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Post by Cap on Aug 9, 2019 8:55:38 GMT -5
I am not going to lie. This isn't a terribly popular opinion, but its important to understanding where I see the match and why I think it is an easy nomination: I don't think Kofi Kingston should be champion. There... I said it! I really like Kofi Kingston and I think on his short leadup to 'Mania he took the ball and he ran with it. I think he is really good wrestler with a ton of charisma, but everything I saw from him before that famous gauntlet and everything I have seen from him since 'Mania tells me he isn't really the guy in my mind. I genuinely don't mean that as a knock. I think he is a much better wrestler than JBL and I actually think JBL was a really good champion. Not everyone is a lion tamer.
Now, the reason that is important is because despite all that, and especially despite me really not buying into him as champion, I was totally on board with and sold on this match in the build up and in the execution the night of. I would - as a proper Bryan mark - attribute most of this to Daniel Bryan being the best in the business, especially when it comes to heeling it up and building faces around him. But I also can't take anything away from Kofi, who really did step up in the most important places here. That really speaks to how good this match was. I like getting lost in a match and this one made me get lost in a match in a very unique way.
The social significance cannot be undersold. I may not - in hindsight especially - fully believe Kofi is the right guy for the spot, but I am 100% pro-the social and cultural work they have been able to do with his rise to the title as a black champion. Its 2019 and honestly we shouldn't even have to celebrate this anymore, but it doesn't change the feel-good moment of it all, particularly how the New Day and Kofi are able to frame those issues for us.
Finally, this - to me - has to go down as one of the 5-10 bet Mania matches. It isn't - in a vacuum - quite on the level of some others, but in context especially this is a master class in match construction. All the ebbs and flows here are fantastic and the end where Kofi has to get a little extra violent and use the face stomp (which in hindsight might not have been great) really put this over the top as not only a great title match, but a champion making performance. My lost faith in Kofi as champion has nothing to do with this. This match was the equivalent of putting a rocket on his back.
All this, considering I am kind of a "moments guy". I like my big matches to have a moment or two where I say "holy shit". This really didn't have that. This match was just technically sound, really well constructed, and as emotional as just about any other match.
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Post by Kadaveri on Aug 9, 2019 20:50:20 GMT -5
I think this is gonna make my Top 100 next year. There's something about Bryan's performance in this match that really creeped me out and upset me the first time I watched it, which was with a group of friends at my house and I was sitting there covering my face with my hands peeping out between my fingers whenever Bryan was dishing out his brutality. Especially that part where he pulls Kofi up slowly putting him position to stomp his head in. There's an 'execution' vibe to it. Made my eyes go teary. Any match that has that emotional effect on me is getting a high rating.
Plus, how fucking awesome is it that at Wrestlemania in 2019 Daniel Bryan built genuine crowd heat with a minutes long WAISTLOCK spot?
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Post by Cap on Oct 30, 2019 20:31:55 GMT -5
He really might be the GOAT
This one has sort of slipped for me a bit. Its fallen down my MOTY list. Where it was #1 when it happened. Its down at #6 now. Some other matches happened that I thought were better, but mostly it is just my opinion of the match fading a bit. I wont revisit it till december when i sort through my top matches for the year, so maybe I will be reminded that it is that good. It felt magical that night and I loved it. That love faded a bit and it didn't strike me quite the same way (still great) when I watched it again in the summer.
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Post by elliott on Jan 18, 2020 2:55:19 GMT -5
On his Top 10 2019 MOTY list, Cap said "However, I think this is a match with diminishing returns. It's an in the moment match if there ever was one." I actually disagree with this. I watched this for the first time and thought it was an awesome match. Not something that will be making my top 100 list or anything but in terms of modern wrestling, this was something that really resonated with me and is something that I think will stand the test of time. I'm not the Bryan fan that everyone else is and I could give a shit about Kofi Kingston and his journey to the WWE title. I'm as disconnected from "the moment" as you can be and still find yourself watching this match  In a vacuum, it is an awesome match because it is built around submissions, selling, babyface hope spots etc. It is very low on overkill to the point where nothing they really do would look out of place in the 80s save a few specific things here or there. But this was just classic wrestling psychology in terms of how the match itself was worked. Obviously you ranked it 6th for the year so you're not low on it or anything. But I think this will stand the test of time and hold up as a "great match" basically forever. I actually liked it more than Cody vs Dustin which had the fun blood to make it memorable but definitely felt more of the era in terms of the work itself. Anyway, here's Cap's list if anyone wants to see what else he had to say about Bryan/Kofi markoutmountain.wordpress.com/2020/01/01/matts-top-10-matches-of-2019/ |
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Post by lemming on Nov 26, 2021 12:16:21 GMT -5
For a cat-among-pigeons take, I reckon this might be Bryan's best match to date.
I'm a sucker for a cathartic 'hated heel finally gets their comeuppance' match and this hits all the right beats for that. Bryan works on top for the majority of the match, working over Kofi's midsection with kicks and holds, while Kofi makes comebacks in short flurries before getting cut off in nasty ways. Bryan knows just how to pace a match, milking basic moves so well in the first half that the Wrestlemania crowd are all in on a waistlock sequence and a regular Boston crab. The match slowly and surely escalates to a red hot finishing stretch, and by the time Kofi starts hulking up through Bryan's kicks and begins to fire back I'm all in for it.
The match does as good a job as possible at building up Kofi as a worthy champion. Bryan brings a higher level of violence than is normal for a Kofi Kingston match, always hitting him hard and twisting him painfully in submissions. Kofi has to fight through Bryan's strongest offence, overcome Rowan's involvement on the outside and show his own (rarely seen) grittier side as he gives the heel a taste of his own medicine to set up the perfect finish. A great, great title match.
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Post by [Darren] on May 15, 2023 14:40:40 GMT -5
This is arguably Bryan’s best single performance. It’s just so perfect and you can see the care Bryan is putting in everything in to get the story across and get Kofi over.
The closest he’s come to something like this since was the first match against Hangman Page.
I don’t believe I’ll vote for this match but it’s definitely in consideration. It’s one of those rare WWE things that just feels so full of joy on every level.
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Post by elliott on Oct 18, 2023 0:29:49 GMT -5
Watched this again and it's still an awesome match. Probably Bryan's best performance.
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