Daniel Bryan Takes on AJ Styles in Dream Match on SmackDown Live

It didn’t take long to get a dream match following Daniel Bryan‘s return to active wrestling.

After Bryan’s return match this past Sunday at WrestleMania, he stepped into the ring with WWE champion AJ Styles on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live. The bout main evented the show and certainly did not disappoint.

Before the match, Styles talked about how he never thought in his wildest dreams that he would be standing across from the ring from Bryan in a WWE ring. He specifically mentioned “in a WWE ring” because the pair have wrestled before, including for Ring of Honor and IWA Mid-South.

Styles called Bryan one of the greatest of all time but said he’s not phenomenal.

The two exchanged positioning early, with numerous submission holds exchanged and reversed at one point. Styles worked over Bryan’s left leg, eventually getting him in the Calf Crusher until Bryan reversed that into a Yes Lock attempt, which was quickly turned into a roll-up for a near fall by Styles.

A few moments later, Bryan missed a kick walked into a Pele Kick from Styles for a near fall. Styles went for the Phenomenal Forearm but was hit with a kick to the gut by Bryan. Bryan then went for the double knee, but Styles reversed that into a Styles Clash attempt. Bryan eventually reversed that into a Yes Lock that was broken up by Styles getting to the ropes.

Bryan got Styles into a Tree of Woe in the corner and hit some kicks. That lead to Bryan going for a suplex off the top, but Styles reversed it mid-air and came down on Bryan’s head in a scary moment.

At that point, Nakamura ran out and attacked both men. He hit Bryan with a Kinshasa and then low-blowed Styles. Nakamura then took out with Styles with a Kinshasa of his own as the crowd boo’ed loudly.

Nakamura hit another low blow on Styles and walked off with a smile on his face to close the show. While fans were certainly disappointed they didn’t get a clean finish in this highly anticipated match, we can certainly look forward to another encounter down the road which is a whole lot more than we could have wished for just a few weeks ago.