Why Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles Felt So Different At WWE TLC

Daniel Bryan retained the WWE Championship at WWE TLC after a grueling match against AJ Styles where they threw everything they could at each other. It wasn’t a normal WWE match either which only added to the appeal.
Dave Meltzer approached this idea during Wrestling Observer Radio where he explained how different this match was and how it didn’t fit with the typical WWE pattern.

“You know the difference between this match and almost every match in WWE, 90% of the WWE matches is like, I’m watching this and I can tell that these two guys, you know really thought deeply about this match. You know, it’s not like the agents just laid it out and you’re just going through and doing all your WWE [spots].”
“They did so much stuff that you don’t do in WWE in a cadence that WWE doesn’t do. It really is a non-WWE cadence and it’s like they did their thing. You know, they did their idea of a great match as opposed to a WWE match with those two guys and it worked.”

It was also noted that the style of the match called for much more wrestling and featured several storytelling points that WWE wouldn’t normally go with. Meltzer then praised Daniel Bryan’s promo on WWE NOW where he declared that the Yes Lock is dead which also came up during their match.
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