WWE RAW July 22nd, 2013: Best match of the night

Daniel Bryan

RAW live from Austin, Texas, started building the top matches of SummerSlam and took a huge step towards making not only Brad Maddox, but the entire WWE Universe realize that Daniel Bryan has every chance there is to be the WWE Champion at SummerSlam, and do the unthinkable by beating John Cena.

RAW started with the contract signing for the match between Cena and Bryan. WWE’s new GM Brad Maddox didn’t believe Bryan to be a worthy choice to challenge the WWE title, and put him in a Gauntlet match, facing three wrestlers. Bryan faced Swagger first in a short and sweet match, after which came in Cesaro, followed by Ryback.

The most impressive, however, was the one with Cesaro. Daniel Bryan proved why he is the best wrestler in the business today, but Cesaro gave us more than enough to rethink that decision, as he showed he is no less than Bryan inside the ring.

Bryan entered the ring to huge support and I’m impressed by the support this guy has gained. The crowd is so over him that even the slightest hint makes them start the YES chant. Anyway, the Real Americans then made their way in the ring, and Colter had a few words for the Texans and Bryan’s so-called stupid YES chants.

Swagger was Bryan’s first opponent and he dominated for the first few minutes of the match, keeping Bryan down with some lusty blows. Bryan came back with a perfect dropkick. Swagger made a comeback and was going for the Swagger bomb, but Bryan connected with the YES lock out of nowhere to make Swagger tap out.

Cesaro was Bryan’s next opponent and WWE went to a commercial right away. Back from the break, Cesaro’s in control as they show a huge mid-air uppercut by Cesaro in the WWE App. Cesaro maintains control for a while, but Bryan manages to gain some say and locks in a Surfboard. Cesaro counters with a suplex and then locks Bryan in a chinlock.

Bryan then countered with a leg whip and followed it up with a huge running dropkick in the corner. Bryan then climbs up the rope, only to be distracted by Swagger, and Cesaro makes use of the distraction and lands a huge uppercut as Bryan comes off the top.

Back from those irritating commercials again, we see Bryan rolling up Cesaro for a two count, but Cesaro comes back with an impressive suplex. Bryan throws a few punches but gets put down with a fireman’s slam. Bryan then comes back with a suplex and a kick to the face for a close two count.

Bryan goes up top and Cesaro follows. Bryan slithers out of a superplex and puts Cesaro in the Tree of Woe, followed by huge kicks and a picture perfect dropkick. Both are on the top rope again, as Bryan tries a superplex, but Cesaro manages to counter the move mid-air and lands on Bryan for a near fall. Cesaro then shows us he is the master of the European uppercuts, as he clobbers Bryan with many of them. A huge clothesline after this knocks the gas out of Bryan, but he somehow manages to kick out at two.

Cesaro then tries the Neutralizer but Bryan manages to counter and pays him back for the uppercuts with some huge blows. Cesaro manages to get out of the ring, but Bryan takes out both the Real Americans with a dive. Bryan sends Cesaro back into the ring and goes top rope. Cesaro tries an uppercut again, but misses as Bryan uses it to roll up Cesaro and pick up the win.

That was surely one of the best TV matches one would ever get to see, as it had all that was necessary to make one. Undoubtedly one of the top 5 matches of the year, Bryan proved to everyone that he is surely the future of the company and now I surely believe that Cena will lose to Bryan at SummerSlam.

However, one shouldn’t sideline Cesaro without whom this match wouldn’t have been anywhere close to what it turned out. Cesaro’s skills and efforts into making this a masterpiece should earn him a main event slot somewhere in the near future, and let’s hope WWE doesn’t take too long for that.