WWE SmackDown Grades: Miss Money In The Bank Strikes
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1. AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan
If someone would have suggested a year ago that this specific match would ever take place, let alone on WWE TV, that someone would have been laughed out of the building. But the WWE has told fans that anything is possible and that has never been truer than with the in-ring return of Daniel Bryan.
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The former SmackDown GM hadn’t wrestled in about three years after being forced to retire with injury issues. However, Bryan came all the way back and was able to return to in-ring action at WrestleMania 34 where he made Sami Zayn tap out to win the tag team match for his team alongside Shane McMahon against Zayn and Kevin Owens.
It wouldn’t take long to see Bryan return to in-ring action on TV when new GM Paige announced last night that Bryan would take on WWE Champion AJ Styles in a dream match of epic proportions. And despite it only getting a little better than 10 minutes on an episode of SmackDown, this match was tremendous.
The in-ring prowess of both superstars shined throughout and there were some especially impressive counters and mat work from arguably the two greatest in-ring competitors of the past decade. Despite Shinsuke Nakamura messing up the ending of the match, it was still a very good match that did a lot for both Bryan and Styles, but also the new heel Nakamura.
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Bryan vs. Styles could main event a WrestleMania, but fans got a brief taste of it last night on free TV in a match that could have been a match of the year candidate if it got enough time and a clean finish.