10 WWE Stomping Grounds Impulse Reactions

6. The New Daniel Bryan & Rowan Vs. Heavy Machinery

The New Daniel Bryan tried his hardest in the days and weeks leading up to this - a SmackDown Live Tag Team Title match one-sided in all the wrong ways. Trying to hammer home his new agenda about making the belts, (and by proxy, the entire division) more serious, Bryan laughed off their stupid personas but put over their impending physical threat to try and make the contest credible.

The match, on those terms, was an unqualified success.

The big blustery b*llocksy Heavy Machinery were grossly overmatched in the star power stakes despite a physical advantage over the former WWE Champion that Vince McMahon presumably deemed completely at odds with the angle.

It neither hurt nor helped the story that Bryan was hugely over as a babyface with his home state crowd - he didn't need to cheat to score the victory, simply show sly resilience in a match that did much for the young challengers.

None of this will matter in the morning, perhaps, but it mattered in the moment - Bryan's stated aim had been achieved.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett