Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles (WWE – 6/12/2020)

This match had a ton of buzz after it was filmed and before it hit TV. I mean it was no surprise that Styles and Bryan put on a banger, but it felt like it was getting all the right kinda hype. People were talking about how it genuinely energized the "crowd" which was made of wrestlers who had been on their feet fake cheering for things on command for hours. I haven't been watching Raw or Smackdown since the pandemic hit, but I went out of my way to check this out and I thought it totally delivered. This is probably the best match of the empty arena era and one of the top two matches I have seen all year. It was worked to be a really competitive back and forth, but it had a ton of nuance and interesting little tidbits. They start by working each other’s arms early. They exchange a spot where they get a kamura grip and turn it into a whip for counters. Bryan sticks with the arm and winds up sort of getting the momentum from the early exchange after Styles is being quite methodical with his early control. Bryan really goes to work on the arm and has a great control segment in the middle where he is absolutely brutalizing Styles left arm. It’s a combination of strikes, slams, and holds that keeps the attention. You could feel the tired wrestler crowd getting into it here. I also thought some of his offense reminded me of what HHH did to him in the Mania match. Styles inching back and working Bryan’s leg after he missed the knee in the corner was great. That shift of focus was smart. Bryan sold his left leg in little ways all the way through. He tried to shake it out after kicks for example. Just great stuff that stands out because I don’t see it enough. There was a lot of excitement in the home stretch, near falls came from great grappling combos. They had a great arm bar to calf crusher back to arm bar/triangle sequences that was really slick. The finishing sequence could have given me a little more, but I suspect if this were in front of a crowd it wouldn't' have mattered. They needed a little energy there from a real audience. Their ability to work around it met its match, maybe. It was still slick and compelling.

Ultimately, this is a victim of circumstances. We probably don't get it if not for the empty arena, but that empty arena caps this just under the true classic level to me. I still think its about as good as wrestling gets (at least modern WWE wrestling gets). I'll look forward to how this holds up around the end of the year when I am revising the best for my top 20 or so.