|
Post by Cap on Dec 9, 2017 17:25:58 GMT -5
Daniel Bryan vs HHH (WWE - 4/6/2014)
It isn't THE BEST WWE match, but it might be my favorite. I got to be at this Mania and it was really good live. This felt like HHH and Dragon watched some NJPW and NOAH Jrs and AJPW 90s HW matches as they were planning it out. HHH busting out those suplex was fun. This mania was all about Dragon and this was the best match of the night.
|
|
|
Post by elliott on Dec 10, 2017 0:11:16 GMT -5
Seconded. Definitely the best HHH match ever but I can't help but be annoyed with it. "Why doesn't he just try this fucking hard all the time?" Great great great match. Something I'll probably need to rewatch. Off the top of my head, I don't really view it as a contender, but I haven't watched it since 2014.
|
|
|
Post by fadu on Jan 4, 2018 17:57:08 GMT -5
I still don't quite get this match. Always felt like a match that was just a very good RAW main event but nothing more. Obviously, the context of Bryan getting his vengeance on HHH makes it more important than just a RAW main event but it never clicked as that satisfying during the actual match. As always, blame Hunter.
|
|
|
Post by bossrock on Jan 7, 2018 19:50:18 GMT -5
Third
Even though I wouldn't call it the best match of 2014, this is still an amazing match and a surprisingly tremendous performance from Hunter. Simple yet excellent face/heel dynamic with Bryan proving he's on Triple H's level only for Hunter to attack the injured shoulder. Like Elliot said, why couldn't we get this Triple H all the time?
|
|
|
Post by Cap on Aug 6, 2018 20:19:58 GMT -5
From my rewatch write up on 7/16/2018 Daniel Bryan vs HHH (4/6/2014) Current Rank: 86 Trending: Down-ish No match will benefit more from being one of my favorites than this match. Bryan was a huge part of me getting back into wrestling in 2004 and 10 years later I found myself at a conference the same weekend as Mania (my first mania). Watching him win two matches that night was just special… it just was. I get that this is biases me in some ways, but what is more pro wrestling than making memories? On rewatch I can sort of recognize some places/aspects of this match that don’t hold up quite as well as I remember, but that is mostly nitpicky. The match is still great. It is balanced, tight, and tells a really clear/cool story. I have never been more interested in HHH than I am here. He is busting out new offense and is working with a lot motivation. Bryan is face-melting hot on this night and quite simply delivers like he always does. This match could slip a bit, but there is almost no chance this slips off my list. At the very worst it winds up in one of those bottom 5 spots reserved for personal choices. Full Post Can Be Found Here: gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/657/caps-watching-project-reports#ixzz5NS1eeV8c
|
|
|
Post by superstarsleeze on Jun 2, 2019 20:07:17 GMT -5
I forgot to submit my write-up about this even though I voted for it. I think this is Bryan's best match of his career and probably HHH's (I am pretty sure I put this over the Cactus Rumble match). To me what makes this is the emotion. That purely good underdog story. Dragon beats HHH with an all-out relentless onslaught of pro wrestling. What a feel good moment!
Daniel Bryan vs Triple H w/Stephanie McMahon - Wrestlemania XXX
In light of recent events, this match should only be more cherished as the night everything was right with the world of pro wrestling. The most emotionally impactful of the match of the year contenders of 2014. The Shield versus Wyatts made the best use of past history, AJ Styles vs Minoru Suzuki told the most interesting intra-match story and Tanahashi/Nakamura rocked the limb psychology like no one else this year. Wrestling should not hit in you the head, it should hit you in the gut. When I watch this match, I was moved moreso now than probably when it happened. Daniel Bryan represents so much more to me than just a great wrestler. He proves if you love it, want it and work hard enough for it that anything is possibly. We all know the obstacles in front of him and he just kept his head down plowed through them and became the World Champion on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Before the fairy tale ending, Bryan had to face the man who was the exact antithesis of Bryan. He was not the populist choice. He was a member of the Kliq, given a forced push to the top, and married the boss' daughter. Triple H is a lightning rod of controversy. Some contend he is a great ring general and master of ring psychology while loathing his backstage politics and knack for burying opponents. Others call his entire reputation a sham manufactured by the WWE to work the fans into believing he was one of the greatest of all-time when he was just a mediocre wrestler that happened to be connected to the correct people. This made him the absolute perfect opponent for Daniel Bryan because no matter your feelings on Triple H, he represented everything corporate and artificial about pro wrestling while Daniel Bryan embodied the passion and humanity of pro wrestling.
Triple H offers his hand to begin the match and Bryan kicks it away only to roll him up quickly. Bryan came to play, brutha. Bryan is on him with kicks and HHH bails. Stephanie, who is a total smokeshow tonight with those short shorts, gives The Game exhorts while Bryan now offers his hand. What I love about the early part of the match is that even though Bryan shoulder is taped and HHH targets it, it is not as soon as HHH attacks it that Bryan just writhes in pain. There are levels of pain. Bryan is able to fight through the first couple attacks because of his determination and he can't afford it to be worked on. Yes, it causes a wince, but it is a just brief inconvenience. It is a babyface shine that is truly earned that culminates with Bryan hitting a tornado DDT from the apron and the somersault off the top rope onto The Game. Triple H seems shaken from this onslaught and has underestimated Daniel Bryan. He is able to cause Bryan to lose his balance on the top rope. HHH is not going to fuck around and looks to end this early with a Pedigree on the announce table, but the feisty Bryan fights out so Triple H quickly switches gears and wrenches the bad shoulder right into the edge of the announce table. OUCH!
Only now does the heat on Bryan begin with Triple H destroying Bryan's arm and delivering the best limb work of his career. Stephanie laying the badmouth on Bryan, "Mess with the bull, you are going to get the horns" among others was just awesome. She would be such an excellent manager if she ever committed to it full time. Bryan's first hope spot is his signature suicide dive, but Triple H blasts him with a right hand. HHH hits a nasty back suplex with the arm behind the back on the apron. Triple H busting out the Crossface Chickenwing into the Crippler Crossface was wicked cool. Daniel Bryan will not be denied. He makes it to the ropes and begins his signature high-octane comeback. Triple H looks to cut him off with a suplex, but Bryan gets two Germans of his own. Triple H looks to stop the bleeding with a Chickenwing Crossface, but has to settle for the Tiger Suplex. Sick! Triple H showing he is not always a Cerebral Assassin mounts D-Bry on the top rope, which gives him the high ground and the chance to hit a sunset flip powerbomb. Daniel Bryan with a repeated running dropkicks, but on the third Triple H bursts out of the corner with a wicked lariat. I love the struggle of this match. You really feel like two men are fighting strongly for their respective ideologies and pride. Neither one wants to give an inch to the other. Triple H is getting anxious and abandons the arm work for the one surefire way to end this: The Pedigree. Bryan counters into a pinning attempt. Bryan's diving headbutt eats a boot and HHH right back on the arm with a Crippler Crossface, but Bryan reverses into the YESLock. Triple H after all the smack he talks feels desperate to end this. Bryan is a fucking maniac and hits not one full speed suicide dive, but two full-speed suicide dives! Bryan is feeling it, kip up, YES CHANTS! He is looking for that Knee that took down Cena. SPINEBUSTER~! PEDIGREE~! IT IS OVER 1-2-NO! NO! NO! YES! YES! YES! Honest to God, had totally forgotten Triple H hit the Pedigree in this match and Bryan kicked out. I actually saw him hit the Pedigree, my stomach dropped, then I remembered Bryan won and was ecstatic he kicked out. Now if that is not the hallmark of a great fucking match, I don't know what is! Triple H is flabberghasted and tries to beat the shit out of him while Stephanie screams in the background. This is Daniel Bryan's night and Triple H is coming to the realization he cannot overcome the power of Daniel Bryan and the People! Triple H desperately tries to pull the trigger on a second Pedigree, but Bryan wriggles out until finally EXPLODING KNEE~! 1-2-3! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
Awesome match that feels like a real war and really mirrors Bryan's rise to the top. Bryan had to earn every single move in this match. His babyface shine was earned working through Triple H's early arm work. Then he fought tooth and nail not submit to HHH's killer arm work. From there, just when you think Bryan has the match won, it turns on a dime and Triple H hits his knockout shot and Bryan kicks out. They don't waste time with 8 million false finishes. Triple H gets his and keeps going for another Pedigree and then Exploding Knee knocks him out. Stephanie has to carry her husband out while they watch Daniel Bryan go to the main event of Wrestlemania. It is such a feel-good story combined with amazing fundamentals. I don't see a flaw. *****
|
|
|
Post by cactus on Nov 16, 2021 1:57:39 GMT -5
The winner of this match will go on to join Batista and Randy Orton in the main event world title match. Bryan's massively over, but it feels like WWE might hold him back yet again. Triple H's NWA Champion cosplay wrestling style worked wonders for this match, keeping Bryan down with crossfaces and chickenwings in an effort to further damage his bad arm. Bryan bumps like a madman here, that Tiger Suplex spot had me wincing. We are used to seeing the big stars like Undertaker and Shawn Michaels kick out of a Pedigree but seeing a guy like Bryan getting a second wind felt shocking. After managing to fight out of every attempt of a second Pedigree, Bryan uses his own momentum from countering Triple H's backdrop to perfectly set himself up to nail his big knee to get the win. This was an emotional rollercoaster packed with the physicality of a 90's AJPW match. ★★★★★
|
|
|
Post by [Darren] on Nov 16, 2021 7:29:37 GMT -5
This, along w/ the Cena match at Summerslam will not make my list. I think if this time period quite fondly. As I loved following Bryan’s story but these matches have never captivated me the way they have w/ so many others. Tastes change over time and I’ll take the notes others have made and see if I can’t find the same joy w/ these matches next time around.
|
|
|
Post by mvz on Mar 12, 2023 11:26:04 GMT -5
I watched the beginning and the end of mania 30 last night and surprised myself by preferring the main event. Some of the elements here just didn’t land with me, like I get wanting to feel like the odds were stacked against the babyface but some of the work felt really over the top toward that end.
I know the wrestlers are not responsible for the commentary and it’s not really a factor her but JBL was awful.
This was certainly a special feeling at the time, and some of the limb work was good, but it didn’t strike me as a classic that holds up.
|
|
|
Post by Cap on Mar 12, 2023 13:26:12 GMT -5
Interesting. This is one of my most rewatched matches and it never really loses anything to me. I suspect it will always have too soft a spot in my heart to ever be really disappointing to me.
|
|
|
Post by [Darren] on Mar 12, 2023 21:39:08 GMT -5
I have never connected with this match as a singular piece. I love the culmination of this story but as a match I have never been able to see it as top tier. I can’t point to a reason why, though.
|
|
|
Post by Cap on Mar 13, 2023 7:23:36 GMT -5
I'm probably a total hypocrite about this. I'm all about how good a match is in a vacuum and I'm probably simply unable to ever evaluate this in that way.
|
|
|
Post by elliott on Oct 7, 2023 17:08:15 GMT -5
This one didn't hold up for me. Disappointing as I remember liking it.
|
|