For a vegan, Bryan Danielson sure knows how to make chicken salad.
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00:00Pop quiz! What is more important, the match or the build? Answers below.
00:05In a dream world, you want to smash both, of course, but even if you do screw up the lead-in but succeed in the fight, usually the audience is more forgiving.
00:12There is so much wrestling on TV, you're always going to get some howlers too, and therefore I am Simon from WhatCulture.
00:18Please hit the subscribe button, and this is the 10 best wrestling matches with the worst builds.
00:24And yes, that's most definitely hyperbole.
00:26Number 10, Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan at Survivor Series 2018
00:30So first and foremost, how the flub is this so old? I felt like I watched it yesterday.
00:35Back then, though, WWE were obsessed with Raw vs. SmackDown when it came to the November pay-per-view, just because.
00:42Yep, that was the sell here, and it got so out of control in 2017, because Brock decided he didn't want to wrestle Jinder Mahal, who at the time was the other world champion.
00:51We just switched the belt to AJ Styles. Talk about doing things the wrong way around.
00:56The reason we raised this, though, is because 12 months later, something smacked WWE right in the face.
01:01Both Lesnar and Styles were the champions again. Whoops.
01:04Realising they couldn't just do the same match twice, from nowhere, Daniel Bryan won the belt, which was also confusing,
01:10because now it meant we had a heel vs. heel contest.
01:13It's almost like this wasn't thought through.
01:15If it was anyone else, we'd be on the floor, but look at who was involved here.
01:19I assume Bryan put this together too, because the end result was absolutely brilliant.
01:25Brock murdered the guy to start because of their size difference, when Daniel hit Lesnar right in the balls to turn the tide,
01:30and because Brock doesn't mind getting thumped as hard as possible, Bryan did exactly that,
01:36and all of a sudden it started to feel like he was going to do it.
01:39I mean, this really is masterful.
01:40The near falls are totally believable too, and while it turned Bryan into a good guy for the duration,
01:45who cares?
01:46If you've not seen this, you must change it today.
01:49Just don't bother with the nonsense beforehand.
01:51Number 9, Chris Jericho vs. Will Ospreay, all in 2023.
01:55Right, so the deal with this is simple.
01:57AEW wanted a major match for Will Ospreay in London, because Will Ospreay is English.
02:02Anyone working Chris Jericho for the first time ticks this box, because Jericho is a major star.
02:07So now, how do we get there?
02:10Well, we just sort of did it.
02:11Chris did admit he needed help after some big losses, so rekindled his friendship with Don Callis,
02:16although just when it looked like they would become a new team,
02:19Callis was caught with a painting of Jericho having his head cut off.
02:23That's not even a joke.
02:24Why Don would do this before getting a proper answer, I do not know,
02:28because if you didn't believe it was possible, you're just wasting your time.
02:31When the Ospreay then flew in from Japan to stand by Callis' side,
02:34which was also strange, because William was always going to be the babyface at Wembley Stadium,
02:40whereas Don was a mega heel.
02:42It ultimately doesn't matter because it's such a good match,
02:44and seeing Ospreay get arguably the biggest victory of his career will be something we all remember for a while.
02:50Number 8, MJF vs. Darby Allin vs. Jungle Boy vs. Sammy Guerrera at Double or Nothing 2023.
02:55So I saw this match live, and yeah, it was one of the best four ways I've ever seen.
03:01They all smashed it.
03:02The build devied people to say the least, however,
03:04given it was all situated around the idea that these were the pillars of AEW.
03:08There was a debate as to whether the accolade had been earned, or simply done, because why not?
03:14Sammy and Jack Perry had the finger pointed at them for such things,
03:17which doubled when Guevara and Maxwell were friends for a while,
03:20even though it was clear they hated each other.
03:22Now, once again, I actually found this quite amusing, but hey, I'm an idiot.
03:27Clearly Tony Khan had just decided he wanted to see this,
03:29so however we get there is how we get there.
03:32We can't say it was wrong.
03:33They got to the pay-per-view and went 28 minutes,
03:36and it was just an absolute rollercoaster.
03:39Given that it feels like AEW wants to embrace a more match-focused approach,
03:42you can likely give it a pass in hindsight too.
03:45It was literally there, because it's something we can do.
03:47Number 7, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns vs. Luke Harper and Erick Rowan at Hell in a Cell 2019.
03:53I mean, listen to who is in it.
03:55This was just WWE pulling names out of a hat.
03:58It also summed up 2019, because I'm not sure anybody knew what the overall plan was,
04:03and I can't even really explain this.
04:05I think Bryan was angry with Erick Rowan for attacking Roman,
04:08even though they were friends,
04:10so Luke Harper returned because we needed a guy,
04:12and he made sense.
04:14Or something.
04:14So annoying too, as Harper rocked in this,
04:16but we still did nothing after the fact.
04:19Maybe they all knew this,
04:20because man, they got in there and smashed it.
04:23This was great.
04:24It's also done under Tornado rules,
04:25so you get instant chaos,
04:27and even though there's not much investment with Rowan and Harper at the start,
04:30I tell ya,
04:31by the end they are slamming each other onto their opponents,
04:34and the fans are going proper nuts.
04:36You also get this excellent Roman spear through a table,
04:38and it's a joy that isn't talked about enough.
04:41Number 6, The Rock vs. Steve Austin at WrestleMania 17.
04:43So hold on a second.
04:45I too love everything about this match,
04:47including the build,
04:48but answer me this.
04:50Who was The Rock's manager prior to Mania X7?
04:54Exactly.
04:54Now I bet you replied The Rock didn't even have a manager,
04:58but that is not true.
04:59Instead, Vince McMahon had made Debra stand by the Great One's side,
05:04because she was Stone Cold Steve Austin's wife.
05:06Thankfully, when we got to that all-time sit-down interview,
05:09she was just removed from this role,
05:11because everybody realized Rocky and Austin just had to stare at each other,
05:15and lo and behold, it worked.
05:16We all know the deal on the night as well,
05:18because they created magic,
05:19the only real asterisk being the ill-judged heel turn at the end.
05:23But, meh, whatever.
05:24It was 20 years ago.
05:25I'm gonna worry about it now.
05:27I do have to say they kick out of a lot of finishes, though.
05:30To be honest,
05:31this is where that trope kinda started.
05:34Whoops.
05:34Number 5, Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38.
05:37This was all about what you knew.
05:40If you were not up on your backstage information,
05:42you watched Raw to see Seth Rollins lose it that he didn't have a WrestleMania match,
05:47yell at Vince McMahon about it,
05:48who told him why doesn't he act like an adult and just ask for one,
05:51which Rollins then celebrated like he was the new champion.
05:55It's bizarre.
05:56This was all done because Cody Rhodes had been signed,
05:59but WWE didn't want to give the game away.
06:01But the only reason this would make any sense is if you were already clued in.
06:05And sure, nerds like us were,
06:07but from a story perspective, it was totally baffling.
06:11Also why I love wrestling.
06:12We just do stuff.
06:13When the American Nightmare revealed himself to be Rollins' opponent too,
06:16Seth was super mad.
06:18And why?
06:19What did he care?
06:20He got what he wanted.
06:21He's wrestling on the show.
06:22You were able to forget about all that in 15 seconds
06:25because everything about this was so legendary.
06:28Two of the very best of this generation.
06:30Number 4, FTR vs. The Young Bucks of Full Gear 2020.
06:33I do think it's a bit unfair to say the story was poor,
06:35whereas Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood almost infiltrated the Elite
06:38to knock Hangman Adam Page and Kenny Omega from their perch
06:41while flipping off the Young Bucks in the process.
06:44What sort of irked some, however,
06:45is that to recreate the demand for this match that they had back in 2016,
06:49Matt and Nick Jackson sort of healed it up a bit.
06:52Though I suppose it's just not what they needed to do,
06:54but with this one, who gives a flub?
06:56This match is so good, the tell they tell within it is sublime.
07:00I mean, FTR lost because Cash decided that a 450 would be a good idea,
07:04even though the old-school pairing had sworn to stick to their own principles.
07:08Also, literally impossible for these two to have a bad match,
07:11and that should be the story of the next one.
07:13We are awesome.
07:14Why don't you go and deal with it?
07:16Number 3, John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules 2012.
07:19The start of this ruled.
07:21Brock Lesnar returning to WWE in 2012 was enough,
07:24but when he got into a pull-apart brawl with Cena shortly after and split his lip,
07:28it garnered such a good reaction, it became Brock's calling card for ages.
07:33Lesnar then did that sit-down interview where he basically said he was going to kill John
07:37and make him piss himself.
07:38Brock was back, and he was the most legit dude ever.
07:41Because WWE loved sports and entertainment,
07:43they then felt Lesnar should be in more segments.
07:46So what did we do?
07:47A contract signing.
07:49What else?
07:50To ensure the fans knew Brock was the heel too,
07:52he told Johnny Laurinaitis that he had a bunch of demands,
07:55because listen now, I have a bunch of demands.
07:58You were meant to think the limelight had gone to his head,
08:00but unlike what had come before,
08:02nobody bought that nonsense.
08:04It's Brock Lesnar, we know the deal.
08:06It's why he was repaired with Paul Heyman after this,
08:08because the advocate was far better at such things.
08:10But go and watch this match.
08:13It is frightening at times,
08:14just because Lesnar ruined Cena for huge parts of it.
08:17But he definitely forgot what wrestling is meant to be.
08:20The Man of Blood was almost unheard of in WWE at that time too,
08:23and it is amazing that either guy walked away mostly okay.
08:27An absolute war that underlined what Brock was going to do for the next decade.
08:30Totally wild.
08:32Number two, the 2016 Money in the Bank ladder match.
08:35This is indeed the Money in the Bank fight where to sell it.
08:38We had all the entrants climb ladders and yell at each other on Raw.
08:42It is absolutely hilarious.
08:44Everybody has their allocated time to drop a line as well,
08:47so it's a contrived mess,
08:48to the point even Dean Ambrose is begging that they just fight.
08:52You was done hanging out in the sky as you would be.
08:55It was just so strange because the idea of the preamble
08:57is to explain to the audience what they're going to see in a few weeks,
09:00whereas here, you would have thought the idea of the match was to have a big chat.
09:05This was not the same on the night itself,
09:06because Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens especially tried to kill themselves.
09:10Some of the damn bumps they took.
09:12It was just the wild tonal shift that made this so crazy.
09:16You would have thought this was a comedy scrap.
09:18Trust me, it is not at all.
09:20Number 1, Trish Stratus vs Becky Lynch at Payback 2023.
09:24The short version was Trish felt like Becky Lynch didn't respect the fact she had paved the way.
09:28Problem was, throughout her career, Lynch had said how great Stratus was,
09:32and that we all owed her a debt.
09:34I think the pair may have agreed that maybe WWE could have done better with this,
09:37because when they got to their blow-off match at Payback, my word.
09:40It was within the confines of a steel cage, which is even better,
09:43and they just lit this place up.
09:46There was also a CV ticket for Stratus,
09:47who had never done this stipulation before,
09:49and I tell you, it is a triumph.
09:52One of the better matches of 2023.
09:54And if you were going to come to me for advice,
09:56I would say, we should go and do it again.
09:59Know of any other great matches that had questionable builds?
10:01Make sure you let us know in the comments below
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10:19And do I know what that means?
10:20No?
10:21Did I say that I would?
10:22Probably.
10:23Huh?
10:23Goodbye.