The Pittsburgh crowd was on fire for Daniel Bryan in the first match of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but it wasn’t the American Dragon’s night. Bray Wyatt pulled out a surprisingly clean victory, defeating Bryan without the aid of the rest of the Family.
Royal Rumble results: Bray Wyatt wrecks Daniel Bryan
In a potential star-making performance, Bray Wyatt defeated Daniel Bryan without any shenanigans or help from his followers.
Daniel Bryan was beaten up a couple times by the Wyatt Family in the build-up to this match, leading him to eventually join the family. After spending a couple of weeks as a member, he turned on Bray at the end of a cage match they lost against The Usos, hitting him with a flying knee before leading the crowd in the “YES!” chant. A week later, he explained that it was the only way for him to get Wyatt one-on-one, leading to an actual match between the two being made.
A big angle for this match was that Bryan would be able to get Bray alone because his followers, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, were preparing for the Royal Rumble match. They came to ringside with him anyway, but the referee tossed them after catching Rowan in the process of attacking Bryan.
The match featured a whole lot of huge bumps outside of the ring, Bray’s spider walk, some moves neither use in their regular arsenal and an insanely hot crowd. Each sold different injuries and attacked each other’s injuries. Bray bit Bryan’s hand during a submission attempt. Basically, it was everything that’s good about pro wrestling.
In perhaps the best spot of the match, Bryan tried to hit his signature stage dive and was caught by Bray, who delivered his finisher, Sister Abigail, into the barricade. That led to the match’s finish, with Bray performing the move again before getting the clean pin.
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