[7.0] "Given the high rating I was expecting something special and was fairly underwhelmed by what I received. This was good in parts but had nothing that I would say was outstanding. The finishing stretch was nice but the match was hampered by the Thunderdome (TM), the heat section in the middle being long and kinda bland, and the finish being overbooked. Roman Reigns is a good character but not the most exciting of workers even here at his apex. I suppose this is a real "you had to be there" kinda bout."
[8.0] "This match is tough to dissect. It started off strong with an MMA-inspired approach that even Reigns leaned into at times. But the slow pace combined with excessive overbooking made the match feel disjointed. That's really my only major complaint, plus the flat, anticlimactic finish. Take away the ref bumps, Jey Uso interference and the Edge drama at the end and this was excellent. Without those distractions, it might've been WWE's match of the year so far, right up there with Finn Bálor vs. Pete Dunne and certainly one of the best matches of 2021."
[10.0] "It really felt wrong not to say anything about the start of the match. Daniel Bryan, as a technical wrestler, was working Roman's legs and trying to wrap around them to ground him--but what was his tactic? Bryan kept bending down, trying to force Roman to lower himself too, so he could shift the momentum of the match and make it more technical. Roman, to get out of that position, while still bent over, grabs Bryan's arms and shifts the pace to a powerhouse match right there. From then on, the match had momentum shifts moment by moment. Bryan, trying to fully take control, started using heavy strikes and submissions on Roman's arms. Roman tried to drag the match toward the corner, like when he hit the first submission on Bryan, so he could use his corner combat technique and completely take over. Roman's such a great wrestler that once he took full control, he only covered Bryan twice and used the rest of his momentum just tossing Bryan around to wear his body down, really showing that powerhouse style against a technical wrestler. Then Bryan, after a really cool momentum shift, managed to come back into the match and started targeting Roman's arms with the only part of his body still working--his legs (to cut down the powerhouse power a bit). The whole thing tied back to the story that Roman had started earlier when he locked a submission on Bryan's legs. Now Bryan had to start building toward the ending, and he used his final momentum perfectly--first striking to fully ground Roman, then moving into submission targeting his neck and arms, and the sequence of those hits was perfect. After Bryan's momentum ran out and both wrestlers went into their finishing move phase, we saw a ton of amazing momentum shifts and moments, and that whole chain of events led to one of the best endings possible for this match."
[10.0] "An absolutely brilliant match between both men with brilliant in ring action and psychology between each other and both the finish and 2021 men's royal rumble winner Edge as special guest enforcer served it's purpose for their phenomenal triple threat match at WWE WrestleMania 37 (2021)."
[9.0] "I think this is Reigns/Bryan's best match together. They are actually given time, no commercials, they just wrestled for 30 minutes. It was great. I understand the ending angle to set up WrestleMania but I would've preferred a full ending. But still, great match regardless. [****3/4]"
[8.0] "An excellent match with a poor ending, even if it makes sense. The start was slow but because of storytelling, affirming the match-up between the strenghts of Reigns and the quickness and technicity of Bryan. The pace goes crescendo until the now unavoidable ref bump. The ending is well too overbooked, even if it made sense for the build to WM37. Still, the ending is quite anticlimactic. 8/10."
[8.0] "[4.25*] Going back to the time of this match, Roman Reigns was hated by the WWE crowd and public while Bryan was still the fan favorite, the match was aimed at making Roman over at Wrestlamania. Bryan did an exceptional job in this match, he handled it perfectly leaving Roman over, selling Roman's moves incredibly but also delivering a balanced and exciting match. Roman also proved in this match that he can deliver high-level matches if he faces high-level opponents. The chemistry between the two was very good, it was cool to see the different styles facing each other and the spots were very good. The ending was cool with Roman and Bryan down and making their final efforts to win the match."
[10.0] "Incredible match, Daniel Bryan is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and he helped elevate the great Roman Reigns in a superb main event which showed the improvement of Reigns to hang with Bryan the whole way."
[9.0] "In the opening sequence where Bryan tries to outsmart Reigns, to get into his head is where the tone for this was set, Roman facial expression was also great. Bryan was trying to prove that he was on Roman's level and belonged in the main-event scene with him and Edge. Bryan's mindset in this match was to get Roman onto the mat because he knows that Reigns can't outwrestle, he just has more strength. Reigns would counterattack that by using his power advantage over Bryan in order to avoid this or to escape those kinds of situations. This was so great because no matter how long Reigns would stay in control Db was always still in it and would somehow make a comeback. If the finishing stretch of this match wasn't designed to build something towards mania it would've been perfect but oh well. ****3/4"
[9.0] "Reigns had been fantastic as the heel champion at this point, but this encounter with Bryan really forced him out of his comfort zone and put on one of his best performances ever. This wasn't a Bryan carryjob by any stretch of the imagination. The opening matwork with Bryan trying to get under Roman's skin so he could make a mistake was masterful and Reigns being forced to play Bryan's game and work the mat showed that he is actually above one's expectations when comes to the technical side of wrestling. Reigns asserting his dominance by overpowering Bryan with an aggressive headlock takeover looked fantastic and served as a great transitional spot that showed that Bryan needs more than his mat skills if he wants to oust Roman from the top spot in the company. Reigns does plenty of little things that go a long way, such as how he fed himself into Bryan's kicks by bouncing into the ropes like a ping-pong ball and crumbling to the mat whenever Bryan would go for his legs. I also love the facials Roman gave when he finds himself about to tap out to the Yes Lock. It's a look of of pain and utter bewilderment that Reigns might not be as good as he thinks he is. Bryan's submission transitions were slick and smooth as ever. The referee predictably goes down and it is time for Edge to take over as the referee. I'm less keen on the finish, which sees Reigns crawl over and get the pin on Bryan after Edge snaps and lays both men out after a misstep sees Bryan hit Edge with a chair. I think a non-finish would have fit better here, as it would put over the carnage of the situation and it would have Bryan looking much stronger going into Wrestlemania."
[8.0] "Honestly this was pretty great. Bryan and Roman had wonderful chemistry together and the way they built this 30 minute match was something we usually don't see in WWE. I absolutely loved the start of this match. Bryan just laughs off Roman and outclasses him in the early going. I love how Bryan just wasn't the underdog babyface but instead he showed how he's on a whole different level from Roman. He dominates him on the mat and Romans sells the frustration and anger perfectly. Roman uses his sheer size and power to gain the upper hand like expected. Roman on top isn't the most interesting thing in the world, but they didn't lose me and even the little things like how Roman would tightly lock in a hold added something to the slower parts of the match. Bryan's comebacks were awesome and full of fire. The finishing stretch has a lot of overbooking to set up the main of WM but the drama was fine. Bryan showed once again how he's the master at building drama without excessive nearfalls or spamming moves. Despite everyone knowing that Roman was going to retain until WM, Bryan keeps you second guessing as his Yes Locks were literally perfect. Roman has proven he could be a wonderful seller, and he sold those Yes Locks brilliantly. Possibly the best match of Roman's title reign. ****"
[10.0] "Sometimes you can tell a match is special from how it opens. Bryan's cocky opening work and Roman's reactions to it made me know this was going to be something special. Bryan is by far Roman's best opponent, their chemistry ever since the Shield/Hell No feud has been apparent and only got better. Bryan's way of working around bigger stronger guys is among the best ever, and the counters into or out of Roman's power moves are so smooth, and you have some great spots like Roman's catch of the dive into an impromptu powerslam. They put on a proper fucking clinic here, although what could've been a brilliant finishing stretch was instead an angle that built to Mania. The teases and false finishes with the ref down were pretty great anyway, as was Bryan beating down Jey. Roman tapping clean, even without a ref, was so huge, especially how little the taps were to sell the damage and show how embarrassed he was to tap. Edge snapping and killing both guys with the chair was pretty great, and the only negative I can really give with the finish is that Bryan was pinned after like 20 seconds from two chair shots. Still, this match was fantastic, and knowing that Bryan gets two more main event matches with Roman left for me to see gets me super excited. ****1/2"
[6.0] "These two have really strong chemistry together clearly, but this one just didn't click for me. The opening sequence with Bryan playing mind games with Roman reminded me very much of his match with Brock, and I really enjoyed watching him work over Reigns with his superior mat wrestling. Roman's control segment wasn't nearly as compelling however, and it really took me out of the match for a while even with Bryan's great eventual comeback. I will say Roman was incredible in his selling of both the pain inflicted by the Lebelle Lock and the humiliation of actually tapping to Bryan, as others have pointed out. The overbooked finish with Edge definitely didn't help things here, even if it made sense in building towards their WM match. A solid wrestling match overall hampered down by some incredibly dull stretches and an awful finish. ***1/4"
[7.0] "These two have always had pretty good chemistry and this wasn't the exception. It's intelligently laid out and had great psychology based on who the wrestlers are and how they interact. Bryan here portrayed one on my favourite versions of himself; a confident babyface that knows he's one of the best pure wrestlers of all time and can end a match in an instant, Roman on the other hand is a monster on the run of his life whose main attribute is physical advantages. The first part establishes that Bryan is a legit threat and isnt afraid as he demonstrates his technical superiority and taunts Roman, who sells how on edge he is while also maintaining his aura of self superiority. Then Reigns takes over although the match slows down considerably, its not all bad as Roman leaves openings for counterattacks. The interference was frustrating, but it made sense considering Reign's character as a faux tough guy who is always ready to take the easy way out. The whole Edge thing was overbooked, but I guess it served for the Wrestlemania triple threat. The way Roman sold the LeBell lock was awesome, not only the pain, but the pride that led to the weak but evident submission. Bryan going out to one chair shot was bullshit though. (* * * 3/4)"
[6.0] "This match is tough to rate because of how distrustful I, and many other fans are of WWE. There was a big angle in the end, and if this match would take place in a promotion that built a lot of good-will with their audience, my rating most likely would be 10, but with the promotion that has a lot of history where in the end they burn the audience, or at times even laugh at them for being invested, it's a little complicated. There's really no problems with this match, but the finish was designed to make me interested to watch SmackDown, and I'm not doing that shit because it required a good follow-up and WWE always finds a way to fuck things up. There is a quote: 'Pro-Wrestling is an entertainment that is built on trust', it makes perfect sense to me - because there's zero trust with WWE, I guess I have to lower my rating even though I liked the match. Because if there's trust, there's investment, when there's investment, then a fan/customer decides to spend on the promotion their money and time (WWE is still competing with sleep, right? ) to watch their shows. It's not that easy to recommend to other fans because of that. But at the same time, if there wouldn't be this big angle at the end, I would give this match a higher rating, because it just would be a great pro-wrestling title match with a clean finish. I hope I explained myself properly."
[8.0] "Would've been 5* if not for the overbooking. Edge randomly turning heel makes sense with his character, as he IS the Ultimate Opportunist after all, but man I wish they just wrestled a clean main event for once."
[8.0] "An improvement from their 2015 match. Here, they each play a more natural role, though the friction between their personas have always remained. The company's top star vs the fan favourite. Roman isn't going to be able to dominate an opponent like Bryan; someone who outclasses him on the mat and gradually tears away at the façade that's been conjured up over the course of this match. If anything, Bryan is the one in front, picking away at the arms and legs before chastising the champion. Roman does overpower Bryan at times and is able to work on top, eager to remind everyone of his status as "Tribal Chief", but the damage had already been done. No matter what words could have been said, Bryan's actions would always speak louder and continued to do so. He caught Roman in his patented Yes Lock multiple times towards the end, at one point having him visibly tap out. The finish itself works more to set the stage for something grander down the line, but what's here is by all means functionally great and deserves all the praise it gets. ****"
[7.0] "I have VERY mixed feelings on this match: aspects of it were tremendous, and aspects of it fell completely flat. I loved the beginning sequence and it was an incredible way to set the tone of this match, Bryan effortlessly outclassing Reigns technically and trying to bait Reigns? s much shorter temper was great. Unfortunately, whenever Reigns was in control the match slowed down significantly. This made sense to an extent, as Reigns is a larger, more powerful wrestler and, in turn, he will need more time to rest, but it still detracted from the momentum of the match and to an extent stifled the match was cultivating. This did juxtapose very well with Bryan? s crafty, out-of-nowhere reversals, which created some incredible moments and a sense that things could change at any time. The match did tend towards a bit more melodrama than I would? ve preferred, I wasn? t a fan of Reigns talking to himself or both wrestlers taunting each other while in holds, I felt it was kinda hokey and took away from the urgency of the match. The match then took a nosedive into melodrama around the time the first ref bump happened, at which point the match became less about the story of Bryan trying to craftily overcome Reigns and more about setting about the WrestleMania match, which while Edge? s involvement and Reigns? s unregistered tap-out did create an interesting lead-in for ? Mania, it seriously detracted from how much I enjoyed or cared about this match specifically. An incredibly mixed bag, with some ridiculously excessive indulgence into some of the soap-opera-esque elements of wrestling and an inconsistent pace and length that I didn? t find ideal, alongside some incredible technically work and building of suspense, creating a very good match that left you yearning for the classic you know these two have in them. ***3/4"
[10.0] "Fantastic match, even with the ending I have to give it a 10. I am impressed by how much Reigns has improved, or perhaps simply by how much better his heel role suits him, but you've got to be amazed by Bryan here who wrestled a phenomenal match."
[9.0] "A great match lessened by the screwy stretch of a finish to set up an angle, which was necessary and effective. Reigns tapping was legitimately the most shocking thing in WWE in years, even more so than his heel turn."
[9.0] "Excellent stuff. Both men put on great performances here. Slow build early and it leads to high drama in the second half. Bryan proves time and time again that he is a master in the ring. Reigns worked well as a big heel while Bryan was great as a babyface role. The ending was lame, which was the only criticism I had."
[9.0] "Excellent main event. Great slow build built to a red hot exchange, and we got some awesome action near the end. The finish was a bit anticlimactic, but I honestly don't mind Bryan being added to the three way Universal Title match since he can boost the quality by a ton. On par with their spectacular 2015 bout. [****1/2]"
[9.0] "Really great match. I watched this again because the stream was bad when it was streaming live. The first half of the match was amazing with Bryan almost toying with Roman, grappling around him and showing that he was the better wrestler. Then things picked up with Roman using his strenght to try and equalize to Bryan's technical wrestling. All of that worked well. The three times Roman was in the Yes Lock were fantastic, Roman sold it very well and even when he tapped it was like he was trying so hard not to do it. The interference by Jey was not neccesary for me, but the angle with Edge was great. Great match. ****1/2"
[8.0] "8. 2/10 : this was THE Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns match. Bryan at his Bryan-est and Roman at his Roman-est, delivering the story and performances you want out of them. Great shit."
[7.0] "Good match between Reigns and Bryan. Ever since Reigns went heel and becomes the head of the table, he made good storytelling on his matches. Obviously the one with Daniel is just shown chemistry. Good timing on the referee getting knocked out silly so that Edge will use his enforcer gimmick in this match. Also, the tease of Reigns tapping out but Edge totally blinded by rage because he didn't want to ruin a good match. Awesome match between the two, and Edge. Only negative point here is Jey Uso wasn't necessary to get involved in the match on my opinion. ****"
[6.0] "Solid match, fairly engaging, Bryan on offense is always great, but this Roman run is so uninteresting, and the Edge stuff was rather predictable."
[9.0] "This was excellent, and a definitive match of the night. It was technically sound with a simple, but well-told story. The ending wasn't great. It was very anticlimactic and abrupt. Overall though this was great, Reigns and Bryan always have good matches with each other. 9/10."
[10.0] "Storytelling is one of the most important parts of making a great match. The storytelling and pacing was precise. Two elite wrestlers putting on a great spectacle. Match Rating : 4. 75"
[9.0] "My favorite WWE match that I've seen in a long time, which is no surprise since these two are my favorite workers in the company at the moment. Good hard-hitting action for the most part, and probably the best ref bump I've ever seen. The only reason I don't go 10 is because the end was a bit much, although it makes sense leading into WrestleMania, and the overboard KD production took me out at times before these two brought me back in."
[10.0] "The first real MOTYC of 2021. A match that actually made me super excited about pro-wrestling & this angle. Absolutely phenomenally built masterpiece from bell-to-bell. Bryan is the greatest of all-time & this was a helluva performance from Reigns as well; perfectly portraying his character with his fantastic selling and all. The kind of a match where when I first finished it, I immediately felt like I wanted to re-watch it. That's special. This was special."
[9.0] "Great performance by both, I really thought Bryan was gonna win at one point. Except if it? s a triple threat for Mania I don? t see how Roman can win if he was tapping here. It makes him look undeserving of the title, but in an effort to keep him strong I dont think he will take the pin at Mania. Either Edge pins Bryan or Bryan pins Edge."
[7.0] "It was compelling for the most part and really well worked by both guys involved but it's hard to reach the next level when the outcome feels so much like a certainty and the that finish that could not have been more overbooked. Between this and Edge's declarations during the build up, not sure how this guy is meant to be the big babyface going into Wrestlemania... Wait, are we getting a WM30 repeat?"
[8.0] "This was an engaging match, Daniel Bryan showed off his grappling skills and it took Roman out of his element, really challenging Reigns in a way we haven't seen recently. The stakes felt very real with Bryan getting in a lot of offence and Roman semi tapping out. Then Daniel Bryan took out the ref randomly, then Jay Uso showed up, Edge came in, was taken out by Daniel Bryan again, then had a temper tantrum. It was a weak and convoluted finish to the match that I didn't like. I suppose they sacrificed this one for the match at WrestleMania."
[8.0] "the match was very good, even with the overbooked finish. I haven't watched much wwe lately, but I have to say all those things about the horrible camera cuts I've heard are true, and sometimes they even worsened the match for me."
[9.0] "phenomenal match these two had, some incredible story telling and psychology mixed in with some great ground work, brawling and submissions, Daniel Bryan is an absolute master in this business when he gets to go out and just tell a story in the ring, Bryan constanly working over Reigns shoulder was great and was the focal point of most of the match and led to one of the key points in it with the undetected tap out, I felt going in that Reigns would tap out but it wouldn't count and thats what happened, it's surely now going to lead to a 3-way at mania with Edge who seemed to at least turn semi-heel towards the end of the match, the match would of gotten a ten if it had a clean finish but I never expected it too in all honesty so I can't complain too much but it does still detract from the match itself, a near perfect match that these two produced and it gets a massive thumbs up from me, you should go out of your way to see it, pretty close right now to my match of the year with Tam Nakano vs Giulia, but those are two very different matches (****1/2)"
[8.0] "You could argue that this was a little overbooked, but it worked for me on this occasion. The clash of styles was played out very well here and both came out looking good, although the actual finish was pretty weak with Bryan being beaten by a single chair shot."
[9.0] "Wonderful! One of the best Bryan match after his return. Better than the Fastlane of 2015, the overbooking in the end was inevitable but great storytelling and exchanges of spots bell to bell."
[8.0] "I would give a 9 if it wasn't for the stupid ref bumps, I fucking hate them! Daniel was on fire, love the transitions between the moves. Reigns has to win in Mania, because after this he needs to be more dangerous"
[5.0] "Please stop overbooking Roman Reigns. It's always the same schema! It needs to stop. But, I really hope that Bryan is going to face Roman & Edge in WrestleMania, he deserved it, and this Main Event was really long to watch."
[8.0] "Dear Mr. Agents, this could've been a 10/10 match, a 5* Meltzer (TM) match, a Cornette aproved match (ok, that's too much). But, NO, you had to go and overbook things. [Spoiler Alert] Edge is just a whiny little boy who can't do his job, Daniel Bryan losing to chair shots and the "just passed out" Reigns can take the same chair shot just fine, don't worry, he can crawl his way to victory. By the way, i seriously want to see a company have the bells to implement VAR. For real, man, if even flipping FIFA could do it, wrestling is looking dumb by not having video reviews, we're living in 2021, come on!"
[10.0] "Well that was incredible. Almost certainly the best match to take place in the "thunderdome" and likely the main roster MOTY. Bryan really is the greatest and at this point Reigns isn't too far behind. Hell of a ref bump too. *****"
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