is pretty stark. Rollins would cower in fear, but Bryan stood strong and blitzed the Fiend right at the bell. The aura of the Fiend has been irreparably damaged thanks to the Rollins feud, but I really liked that this was a more narrative-driven match rather than the finish-fest the Rollins matches were. Bryan was aggressive and focused the entire match but the Fiend would not stay down. While I wish they would do more with the Fiend instead of him just no-selling or recovering too quickly from finishers, but this was still a good match.

***3/4