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[2010-09-19-WWE-Night of Champions] Daniel Bryan vs The Miz


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  • 3 years later...

WWE US Champion The Miz vs Daniel Bryan - WWE Night of Champions 2010

 

Who the hell is this Miz? Has he always been this good? Even though, I thought he was awesome in this match, there is something about Miz's personality that just does not inspire me to want to watch more Miz. Anyways that is my own personal hangup, this match ruled. Bryan goes for the LeBell Lock early. Miz powders. Michael Cole's Miz cheerleading and jeering of Daniel Bryan is actually pretty entertaining. Miz wrenches Bryan's arm against the ropes. He starts torturing Bryan's arm like he is Dick Murdoch reincarnated. I know that sounds like blasphemy, but it is the honest to God's truth. Miz killed it working on top. Bryan, who I call out all the time on blowing off selling, sells the arm magnificently and does so throughout the match. Miz's hammerlock slam. Who is this Miz? The way he stands over Miz with that tight armbar, he looks like a pro. He constantly goes back to the arm for cutoffs. Really, really great job! It is funny Miz sucks at all of other aspects of being heel: bumping, stooging, and cheating, but he is actually good at working a body part. Bryan's first comeback is just gangbusters. Insane suicide dive, missile dropkick and big kicks. He gets crotched on the top rope great way to transition to the home stretch. Miz again is great working the arm. Miz does the stupid thing of waiting for his opponent to get up to hit his finish, but this is a WWE systemic problem not a Miz problem. Bryan counters into a cradle. He goes for the LeBell Lock, but here comes the Varsity Villain on the apron. Miz runs into his own help. Huge pop for the nearfall cradle for Bryan. Bryan still selling the arm like a million bucks. Bryan sends Riley into the post and back in the ring, Miz snaps starts pounding Bryan with closed fists and the ref pulls him off, he goes back to work, but Bryan applies the LeBell Lock to win the match.

Shockingly good match. Great arm work by Miz and equally great selling by Bryan, hot finish run with good nearfalls and climatic finish. The best part is the story of the Cinderella, Daniel Bryan making it to the big time and shutting up the big phony, The Miz. Good shit. ****1/4

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  • 4 months later...

Watched this for the first time in a while to get myself even more hyped for the upcoming, inevitable Bryan vs. Miz feud. And it still bangs big time - it's one of the absolute best matches of 2010 & easily THE BEST match of Miz's career. It's beautifully structured & they told the story of their feud, the 2 characters of Daniel Bryan & The Miz perfectly in it. It starts off w/ Bryan getting time to shine; The Miz is overwhelmed by this & it takes a while for him to get anything going - once he gets something going, via a little help from going to the ropes, he starts targeting Bryan's arm in vicious fashion. Miz's arm work is super focused; almost everything he did was to damage that arm. I think it's arguably the best in-ring performance of his career. To go alongside Miz's great work on the arm, Bryan's selling is pretty much flawless & his comebacks rule - absolutely loved the ending struggle in the LeBell Lock. Also that Nigel McGuinness lariat spot! Hell yeah! Amazing match - will be very interesting to see if they can equal/top it in the future. ****1/2

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  • GSR changed the title to [2010-09-19-WWE-Night of Champions] Daniel Bryan vs The Miz
  • 1 year later...

I really like the beginning with Bryan pretty much running circles around The Miz, and Miz only getting the advantage when Bryan wasn't fully focusing on him as the ref was telling him to back away. Miz's gameplan becomes clear when he gets that one bit of offense there; he gets the advantage by wringing Bryan's arm into the ropes, and after that, he starts doing a big number on Bryan's arm/shoulder. Miz's work over that shoulder is amazingly compelling -- I've always loved this match, but after this most recent re-watch, I am actually pretty blown away by his performance. He wrestled like he had something to prove, and it really is the best single match performance of his career. The whole thing in many ways reminds me of a Bryan Danielson ROH World Title match circa 2006, but the funny thing is that the role of Bryan Danielson isn't played by the man himself -- it's played by THE MIZ. He's excellent here, and Bryan is of course on par w/ his role, bringing the energy up big time in every bit of offense he gets with that vintage explosiveness & intensity of his. His selling of the arm is also pretty much perfect, and I'd actually call it one of his best selling performances ever, even. The arm feels like dead weight, and rightfully so, because Miz truly had a laser-focused target on it. Excellent bodypart targeting & excellent selling. How bout that? I'll always sing the praises for this match; it feels like it's almost criminally "forgotten" in Bryan's catalogue, and even when people discuss Miz's best matches, it doesn't get the full recognition it imo deserves. It would be a top-10 match anywhere in almost any year ever. ****1/2

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